Listening

One of the more exciting projects I’ve taken part in is the Leimert Phone Company. The idea originated in 2012 when Ben Caldwell noticed an abandoned payphone outside of his local community space in Leimert Park. Ben wondered how might these payphones be repurposed?

This simple idea sparked a vibrant collaboration between Leimert Park residents and the University of Southern California. Since 2012 we’ve reimagined payphones as places to download local music, give visibility to artwork, and play games spread across the city. It’s not just a conversation about technology. It’s a conversation about how technology might stave off gentrification and amplify the African-American culture of the area.

This is an idea that easily could have been missed. Neighborhoods are rich with assets that resist visibility from the outside. As Jane Jacobs noted, residents know their community better than we do and often have ideas for its improvement. Civic hackers should practice empathic listening and stay around for the conversation.

Connecting

In 2013 a team of students came to me with a proposal: they wished to facilitate a pitch session for High School students (i.e., a session in which each student would give a five-minute summary an idea to improve their communities) in largely Latino and African-American schools across Los Angeles. They called it “IDEA.LA.” Despite having few resources at my disposal, I was all for it. I arranged for space and refreshments.

IDEA.LA ended up being a phenomenal experience. Parents came to see their kids present and students were given opportunities to formulate and articulate their ideas for local services and businesses. New connections were forged between higher education, community residents, and high school teachers.

Civic designers should work to facilitate experiences that bridge groups that would otherwise lack the means to sufficiently connect with one another.

Civic designers should work to facilitate experiences that bridge groups that would otherwise lack the means to sufficiently connect with one another. Connection should be considered a valuable outcome in and of itself.

Translating

Technical requirements are often discussed in different registers than resident needs. Civic hackers can bridge these very different worlds by “code switching:” altering our vocabulary and inflection based on context to better communicate across groups.

Civic hackers should be more than technical experts. Indeed, we run the risk of disenfranchising residents as we translate their needs to the domains of “user stories” and “product requirements.” Civic designers should take care to translate with empathy and persuade others to act in the best interest of residents. Because while government officials may want to serve the public, they often don’t see why they should change their way of doing things. Civic designers should present government officials with new ideas and better models by advocating for more humanistic process change.

Facilitating

At a recent event in Pasadena called Open Data LA, I led a panel in which we discussed ways to improve hackathons. Hackathons are still an important means of involving the public in issues at the intersection of government and technology. Yet participants—often newcomers—are often frustrated with hackathons. They didn’t see an easy mechanism to become involved with a group. If there is a misalignment between group members, it’s difficult to be successful; the roadblocks are more social than they are technical.

Teachers face similar challenges to hackathon organizers. When I teach, I divide students into groups and act as a facilitator. I find that semi-structured activities such as group brainstorming, producing paper prototypes, and encouraging feedback result in higher levels of participation—especially when compared to self-organized activities.