Category: Blog

City Council Technology Committee Testimony — Re: Oversight – Commission on Public Information and Communication’s Collaboration in Developing City Information Policies and Promoting Governmental Transparency

Dear Acting Public Advocate and New York City Council Speaker Johnson, Committee Chair Koo, and Technology Committee Members It is an honor to have this opportunity to represent New York City’s civic technology, design, and data community. I am the Executive Director of BetaNYC, a member driven good government non-profit organization. We are advocates for […]

Register for NYC School of Data 2019

Join us on Saturday, 2 March 2019, for NYC School of Data — a community conference that demystifies the policies and practices around civic data, technology, and service design. This year’s conference kicks off NYC’s annual Open Data Week and features OVER 24 sessions organized by NYC’s civic technology, data, and design community for YOU! […]

BetaNYC Supports Int. 1137-2018 – Codifying MODA into the City Charter

Earlier this week, the NYC Technology Committee voted in favor of Int. 1137-2018 (introduced by Council Member Adrienne E. Adams), which would codify the Mayor’s Office of Data Analytics (MODA) into the City Charter.  BetaNYC strongly supports the legislation. MODA was created through Mayor Bloomberg’s Executive Order 306. Since then the Office has played a pivotal […]

Introducing Year 5 Civic Innovation Fellows 2018 – 2019

Introduction to the Civic Innovation Fellows Program: The Civic Innovation Fellowship is the first and only comprehensive program dedicated to improving community boards’ use of data and technology while training the next generation of civic leaders from CUNY. Manhattan Borough President Gale A Brewer founded the program in 2014, and BetaNYC has run it since […]

Executive Summary Report on Community Board Technology and Information Workflows

We have published two reports based on several years of research into the technical and information infrastructure supporting community boards. The first report, BetaNYC and Civic Innovations Fellows Community Board and Technology Needs Report, summarizes interviews with district managers about the current state of technology within district offices and their most pressing technology needs going forward. […]

A showcase of Community Planning Fellows and Civic Innovation Lab / Fellows Program

We are honored to share a project showcase of the Fund for the City of New York’s Community Planning Fellows and NYC’s Civic Innovation Fellows hosted by the Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and BetaNYC. Both programs are using geographic information system (GIS), civic technology, and open data to improve Community Board operations.  This post […]