So a couple of years ago I started a program to try to get the rockstar tech and design people to take a year off and work in the one environment that represents pretty much everything they're supposed to hate; we have them work in government. The program is called Code for America, and it's a little bit like a Peace Corps for geeks. We select a few fellows every year and we have them work with city governments. Instead of sending them off into the Third World, we send them into the wilds of City Hall. And there they make great apps, they work with city staffers. But really what they're doing is they're showing what's possible with technology today.
Hai un par de anos comecei un programa co fin de intentar convencer aos mellores informáticos e deseñadores para que collesen un ano libre e traballasen nun medio que representa en boa medida o que moita xente odia; púxenos a traballar para o governo. O programa chámase "Code for America", é algo coma un Corpo de Paz para chapóns. Seleccionamos algúns cada ano e mandámolos traballar en concellos. No canto de envialos ao Terceiro Mundo, enviámolos ás xunglas municipais. Onde poden desenvolver grandes aplicacións, traballar con funcionarios. Pero o que fan é amosar o que é posíbel coa tecnoloxía de hoxe.
So meet Al. Al is a fire hydrant in the city of Boston. Here it kind of looks like he's looking for a date, but what he's really looking for is for someone to shovel him out when he gets snowed in, because he knows he's not very good at fighting fires when he's covered in four feet of snow. Now how did he come to be looking for help in this very unique manner? We had a team of fellows in Boston last year through the Code for America program. They were there in February, and it snowed a lot in February last year. And they noticed that the city never gets to digging out these fire hydrants. But one fellow in particular, a guy named Erik Michaels-Ober, noticed something else, and that's that citizens are shoveling out sidewalks right in front of these things. So he did what any good developer would do, he wrote an app.
Preséntovos a AI. AI é unha boca de incendios de Boston. Aquí parece que está a buscar moza, pero en realidade busca a alguén que lle saque a neve de enriba, porque sabe que non ha valer para loitar contra o lume cando estea cuberto por un metro de neve. Como fixo para pedir axuda deste xeito único? Tivemos un grupo en Boston o ano pasado grazas ao programa Code for America. Estiveron alí en febreiro, e nevou moito o febreiro pasado. E decatáronse de que a cidade nunca limpaba estas bocas de incendios. Pero un deles, un rapaz chamado Erik Michaels-Ober, decatouse de algo, e é que os cidadáns retiraban a neve das rúas xusto diante destas cousas. Así que fixo o que faría calquera programador, creou unha aplicación.
It's a cute little app where you can adopt a fire hydrant. So you agree to dig it out when it snows. If you do, you get to name it, and he called the first one Al. And if you don't, someone can steal it from you. So it's got cute little game dynamics on it. This is a modest little app. It's probably the smallest of the 21 apps that the fellows wrote last year. But it's doing something that no other government technology does. It's spreading virally.
Unha aplicación moi xeitosa que che permite adoptar unha boca de incendios. Así que aceptas limpalo cando neva. Se o fas podes pórlle nome, e el chamou ao primeiro AI. E se non o fas, outra persoa poderá roubarcho. Vedes que a dinámica é a dun inocente xogo. Trátase dunha pequena aplicación modesta. Se callar a máis pequena das 21 que se crearon o ano pasado. Pero está a facer algo que ningunha outra tecnoloxía gobernamental fai. Esténdese axiña.
There's a guy in the I.T. department of the City of Honolulu who saw this app and realized that he could use it, not for snow, but to get citizens to adopt tsunami sirens. It's very important that these tsunami sirens work, but people steal the batteries out of them. So he's getting citizens to check on them. And then Seattle decided to use it to get citizens to clear out clogged storm drains. And Chicago just rolled it out to get people to sign up to shovel sidewalks when it snows. So we now know of nine cities that are planning to use this. And this has spread just frictionlessly, organically, naturally.
Hai un tipo no departamento de tecnoloxía informática de Honolulu que viu esta aplicación e decatouse de que podería empregala, non para a neve, pero para que os cidadáns adoptaran sirenas contra os tsunamis. É moi importante que estas sirenas funcionen, pero a xente róuballes as baterías. Así que fai que os cidadáns se preocupen por elas. E en Seattle decidiron empregala para que os cidadáns limpasen os sumidoiros atascados. E Chicago estendeuna para que a xente se rexistrase para limpar as beirarrúas cando neva. Xa que logo sabemos de nove cidades que pensan utilizala. E isto espallouse en harmonía, orgánica e naturalmente.
If you know anything about government technology, you know that this isn't how it normally goes. Procuring software usually takes a couple of years. We had a team that worked on a project in Boston last year that took three people about two and a half months. It was a way that parents could figure out which were the right public schools for their kids. We were told afterward that if that had gone through normal channels, it would have taken at least two years and it would have cost about two million dollars. And that's nothing. There is one project in the California court system right now that so far cost taxpayers two billion dollars, and it doesn't work. And there are projects like this at every level of government.
