Team Long Beach

Code for America 2014

[teamlongbeach]

Time flies! We've been hard at work developing and piloting AddressIQ, which aims to reduce 911 calls one address at a time.

Here's the five-minute presentation we gave about our work at the Code for America Summit last week. We look forward to sharing more soon about the future of the project.

Thanks again for all of your support!

[teamlongbeach]

BETA videos are live! Here's the five-minute talk — okay, slightly longer due to technical difficulties — we gave at BETA about our work around emergency room super-utilizers in Long Beach.

This is only the midway point of our fellowship year. We're excited to keep you posted on how the project develops and changes over the next few months.

[teamlongbeach]

Curious what we’ve been up to? Watch BETA!

This Thursday, June 19th, Code for America is holding a free event called BETA where all 10 fellowship teams will tell stories of the work we’ve done so far. Team Long Beach will be presenting as part of this and we’d love to share the latest with you.

The presentations are between 4pm and 7pm PDT. We’re scheduled to give a five-minute presentation about our work with Long Beach around 6:30pm.

Watch the livestream here: beta.codeforamerica.org

We’d love to hear your thoughts!

—Team Long Beach

[teamlongbeach]

Let's Respectfully Redesign Government

(Note: cross-posted from Code for America blog)

Democracy is a design problem. –Dana Chisnell

On May 27th I received an absentee ballot in the mail, my first as a California voter. As excited as I was to perform my civic duty, I had a busy week traveling to Long Beach to meet with our fellowship project stakeholders.

Sunday afternoon I finally sat down to take a look at my ballot, and the small pamphlet that came with it. While I frowned at the Word Art and counted all the different styles of arrows, I nearly missed a footnote that said my ballot needed to be mailed by May 29th in order to be counted in time; an election day postmark wasn’t good enough.

The original pamphlet that came with my ballot

Tuesday afternoon, during a (somewhat miraculous) period of free time, I spent about 20 minutes rethinking the voting pamphlet. I moved the information I wanted first — how to submit the ballot and what the deadlines were — to the top, and tried to clarify the dos and don’ts for filling out the ballot.

I tweeted a before-and-after picture, and by the time I dropped off my ballot in Oakland an hour later, it already had over 50 retweets.

A few days later, fellow Fellow Drew Wilson posted my image to Reddit where it quickly racked up over 140,000 views and sparked a discussion about ballot design. Many commenters questioned the ballot’s design, and wondered whether the complicated instructions about connecting the arrows could be replaced by a simpler design like filling in a circle. If a ballot is well designed, detailed instructions like this about how to use it shouldn’t be necessary.

Ballot design is regulated and has many constraints, and navigating the bureaucracy around voting processes takes time. No one asked Dana Chisnell to think about ballot design, but she saw an urgent need for it after the 2000 Florida election. Researching ballot design and voter guides was her passion project for years until she turned to Kickstarter to raise funds to turn her research into short, actionable field guides. Her work has helped election officials and poll workers all over the country, including the 2012 ballots in swing state Ohio.

I know whoever made the original pamphlet that came with my ballot had good intentions. Creating a simple design isn’t as simple as it looks, especially with the constraints of time, limited design tools, and bureaucracy. Whoever made the pamphlet really cared about helping me make my vote count. Three EASY steps, they say! The thumbs up clipart, while it may be a little silly and distracting, is a fine attempt at conveying dos and don’ts in a visual way.

Unsolicited redesigns can be problematic and may not always be the best method for creating change, especially when they’re shared with an adversarial tone. It’s easy to complain about something, or critique a design without considering the constraints behind it. But complaining without respectful constructive criticism isn’t going to change anything. Redesigning something can be a powerful way to explore alternative possibilities and start a discussion about how something could be improved. When shared tactfully and thoughtfully, redesigns can be a starting point for collaboration.

I redesigned this pamphlet for fun. (I guess you know you’re a civic design geek when redesigning a voter pamphlet is your idea of fun.) But since it became such a hit on social media, I’ve thought about trying to make it a reality. My first step might be to recreate the layout, originally in InDesign, in a program like MS Word, so that it can be easily used and edited by a government staffer.

Are there signs, posters, icons, websites, or pamphlets you encounter in your daily life you have a hard time understanding? Try redesigning them, you never know where it may lead.

Do you have any ideas for making ballot design or voter information guides better? Let me know on Twitter at @mollyampersand.

