#vnyc
2018-11-06
FYI - Tomorrow, if you are voting in NYC's election, please watch this video on the three ballot initiatives. Also, check to see who is on your ballot via http://whosontheballot.org/ — #NYCvotes http://punkcast.com/3816/Manhattan_Community_Boards_-_Understanding_Your_Ballot_11_01_2018.mp4
whosontheballot.org
Everything you need to know about NYC elections.
ah saw this too late haha.
⏰ 🏫 💻 ❤️ 🗽 — NYC's open data portal has over 2,000+ data sets that tell our 8 million+ stories. Knowing how to use that data isn't easy. *Join us next Tuesday (13 Nov) and Thursday (15 Nov) as BetaNYC concludes its four part curriculum on NYC's open data. Designed from years of experience, these two classes will teach you (103) the city's open data portal & provide an introduction to spreadsheets; (104) provides a deep dive into US Census data and the Carto platform.*
While free, seating is limited to 25, and there is a suggested donation of $30.
FYI - both classes require the student to bring a computer; tools we are teaching will not work on iOS and Android devices/tablets.
*103 - 13 Nov - Open data portal and spreadsheets* - https://nyc-open-data-103-civichall2018.eventbrite.com
*104 - 15 Nov - US Census data and mapping via the carto platform*
- https://nyc-open-data-104-civichall2018.eventbrite.com
While free, seating is limited to 25, and there is a suggested donation of $30.
FYI - both classes require the student to bring a computer; tools we are teaching will not work on iOS and Android devices/tablets.
*103 - 13 Nov - Open data portal and spreadsheets* - https://nyc-open-data-103-civichall2018.eventbrite.com
*104 - 15 Nov - US Census data and mapping via the carto platform*
- https://nyc-open-data-104-civichall2018.eventbrite.com
Eventbrite
BetaNYC has designed tools and customized trainings specifically intended to help Community Boards access, analyze, map and use data to inform decision-making. These insights come from a three year partnership with the Manhattan Borough President’s Office. This workshop will teach you how to navigate the NYC open data portal to find your desired datasets, and implement fundamental data analytics in Socrata and spreadsheets. Believe it or not, you will leave this workshop completely confident in your ability to create useful data summaries using the Roll-up in Socrata and Pivot table in Google Sheets. Be prepared to work on and off the computer, as mid-way through we join together for a tactile, hands-on data exercise. To participate in this class we highly recommend you bring a laptop and power adapter. This class will not work on Chromebooks, iOS phones or tablets, nor on Android devices. Class time 90 mins. We start promptly at 5:20. Tickets are free and our classroom is limited to 25 people. We're asking for a suggested donation of $30. STATUS: This class is in beta! You can access our training material via this google drive link. Thank you Civic Hall for donating space to host our workshop. You should check out their near-daily newsletter, Civicist.
BetaNYC has designed tools and customized trainings specifically intended to help Community Boards access, analyze, map and use data to inform decision-making. These insights come from a three year partnership with the Manhattan Borough President’s Office. This workshop will extend your understanding of data into the spatial dimension, teaching you to make maps using Carto, a web-based mapping platform. Specifically you will learn how to map NYC open data, import a boundary shapefile into a map, and join a boundary file with Census information in order to map socio-demographics of NYC communities. Come ready to take your understanding of data into the spatial realm! To participate in this class we highly recommend you bring a laptop and power adapter. This class will not work on Chromebooks, iOS phones or tablets, nor on Android devices. Class time 90 mins. We start promptly at 5:20. Tickets are free and our classroom is limited to 25 people. We're asking for a suggested donation of $30. STATUS: beta! You can access our training material via this google drive link. Thank you Civic Hall for donating space to host our workshop. You should check out their near-daily newsletter, Civicist.
2018-11-09
ah saw this too late haha.
