Civictech

Hey hey, ya’ll. This week is the beginning of a project I’ve been meaning to try out for a while. Being as I’m trying to have a positive effect on local governments and civic environments, I thought I would try to read a solid chunk of books on the subject…

As the Director of Digital Services at CivicActions, what initially drew you to a career in civic tech? I have always been drawn to careers that make a positive impact on society. It’s the same drive that ushered me towards my previous career as a high school teacher. What I…

A few days ago, I woke up to a flurry of messages and pictures on our Pollicy Whatsapp group. Irene had just given a talk with the UN Secretary General at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York; Navina had delivered a speech to 2000 women…

There is rising concern in our culture, as well as a broader discussion, about the usage and purpose of technological technology in our daily lives. Many individuals are concerned about the growing presence of advanced technology, particularly in terms of job displacement as firms continue to utilize AI systems that…

In a world where Deferendum has reached its full potential, it has become a shining beacon of democracy and collaboration. Its use of AI and blockchain technology has transformed the way people make decisions and engage in public discourse. …

Opinions on whether Agile is a relic or still relevant vary across organizations. Like any system or process, quality output indeed requires quality input, and Agile is no exception. Without team buy in, Agile methodologies, all methodologies, may as well be scrapped. A team’s trust in a process and in…

Here is a TL;DR version of the article. Use Selenium only for JS-enabled sites. For static HTML pages, BeautifulSoup or Scrapy is enough Use web drivers in headless mode to save RAM. Avoid using multiple driver instances when the site is paginated. Keep mouse movements on the driver to the…

A Human-Centered Rubric to Evaluate a Form — Forms are not just pieces of paper. They’re tools for people to get their story across to a powerful judge, clerk, administrator, lawyer, or someone else who can decide about their future. How — and if — you fill in a government form can determine if: you get to stay…

Skyward isn’t located in sunny Silicon Valley, and we don’t get the same level of recognition as the warm-weather tech giants, but we’re okay with that. We quietly go about our business here on the cooler east coast, improving citizens’ lives by enabling them to better access government services through…