Candidate Questionnaire 2012

[Julio Gonzalez Altamirano]

1. The City Council and Mayoral contests are set:
http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2012-03-09/council-ballot-set/

2. We need to distribute our 2012 questionnaire to the candidates.
Here's a link to the 2011 responses:
http://open-austin.org/austin_city_council_voter_election_guide_2011.html

3. Given our success this past year in getting a resolution passed and
getting an open data portal started, what should be our policy
priorities for this election round? I'll be doing an initial draft for
group feedback over the weekend so please share your ideas by Friday
night.

Best,

Julio Gonzalez Altamirano

[Julio Gonzalez Altamirano]

Here are the draft questions per recommendations so far. Please
provide feedback this week. I will be distributing the questionnaire
to the campaigns on 4/9.

1. How do you propose that community concerns about website usability
and missing content be addressed?

2. Do you believe the current level of resources allocated towards
City information technology are optimal in creating public value for
Austinites? Why or why not?

3. Do you support the designation of a Director of Digital
Innovation (see http://www.theatlanticcities.com/technology/2012/03/dawn-municipal-chief-innovation-officer/1516/)
to be accountable for operation, maintenance, and
innovation with the City’s digital portfolio (e.g. website, open data,
civic applications, open government technology)?

4. Will you consider developing a division similar to Boston’s Urban
Mechanics (see http://www.newurbanmechanics.org )
that is responsible for operation, maintenance, and
innovation in how the City of Austin leverages its technology
investments to enhance service delivery for Austinites?

5. How will you encourage City departments to place meaningful data
on the open data portal on a timely basis?

6. How will you and/or your staff use social media to promote citizen
engagement and improved service delivery?

On Mar 8, 6:11 am, Julio Gonzalez Altamirano <jga...@gmail.com> wrote:
> 1. The City Council and Mayoral contests are set:http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2012-03-09/council-ballot-set/
>
> 2. We need to distribute our 2012 questionnaire to the candidates.

> Here's a link to the 2011 responses:http://open-austin.org/austin_city_council_voter_election_guide_2011....

[Bill Anderson]

Julio, thanks for once again drafting candidate questions re open
austin information and data.

My top concern about these questions is that I think 5 and 6 should be
numbers 1 and 2. My comments are inline. And I did not respond to the
earlier query by Julio, so my bad.

-Bill

On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 6:00 AM, Julio Gonzalez Altamirano
<jga...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Here are the draft questions per recommendations so far.  Please
> provide feedback this week.  I will be distributing the questionnaire
> to the campaigns on 4/9.
>
> 1.  How do you propose that community concerns about website usability
> and missing content be addressed?

My association when reading this question is "micro-management". Do we
think that the City IT folks are NOT working to improve usability,
missing content, and broken links? Is this more a question of having
better community interaction with the web folks? Is not this what the
CTTC is for? If this is a question about community and citizen
involvement, then it should be explicit.

>
> 2.  Do you believe the current level of resources allocated towards
> City information technology are optimal in creating public value for
> Austinites? Why or why not?

I don't understand how anyone can know what is "optimal in creating
public value". I have not examined the city budget or interacted with
the folks doing the work and requiring resources, so maybe this is a
naive concern. But it seems to me that without a shared understanding
of the "public values" to be created it will be hard to get a useful
answer to this question. Is there a clearer, more explicit question to
be asked?

>
> 3.  Do you support the designation of a Director of Digital
> Innovation (see http://www.theatlanticcities.com/technology/2012/03/dawn-municipal-chief-innovation-officer/1516/)
> to be accountable for operation, maintenance, and
> innovation with the City’s digital portfolio (e.g. website, open data,
> civic applications, open government technology)?

To me this question and number 4 both imply that the current system
and the CTTC are not working. Is this true?

>
> 4.  Will you consider developing a division similar to Boston’s Urban
> Mechanics (see http://www.newurbanmechanics.org )
> that is responsible for operation, maintenance, and
> innovation in how the City of Austin leverages its technology
> investments to enhance service delivery for Austinites?
>
> 5.  How will you encourage City departments to place meaningful data
> on the open data portal on a timely basis?

Good question, but it assumes that everyone thinks that providing data
openly is a good thing. I hope that is true.
(Nit: word choice replace "meaningful" with "useful", still abstract,
but could be defined in terms of uses.)

I think that question 4 should follow question 5. [If 4 -> 1, then 5 -> 2.]

>
> 6. How will you and/or your staff use social media to promote citizen
> engagement and improved service delivery?

I like this question, but if everyone says they'll be active on
Twitter and Facebook and Google +, etc., then what will distinguish
candidates? Maybe the better question is how each candidate views the
value of social media in promoting citizen engagement and service
delivery, and what their experience with these modes has been to date.

[Julio Gonzalez Altamirano]

Hey Bill,

Here's a new order and language for the questions in response to your
suggestions. In terms of the ideas around adding digital innovation
staff, it's not a concern about the CTTC. Rather it's a request for
staff capacity and for that staff to be assigned to high impact work.

