LifeFiles: A Presentation from the City of Austin's Innovation Office

NOTE - THIS MEETUP IS VIRTUAL AND WILL BE CONDUCTED ONLINE WITH EFF-AUSTIN'S ZOOM ACCOUNT. To join the meetup, RSVP to this event, and then click the link that you will be shown upon RSVPing. The meeting room passcode is 980511.

Our speakers this month are Daniel Culotta and Kerry O'Connor.

Daniel Culotta is the Acting Chief Innovation Officer of the City of Austin. Daniel brings 13 years of experience in innovation, sustainability science, networks (on- and offline), decision making, planning, and intervention strategy. He specializes in designing strategic frameworks that let groups pursue their goals the smart way, and ensure their actions add up to the outcomes they want to see. He has program design and management experience in consulting, academic, start-up, and government settings, as well as team leadership and development for non-profits. He has been the co-principal investigator of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant to explore the use of blockchain to help people experiencing homelessness keep digital documents safe and accessible. Most recently, he coordinated the founding of the Austin Civilian Conservation Corps. He holds a Masters in Sustainability from Arizona University and a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Business from the University of Texas at Austin.

Kerry O’Connor started the City of Austin Innovation Office in March 2014 to help City teams identify and test effective solutions to the complex challenges facing Austin. Under her direction, the Innovation Office helped the city break new ground on topics such as homelessness, displacement mitigation, use of emerging technologies such as blockchain to help people experiencing homelessness to hold onto their documents, racial profiling analysis, reimagining public safety, catalyzing green jobs and social innovation through challenge grants, and incorporating new methodologies of co-creation, design thinking, data science, and lived experience engagement. She served as the Principal Investigator on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant to explore the use of blockchain to help people experiencing homelessness keep digital documents safe and accessible. Previously, Kerry worked at the U.S. Department of State, where she established an innovation unit called the Research and Design Center in the Office of the Secretary of State, helped architect sustainable management reforms, coordinated logistics for the Pittsburgh G20 Summit, served as an executive staffer, and improved programs and operations at two U.S. Embassies. She is an intrapreneur, diplomat, storyteller, innovation catalyst, logistician, connector, mentor, activator, and fierce advocate for open innovation in government. She holds a Master of Arts in International Affairs from The George Washington University and a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs from James Madison University.

LifeFiles is a secure document storage platform that allows people to upload, store, and share their documents digitally. It also facilitates digital document notarization. With a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a City of Austin team designed, built, and tested it with people experiencing homelessness to facilitate access to services. The presentation will cover the platform’s design principles (private, secure, self-determinant, accessible, and extensible) and the underlying technical architecture that makes them possible. The presentation will close with a status of the minimum viable product and a discussion around next steps.

From our friends at Make Every Media: MEM's Virtual Media Lounge is opening its digital doors to EFF-Austin for a post-meetup virtual bar/happy hour!

Click the link https://gather.town/i/h93jLS2l, allow gather to use your camera and microphone, choose an avatar, and then use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move your avatar around the space until you find a friend and see their videos pop up!

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