2018-11-26
Good morning. New thread about the 2019 NYC Charter Revision process. Last week on Monday the commission released a bunch of documents, including: 1) Timeline for the process (http://charter2019.nyc/pdfs/Timeline.pdf) and 2) Summary of the proposals so far (http://charter2019.nyc/pdfs/Proposals.pdf). I just saw this yesterday, and one thing that stands out to me is that the timeline asks for the public to submit proposed focus areas of the commission until November 28, but there is no clear way to get public input to help prioritize which focus areas the public thinks the commission should focus on. This could be a good moment to insert a grassroots demonstration of a better engagement process. To that end I have taken the proposal focus areas and distilled them into 40 statements. I put these statements into a Pol.is conversation and an All Our Ideas webpage (links in the thread below). The commission’s timeline says that they will vote on which focus areas to pursue in December. I’d like to run a quick grassroots feedback process (1 or 2 weeks max, depending on when the commission is actually voting) and present this to the commission for consideration as they are selecting focus areas. What do people think? Which tool is better for this, Pol.is or All Our Ideas? Anyone who testified hear back from the commission? Anyone interested in helping to promote this grassroots feedback excersise? @itsmisscs @lizbarry @patcon @bitsy.bentley @devin @noneck @darshana
2019 charter reivision topic areas feedback on polis: https://pol.is/9arwjz9ev5
2019 charter reivision topic areas feedback on All Our Ideas: http://allourideas.org/nycpeoplescharter
Airtable with the statements (in the Proposal Focus Areas tab): https://airtable.com/shryszDJvJiX2Iiyk
Impressive work Nathan. Thanks for doing all this.
I've set up a Consul deployment that we can test as well. http://v.mygov.nyc/admin
If you'd like an admin account please register and ping me and I can upgrade your access.
If you'd like an admin account please register and ping me and I can upgrade your access.
I created a "Collaborative Legislation" Consul process here: http://v.mygov.nyc/legislation/processes/1/debate
And I added a few "questions" from the Elections section of the PDF doc you posted so people could see how it would look to accomodate this process.
btw, i have been talking to the commission's civic enagement person and they are intersted in hosting a listening session on how to use digital tools for their next phase.
@nathan.p.storey do you think you can demo a workflow?
Cool - I'd certainly like to attend that "listening session"
I posted "Board of Elections" questions/proposals under Consul's "Debate" feature and Campaign Finance ones under the "Proposal" feature so folks can get an idea of the differences.
Okay now I've used both all our ideas and polis and think, in this context, all our ideas makes more sense as it delivers a result that makes prioritization easier.
Thanks for jumping in on this Devin and Noel - I’ll reply this evening when I get home.
Picking up on a few things here - my proposal to use Polis or All Our Ideas (All Our Ideas was originally suggested by @lizbarry) is for the specific step in the process that is happening right now - the commission selecting which “focus areas” they will proceed with. Specific ask here to @noneck - do you think you could find out when the commission will be voting on the focus areas, and if they would be open to receiving feedback from the public on how to prioritize? Regarding the next step in the process - the Jan-Mar 2019 public meetings to solicit proposals - I would be happy to help walk through some of the options. For this part, I think Consul (something like what @devin set up) might be good. For the May-June 2019 public meetings on the draft slate of proposals I could see Polis being really useful. Could be cool to propose 3 tools to be used in different parts of the process timeline as outlined by the Commission. Noel - when will this listening session on using digital tools be happening?
First time hearing the charter revision. Submission of ideas seem pretty daunting. Anyone has recommendation on how to start learning about this...?
Hi Robin - I think a good place to start is this blog post from BetaNYC, written by Noel: https://beta.nyc/2018/09/19/nyc-charter-revision-commission-and-you/ You can also check out the charter revision website (http://www.charter2019.nyc) for more info.
god, this would be so much easier if we all worked in the same room... before y'all start talking about tools, i think a simple diagram of the process would work. honestly, i get lost when tools are referenced as process. polis here, consul, there... as a technologist, it is confusing and a bit fetishy... honestly, how can we go about digitizing a process without having a conversation around the process. if you want my buy in, we should have some conversations with the end user. you know, be all user centered and all that?
is there somewhere on the space time continuium we can chat? like maybe a weekend evening thing?
is there somewhere on the space time continuium we can chat? like maybe a weekend evening thing?
I'd be down for that. I'm at roots camp this weekend, but maybe next?
Happy to meet up. I'll be back on the 29th.
I’d be happy to meet up too! Point taken about fetishizing tools - not my intention, but I see how I’m contributing to this. Process over tools every time :) I can meet on December 8, but not dec 7 or dec 9.
Just putting it out there that I think some tools could deserve a bit of fetishization - if you're into that type of thing.
I just got off the phone with the Charter team, they are open do doing a webinar to talk about their process and needs. Then, we can come up with ideas on how our tools can work within their general flow.
