Civic technologist

Civic technology is technology (mainly information technology) that enables engagement or participation of the public for stronger development, enhancing citizen communications, improving government infrastructure, and generally improving the public good. It encompasses civic applications, platforms supporting government bodies, institutions and other software enabling those goals.

Civic technology has had increasing promise and importance with time, as we currently live in a digital age, a period in which digital communications are the foundation for political and economic exchanges. As time has gone on in the United States, technology has made leaps and bounds. There has been a great importance placed on the improvement of technology in nearly every sector. Vast improvements have been made in sectors ranging from cellular phones to surgical tools. Fairly recently, Americans made the transition from cell phones to smartphones and surgeons began using high-tech surgical robots that assist them. Technology has taken over, and is now a part of every American's daily life.

As advanced technologies become commonplace in society and available throughout the population, many local governments and officials have begun utilizing them for public outreach and feedback. Specifically, the Internet is being used more for communication between governing officials and citizens.

The Obama-Biden administration allowed for the smooth integration of civic technology into the American political sphere. Their administration utilized many civic tech strategies in order to facilitate political participation of the average citizen.

Today, events known as "hackathons" are often hosted by tech-savvy groups of people with experience in fields such as computer programming, graphic design, and hardware and software programming. These events focus on bettering software to make it more user friendly and easier for members of the community to access.

Another huge part of modern civic technology is social media. Companies such as Facebook and Twitter allow citizens from all over the U.S. and the world to communicate and share information. News outlets, such as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal have their own Facebook and Twitter accounts which allow them to post news articles to the sites. This creates an environment in which individuals have nearly instant access to news. These social media outlets also have mobile apps which allow users to access information from nearly anywhere on their phones, tablets, and laptops, making the sharing of information essentially instantaneous.

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Wikipedia