Let us do a deep dive into how we define civic technology and how can we can build a stronger movement by strategizing around data use, community building and imagining a shared infrastructure for civic tech.

10:00 – 12:30

Keynote speakers

Location: Bucuresti building

Bogdan Ivanel (Code for All)

Jennifer Pahlka (Code for America)

Justin Arenstein (Code for Africa)

Marnie Webb (Techsoup Global)

Matthew McNaughton (SlashRoots Foundation)

12:30 – 14:00

Lunch break

14:00 – 15:30

What’s in a Word: What Do We Mean by ‘Civic Technology’?

Session type: Panel

Location: Bucuresti building

Where do we draw the line between what is and what is not civic technology? Definitions are sexy and we have been looking for one since the birth of the movement. However, we might be better off continuing the debate as it has the gift to connect the unusual suspects and make us aware of how others in the field define their work and their mission.

Free the Data! Using Moonsheep to Digitalize Documents

Session type: Workshop

Location: Roma building – Space 1

Moonsheep digitizes massive collections of scanned documents into structured data [think Excel, database, API] through crowdsourcing. The training will walk you through understanding what kind of data you have, and the options and costs associated with its aggregation and digitalization. You should walk out with a plan around what tools and skills you need to open your dataset.

Learning How to Collaborate with Git and GitHub

Session type: Topical Working Group

Location: Roma building – Space 2

A hands-on introduction to how to use Git and GitHub to collaborate asynchronously on not just code, but documents and projects.

Bringing Back Complexity in Strategizing Around Data Portals

Session type: Topical Working Group

Location: Viena building – Space 1

Working group bringing together organizations with experience in building and maintaining open data portals, focusing on discussing the main blockages and challenges involved in this, as well as on exchanging strategies and knowledge on implementation. The working group will not focus exclusively on the technical side, but on how we can better enforce data standards, offer support to those organizations with limited data expertise and create workable cooperation mechanisms between governments, academia, civil society and industry.

Working with Volunteers in IT Development

Session type: Strategical Working Group

Location: Viena building – Space 3

Let us talk about the good, the bad and the unpredictable when it comes to working with volunteers in IT development. Building civic apps is not an “i’ll do it over the weekend” job, therefore, becoming creative with setting up mechanics in a civic tech organization is a must. Forget about waterfall versus agile, it is time to identify new names for the hybrid model of pro-bono development. Let us discuss the major challenges and the plethora of new angles we can take on building functional flows and procedures in building social apps.

TICTeC: mapping the evidence base workshop

Session type: Workshop

Location: Atena building – Space 3

This workshop will explore what themes and activities delegates would like to see at the next TICTeC (Paris, March 2019), how we can best explore and evidence civic tech impact, and how the positive effects of TICTeC can be amplified beyond the conference itself.

15:30 – 16:00

Coffee break

16:00 – 17:30

Barriers in Using Data for Accountability 

Session type: Lightning Talks

Location: Bucuresti building

We all know how difficult it is to travel the long road from opening data to creating impact, but we rarely talk about the bumps we encounter on it. This session of lightning talks on Civic Tech for Accountability  will focus not on show and tell, but on sharing pressure points and stories of failures from around the world, so that we can start an honest and critical conversation on how we can work together to overcome them.

Making Statistical Data Accessible: WaziMap

Session type: Workshop

Location: Roma building – Space 1

Wazimap, from the Xhosa word ulwazi for knowledge, is a joint project by Media Monitoring Africa and OpenUp that provides easy access to South African census and elections data. The hardest task is to transform data into information and it is never more difficult than when dealing with census data. Join an interactive workshop on how to put data to work in your community’s benefit.

Linking the Tech Industry with the Democracy & Human Rights Communities: The Design 4 Democracy Coalition

Session type: Presentation

Location: Roma building – Space 2

The workshop will focus on a new initiative known as the Design 4 Democracy (D4D), a multi-partisan, global coalition of democracy organizations (political parties, election monitoring organizations, election management bodies, civil society organizations, and civic tech organizations) that are seeking to elevate democracy as a principle that is incorporated across the work of the tech industry. This session will explore opportunities for constructive collaboration between the tech industry and the democracy and human rights communities, and the contributions that the civic tech community can bring to play in that dialogue.

How to build strong civic tech communities

Session type: Topical Working Group

Location: Viena building – Space 1

Community building in civic tech is the one thing we have been both best and worst at. Some organisations have been extremely successful in gathering communities and channeling their energy into producing societal change, while for other organisations it has been a challenge. Of course, success is dependent on social and cultural contexts. We are now at a moment where we should collect information on what works and in what circumstances and to make this information readily available across the civic tech space to benefit both established organisations and especially emerging players.

Public Code

Session type: Topical Working Group

Location: Viena building – Space 2

Public Code is an early stage concept for a type of code developed with the public interest in mind. This means we need to look differently at the software developed for public tasks as compared to the one for private tasks. At a minimum we should guarantee that it is inclusive, usable, adaptive, open and sustainable. This working group is following up on the research of a consortium made out of the Foundation for Public Code, the City of Amsterdam and Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. The aim is to gather information for the benefit of this research and to start a network of collaborators on the topic.

Mapping Infrastructure Needs for Civic Tech

Session type: Strategical Working Group

Location: Viena building – Space 3

You cannot build a house with no foundation as it will fall apart once you experience the first storm. Internal tools and processes are invisible from the outside, but they make our work more efficient. We are attempting to map the needs of the civic tech space to discover which of the tools playing supportive role could be developed together lowering inefficiencies and how we can better share resources in this area.