From Civic Tech to Community Innovation

Ottawa Civic Tech Meetup, Jan 22 2025

Preamble

My hope for this presentation is to expand our view of “civic” technology from its foundational origins (i.e., better ways to engage citizens with government and vice versa) as an engine for broader community innovation. I also offer some slides reflecting on the state of tech innovation (exemplified by the Silicon Valley model) and why that model is becoming increasingly ill-suited for innovation that works for everyone.

Intro — How civic technology acts as a stepping stone for broader community-driven innovation; Positioning communities as active innovators rather than passive beneficiaries.

Slide 2 — Innovation from two sides: (1) who gets to participate; and (2) who benefits from outcomes of innovation

Source: https://www.promisingtrouble.net/blog/innovation-for-everyone

Slide 3 — Technological innovation revered as the engine of progress; the influence of the Silicon Valley narrative

Sources: https://medium.com/@luclalande/silicon-valleys-time-for-a-reckoning-8361ac5800df || https://crookedtimber.org/2023/11/15/silicon-valleys-worldview-is-not-just-an-ideology-its-a-personality-disorder/ || https://www.philonomist.com/en/interview/origins-tech-thought

Slide 4 — Marc Andreessen : “Technology is the spearhead of progress” & “the only perpetual source of growth is technology.”

Sources: https://a16z.com/the-techno-optimist-manifesto/ || https://a16z.com/the-little-tech-agenda/ || https://archive.is/9CIYF

Slide 5 — Apple’s iPad Pro Crush Ad; Shiny New Things & Killer Apps— Apple as the exemplar of innovation (iPad Pro, Vision Pro VR)

Source: https://www.queensbusinessreview.com/articles/cooked-innovation-how-apple-lost-its-magic || https://www.forbes.com/sites/gregpetro/2019/06/07/at-its-core-apple-is-no-longer-innovative/ || https://variety.com/2024/digital/news/why-apple-ipad-ad-controversy-backlash-1236017855/

Slide 6 — Mark Zuckerberg Promoting the ‘Metaverse’ — Lessons From the Catastrophic Failure of the Metaverse

Source: https://archive.is/uHFpn || https://live-thenation.pantheon.io/article/culture/metaverse-zuckerberg-pr-hype/

Slide 7 — Silicon Valley and Myth of tech genius/tech bro culture

Sources: https://medium.com/ellemeno/the-rise-of-pseudo-tech-geniuses-7953f3269ce1 || https://archive.is/QOyhm || https://www.newstatesman.com/thestaggers/2022/12/2022-killed-myth-tech-genius-twitter-elon-musk-big-tech || https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/12/23/1107291/the-cult-of-tech/

Slide 8 — The fusion of Silicon Valley and Political Power

Sources: https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-silicon-white-house/ || https://broligarchy.substack.com/p/total-information-collapse || https://jackdallaire.medium.com/the-trump-musk-surveillance-state-is-coming-7043b4cd026d || https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L68zd2YceFQ

Slide 9 — The Present and Future State of Tech Innovation (Silicon Valley model)

Sources: https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2024/07/15/Enshittification-Everything/ || https://archive.is/xq3f9 || https://cantina.co/that-thing-you-bought-isnt-a-thing-its-a-service/ || https://bsky.app/profile/amifieldsmeyer.bsky.social/post/3lgbxi45zac2i ||

https://tante.cc/2024/05/28/empty-innovation-at-republica-2024-rp24/

Slide 10 — An Invitation to Ottawa Civic Tech

Source: https://medium.com/@luclalande/from-civic-tech-to-community-innovation-claude-ai-d226661ebf2b

Slide 11 — You Can’t Tech Away Problems in Isolation

Source: https://www.thealgorithmicbridge.com/p/you-cant-tech-away-loneliness

Slide 12 — Why Civic Tech Matters to Community Innovation

Source: https://idronline.org/article/perspectives/connection-not-abstraction-rethinking-philantrhopy-for-social-change/

Slide 13 — Principles of Community Innovation

Source: https://luclalande.medium.com/community-based-innovation-4cef83bf1199 || https://medium.com/westenberg/why-its-time-to-build-in-public-d7b2fe40c0e8

Slide 14 — Community Innovation at the Rideau-Rockcliffe Community Resource Centre

Source: https://medium.com/westenberg/why-its-time-to-build-in-public-d7b2fe40c0e8

Slide 15 — The 4th Era of Ottawa Tech; the Opportunity for Civic Tech and Community Innovation

Sources: https://luclalande.medium.com/history-of-ottawa-tech-industry-9c1bd9dc3ba9 || https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gw-bhY-2_Y

Recommended Authors (Critical Perspectives on Technology and Innovation)

Paris Marx — Tech Won’t Save Us & disconnect.blog

Brian Merchant — Blood in the Machine

Molly White — Citation Needed

Gil Durán — The Nerd Reich

Systems Crash — A weekly tech news show for you — the people Silicon Valley is happening to.

Edward Ongweso Jr. — The Tech Bubble

404 Media — a journalist-founded digital media company exploring the ways technology is shaping–and is shaped by–our world.

Carole Cadwalladr — How to Survive the Broligarchy

Jacob Silverman