[teamlongbeach]

Change takes time: An afternoon with outreach workers for the homeless

When someone sends you important mail, you probably expect to receive it in your mailbox at home. For Mike, who’s homeless, mail is a little more complicated.  To receive his mail, his caseworker Candace explored three shopping centers, two river banks, and a few other spots he hangs out at, looking for his signature turquoise bike. Mike receives his mail at the Multi-Service Center (MSC), a one-stop shop for services and resources for those experiencing homelessness in Long Beach. Candace wasn’t able to track him down to give him his mail about benefits, but she ran into a friend of his — a man, also homeless — who promised to deliver it to him. The last time we were in Long Beach, we spent an afternoon riding along with MSC outreach workers Lucy and Candace as they drove all over the city to do outreach to people experiencing homelessness about services available to them.

One of our first stops was a homeless encampment along the concrete banks of the L.A. River. A man who lived there came out to meet us, wary that we were the police. Lucy and Candace explained that they were outreach workers and told him about how they had helped get a friend of his into housing. Satisfied, he told everyone in the encampment to relax, and that we would be coming through. As we crept along a steep slope near a bridge, we passed a man fixing his bike and an array of windchimes. We scampered down the river bank, but as we got close to the bridge, the man warned us to hold onto the “lifelines,” pieces of rope that they had strung up to hold on to while navigating the space. It was a steep slope down into the grungy river from where we stood. We passed a woman who was lying in her bed, and she stopped us to say hello. Candace introduced herself. She let the woman know that she was with the MSC and was there to help if she was interested in any services. We found out that the woman doesn’t currently have any health insurance, despite being qualified for Medi-Cal. Candace was about to give the woman information on where she could go to get signed up, then another detail emerged: the woman had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis a few years ago but never received treatment. Candace sprang into action, calling to make an appointment for the woman at the MSC clinic so she could start getting treatment and get help enrolling in insurance. She was able to make the woman an appointment for the very next morning and arranged for a van to pick her up so that she’d be able to make it. Our research into people who are super-utilizers of the emergency room has shown that to be successful, interventions often have to be very hands-on, personal, and sustained over time. These cases are often complex and can include significant mental health issues, histories and present realities of severe trauma, social factors such as homelessness, effects of substance use, and overlapping conditions. We saw firsthand the effort that high-touch interventions take: delivering individual pieces of mail and making one-off clinic appointments. It could take six, seven, or dozens of conversations over months or even years to connect people with services, but Lucy and Candace never give up.

[teamlongbeach]

Join us for happy hour this Wednesday!

After a month at Code for America headquarters we’re about to be back in Long Beach for a couple of days. We’d really like to see you again!

Join us for happy hour:

When: 5:30–7:30pm this Wednesday, April 2 Where: Congregation Ale House (201 E Broadway, Long Beach, CA) Why: Because we love you.

—Dan (@dget), Fureigh (@fureigh) and Molly (@mollyampersand)

[teamlongbeach]

We learned today that Markus Manley, co-founder of WE Labs, has passed away. His vision, passion and openness were such an inspiration to us as we explored Long Beach in February that we can only imagine the loss felt by those who've known him longer. For more information about his family's plans, see this LB Post article. Our hearts and thoughts are with you.

(Photo credit: Lisa Beth Anderson via lbpost.com)

[teamlongbeach]

P.S. CodeAcross was awesome.

Did we mention CodeAcross was awesome?

More than three dozen artists, writers, designers, web developers and community members came together at the end of February for CodeAcross, hosted by the new Long Beach Code for America Brigade as part of an international weekend of civic engagement events. For highlights from around the world — including Long Beach! — check out the CodeAcross Storify.

(Photos by Molly McLeod)

This was the first major event by the Brigade, a group of people interested in improving Long Beach for their communities and using technology for civic good. For more information and to get involved, join the Brigade group. (Online mailing list sign-up coming soon.)

Friday night’s kickoff party at the Green House and ASHA Restaurant boasted live music and delicious food, drew in passersby, forged new connections, and shone with enthusiasm from community members interested in helping improve their city with technology. Attendees got the brainstorming started early by writing what they love about Long Beach, how they’d like to see it improve, and more. See pictures of the process in action.

Next came the daylong brainstorm- and make-a-thon at WE Labs on Saturday. We split into two groups. Alexa Fleur led one group in a guided brainstorm of ways they’d like to make Long Beach even better, generating and evaluating a host of project ideas in areas ranging from bike and transit maps to public safety to sharing community information and resources.

