Code for America

by Dan Melton

In his talk at RailsConf 2011, Dan Melton, CTO for Code for America, discusses the intersection of technology and government through the initiatives of Code for America. The organization aims to recruit passionate coders and engineers to improve government services by leveraging their skills to create open-source applications.

Key points covered include:

Code for America’s Mission: Melton explains that Code for America seeks to create a large army of 'citizen coders' to help modernize and enhance governmental operations. The organization pairs tech talent with local governments to tackle inefficiencies in public service.
Fellowship Program: He describes the fellowship program that invites individuals to dedicate a year to work on open-source projects within government, resulting in a significant interest with 360 applications for just 20 spots in the program.
Improving Bureaucracy: Melton shares anecdotes about challenges faced when interacting with bureaucracies, such as the DMV, highlighting the need for tech innovation to streamline processes and improve user experiences.
Recruitment and Community Engagement: He discusses the importance of engaging the Ruby and Rails communities to participate in government. He encourages Ruby developers to apply for fellowships, indicating that Rails is becoming increasingly adopted by government agencies.
Political Engagement through Technology: Melton also addresses the Ruby community’s past hesitation to engage politically and emphasizes the importance of using their tools and platforms for social change. He draws parallels between the Ruby community and political movements, like the Tea Party, suggesting that both have the potential to mobilize passionate individuals for a cause.
Future Vision: The talk concludes with Melton's vision for the future where government services are effectively powered by modern technology and coding practices, making them more accessible and efficient for every citizen.

This presentation illustrates the significant impact tech professionals can have on public service and encourages community members to step up and take an active role in government improvements.

00:00:01.920 Hi everyone! God, that is bright. My name is Dan Melton, and I'm the CTO for Code for America. I'm really excited to be here today, and I'm also a little bit humbled to be in front of such an amazing array of coders and engineers. Every day at Code for America, we use many of the tools that a lot of you have had a hand in to do all kinds of really cool and interesting things in the government space. We open up various databases with governments and connect students and teachers in the classroom. We also teach many of your tools when we go out to hackathons, helping college students learn how to be citizen coders.

00:00:21.600 Today, I want to talk a little bit about what we're doing at Code for America, and how the tools that many of you are developing are actually influencing the social and political landscape of our world today. I'll also discuss some interesting challenges and opportunities that this presents for the Ruby and Rails community. So, first off, what are we doing at Code for America? Our idea is pretty simple: we're all about generating a large army of passionate geeks. Our goal is to recruit geeks—people like you and me—coders, engineers, designers, JavaScript technologists, Facebook developers, Twitter users, and so on, and pair them up with governments.

00:00:49.719 The simple idea is that a government opens up its doors and its databases, and asks you, as a citizen coder, as a geek, what would you do differently? How many of you have had to deal with the DMV? I need to go there soon because my driver's license is falling apart, and I absolutely dread going to that DMV line. I know it's going to involve forms in triplicate and unbelievably long waits. As a geek, I walk in there and think, 'How can I improve this process?' Unfortunately, you end up standing in line, talking to someone who looks at a computer and then back at you, only to find out that their computer is not working.

00:01:19.600 You sit there waiting, and then finally, they take a picture, give you an ID that doesn't work at the airport, and then mail you a new document that takes two to three weeks to arrive. All of these forms and interactions with our government frankly just suck. Our idea is to put more geeks into government to improve these services. Last year, we started Code for America; Jennifer Paulin and Tim O'Reilly got together and thought, what if we put passionate coders in government and gave them a year to build interesting open source applications?

00:01:47.040 They put a call out, essentially looking for fellow coders. They asked, 'Hey everybody, we don't know what we're going to do yet, and we don't know how it's going to work, but we would love for you to apply for our fellowship program. Take a year of your life and go into that annoying DMV and change it up!'. We told cities we had no idea who we would give them, but these individuals would be passionate and engaged. In just two months, we received about 360 applications for only 20 spots across 13 cities. Clearly, there was a demand for Code for America and what we were doing.

00:02:06.720 We got started with 20 amazing individuals. About 20% of them were Rails coders. After the conference, two of them came out to San Francisco in January, and we started building applications. We put them through a boot camp—no actual physical push-ups involved, only coding push-ups—and sent them out to various cities, including Boston, Philadelphia, Seattle, and D.C. Their entire goal was to go into these governments, into those lovely environments with great Windows servers, and improve processes and services.

