nyc.gov Goes Digital 3: Digital Input

Photo of a swing ride

Digital Environments
669 Tumblr | 195 Quora | 1690 NYC.gov Survey | 175 Open Data Survey | 480 City Agency Survey | 200 By The City | 256 Twitter | 160 Open NY Meetup | 87 Social Media Week | 42 SXSW | 72 Startup Brownbag Lunch | 36 PSFK | 8 RPA | 4089 Total Points of Insight

OVER THE COURSE OF ITS initial 90 days, NYC Digital undertook an extensive investigatory process in both digital and physical environments, welcoming input from the public via in-person workshops, listening sessions, brownbag lunches, Question and Answer sessions, interviews, Meetups, and through digital media tools such as Twitter, Quora, Facebook, Google surveys, and email.

Internally, NYC Digital met with dozens of agencies, learning about their successes and challenges, and providing social media managers with a forum to express their digital needs. The Office also conducted a survey of social media activity among digital communications managers, providing invaluable insights.

The following is a breakdown of input, which amounted to over 4,000 points of engagement across the public and private sectors.

New York City Skyline

Public Input

THE MOST FREQUENT REQUESTS FROM the public were for public Wi-Fi, realtime public transportation information, updates to nyc.gov, 311 mobile applications, and centralized social media.

PUBLIC NEEDS:

  • Public Wi-Fi and Broader Internet Access
  • Real-time Public Information
  • nyc.gov
  • 311 Apps
  • Streamlined Social Media

 Public Wi-Fi 
Wireless Internet access in public spaces and underground subway Internet stations was one of the leading requests from citizens. Residents shared widely ranging suggestions and reasons, excerpted below:

Free public Wi-Fi across the Board. Not just in Bryant Park. Up here in the Bronx too... | Ubiquitous Wi-Fi with the help of 4G/WiMAX capable technologies 2. Create a public could using the city's existing IT infrastructure | More public Wi-Fi so businesses can grow and move

And Wi-Fi in subways:

City-wide (including subway) wi-fi network would help to not only bring entrepreneurs to NY, but also to spread high speed internet access to historically underserved communities.

NYC.gov

THE CITY'S WEBSITE, NYC.GOV was the focus of significant public input. While some praised its information and content, many New Yorkers expressed that it could be confusing and in need of a redesign. Comments included "unwieldy," "hard to navigate," "confusing to navigate," and "overcomplicated." A sample of public feedback:

nyc.gov is a little hard to navigate/search | nyc.gov could use a refresh | I wish nyc.gov was a little easier to navigate, better organized. If you could make the online experience closer to the phone experience (and I hate using the phone), you'd really have something there | The search function within the different departments of nyc.gov could be a little better. also it seems like some depts are cooperating with nyc.gov and others are not, especially when it comes to job openings | Nyc.gov is just too unwieldy. Not sure every NYC gov service or business unit needs to be present. Some services probably need a dedicated site. | Some parts of nyc.gov are confusing to navigate, but I appreciate all the information that is on it. The contact forms are great. | NYC.gov is overcomplicated and lacks consistency between departments, agencies and services. I'm not suggesting that a cohesive visual brand needs to be developed and extended to each agency, but the website itself could be improved to quickly provide the correct path(s) depending on what the readers are looking for.

REAL-TIME TRANSIT UPDATES AND APPLICATIONS 
While the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) does not reside within municipal
government, a desire for timely updates via mobile devices was one of the most common public requests.

Accurate, real-time info on public transit would be awesome! Would make for a great mobile app.

MOBILE PAYMENTS 
Many New Yorkers requested mobile payment methods for bills and fees associated with the City, such as parking violations and water bills. Suggestions ranged from smartphone applications to QR code scanners that link to mobile sites. Some also praised existing services to pay bills online.

You are getting stuff online quickly - I LOVE getting my water bill online and seeing my daily use. Just keep doing it!

311 VIA TWITTER AND MOBILE APP 
Although 311 already offers an iPhone application, many citizens were not aware of this and requested the creation of an app for uploading service requests with images and location tagging. Others requested 311 service via Twitter, an avenue that 311 has begun to explore by routing individuals to the correct online resource.

I like the 311 phone app for reporting problems like potholes w location and picture - I'd like the App extended to cover more options. I seems like a super efficient tool. | Geo-location app and 311 seems like a natural. Allow me to pick need (service, event or opportunity) and serve information based on my loction or serve me information about services, events or opportunities based on my location.

CENTRALIZED SOCIAL MEDIA AND INFO: TWITTER, FACEBOOK, TUMBLR 
Reflecting the growing importance of social media, many New Yorkers requested a curated version of the City's information and social media activity.

While I used to get most of my information from the nyc.gov website, these days I get most from twitter and facebook accts of various agencies.

GET THE BASICS RIGHT - ACCESS 
Finally, many citizens reinforced the importance of achieving the basics before launching more glamorous but potentially less accessible technologies.

Don't try to do anything crazy, don't hold tweet-ups, or hashtag the Mayor's YouTube's, just make government IT work, just make the website not a Byzantine maze, just make it so that people actually replay to emails, just 1990 tchnology actuall work before you integrat the latest greatest fad. | One key thing we need to do as technologists is stop trying to answer these questions with 'we need an iPhone app!' or 'we need and Android app!' or 'let's use Twitter!' Because most New Yorkers don't have access to any of these devices or platforms, and even SMS is limited in its reach. We need to create solutions that are much more about empowering those who *don't* live with the latest cutting-edge tech all the time, for the good of the entire city.

