Citizens, Politics, and Civic Technology: A Conversation with g0v and EDGI

Introduction: Citizens, Politics, and Civic Technology

We believe it’s important, in this special issue on citizen science, to hear the opinions, experiences, and voices of practitioners. After all, they are front and center in the movements discussed in these pages. For this reason, we invited several participants in two noted civic-tech communities—g0v and EDGI—to join a conversation about tech-based activism or civic hacking. They were Chia-liang Kao from g0v, Michelle Murphy and Matt Price from EDGI, and Liz Barry, who has been instrumental in both EDGI and Public Lab, another civic-tech group.

Civic-tech activists are playing an increasingly important role in the general field of citizen science. They participate in technology development, data collecting, and infrastructure building. They design better platforms for public participation and policy discussion on science, technology, public health, and environmental issues. In the following pages, we’ll find out more about what they do and what their goals and concerns are. But first of all, a brief introduction to the civic-tech groups participating in this conversation:

g0v (pronounced “gov zero”) originated in Taiwan in 2012 from dissatisfaction with the state of government transparency and the process of policy making. The community has since inspired similar civic-tech groups in other countries and formed a network with them. The g0v manifesto announces that g0v is a collaborative community without a leader or spokesperson, and that it advocates transparency of information and builds technologies for citizens to easily access vital information and effectively participate in public affairs. Currently, g0v has more than four thousand participants. In its early days, g0v’s participants were predominantly coders. But now nontech participants, such as NGO workers, civil servants, and everyday citizens, together make up more than half the total.

EDGI, the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative, is a “North American network of academics and non-profits.” Its appearance was a direct result of the election of Donald Trump to the presidency of the United States in 2016. EDGI catalyzed a movement to archive government data, especially “vulnerable scientific data” about environmental research and policy from government agencies. EDGI also monitors government websites and builds platforms to support public engagement in both these activities. In addition to this, EDGI documents and responds to the undermining of research and regulation at environmental agencies such as the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). According to its 2018 annual report, EDGI is currently “supported by over 160 members” and its “volunteer community numbers nearly 1,000.”

EDGI has a partnership with Public Lab. Founded in 2010, Public Lab (short for Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science) is a “DIYenvironmental science community.” It is best known for its involvement with grassroots activism in environmental monitoring, including developing toolkits for volunteers to measure the effects of oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico.

We agreed to talk about the ideas, goals, and experiences of these civic-tech movements, but also the risks and limitations. We held two online conversations on 4 January and 11 January 2018, with participants dialing in from Taiwan, Canada, and the United States. The transcripts have been merged, condensed, and edited for clarity and readability.

—Fa-ti Fan and Shun-Ling Chen

A Conversation with g0v and EDGI

Shun-Ling Chen and Fa-ti Fan

(guest editor and collaborating editor of this special issue)

Chia-Liang Kao (g0v)

Michelle Murphy (EDGI)

Matt Price (EDGI)

Liz Barry (EDGI and Public Lab)

Fa-ti:

Thank you all for agreeing to take part in this conversation. We’ll dive right into it. We’ll talk about four sets of issues. First, we hope to find out more about g0v and EDGI, the two civic-tech communities and their origins and current states. Second, we wish to know what you think more generally about civic-tech activism and its visions and practices. Third, well, I imagine that there are also risks, concerns, limits, and perhaps even danger about...