### OA Qs v.2

1.  How will you encourage City departments to place useful data on

the open data portal on a timely basis?

2. How do you propose that community groups and concerned citizens be
engaged to improve website usability and address missing content?

3. Do you believe the current level of budgetary resources allocated
towards City information technology are sufficient? Why or why not?

4. Do you support the designation of a Director of Digital Innovation

(see http://www.theatlanticcities.com/technology/2012/03/dawn-municipal-chief-innovation-officer/1516/)
to be accountable for operation, maintenance, and innovation with the
City’s digital portfolio (e.g. website, open data, civic applications,
open government technology)?

5. Will you study development of a division similar to Boston’s Urban

Mechanics (see http://www.newurbanmechanics.org ) that is responsible
for operation, maintenance, and innovation in how the City of Austin
leverages its technology investments to enhance service delivery for
Austinites?

6. How do you and/or your staff view the value of social media in
promoting citizen engagement and service delivery, and what has been
your experience with these modes to date.

[Julio Gonzalez Altamirano]

Here's some additional edits based on Chip's suggestions.

### OA Qs v.3

1. How will you encourage City departments to place useful data on
the open data portal on a timely basis?

2. How do you and/or your staff view the value of social media in

promoting citizen engagement and service delivery, and what has been

your experience with these modes to date?

3. Do you support studying whether Austin should join cities such as
Seattle,
Portland, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., in pledging support for
a
publicly-accessible open-standard protocol for 311 services,
such as the currently proposed Open311 API specification?

4. How do you propose that community groups and concerned citizens be

engaged to improve website usability and address missing content?

5. Do you support the designation of a Director of Digital Innovation
(see http://www.theatlanticcities.com/technology/2012/03/dawn-municipal-ch...)
to be accountable for innovation with the City’s digital portfolio

(e.g. website, open data, civic applications,open government
technology)?

6. San Francisco and Philadelphia have Innovation Offices led by a
Chief Innovation Officer.
Boston has the Urban Mechanics (see http://www.newurbanmechanics.org )
program.
New York City has a Chief Digital Officer and a Digital Roadmap. Which
of these (or combination of these)
strategies do you believe will best encourage digital innovation for
Austin?

7. Do you believe the current level of budgetary resources allocated

towards City information technology are sufficient? Why or why not?

On Apr 5, 11:44 pm, Julio Gonzalez Altamirano <jga...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hey Bill,
>
> Here's a new order and language for the questions in response to your
> suggestions.  In terms of the ideas around adding digital innovation
> staff, it's not a concern about the CTTC. Rather it's a request for
> staff capacity and for that staff to be assigned to high impact work.
>
> ### OA Qs v.2
>
> 1.  How will you encourage City departments to place useful data on
> the open data portal on a timely basis?
>
> 2.  How do you propose that community groups and concerned citizens be
> engaged to improve website usability and address missing content?
>
> 3.  Do you believe the current level of budgetary resources allocated
> towards City information technology are sufficient? Why or why not?
>
> 4.  Do you support the designation of a Director of Digital Innovation

> (seehttp://www.theatlanticcities.com/technology/2012/03/dawn-municipal-ch...)

> to be accountable for operation, maintenance, and innovation with the
> City’s digital portfolio (e.g. website, open data, civic applications,
> open government technology)?
>
> 5.  Will you study development of a division similar to Boston’s Urban

> Mechanics (seehttp://www.newurbanmechanics.org) that is responsible

[Bill Anderson]

Julio and Chip, this is looking good. I have a couple of minor comments.

(1) Given the content of the questions I think 3 and 4 should be
reversed. That is, all the questions referencing what other cities are
doing are then grouped together.

(2) Q 7 on sufficient resources seems a bit weak to me, as a voter. I
am more interested in a candidate's commitment to continuing
development of efficient and effective city IT. On the other hand,
without an understanding of resources allotted and available, it is
easy to commit to development. I do not have a better suggestion, so
maybe best to leave it as is.

-Bill

On Fri, Apr 6, 2012 at 5:30 PM, Julio Gonzalez Altamirano

[Jon Lebkowsky]

Sorry I haven't chimed in before. Here are some comments on the latest revision (inline)...

On Fri, Apr 6, 2012 at 5:30 PM, Julio Gonzalez Altamirano <jga...@gmail.com> wrote:

Here's some additional edits based on Chip's suggestions.

### OA Qs v.3

1.  How will you encourage City departments to place useful data on
the open data portal on a timely basis?

I would ask it this way:  "What is your position on open data? Will you encourage City departments to place useful data on the open data portal on a timely basis? If so, how will you do this?"

 

2. How do you and/or your staff view the value of social media in
promoting citizen engagement and service delivery, and what has been

your experience with these modes to date?

I'm not sure about "these modes." I would say "How valuable is social media for citizen engagement? What is your own experience with social media?"

 

3. Do you support studying whether Austin should join cities such as
Seattle,
Portland, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., in pledging support for
a
publicly-accessible open-standard protocol for 311 services,
such as the currently proposed Open311 API specification?