Should we plan on having an inperson meeting on the 8th?
Awesome. Bravo. I'm flexible on time.
Excellent! I am flexible on meeting time on Dec 8 as well.
Dec 8 works for me
i'm available by 6pm or so on Dec 8, or i could skip this daytime event i'm supposed to be presenting at and be available earlier
Dec. 8 is good for me, too
I think i'm going to skip out of this daytime thing -- can we get an afternoon time on our calendar?
How about 5 or 6pm? Maybe we can meet over some tacos
5 or 6pm works for me and tacos sounds great. I vote for Brooklyn tacos.
the 8th works for me, i have a bday party to attend at 6-7-8ish... how many people are coming? maybe we can crash the party?
How about meet for tacos at 5 to discuss business and then optimal merriment after?
We could meet in Williamsburg, *or* there’s a taco place by my house in Clinton Hill: Xochitl Taqueria
1015 Fulton St, Brooklyn, NY 11238
https://goo.gl/maps/12LfDYVoPEK2
1015 Fulton St, Brooklyn, NY 11238
https://goo.gl/maps/12LfDYVoPEK2
Clinton Hill pls
If we meet at the tacos by my house I’ll bring my daughter along for a bit :)
... then can we work at your place Nathan? If not we can work at mine - an under 15 minute walk from Nathan's.
Probably better to work at Devin’s after, but we can play it by ear. Regardless, sounds like a plan to meet at Xochitl at 5pm this Saturday.
btw, yall are invited to this birthday party. he is part of our tribe.
great!
Ahh good point. But with Chris's Party at 6 that doesn't leave us much time at all to do anything but eat tacos and then walk 20 minutes to Chris's.
Maybe we should aim for taco lunch instead. Then we could get a bit of work done too.
before Chris's party.
ah i have a noon-two+ committment at an architecture thing but can join after
i'm pro-vnyc-taco before party
I could meet a bit earlier- how about 4-6 for taco-vnyc pre-party? It should be ok to meet at Xochitl that whole time, but if it gets weird in there we can head to my place right around the corner as long as we’re out by ~6pm.
Sounds good to me.
Just catching up to this all - awesome work. Count me in as well. ( ++ I love live messy scribing / drawing diagrams to help wade through the muck.)
ok. Xochitl this Saturday from 4-6. i've sent calendar invites to those of you whom i have email address for...
Nice
Excellent! Looking forward to this.
I’ll have a few paper copies of the above documents. See you at Xochitl at 4pm!
En route ! 4 stops away on the C
Kate and I are 10 min away.
@nathan.p.storey @lizbarry @bitsy.bentley @devin @noneck Notes from yesterday’s meeting have been documented here. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xhjxVFtesiC0dphuP4KTUZdtaUiVWkQRWz-UWwnNk9g/edit?usp=sharing
If you are inclined, please add your “key takeaways” and “next steps” at the end of the document so as to create a more accessible and actionable meeting summary.
Thanks @katehnicholson!!!!!!!!
Yes, thanks for the notes @katehnicholson and thanks everyone for the conversation. Very happy to be in active conversations on #vnyc with other process nerds. @noneck - will wait to hear from you re securing the lunchtime demystifying the timeline event.
Hi all, just coming up for air and checking on on this interesting convo. @noneck do you need any additional docs / support from us? I have some time today i can kick in if it would help
Also curious. Are you organizing / preparing anything specific this week? Let us know : ] @noneck @lizbarry
Good analysis from Citizen's Budget Commission on the focus areas that the 2019 Charter Revision Commission voted to focus on: https://cbcny.org/research/charter-revision-2019
Hello thread. I just spoke to Indiana. She will get back to me by the end of the week on what are their preferred next steps. She expressed that the Commission might have some concerns about doing a webinar. I offered that we don't have to do a webinar and we could do a small briefing between the Commission and us. (More or less, I'm looking for any door for us to get in...) She was more receptive to that idea. Again, she'll be updating me by the end of the week.
great!
i'll be back in NYC friday night onward
I'm back on Monday
Still no word from the commission.
Wednesday night there is a PBP-related meeting about the Commission. I think they might have their ear. I'll reportback what I learn.
