The diffusion of civic technology: how technology and devolution are reshaping civic life in urban America
Date
2020
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Over the last decade, urban communities in the United States and around the world have seen the diffusion of civic technology. Civic technology, or “technology for the public good”, takes various forms. In this case, civic technology refers to volunteer activities that use open civic data, technology, and innovative practices. Within the United States, Code for America is a particularly active agent in the work to diffuse civic technology. Code for America has a volunteer arm known as Code for America Brigades. Using Code for America Brigades a proxy for civic technology this dissertation asks the question, who is adopting civic technology and why? ☐ Since de Tocqueville, academic literature on American democracy has argued that civic association is a central feature of the success of American society. Though there is evidence that civic participation in American civil society is in decline, civic technology represents a new form of civic association. Another feature of American life in recent decades is economic polarization at multiple scales, including regional. Using urban U.S. counties as the study population this dissertation asks a series of questions regarding the characteristics of urban counties that have and have not adopted Code for America Brigades. The dissertation finds that the diffusion of Code for America Brigades is not a function of population, but rather a function of socioeconomic organization. That is, Code for America Brigades are not strongly associated with traditional forms of social capital nor are they associated with economically distressed areas. Rather, the diffusion of Code for America Brigades is associated with economically prosperous regions with high concentrations of creative class workers. ☐ The dissertation concludes that the creative class is a group with a shared incentive structure is supportive of mobilization in Code for America Brigades. Young, talented, tech-savvy, career-oriented individuals seek out the types of professional development and career advancement opportunities that affiliation with Code for America provides. In order to expand the civic technology movement, it is incumbent on Code for America and related organizations to build network structures that incentivize the involvement of organizations that are mobilized by differentiated incentive structures.
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Keywords
Civic technology, Devolution, Civil life, Urban America, Urban communities, United States, Public good, Socioeconomic organization, Creative class, Incentive structure, Code for America Brigades