
Gilbert, AZ to Unveil Open Data Portal: Alex
By: Dana Berchman, Chief Digital Officer, Gilbert, AZ
Five years ago, I began my work in Gilbert, Arizona as the first Chief Digital Officer. Gilbert had grown so quickly and had new management and not only did they want to put an emphasis on communications; they wanted those communications to be digital. Our Manager, Patrick Banger, had been looking closely at the work that Mayor Michael Bloomberg was doing at the time in New York City and wanted to model this position after it. Fortunately, I had previous experience in the television industry and had worked in New York City at both MTV and MSNBC where I had helped with both networks digital efforts. And I’d grown up in Gilbert. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of their hometown transforming from being a sleepy hay capital of the world to a bustling community of nearly 250,000 residents and a destination where people want to be and to do business?
I’ve built a digital team that is small but mighty and we’ve been able to expand our reach to many more people in Gilbert and beyond. During the past five years we’ve created the first Digital State of the Town in the country, established SPARK App League, a coding contest for junior high and high school students, a video production department that’s known for videos including one that was shared on social media by Justin Timberlake, more than 25 engaging social media channels and a podcast that’s garnered fans from across the country. We’ve also launched a 311 app; a citizen engagement tool where residents can report issues and request services.
And now we’re thrilled to be expanding our digital efforts and community outreach even further by engaging with What Works Cities to create and launch an open data portal that will give our citizens, businesses and staff access to data that will help to solve problems and make decisions as Gilbert continues to grow.
In February, we traveled to New York City to the What Works Cities Summit where we were surrounded by at least 350 other city leaders from across the country that are also undertaking using data and evidence to change and improve lives. It was quite a full-circle moment when Patrick was able to meet Michael Bloomberg in person to tell him about the work we’re doing here in Gilbert.
And that work continues. As we embark on the creation and launch of our Open Data Portal through our engagement with What Works Cities, we are thinking closely about how to maximize its use. We aren’t creating a portal for the sake of transparency, although that is a large part of it, but we want to personalize this experience for our residents and businesses and others who will use the data by making it easy for them. We plan to name our portal after the Library at Alexandria that was in charge of collection the world’s knowledge and was one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world. We’ve shortened this to “Alex” and when residents come looking for information in our portal they can “Ask Alex” for what they need to find. This will help our users and make for a more engaging experience. Often times, efforts like these, especially in government, may get lost in silos or specific departments. I’m proud that this has been an organization-wide effort and that all departments will be engaging and providing data. What will come of the way the data is used or the problems that may be solved remains unseen but we look forward to the many opportunities that “Alex” will provide and the questions it may answer.
Want to learn more about Gilbert’s digital government initiatives? Check out Gilbert’s Government Gone Digital podcast! Listen and subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, and SoundCloud.

