Name: Coding a better government
Uploaded: 2012-03-08T16:07:33Z
Duration: 11 min 54 s
Description: Can government be run like the Internet, permissionless and open? Coder and activist Jennifer Pahlka believes it can -- and that apps, built quickly and cheaply, are a powerful new way to connect citizens to their governments -- and their neighbors.

Jennifer Pahlka: Coding a better government

Coding a better government

Can government be run like the Internet, permissionless and open? Coder and activist Jennifer Pahlka believes it can -- and that apps, built quickly and cheaply, are a powerful new way to connect citizens to their governments -- and their neighbors.

Technology offers a way to make government more open, fast, and collaborative, transforming citizens from passive recipients into active problem-solvers. A simple app to adopt fire hydrants started in Boston and spread to nine cities, showing how grassroots ideas can outpace traditional bureaucracy. Instead of treating government as a slow, unchangeable machine, digital tools empower communities to take action together. The real work happens when people use their hands, not just their voices, to shape the public good.