2019 charter reivision topic areas feedback on polis: https://pol.is/9arwjz9ev5
2019 charter reivision topic areas feedback on All Our Ideas: http://allourideas.org/nycpeoplescharter
All Our Ideas
All Our Ideas is a platform that enables groups to collect and prioritize ideas in a transparent, democratic, and bottom-up way. It’s a suggestion box for the digital age.
Airtable with the statements (in the Proposal Focus Areas tab): https://airtable.com/shryszDJvJiX2Iiyk
Airtable
Explore the "People's Charter <http://Pol.is|Pol.is> Questions" base on Airtable.
Impressive work Nathan. Thanks for doing all this.
I've set up a Consul deployment that we can test as well. http://v.mygov.nyc/admin
If you'd like an admin account please register and ping me and I can upgrade your access.
If you'd like an admin account please register and ping me and I can upgrade your access.
1
I created a "Collaborative Legislation" Consul process here: http://v.mygov.nyc/legislation/processes/1/debate
And I added a few "questions" from the Elections section of the PDF doc you posted so people could see how it would look to accomodate this process.
btw, i have been talking to the commission's civic enagement person and they are intersted in hosting a listening session on how to use digital tools for their next phase.
@nathan.p.storey do you think you can demo a workflow?
Cool - I'd certainly like to attend that "listening session"
I posted "Board of Elections" questions/proposals under Consul's "Debate" feature and Campaign Finance ones under the "Proposal" feature so folks can get an idea of the differences.
2018-11-27
Okay now I've used both all our ideas and polis and think, in this context, all our ideas makes more sense as it delivers a result that makes prioritization easier.
Thanks for jumping in on this Devin and Noel - I’ll reply this evening when I get home.
Picking up on a few things here - my proposal to use Polis or All Our Ideas (All Our Ideas was originally suggested by @lizbarry) is for the specific step in the process that is happening right now - the commission selecting which “focus areas” they will proceed with. Specific ask here to @noneck - do you think you could find out when the commission will be voting on the focus areas, and if they would be open to receiving feedback from the public on how to prioritize? Regarding the next step in the process - the Jan-Mar 2019 public meetings to solicit proposals - I would be happy to help walk through some of the options. For this part, I think Consul (something like what @devin set up) might be good. For the May-June 2019 public meetings on the draft slate of proposals I could see Polis being really useful. Could be cool to propose 3 tools to be used in different parts of the process timeline as outlined by the Commission. Noel - when will this listening session on using digital tools be happening?
First time hearing the charter revision. Submission of ideas seem pretty daunting. Anyone has recommendation on how to start learning about this...?
Hi Robin - I think a good place to start is this blog post from BetaNYC, written by Noel: https://beta.nyc/2018/09/19/nyc-charter-revision-commission-and-you/ You can also check out the charter revision website (http://www.charter2019.nyc) for more info.
BetaNYC
While NYC might not have direct democracy, it does have a Charter Revision Commission. This commission gives the people the power to rewrite the City’s constitution — aka the City Charter. I…
Charter Revision Commission 2019
The New York City Charter is the city's constitution, creating the framework for our government. The 2019 Commission has a broad mandate to conduct a top-to-bottom review and will bring its recommendations to the public in November 2019.
- 👍1
god, this would be so much easier if we all worked in the same room... before y'all start talking about tools, i think a simple diagram of the process would work. honestly, i get lost when tools are referenced as process. polis here, consul, there... as a technologist, it is confusing and a bit fetishy... honestly, how can we go about digitizing a process without having a conversation around the process. if you want my buy in, we should have some conversations with the end user. you know, be all user centered and all that?
is there somewhere on the space time continuium we can chat? like maybe a weekend evening thing?
is there somewhere on the space time continuium we can chat? like maybe a weekend evening thing?
I'd be down for that. I'm at roots camp this weekend, but maybe next?
Happy to meet up. I'll be back on the 29th.
2018-11-28
I’d be happy to meet up too! Point taken about fetishizing tools - not my intention, but I see how I’m contributing to this. Process over tools every time :) I can meet on December 8, but not dec 7 or dec 9.
Just putting it out there that I think some tools could deserve a bit of fetishization - if you're into that type of thing.
2018-11-30
Incase you're not on BetaNYC's newsletter, we have some huge news to share. Short version — the state of NYC's #civictech & #opendata community is strong and growing stronger. Read all about it here.
https://t.co/QG9xdcaefd
https://t.co/QG9xdcaefd
- 🙌4