4.  How do you propose that community groups and concerned citizens be
engaged to improve website usability and address missing content?

Active voice: "How can the city engage community groups and concerned citizens to improve website usability and identify content needs and strategies?"

I think the question about missing content is more on the city side - i.e. citizens can help determine what should be there that isn't but there's an additional question I would ask:

"4a. What steps you you take to restore missing content to the new version of the website, and to identify content that should be there, but hasn't been? How can we make the website more complete, and more information-rich?"

 

5.  Do you support the designation of a Director of Digital Innovation

(see http://www.theatlanticcities.com/technology/2012/03/dawn-municipal-ch...)
to be accountable for innovation with the City’s digital portfolio

(e.g. website, open data, civic applications,open government
technology)?

6.  San Francisco and Philadelphia have Innovation Offices led by a
Chief Innovation Officer.
Boston has the Urban Mechanics (see http://www.newurbanmechanics.org )
program.
New York City has a Chief Digital Officer and a Digital Roadmap. Which
of these (or combination of these)
strategies do you believe will best encourage digital innovation for
Austin?

6 and 7 are variations on the same question. Can they be combined? I think this idea is problematic in that it's about spending money in lean times. It might be good to ask what alternative they might suggest, if they're not in favor of funding positions.

 

7.  Do you believe the current level of budgetary resources allocated
towards City information technology are sufficient? Why or why not?

Will they know what that level of funding is, and how it's being used?  I think the way it's phrased, it'll be hard for most candidates to answer. It might be better to ask what the budget priority of IT should be.  (I'm agrreeing with Bill's followup comment.)

~ Jon

--
Jon Lebkowsky (@jonl)

Polycot Associates: Advanced Internet Solutions Twitter | Facebook

Weblogsky.com: Smart Thinking About Culture, Media, and the Internet 

Jon at Google+ | Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | Wikipedia | EFF-Austin | Society for Participatory Medicine

[Julio Gonzalez Altamirano]

Thanks for these, Jon. Good points on the grammar and substance. I
will incorporate into the final version.

All OAers: Please have your final edits in by COB today. I will be
sending the Qs to the candidates TONIGHT.

> might be better to ask what the budget *priority *of IT should be.  (I'm

> agrreeing with Bill's followup comment.)
>
> ~ Jon
>
> --
> Jon Lebkowsky (@jonl)

> Polycot Associates <http://polycotassociates.com>: Advanced Internet
> Solutions Twitter <http://twitter.com/#%21/polycotplus>|
> Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/polycot>
> Weblogsky.com <http://weblogsky.com/>: Smart Thinking About Culture, Media,
> and the Internet
> Jon at Google+ <https://plus.google.com/107989370857115020482/posts> |
> Twitter <http://twitter.com/jonl> |
> LinkedIn<http://www.linkedin.com/in/jonlebkowsky>|Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/jonlebkowsky>|Wikipedia<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Lebkowsky>
> |
> EFF-Austin <http://effaustin.org> | Society for Participatory
> Medicine<http://participatorymedicine.org/about/quickteams-and-working-groups/>

[Julio Gonzalez Altamirano]

I've sent the questionnaire to:

Mayor: Leffingwell, Shea, Dafoe
P2: Pressley, Martinez
P5: Duffy, Prudente, Cannon, Spelman, Chavez, Conley
P6: Cole, Ireland

You can download the final document here:

http://open-austin.org/OpenAustinCandidateQuestionnaire2012.docx

[Chip Rosenthal]

On 04/10/2012 10:00 PM, Julio Gonzalez Altamirano wrote:
> You can download the final document here:
>
> http://open-austin.org/OpenAustinCandidateQuestionnaire2012.docx

Holy smokes! I just read the final version and this is superb. Thanks
for coordinating this Julio, and thanks everybody who contributed.

--
Chip Rosenthal * 512-573-5174 * KE5VHV * ch...@unicom.com * www.unicom.com

[Juan Sequeda]

very nice!!

Just a bit ironic that this is Open Austin, advocating for open data, and it's being published in a proprietary format on the web. Just sayin :)

Juan Sequeda
+1-575-SEQ-UEDA
www.juansequeda.com

[Chip Rosenthal]

On 04/11/2012 10:19 AM, Juan Sequeda wrote:
> Just a bit ironic that this is Open Austin, advocating for open data,
> and it's being published in a proprietary format on the web. Just sayin :)

We'll be fixing that. I'm working on a website that can be used to view
and compare the candidate responses.

[Juan Sequeda]

Great!!!!

Juan Sequeda
+1-575-SEQ-UEDA
www.juansequeda.com

[Jon Lebkowsky]

Kudos! Like Chip, I just read the final & am impressed! Can't wait to see the responses.

~ Jon

--
Jon Lebkowsky (@jonl)

[Jace Deloney]

Thanks for spearheading this effort, Julio. I'm also looking forward to seeing the responses!

--
Jace Deloney

Mobile | 409.289.2447
Email | jaced...@gmail.com
Twitter | @JaceDeloney