Please make sure you add captioning to all your videos so they are accessible to all. Thanks | We need phone chargers in the back of cabs. | Digitize community boards, and stream meetings. Impossible for parents to attend those things.Other public input ideas included:

  • QR Codes on Restaurant Inspections
  • Phone Chargers in Cabs
  • One-Stop Shop for Tech Startups, Filing, and Intellectual Property
  • Kiva for Government Projects
  • Access
  • Timely News Updates and Press Releases
  • Digitize and Stream Community Boards
  • Google Maps instead of CityMap

Entrepreneur and Developer Community

THE TOP NEED EXPRESSED BY the entrepreneur and startup community was for a greater engineering talent pool, followed by improved broadband connectivity and dialogue with vendors. The developer community was nearly uniform in their highest priority request for the City's digital future: An Application Programming Interface, or api, to unlock the City's vast stores of data. Following this, developers expressed a desire to simplify the vendor procurement process for small development firms and to increase the visibility of Requests for Proposal.

NYC is filled with really smart people. So NYC should provide them the tools to best serve themserves and fellow citizens, Example: good APIs PRIVATE SECTOR AND TECHNOLOGIST INPUT:
  • Engineering Talent
  • Broadband Connectivity
  • Real-time API of NYC Data and Services
  • Faster Procurement Process
  • Visibility of RFP's

ENGINEERING TALENT
Technology startups cited the need for a stronger engineering workforce as their most prominent need, reflecting the NYC Media 2020 report produced by the Economic Development Corporation. Entrepreneurs suggested that competition for engineers with the West Coast and the financial sector, as well as the need for an anchor engineering institution, were key influences. Many asked for support in sourcing current and projected engineering roles in New York City.

OPEN DATA API
The single greatest request from the developer community was nearly uniform: a RESTful Read/Write api, or Application Programming Interface, for public data and services. Some commentators added that open source software will ensure that data is easily, lawfully extractable and processable. Developers also advocated for a secure, cloud-based infrastructure to ensure scalability. An api enables different software programs to communicate with each other, supporting an ecosystem of tools and features powered by an application.

Defining a presentation framework that would allow developers to have easy access to pubic service's data | Instead of trying to anticipate our needs, work on building open APIs and databases and let us find our own uses for your data.

BROADBAND
While broadband connectivity in the City of New York reportedly reaches 98% of residences, many commercial and industrially zoned areas lack the infrastructure to support successful technology ventures. The venture capital and entrepreneur capital cited broadband connectivity as an impediment to growth, expansion, and productivity.

Agency Feedback

What struck me about the city APIs is that they're not really standardized: some are Excel psreadsheets, others are CSVs, others are in text format, others demand Access database usage (yikes), etc.ACROSS THE CITY OF NEW YORK, dozens of resourceful, highly motivated social media managers are quietly evolving the way that New York City government engages with the public. Many launch and maintain vibrant social media channels on top of their core responsibilities, expanding efforts as they recognize the effectiveness of the tools in reaching constituents, providing information, and receiving crucial feedback.

This group represents a glimpse of the future of civic engagement, and their ideas will help shape coordination and strategy.

AGENCY INPUT:

  • Strategy
  • Coordination
  • Management and Analytics
  • Resources
  • Integration

NEXT-GENERATION STRATEGY
Social media managers proposed unifying the City's various digital initiatives more closely within a cohesive strategic mission. To this end, agencies suggested expanding existing supports and increasing agency-to-agency consultation, shared best practices, and training from private sector leaders.

NEW COORDINATION TOOLS
Agencies proposed the adoption of additional coordination measures among agencies to maximize the impact of social media engagement. Suggested measures included social media-specific shared calendars, mailing lists, and other collaboration tools.

Social Media Week panel with Seth Pinsky, Commissioner Carole Post, and Rachel Sterne, moderated by Jeanette Moy of the Mayor's Office of Operations.

POLICIES
Social media managers proposed new citywide policies for digital communications, with the goal of more effectively providing information and directing citizens to resources.

MANAGEMENT AND ANALYTICS
To enhance effectiveness of newsletters, many suggested the adoption of management tools (such as MailChimp or Constant Contact) that track engagement levels and allow managers to measure Key Performance Indicators and campaign success. In addition, many suggested that some form of a citywide Citizen Relationship Management system would improve efficiency. Lastly, social media managers widely proposed the use of Google Analytics in order to measure constituent traffic, analyze successful incoming campaigns, and learn from visitor traffic patterns.

MOBILE APPLICATIONS
A growing number of City agencies seek mobile applications and SMS systems to help serve their constituencies, and are interested in guidance on how to develop concepts, outline specifications, and engage developers for implementation. As serving the greatest possible number of residents is the goal of any City agency, embracing mobile technology offers a unique opportunity to expand reach.

INTEGRATION
Social media managers expressed ideas for more deeply integrating digital media into agency activities, to enable even greater alignment with goals and support growing the digital needs of constituents.

SHARED DEVELOPER EVALUATIONS
As more City agencies work with developers to build digital tools, some suggested new means of sharing feedback on the experience, performance, and results of projects.

via nyc.gov