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Is the Revolution Being Digitized?

Broadcast date: 9/3/2015

Confidence in government’s ability to solve basic problems is at or near an all-time low, and voting across the Central Coast resulted in a near record low turnout in the 2014 elections. 

Citizens across the ideological spectrum are calling for greater accountability and transparency.  The solution, some suggest, is civic technology.  Just as the capacity to manage and analyze Big Data has transformed industry, reform-minded tech experts are turning to open data and new technology that not only allows citizens to better monitor their governments, but empowers them to be part of the solution.

Join host Kris Kington Barker as she speaks with former California State Senator Sam Blakeslee, founder of the Institute for Advanced Technology and Public Policy at Cal Poly, and director of the Digital Democracy project, a first of its kind tool that transcribes all California legislative hearing videos for analysis by keyword, topic, speaker or date.  Also joining him will be Brendan Carry with OpenGov, the cloud based financial analysis platform that governments across the country are adopting to achieve greater transparency and make better data-driven decisions. They will talk about the impact of civic technology and how it is empowering citizens to play a greater role in shaping public policy.

Central Coast Voices is sponsored by ACTION for Healthy Communities in collaboration with KCBX and made possible through underwriting by Joan Gellert-Sargen.

Kris Kington-Barker is co-host of Central Coast Voices, heard every Thursday on KCBX from 1:00—12:00 p.m. Kris has worked in healthcare fields ranging from mental health to hospital administration, and has served as a volunteer and board member for many Central Coast non-profit organizations.