The Civic Hacker Podcast

Anca is the founder and director of La Sobremesa where she has worked with civil society organizations and networks in Latin America and the global south for over a decade. In her interview, Anca describes how she founded La Sobremesa to solve a problem that she spotted where there was a lack of spaces for reflection and learning, and for thinking and rethinking realistic solutions from civil soci...

In this BONUS episode, we’re joined by Jens Christian Trier, cofounder of We Make Change, a platform at the forefront of the remote volunteering movement. Jens shares the story behind We Make Change and how it has grown to connect volunteers and nonprofits across the globe. Co-host Charlene Phua, a remote volunteer herself, interviews Jens to learn how the platform ensures impactful partnerships,...

In this bonus episode, we welcome a panel from YouthMappers, a global community that empowers students to use geospatial technology to tackle critical challenges. Our guests include YouthMappers co-founder Chad Blevins and regional ambassadors Fey Anda and Erick Tamba Mnyali. Tune in to learn how YouthMappers is building the next generation of geospatial experts and civic hackers around the world....

Join us as we dive into the world of student led tech-for-good with Maria Filipelli, a TechShift Alliance board member, and Ciara Ungar, the acting president. TechShift Alliance is a network dedicated to supporting student groups who focus on creating positive change through technology. In this episode, we discuss how they engage with students, partners, and volunteers to build a thriving communit...

Joy Malonza is the founder of The Down Ballot, where she is building a one-stop-shop that provides progressive constituents with resources to make informed decisions on who best represents their core values. In her interview, Joy describes how she spotted the problem of disconnect between on the ground work and legislation which led her to create her start-up that helps voters connect the dots bet...

In this special bonus episode, guest host Charlene Phua from the Global Civic Hacker Action Team brings us an inspiring story from Singapore. Meet Zhennan Low, the entrepreneur-turned-civic hacker behind Code for Singapore. Discover how Zhennan, without a tech background, successfully launched an organization that harnesses the power of technology for community good. His journey exemplifies the im...

BONUS EPISODE! Guest host Charlene Phua introduces BetterSG, a tech for good community in Singapore aiming to bridge the digital divide in nonprofits and charities by helping them leverage tech solutions. With over 2,000 volunteers, BetterSG focuses on skill-based volunteering. Initiatives include the To Be You project, an award-winning interactive storytelling game, that aims to foster empathy an...

Caleb is an explorer of digital spaces and has researched and applied various technologies to address election violence, good governance, extremism and conflict mitigation. Being from Kenya, he has worked with different peace actors across Africa to respond to violent conflict applying digital tools. He has skills in social media monitoring, data, network and narrative analysis and community build...

David Corliss is the founder and Director of Peace-Work, an all-volunteer cooperative of statisticians and data scientists applying statistical methods to issue-driven advocacy in poverty, education, social justice, and providing analytic support for charitable groups. In his interview, David describes how Peace-work was born and then delves into the data protocol he developed for those in the hum...

Melvin Anderson is the developer of a comprehensive SaaS/cloud based platform called ExploreSkillz that offers next generation career discovery apps and solutions. In his interview, Melvin explains ExploreSkillz's unique process of showing children a wide variety of career possibilities unknown to them, helping them develop and follow their individual passions in areas like movies, sports, inf...

Flavio Azevedo covers many important topics, including open science vs. open scholarship, DEIA in academic research, the social justice lens on changing the norms and structures in science and science training, and what advocates and activists can bring into their practice from this work. Links to info and resources:  - FORRT Website: ⁠https://forrt.org/ - Flavio's Website: flavioazevedo.com -...

Chris Fabian is the CEO and Co-founder of Resource Exploration. During his session, Chris speaks about personal experiences and how data can be used to help governments take informed actions to reduce harms that can result from budget decisions and prepare for future recession. Learn more on our website HERE . Links to info and resources: - ResourceX Website:   https://www.resourcex.net/ - Chris&#...

