Civtech: ‘Citizen Technology’ To Improve Quality Of Life For City Dwellers
The spontaneous participation of people in the interest of various civic needs through digital means is basically called civic technology or ‘civic technology’. Sometimes it is abbreviated as ‘Civ Tech’ or ‘Civ Tech’.
Civtech: ‘Citizen Technology’ To Improve Quality Of Life For City Dwellers
That is, no special technology like computer or robotics is called ‘citizen technology’. Rather, the participation of citizens in discussions through technology to meet their own needs is called civic technology.
It is a part of civic technology when citizens or civil society express their views on research and policies related to urban development through various means such as apps, websites or platforms.
Currently, everyone is getting the necessary information more easily through the use of various digital tools. As a result, communication and networking between people and various organizations, institutions, political parties and officials in charge of administration is becoming easier.
In this way, citizens are getting an opportunity to participate in discussions with local government officials regarding various municipal services or initiatives. In short, if citizen technology is used properly, citizens can monitor the progress of various projects. This will increase transparency and accountability at the administrative level.
Some Examples Of Civic Technology From Around The World
In many countries of the world, platforms have been created for citizens to discuss with various government institutions and officials. These platforms can be of different shapes and sizes. For example, the UK government has a special website called “petitions.parliament.uk” for citizens to submit various petitions to the government. The petition website guarantees that if a petition has the support of a sufficient number of people, it will be debated in Parliament.
A simple information search website can also be an example of citizen technology. The German government has one such website called “Frag den Staat”, which means “Ask the State”.
Besides, volunteers can manage such platforms in private enterprises as well. One such example of civic technology can be found in Germany. Volunteers compile budget information on a platform in that country called ‘Offener Haushalt’ (meaning ‘free budget’). And from here any citizen can see the budget details of central, state or local government.
Civic Technology And Use Of Technology In Public Interest
Another concept similar to civic technology is ‘public interest tech’, which is applied on a larger scale. In simple words, the use of technology in the public interest is called ‘Public Interest Tech’. And in a sense, civic technology is a type of ‘public interest tech’. That is, civic technology is very well associated with the idea of using technology for public good.
But as mentioned earlier, the concept of ‘Public Interest Tech’ is applied on a larger scale. For example, the main purpose of using technology in the public interest is the use of technology for the welfare of all in society. That is, any tool, software or platform built for citizen participation falls under ‘Public Interest Tech’. But beyond this, if technology is used for the benefit of any infrastructure of communication between citizens or people with disabilities or poor people, victims of accidents, disasters or crimes, it is also ‘Public Interest Tech’.
Basically, a technology is ‘Public Interest Tech’ if it is implemented with only the welfare of the users in mind. It doesn’t matter if there is a demand for that technology in the market or not.
That is, the goal of ‘Civic Technology’ has some similarities with the goal of ‘Public Interest Tech’ or the goal of using technology for public benefit. But as the scope of ‘Public Interest Tech’ is bigger, it tries to remove legal, political or social obstacles in using technology for public interest.
As a result, attempts can be made to move beyond the realm of civic technology under ‘Public Interest Tech’ to answer questions such as:
• How can technology be used to solve problems like food security?
• How can people from different parts of the world come together through virtual networks to deal with problems like environmental disaster?
Using Citizen Technology To Protect Environment And Climate
The field of use of civic technology is very wide. This will be clear only if we look at the various examples of implementation of citizen technology at the international level.
Civic technology is primarily used to bring transparency to various government projects or initiatives, but ‘civic tech’ can also be used to protect the environment and climate.
For example, city dwellers can install sensors on their balconies to see how polluted the air they breathe is. In this way, the information obtained from the sensors of the residents in different parts of the city can be combined to see how the air quality is in the city. In this way, a map of the air quality of the entire city can be created.
Citizens can give their opinion on whether there is a road or environment suitable for cycling in an area through a simple app. With the app, the attention of the authorities can be drawn whether a company is using unnecessary plastic packaging in their products.
In the field of research, citizens can calculate the number of animals in an area through satellite images. Also, in the same way, the general public can monitor the amount of environmentally harmful gas emissions from factories like methane or illegal deforestation.
In this way, an important database needed for both the civil society and the government can be created at the initiative of the citizens. And citizens themselves can benefit from this database in various ways.
A consideration of the aforementioned examples suggests two particular characteristics of civic technology. First, anyone with an interest in data can take the initiative to build a civic technology platform. And secondly, ‘Civic Tech Applications’ can be created using information gathered from open sources of data such as economics, environment, statistics or educational institutions.
Again, civic tech applications are generally ‘open source’, being open to all. As a result, these software can be used, modified or distributed as needed. Also, everything from data sources to building citizen technology platforms is now available for free.
Although the type of civic technology differs in different countries or societies, its main goal is the same. And that is to somehow ensure the empowerment of citizens through the use of technology.
