OPEN GUELPH |
||||||
IMAGES COURTESY OF THE CITY OF GUELPH |
It ’ s being designed as a digital onestop-shop for services , information and participation opportunities . Within the site , residents will be able to create a customizable dashboard that will serve as a single window to connect with the city services they need .
“ If we do 100 things , citizens may only care about a handful of them ,” said Best . “ Given the breadth of municipal services , it ’ s important for residents to be able to tailor their digital civic experience to their needs . As examples , you will be able to register for swimming lessons , sign up for automated text reminders of your garbage collection schedule , report a wide variety of issues to the necessary departments or see your tax bill .” myGuelph is currently under development for an early 2018 launch . In the meantime , features and new digital services are being designed , user tested and released throughout 2016 and 2017 .
Accelerated solutions Best said there are several other open government initiatives underway , all of them designed to “ unleash smart people on the city ’ s challenges .”
|
The Civic Accelerator is one of the largest such programs . It connects innovative startups with the city to create civic technology products that will improve service and efficiency .
“ We put out big picture challenges we have not been able to crack , or to which there was no obvious solution . Then we invited anyone , be it a startup or other innovator , to pitch their solutions to us ,” said Best . “ The result is new creative partnerships that allow us to experiment and prototype , something that ’ s not typically easy in government purchasing processes .”
On Aug . 17 , Guelph announced it had selected two winners for challenges issued on June 20 .
Milieu won the planning notifications challenge with a proposal for a web and mobile application that connects citizens , urban developers and city officials so they can collaborate on planning decisions .
Alert Labs responded to the water data challenge with a proposal for realtime alerts sent to a customer ’ s phone for emergencies like floods or leaks , based on sensors that require zero technical skill to install .
|
In September , employees from the two winning companies were embedded in city departments to accelerate the development of their solutions . The embed period will culminate in a demo day in mid-December .
Along the same vein , Guelph has also hosted hackathons that encourage skilled individuals to develop apps that can address specific public problems , using any of the 32 open data sets currently available from the city .
At a hackathon in early 2015 , a coder created an app that delivered waste collection notifications to citizens . Recognized as a useful tool , Best said it is now being built out as an official product .
The city also worked with a local company to develop an app for municipal grass cutting crews .
“ We digitized the entire process so that when they leave a park , they click to say it was done ,” he said . “ That info feeds into our open data portal . It creates transparency around park maintenance schedules and saves each person 25 minutes of paperwork at the end of every shift , so it improved internal efficiency , too .”
Financially minded Guelph residents can take a crack at the budgeting process through an online budget simulator that lets them suggest how to spend public dollars . In the coming years , Best said the simulator may become more of a concrete consultation tool for public budget feedback .
The city also has a civic innovation partnership with the University of Guelph called the Guelph Lab , which works to increase the capacity of both institutions to tackle complex challenges . For the city , it unlocks the civic potential of the university and applies it to local challenges .
Encouraging innovation Much of the good work being done in Guelph is driven by frontline staff members who recognize a need and envision a solution .
In early 2014 , the city ’ s former chief administrative officer met with a catchbasin cleaning crew to discuss some of the challenges they were experiencing on the job . Returning to her office , she tasked Suzanne Holder , project
|
|||
16 Q4 2016 www . amcto . com |