Seattle City Councilmember Bruce Harrell unveiled a 10-point plan on Wednesday to help Seattle government get the most out of technology. These initiatives could increase efficiency, transparency and improve government customer service, said the announcement.
“I am proposing the applications that I believe we should use internally and support externally, both of which can determine the effectiveness of service to our citizens,” said Harrell, chair of the council’s Energy and Technology Committee.
The ten proposed initiatives are listed below:
1. Migrate to a system where publishing and release of city data are in an open format that is more readable and favorable for programming. This will allow the public to use city data in the most appropriate way and enhance its original purpose by allowing data collaboration and integration through mashups and semantic web technologies.
2. Declare an “Apps for Seattle” contest and call upon local web developers to program innovative mobile applications and Internet-based applications using open city data.
3. Provide service for mobile phone applications that allow residents to report a city complaint such as potholes, graffiti, streetlight outage or abandoned vehicles.
4. Use web video conferencing tools for meetings conducted by employees, boards and commissions, resulting in reduced travel time, cost and fuel.
5. Provide residents with new personal conservation management tools that allow them to maximize their home energy efficiency.
6. Provide a suite of applications and products that allow residents and businesses to communicate remotely with their security, heating, cooling and lighting systems. This will increase consumer utilization and awareness of a smart grid network.
7. Deploy a “My.Seattle.gov” public engagement portal that consolidates the city’s multiple sign-on accounts and provides single sign-on access with features including a customizable interface, status report checks on problems reported, public polling and enhanced collaboration with the public using tools such as IdeaScale or Google Moderator.
8. Maximize the use of technology in reporting, posting and tracking photos of graffiti and tree inventory on Google Maps or the city’s Geographic Information System (GIS).
9. Develop a “Wiki” website format for city information that allows online public collaboration, editing and content moderation.
10. Implement new citywide software to reduce the volumes of wasted printed pages at the end of print jobs from the Internet.
The process toward actually adopting these proposals begins with reviews by the Department of Information and Technology and the Citizens’ Telecommunications and Technology Advising Board, which will cooperate with other city departments and provide feedback on recommendations.
Related: Mike McGinn's Government 2.0 Forum