00:02:29.640 You can imagine the kinds of challenges and interesting situations that arose when a group of Rails coders showed up and said, 'We can do that in ten minutes!'. You might know one of our coders, Eric. He is a Ruby coder, and one of the reasons he joined Code for America was to take a break from the startup world and dedicate a year to giving back through open source work. This is a significant win for Code for America, as well as for the Ruby and Ruby on Rails communities.

00:02:51.080 Eric has been working on a project titled Rails Admin, which is an innovative new initiative, and he’s a significant contributor to projects like the Twitter gem, Faraday, and many others. We're thrilled to have Eric on board because there's really no other program where engineers like us can engage in public service. Our options are typically limited to joining the military, teaching in underfunded schools, volunteering at soup kitchens, contributing to local charities, or joining the Peace Corps to teach farming in developing countries. These are all commendable options, but they don't leverage our unique skill set.

00:03:15.339 At Code for America, the focus is to provide passionate coders with an opportunity to give back to their communities. We offer a modest stipend, cover health benefits, and essentially allow you a year to play, have fun, and build open-source applications benefiting our world and government. Our hope is that by placing passionate geeks inside government, we can break down bureaucratic barriers, making processes more efficient.

00:03:38.440 So, Code for America is currently recruiting for our next fellowship cycle. You can visit codeforamerica.org to apply. Applications are open until August of this year, and the new cycle starts in January. This year, we expect to have about 10 cities participating, including Austin and several others across the East and West Coast. We would love to see more Rails coders and Ruby enthusiasts join our class next year because we believe Ruby and Ruby on Rails are ideal for governmental applications.

00:03:52.960 We're already witnessing numerous federal and local agencies beginning to adopt Rails, and I envision a future where our government operates on Rails instead of outdated systems. So that’s a little bit about Code for America. Now, I want to go meta and discuss tools. I joined the Ruby community because I am passionate about building things. Our community excels in developing tools, and I love tools that help me build things more quickly and effectively.

00:04:15.920 We share our gems, our forums, blog posts, and are very active on Stack Overflow. I love waking up on Monday mornings with coffee and checking what Ryan Bates has been working on over the weekend in Railscasts. Our community is fantastic at sharing tools and ideas. However, one area where we often fall short is engaging politically. We have a vibrant social culture—mustaches, craft beers, 5Ks, skinny jeans, and gaming—but when it comes to politics, we tend to keep our heads down.

00:04:38.560 Many of you probably consume your news from similar sources as I do. When I emerge from my coding cave and switch on the TV, it often lands on the Daily Show or Colbert Report, which I feel gives me my dose of current events. The Daily Show has been reporting on how new media, like social media—Facebook, Twitter, etc.—has been instrumental in various uprisings and movements around the world. One well-known example is the recent revolts in Tunisia and other regions where social media played a key role.

00:05:00.200 What's compelling is that tools many of you have developed as part of this community have been used for organization in these movements. We are at a pivotal moment where our creations—our gems and infrastructure—are recognized as powerful and impactful beyond just engineering purposes. These tools are also accessible to non-engineers aiming to provoke social change. This resonates with me, and I’ve been curious how all this translates into organized efforts, similar to groups like the Tea Party.

00:05:22.200 The Daily Show often touches upon the Tea Party, showing how they mobilized disgruntled individuals who feel powerless. Many people—often unemployed and frustrated—come together through Meetup to voice their concerns and initiate changes in their communities. Interestingly, the Tea Party has seen a remarkable rise, growing from zero groups two years ago to around 630 groups across North America, with about 90,000 members.

00:05:44.120 This story of the Tea Party pushes me to reflect on how our Ruby community also brings together equally passionate and opinionated individuals, using Meetup to organize and share knowledge. Since joining this community and interacting with others who share my passion, I feel a connection with the structure and energy we create, similar to the Tea Party's potential.

00:06:03.920 For comparison, while the Tea Party has evolved into a politically charged movement, our Ruby and Rails community can be seen as one focused on building tools. Every movement needs influential leaders, and I believe we have extraordinary leaders within our community, much like the Tea Party’s figures who inspire and energize their members.

00:06:26.480 While they have