David Van Riper is the director of Spatial Analysis at the Institute of Social Research and Data Innovation at the University of Minnesota. During his session, David walks through how to get started with the National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS), which provides historical and contemporary small-area census data and GIS mapping files for the United States. He also shows examples...

Darío García de Viedma and the team at Citibeats are using technology to help municipal decision-makers prevent and mitigate crises  by analyzing open source data with NLP algorithms. He led the design of the Social Indicators, thanks to an alliance with Princeton and NYU scholars. These are metrics, reported real-time, that measure deep feelings in society such as civic unrest, polarization, perc...

Jack Beck is the Founder and Executive Director of TurnOut, a nonprofit dedicated to mobilizing communities to power queer and trans movements. TurnOut works year-round to recruit volunteers, staff, and board members for queer and trans nonprofits, providing the training and support they need to maximize their impact in CA communities. In his interview, Jack shares his experiences starting a nonpr...

This episode features the insight and wisdom of Alanna Irving, Executive Director of Open Collective Foundation and Chief Operating Officer of Open Collective, Inc. You will learn about the resources and support available for your initiative through the Open Collective platform, and hear an in-depth discussion about the benefits of joining a network of people and organizations with shared values a...

This episode features Samuel Singyangwe, the data scientist and policy analyst who founded Mapping Police Violence, the Police Scorecard and co-founded Campaign Zero to advance data-driven solutions to end police violence in America. Samuel shares with us how he and a team of volunteers are gathering data to illuminate the extent of police violence in America, and the ways that we can utilize this...

Today’s episode features a discussion with Deb Halliday who is a prominent community builder, writer, artist and a nationally recognized leader for multi sector collaborations. Through her firm Halliday and Associates, she regularly speaks with groups large and small about how we can work together in order to have a real impact on our communities and the lives we share. Deb shares some concepts, s...

In today’s episode we connect with Andrew Means who is the founder of the Goodtech Fest conference, co-founder of Brighthive, senior Director for Global Impact Data Strategy at Salesforce.org, and founder of Data Analysts for Social Good. He shares with us what he has learned from dedicating his career towards developing data tools and technologies that help organizations improve their impact, and...

This discussion features Jan Ainali, who served as the CEO of Wikimedia Sverige after co-founding the chapter and being its chairman. Besides his current project with Govdirectory he is also the co-founder of Wikimedians for Sustainable Development, a user group in the Wikimedia movement coordinating sustainability efforts across languages. In this episode, Jan shares his knowledge about Wikidata,...

Today we speak with Max Lynam who is the founder of isgood, an organization that he created to lead an intelligence revolution in the way we measure value. Max shares with us how he came to the work of impact measurement, and his vision for “AI Guided Social Impact” that uses thousands of indicators and millions of data points to enable outcomes that can only be achieved when we focus on what real...

Today’s conversation is with Dr. Christina J. Colclough, founder of the Why Not Lab and co-creator of WeClock. She shares how they are working towards putting workers at the center of digital change. Christina works with unions, interest organizations and governments across the world on issues such as AI governance, workers' data rights and human rights, and the development of responsible digital...

Today’s featured conversation is with Ricardo Miron who is an avid civic hacker, regular mentor and organizer of hackathons and a community leader at Microsoft, Future Lab. Ricardo discusses his role as Lead Project Manager at Codeando México, and their projects which focus on civic tech, open data, public policy and creating positive social impact in México and beyond.  Links to info and res...

In this special bonus episode, we are featuring a conversation between two phenomenal past Civic Hacker Summit speakers; they are Allen Hillery, data storyteller, instructor, and cofounder of Be Data Lit, an educational resource for data literacy advocates, and Samuel Sinyangwe, a data scientist and policy analyst who founded Mapping Police Violence and the Police Scorecard, and co-founded Campaig...

Today’s episode features a discussion with Kathy Cheng who is using data and technology to improve access to affordable housing. Kathy is the senior product manager for Exygy and has experience in early stage high growth startups, as well as digital agency work in sectors ranging from e-commerce to education to digital health. Today she shares with us the platform Bloom Housing by Exygy. We talk a...