Se sabedes algo sobre tecnoloxía gobernamental, sabedes que non adoita funcionar así. Desenvolver un software adoita levar un par de anos. Tiñamos un equipo que traballou nun proxecto en Boston o ano pasado que ocupou a tres persoas durante dous meses e medio. Era un xeito para que os pais viran onde estaban as escolas públicas axeitadas para os seus fillos. Dixéronnos que de termos feito isto a través das canles normais, teríanos levado dous anos polo menos e teríanos costado uns dous millóns de dólares. E iso non é nada. Hai un proxecto no sistema xurídico de California que lles está a custar aos contribuíntes dous mil millóns de dólares, e que non funciona. E existen proxectos coma este en tódolos niveis gobernamentais.
So an app that takes a couple of days to write and then spreads virally, that's sort of a shot across the bow to the institution of government. It suggests how government could work better -- not more like a private company, as many people think it should. And not even like a tech company, but more like the Internet itself. And that means permissionless, it means open, it means generative. And that's important. But what's more important about this app is that it represents how a new generation is tackling the problem of government -- not as the problem of an ossified institution, but as a problem of collective action. And that's great news, because, it turns out, we're very good at collective action with digital technology.
Tárdase dous días en desenvolver unha aplicación e logo espállase viralmente, e é toda unha axuda para as institucións gobernamentais. Axuda a un mellor funcionamento do goberno, non coma faría una empresa privada, que é o que moitos pensan. E non coma unha compañía tecnolóxica, se non coma a propia rede. É dicir, sen permisos, aberto, xenerativo. E iso é importante. Pero o máis importante desta aplicación é que representa como unha nova xeración fai fronte aos problemas do goberno non coma un problema dunha institución ríxida, máis ben coma un problema de acción colectiva. E é algo incrible, porque resulta que somos moi bos nas accións colectivas con tecnoloxías dixitais.
Now there's a very large community of people that are building the tools that we need to do things together effectively. It's not just Code for America fellows, there are hundreds of people all over the country that are standing and writing civic apps every day in their own communities. They haven't given up on government. They are frustrated as hell with it, but they're not complaining about it, they're fixing it. And these folks know something that we've lost sight of. And that's that when you strip away all your feelings about politics and the line at the DMV and all those other things that we're really mad about, government is, at its core, in the words of Tim O'Reilly, "What we do together that we can't do alone."
Hai unha ampla comunidade de xente que desenvolve as ferramentas que precisamos para facer cousas xuntos de xeito eficiente. Non son só os tipos do Code for America, hai centos de persoas por todo o país que desenvolven aplicacións cidadás cada día nas súas propias comunidades. Non perderon a esperanza no goberno. Están moi frustrados con el, pero non se queixan, arránxano. E esta xente sabe algo que perdemos de vista. E é que cando eliminas tódolos teus sentimentos sobre política e as oficinas do goberno e todas esas cousas que nos poñen de mal humor, o goberno é, en esencia, en palabras de Tim O'Reilly, "O que facemos xuntos que non podemos facer sós".
Now a lot of people have given up on government. And if you're one of those people, I would ask that you reconsider, because things are changing. Politics is not changing; government is changing. And because government ultimately derives its power from us -- remember "We the people?" -- how we think about it is going to effect how that change happens.
Moita xente perdeu a esperanza no goberno. E se sodes unha desas persoas, prégovos que o reconsideredes, porque as cousas están a cambiar. A política non muda, o goberno muda. E xa que o goberno acada o poder grazas a nós lembrades "Nós o pobo"? como o vexamos ha afectar como os cambios acontecen.
Now I didn't know very much about government when I started this program. And like a lot of people, I thought government was basically about getting people elected to office. Well after two years, I've come to the conclusion that, especially local government, is about opossums.
Non sabía moito sobre o goberno cando comecei este programa. E ó igual que moita xente, pensaba que o goberno consistía en elixir ás persoas para uns cargos. Ben, logo de dous anos, cheguei á conclusión de que, en especial o goberno local, é cuestión de donicelas.
This is the call center for the services and information line. It's generally where you will get if you call 311 in your city. If you should ever have the chance to staff your city's call center, as our fellow Scott Silverman did as part of the program -- in fact, they all do that -- you will find that people call government with a very wide range of issues, including having an opossum stuck in your house. So Scott gets this call. He types "Opossum" into this official knowledge base. He doesn't really come up with anything. He starts with animal control. And finally, he says, "Look, can you just open all the doors to your house and play music really loud and see if the thing leaves?" So that worked. So booya for Scott. But that wasn't the end of the opossums.
