SEATTLE—On an overcast morning in early April, three members of the Seattle City Council arrived to find their cavernous, titanium- and maple-paneled meeting chambers packed to capacity with a noisy, unwelcoming crowd. Many wore T-shirts bearing the message “I drive, I vote.” When the council president tried to open the hearing, one argumentative man kept […]
Sometimes, it pays off to sweat the small stuff. We’ve tried liberalism and conservatism and now we’re trying populism. Maybe the next era of public life will be defined by a resurgence of localism. Localism is the belief that power should be wielded as much as possible at the neighborhood, city and state levels. Localism […]
This week: Open Daka Kosovo showcases its many apps that improve democracy; A coder puts ICE on notice; and the g0v model comes to Hong Kong. 1. Spotlighting the groundbreaking work of Open Data Kosovo The Kosovar capital of Pristina. Image courtesy of Wikimedia. Blerta Thaci, Executive Director of Open Data Kosovo (ODK) and founder of Girls […]