I should first say that I love doing that.  It’s always been my passion to help people use technology to improve their lives – whether as a Product Manager or Homeland Security Advisor at Cisco, teaching internet safety classes or training teachers to use technology in the classroom as a way to excite and engage students.

 Confessions and Solutions

My iPhone

And, I have a confession. I have an addiction to the toys.  It’s true. I have 2 smartphones, 2 Macs, a desktop PC, an iPad, and other gadgets.  I just love the stuff. And, I don’t think I’m alone.  Wherever you go in Cary, you can find people on their devices.  Folks texting, tweeting, or updating their Facebook status.  They’re “checking in” or using Foursquare, sharing tips and restaurant reviews, shopping and navigating.  They’re Pinterest-ing (an online bulletin board), posting photos on Flickr, and stumble-upon  new information.  (If you didn’t get any of those references, click on the links to learn more.)

So, we use these tools in our day-to-day lives – so why can’t we use them to improve our engagement with at the town, and with our citizens?  I think we can.  Scratch that, I know we can.

Town of Cary Webpage from 2004

Many years ago, a citizen (now Mayor Weinbrecht) joined and led the Information Services Advisory Board.  It’s an advisory board to council on technology and communications used by the town.  That board, under his leadership, did some incredibly innovative (at that time) things.  They worked closely with staff and council to recommend website updates & communication ideas, with a goal of opening up more of our processes to the web (such as online permitting, and posting meetings over video.)  Much of this work has garnered awards for the town back in 2003.

But, in my opinion, we haven’t continued that progress. We once called ourselves the “Technology Town of NC” – but that isn’t where we are today.  But it COULD be.

My Vision

A town that leverages our fantastic infrastructure to deliver “just in time” information to it’s Citizens. Using Social Media (like the town’s Twitter feeds and Facebook pages) to outreach to citizens – posting park and field closings (no more calling the phone and waiting for the answering machine.)

Raleigh's SeeClickFix

Enabling SeeClickFix – (here’s Raleigh’s version) a mobile app that empowers citizens to assist the town in identifying non-emergency issues such as potholes, broken traffic lights or clogged sewers. Citizens will be able to help us locate and identify issues, and be part of the solution to help improve our community.

Streaming Town Council and other meetings for those of us without access to CaryTV 11. A growing number of us have DirectTV, without access to our cable access channel. Let’s create channels of information, in small nuggets making it easy and quick to digest the content.

Mashups of GoogleMaps with greenways, bike paths and other “citizen created” layers. (Take a look at one from New York City.)

Teach Cyber Security and Cyber Safety to our citizens. Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the U.S. and we should find ways to teach our citizens how to stay protected while they’re connected.  (Full disclosure:  I have a board seat on the National Cyber Security Alliance – www.staysafeonline.org. )

Citizen outreach and reducing paper – using online surveys and portals/blogs to more quickly engage with citizens, use more online communications to reduce mail and postcard printing costs, and collaborate with citizens.

 What’s Next?

So many of these capabilities and applications are not only low or no cost – but some may save us money down the road, while also increasing citizen engagement and satisfaction.  Plus, there’s always the cool factor.

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Featured photo by: Seth Meranda

Technology Geek

Now, though, I am proud of that label. It’s allowed me great opportunities, given me a way to express myself, and I feel comfortable in that skin. Having a “technology bent” has connected me with great folks in the community.  And that’s what happened today.

Meeting the ISAB

I am privileged to be Council Liaison to the Information Services Advisory Board (ISAB) and I attended their first meeting of this year tonight.   I’ve always been interested in their mission since the formation of the board so many years ago.  They’re a great group of volunteers, with a diverse set of experiences and insights.

Tonight, I wanted to meet the members, have a dialogue, and hear from them while sharing some of my ideas for bringing Cary back to being a technology leader, connecting citizens with their government & services.

We started with quick introductions; who we are, what we do, what’s our passion. I shared some of my own frustrations and even opportunities that could be solved by technology, such as:

1. Ability to find the status of Town fields that are open or closed
2. Tracking ability of C-Tran
3. Using mobile apps like SeeClickFix to connect citizens with govt (such as reporting maintenance issues, potholes, etc.)
4. Finding better ways to use and navigate the Town Website
5. Providing video meetings/content that’s on CaryTV online 
6. Looking at best practices from other Municipality websites
7. Mass notification
8. Crowd sourcing ideas from our citizens
9. Cybersecurity information and outreach for citizens

I’ve always had a passion for how technology can be used to connect citizens with government.  In the private sector, we use technology to improve productivity, create products and save money.  In the public sector, the product we have is services; providing utilities, trash pickup, policies to help a growing community.

I believe that technology can be used effectively to help every citizen be an active participant in government while accelerating the sharing of ideas.  It can put the right information, into the right hands, at the right time. (This was illustrated well when one of the members of the board spoke about how we need a better system to let parents know when fields are closed, since there have been occasions when kids are dropped off for practice to a “closed” town field.)

I probably could have talked with the folks in this group for hours, but the meeting time wouldn’t allow for that. And, they had other items on their agenda.  I’m looking forward to working with them in the future!

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Featured photo by Daniel Iversen