Este é o centro de chamadas para servizos e liña de información. É onde acabas se chamas ao 911 da túa cidade. Se algunha vez tiveches a oportunidade de ver o centro de chamadas da túa cidade, como fixo o noso compañeiro Scott Silverman como parte do programa en realidade, todos o fan veredes que a xente chama ao goberno, por un amplo abano de cousas, mesmo que haxa unha donicela na túa casa. Scott recibiu esta chamada. Escribiu "Donicela" na base de datos oficial. E non conseguiu nada. Probou con control de animais. E por fin, díxolle, "Mire, pode abrir as portas da súa casa e poñer a música moi alta e agardar a que marche?" E funcionou. Ben por Scott. Pero non foi a fin das donicelas.
Boston doesn't just have a call center. It has an app, a Web and mobile app, called Citizens Connect. Now we didn't write this app. This is the work of the very smart people at the Office of New Urban Mechanics in Boston. So one day -- this is an actual report -- this came in: "Opossum in my trashcan. Can't tell if it's dead. How do I get this removed?" But what happens with Citizens Connect is different. So Scott was speaking person-to-person. But on Citizens Connect everything is public, so everybody can see this. And in this case, a neighbor saw it. And the next report we got said, "I walked over to this location, found the trashcan behind the house. Opossum? Check. Living? Yep. Turned trashcan on its side. Walked home. Goodnight sweet opossum."
Boston non só ten un centro de chamadas. Ten unha aplicación para Internet e móbil, chamada Citizens Connect. Non desenvolvemos nós esta aplicación. É o traballo de moita xente válida da oficina de novas tecnoloxías urbanas de Boston. Un día -é un informe actual- presentouse isto: "Donicela no meu cubo do lixo. Non sei se está morta. Como a saco de aquí? Pero o que ocorre con Citizens Connect é distinto. Polo que Scott estaba falando de persoa a persoa. Pero en Citizens Connect todo é público, todos poden velo. E neste caso, un veciño viuno. E vimos o seguinte informe que dicía, "Fun á súa casa, encontrei o cubo detrás da casa. Donicela? Comprobado. Viva? Si. Baleirei o cubo. Marchei a asa. Boas noites doce donicela".
(Laughter)
(Risos)
Pretty simple. So this is great. This is the digital meeting the physical. And it's also a great example of government getting in on the crowd-sourcing game. But it's also a great example of government as a platform. And I don't mean necessarily a technological definition of platform here. I'm just talking about a platform for people to help themselves and to help others. So one citizen helped another citizen, but government played a key role here. It connected those two people. And it could have connected them with government services if they'd been needed, but a neighbor is a far better and cheaper alternative to government services. When one neighbor helps another, we strengthen our communities. We call animal control, it just costs a lot of money.
Moi sinxelo. É incrible. Isto é o encontro do dixital co físico. E tamén é moi bo exemplo dun goberno entrando no xogo das masas. Pero tamén é un bo exemplo de goberno como plataforma. E aquí non é necesariamente unha definición tecnolóxica de plataforma. Só falo sobre unha plataforma para a xente para que se axuden a si mesmos e a outros. Así que un cidadán axuda a outro cidadán, pero o goberno xoga un papel esencial aquí. Conecta a esas persoas. E podería conectalas cos servizos gobernamentais se o precisaran, pero un veciño é moito mellor e unha alternativa máis barata cós servizos gobernamentais. Cando un veciño axuda a outro, fortalecemos as nosas comunidades. Chamar ao control de animais custa moitos cartos.
Now one of the important things we need to think about government is that it's not the same thing as politics. And most people get that, but they think that one is the input to the other. That our input to the system of government is voting. Now how many times have we elected a political leader -- and sometimes we spend a lot of energy getting a new political leader elected -- and then we sit back and we expect government to reflect our values and meet our needs, and then not that much changes? That's because government is like a vast ocean and politics is the six-inch layer on top. And what's under that is what we call bureaucracy. And we say that word with such contempt. But it's that contempt that keeps this thing that we own and we pay for as something that's working against us, this other thing, and then we're disempowering ourselves.
Unha cousa importante que debemos saber sobre os gobernos é que non é o mesmo ca política. Moita xente enténdeo, pero pensan que unha cousa vai da man da outra. Que a nosa achega ao sistema gobernamental é o voto. Cantas veces eliximos un líder político, e ás veces gastamos moita enerxía elixindo un novo líder político, e logo sentámonos e agardamos a que o goberno reflicta os nosos valores e cubra as nosas necesidades, e logo case que nada muda? Iso é porque o goberno é un amplo océano e a política é o recheo da cima. E o que está debaixo é o que chamamos burocracia. E dicimos esa palabra con desprezo. Pero é ese desprezo o que fai que as cousas que nos pertencen e polas que pagamos sexan algo que vaia na nosa contra, e entón quitámonos poder a nós mesmos.
