Code for America: Leveraging Online Tech Stars to Solve Offline Problems

By Karla Robinson
September 12, 2012

A new concept called Government 2.0 leverages the power of online tech stars to solve offline problems. Want to keep city fire hydrants clear of hazardous snow build-up? There’s an app for that.
One notable Gov 2.0 non-profit called Code for America (CfA) has already made substantial improvements in the public sphere. Including the Web app for fire hydrants, CfA has created 35 apps, “for everything from urban blight to school buses,” notes the Wall Street Journal.
The apps work by inviting locals to take up small tasks that benefit the whole community. You can adopt a hydrant to keep clear for firefighters, take on the routine of clearing a storm drain or monitor batteries for local tsunami warning sirens.
“It’s irritatingly obvious, really: Shared technology saves time, money, even lives,” comments WSJ. “Government spending on information technology in 2012 is set at $79.5 billion federally and $55.4 billion for state and local. Meanwhile, to complete one government project — estimated at two years and $2 million — it took a couple of CfA fellows just [2.5] months.”
Besides bringing “online efficiency to offline civics,” the Gov 2.0 movement advocates transparency, calling openness the “next generation’s default setting when they’re up against big problems,” the article states.

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