The other group, as part of the US City Open Data Census and International Open Data Day, inventoried the state of open data in Long Beach. This inventory is incredibly valuable because it shows us what’s available to work with and where there are opportunities for additional important data to open up. Having information about the available datasets and their formats and accessibility collected in one place is also valuable for anyone looking to work with Long Beach-related data in the future.

It was inspiring to see the connections made and the energy in the room — a diverse group of community members came together for the event. Many said it was their first time at a make-a-thon or a hackathon. At the end of the day, attendees decided to organize another event in just a few weeks to keep the momentum going.

Thanks again to Long Beach Tech, WE Labs, the Green House and ASHA Restaurant, ESRI, Microsoft, the Sunlight Foundation, the Open Knowledge Foundation and everyone else who helped make CodeAcross a success!

Keep it going — meet other civic tech folks in Long Beach

Join the excitement and shape the direction by joining the Brigade group. (Online mailing list sign-up coming soon.)

[teamlongbeach]

Curious what our month in Long Beach included? Here are some highlights!

[teamlongbeach]

LGB —> SFO

At the end of February we bade a tearful temporary farewell to Long Beach, packed up the car, and drove our bicycles back up to San Francisco, where Code for America is headquartered.

What have we been up to?

Monday we processed our notes. (And Fureigh got a surfboard.)

Tuesday we reconvened with the other 27 fellows and spent a full day sharing findings and favorite moments from our respective cities.

Wednesday through Friday we distilled possible project directions and ideas, brainstormed questions that will help us determine which are most viable and impactful, and met with Code for America staff to update them on our process.

We also received a thank-you note from the middle school teacher whose students we taught an hour of code. Break our hearts, why don’t you.

What now?

Over the next couple of weeks we’ll be synthesizing what we’ve learned so far and identifying what we think will be most impactful and what else we need to know to be able to make a real difference in healthcare in Long Beach.

We’re based in San Francisco for the remainder of the fellowship but will be traveling back to Long Beach throughout the year to do more research and user testing, run workshops, and get your feedback.

A late-night brainstorming session at Code for America

(Photos by Molly McLeod)

[teamlongbeach]

We had a great time at the CodeAcross Long Beach kickoff tonight! Lots of enthusiasm from community members interested in helping improve their city with technology. Hope to see you at WE Labs tomorrow for the Make-a-thon!

Top picture of Molly and Fureigh courtesy of DW Ferrell.

[teamlongbeach]

Team Long Beach has been strategizing and brainstorming all week, watch our creative process in action!

[teamlongbeach]

Hey Long Beach designers, developers, writers, makers, hackers, entrepreneurs: we would love to see you this weekend at CodeAcross, a weekend of international civic tech events.

Learn more and register here: bit.ly/codeacrosslb

Kickoff Party!

When: 5pm 'til late – Friday, February 21

Where: The Green House and ASHA Restaurant at the Broadlind Building on Broadway • 149 Linden Ave, Long Beach, CA

Join other coders, creatives and Long Beach residents to learn what CodeAcross Long Beach is all about. Enjoy live music, appetizers, and happy-hour-priced beverages as you meet other innovative and civic-minded residents.

Make-a-thon!

When: 9:30am to 6pm – Saturday, February 22

Where: WE Labs • 235 E. Broadway on the 8th Floor of the Pacific Towers building at Long Beach Blvd. (Entrance is in the parking lot.)

Come at 9:30 for breakfast, then at 10am sharp we'll organize into teams to work on innovative projects that will benefit Long Beach. You don't need to be a programmer to help — there will be many opportunities to participate, learn, and build together!

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Brunch brainstormathon. Peanut butter waffles help us come up with creative ideas!

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Plenty of cities have novelty bike racks, but I've never seen them as widespread as I have in Long Beach. They're everywhere, not just in the nicer business districts, and they add a sense of playfulness to the streetscape.

Businesses can request bike racks on the Bike Long Beach website. There are many more designs than pictured here, including a carrot, a heart, a dragonfly, a coffee cup, a sunflower, a book, a pennyfarthing, and more!

[teamlongbeach]

Penguins zipping around at the Aquarium of the Pacific!

[teamlongbeach]

This week we toured the Aquarium of the Pacific. We watched joyful sea lions, hung out with peppy penguins, petted polite sharks, and went behind the scenes to feed the fish. Thanks for showing us around, Barbara!