People seem to think politics is sexy. If we want this institution to work for us, we're going to have to make bureaucracy sexy. Because that's where the real work of government happens. We have to engage with the machinery of government. So that's OccupytheSEC movement has done. Have you seen these guys? It's a group of concerned citizens that have written a very detailed 325-page report that's a response to the SEC's request for comment on the Financial Reform Bill. That's not being politically active, that's being bureaucratically active.
A xente parece que pensa que a política é sexy. Se queremos que esta institución traballe para nós, imos ter que facer que a burocracia sexa sexy. Porque alí é onde o traballo real dos gobernos ten lugar. Temos que relacionarnos coas máquinas do goberno. Iso fixo o movemento OccupytheSEC. Vistes a esta xente? É un grupo de cidadáns preocupados que escribiron un detallado informe de 325 páxinas que é unha resposta á petición do SEC para comentar o proxecto de reforma financeira. Iso non é ser politicamente activo, iso é ser burocraticamente activo.
Now for those of us who've given up on government, it's time that we asked ourselves about the world that we want to leave for our children. You have to see the enormous challenges that they're going to face. Do we really think we're going to get where we need to go without fixing the one institution that can act on behalf of all of us? We can't do without government, but we do need it to be more effective. The good news is that technology is making it possible to fundamentally reframe the function of government in a way that can actually scale by strengthening civil society. And there's a generation out there that's grown up on the Internet, and they know that it's not that hard to do things together, you just have to architect the systems the right way.
Agora para aqueles que perderon a esperanza no goberno, é hora de que se vos preguntedes que mundo lle queredes deixar aos vosos fillos. Tedes que ver os enormes retos que van ter que afrontar. Pensamos que imos ir onde temos que ir sen arranxar a única institución que pode actuar e preocuparse por todos nós? Non podemos vivir sen o goberno, pero necesitámolo para sermos máis efectivos. O bo é que a tecnoloxía fai posíbel reformular fundamentalmente a función do goberno dun xeito que poida escalar fortalecendo a sociedade civil. E hai unha xeración aí fóra que medrou con Internet, e saben que non é tan difícil facermos as cousas xuntos, só hai que crear os sistemas axeitados.
Now the average age of our fellows is 28, so I am, begrudgingly, almost a generation older than most of them. This is a generation that's grown up taking their voices pretty much for granted. They're not fighting that battle that we're all fighting about who gets to speak; they all get to speak. They can express their opinion on any channel at any time, and they do. So when they're faced with the problem of government, they don't care as much about using their voices. They're using their hands. They're using their hands to write applications that make government work better.
A idade media dos nosos compañeiros é de 28, polo que son, mal que me pese, case unha xeración máis vella ca maioría deles. Esta é unha xeración que medrou dando por descontadas as súas voces. Non loitan na batalla que todos loitamos sobre quen pode falar, todos poden falar. Poden dar as súas opinións mediante calquera canal en calquera momento, e fano. Cando se enfrontan co problema do goberno, non se preocupan de usar as súas voces. Usan as súas mans. Usan as súas mans para crear aplicacións para que o goberno funcione mellor.
And those applications let us use our hands to make our communities better. That could be shoveling out a hydrant, pulling a weed, turning over a garbage can with an opossum in it. And certainly, we could have been shoveling out those fire hydrants all along, and many people do. But these apps are like little digital reminders that we're not just consumers, and we're not just consumers of government, putting in our taxes and getting back services. We're more than that, we're citizens. And we're not going to fix government until we fix citizenship.
E esas aplicacións déixannos empregar as nosas mans para mellorar as nosas comunidades. Que pode ir dende limpar unha boca de incendio, podar unhas pólas, sacar unha donicela dun cubo do lixo. E de certo, podemos limpar esas bocas de incendios sen máis, moita xente faino. Pero estas aplicacións son pequenos recordatorios de que non só somos consumidores, non somos consumidores de gobernos, pagando os nosos impostos e tendo servizos. Somos máis ca iso, somos cidadáns. E non imos arranxar os problemas do goberno ata que non arranxemos a nosa cidadanía.
So the question I have for all of you here: When it comes to the big, important things that we need to do together, all of us together, are we just going to be a crowd of voices, or are we also going to be a crowd of hands?
A pregunta que teño: cando se trata de cousas grandes e importantes que precisamos facer xuntos, todos nós xuntos, imos ser unha gran masa de voces, ou imos tamén ser unha masa de mans?
Thank you.
Grazas.
(Applause)
(Aplausos)