Talk Like A Citizen: Content Strategy for Cities

Cities are delivering more and more of their services digitally, through the web and through mobile devices. Designing these digital experiences means overcoming significant content challenges: cumbersome language, complex paper-based systems, and an audience that includes, well, everyone.

Enter Code for America (http://www.codeforamerica.org/) (CfA), a nonprofit dedicated to creating 21st century government interfaces that are simple, beautiful, and easy to use. CfA is facing these content challenges head on, working with city governments across the country to build efficient, lightweight digital experiences that help citizens connect with city services.

On Tuesday, Oct. 29, The San Francisco Bay Area Content Strategy Meetup Group and Facebook will co-host a panel that features Code for America Fellows (http://www.codeforamerica.org/2013-fellows/) talking about projects they worked on in Missouri, Kansas, and right here in the Bay Area.

MEETUP DETAILS

Tuesday, Oct. 29 @ 6:30pm
155 9th Street
San Francisco

THE PROJECTS

Cities: Kansas City, MO & Kansas City, KS (http://www.codeforamerica.org/cities/kansascity/)
Project: BizFriend.ly (http://bizfriend.ly/)

CfA Fellows Ariel Kennan and Andrew Hyder spent a year promoting economic development within both Kansas Cities, using a mixture of policy, community organizing and technology. Their main application, BizFriend.ly, is a web service that teaches digital literacy to small business owners.

City: Oakland, CA (http://www.codeforamerica.org/cities/oakland/)
Project: Public Request Portal

Built by the City of Oakland and Code for America 2013 fellows Richa Agarwal, Cris Cristina and Sheila Duggan, Public Records Request Portal helps citizens submit public records requests, search through past requests and better understand how requests are fulfilled.

City: San Francisco, CA (http://www.codeforamerica.org/cities/sanfrancisco/)
Project: Promptly


Promptly was built for the City of San Francisco’s Human Services Agency (HSA) by 2013 fellows Andy Hull, Marc Hebert, Rebecca Ackerman and Jacob Solomon. Much of HSA’s client communication is legally mandated. The result is often long, confusing, and intimidating client correspondence. Promptly sends important information via simple, timely text messages, which helps keep clients enrolled in services.