The City of Chicago was well represented to explain city services that are augmented with apps and social media data.
Social Media Week Chicago hosted a panel called City Data and Social: Data is changing the relationship between cities and their citizens. The panel examined the topic of how data's growing importance through APIs and digital services was impacting citizens.
Panel moderator was Jordan Ho, digital strategist for Zocalo. the panel included Scott Robbin, a developer who created an online app for locating an automobile; Daniel X. O'Neil, an executive director at Smart Chicago Collaborative; and Danielle Dumerer, Director of Planning, Policy, and Management for the City of Chicago's Department of Innovation and Technology.
Data has importance, one that is becoming more apparent and a starting to show significant affect citizens in ways other the a campaign. The panel discussed how data affect the way cities make decisions regarding their service. Dumerer shared that the city uses dashboards to manage their 311 requests.
The panel agreed that sentiment remains a challenge , particular for projects in which citizen-sourced information is impacting how Chicago respond to its citizens’ needs. Robbins noted that social media "humanizes" government.
Click on the YouTube video below to see a comment from O'Neil about the opportunity for city data and development in Chicago - the idea that optimization between data available and usage has not fully arrived.
#SMWChicago 2013 - City Data & Social Media: Data is changing the relationship between cities & their citizens
