Social Media and Social Justice: CitySourced
by David Deutsch
Social media is not the future; it is the present, and it is not going anywhere. While some question the viability or revenue models of popular applications like Facebook and Twitter, there are, and will always be, numerous social media applications waiting to take their place.
While social media is the present, mobile social media seems to be the future. People like to be connected on the go and frequently use applications like FourSquare to allow people to “check in” so everyone knows where they are.
In fact, a new digital divide seems to be opening up between those with smart phones (iPhone, Android, Windows) and those who do not, because those with access to mobile social media sites can get the best real-time information, say on pricing a Bluetooth headset, instantaneously.
But consumer decisions are not always economic, at least directly. Some decisions we make help ourselves and our communities simultaneously. Social media is taking citizen engagement to a new level with an application called CitySourced.
I met Kurt Daradics, one of the co-founders of CitySourced, a couple of years ago at a high-tech networking event in Hollywood. A social media pioneer and entrepreneur, Daradics was gracious enough to share some of his thoughts on CitySourced.
Please describe the CitySourced app. What does it do?
CitySourced is a real-time mobile civic engagement platform that provides a free, simple, intuitive platform empowering residents to identify civic issues such as public safety, environment, quality of life issues, etc. These issues are reported to City Hall for quick resolution. It is also an opportunity for government to save time and money while improving accountability in government. It is a positive collaborative platform for residents and government officials. A picture tells 1000 words, and CitySourced makes it a snap.
Here’s how it works: a contract is signed between CitySourced and City Hall. This contract allows residents to download and utilize the CitySourced app.
Why would someone want to download it?
Since consumers are reporting issues, it is a cheaper channel than having a city official walk around and identify problems. For example, if there is graffiti across the street, a broken stoplight or an out street light, a resident can take a picture and report it to City Hall under one of 50-standard reporting types. This way they don’t have to find the right phone number to call and report issues. We are currently working with two dozen cities around the world, including San Francisco, San Jose, District 13 in LA, Glendale, the Los Angeles Unified School District, Corpus Christie, TX, Adelaide in Australia, Gravesham in the UK, and Zwolle in the Netherlands.
How did you come up with the idea for CitySourced?
We developed FreedomSpeeks.com, which is a database of politicians and election officials for people to use. Once that was implemented we began thinking about the emerging mobility as well as how people are inherently self-interested and care about issues in their immediate surrounding area. So we thought, how could we create a product to transform civic engagement and use mobile phones to do that? And that’s when we came up with the idea for CitySourced.
What kind of feedback have you received from political leaders? Community organizers? The general public?
People really dig the idea. It makes a lot of sense. Like anything it takes a few sparks to catch on fire, but people really get the concept of what we are doing. All things considered it’s been successful. Of course we’ve faced challenges, such as on how slow government moves. It is also a challenge to market this kind of consumer-based product. But overall we are doing really well. We are bringing enough sales revenue to pay for expansion. What is really cool is we could generate enough sales revenue and partnerships without being beholden to an institutional investor. This frees us from outside sales goals, revenue targets etc.
What's next for CitySourced?
We spent 2010 getting bugs worked out and we will spend 2011 making it happen. We will keep building up the product and get great customer and user feedback. We are also working on another version, which is exciting. And we’ve formed great new partnerships, including ESRI, the leaders in GIS, which is just incredible. We’re going to keep on launching the application in more countries and with more users.
Tech people will understand that we have an open API, which is a technical infrastructure that allows third party developers to develop on our platform. With pervasive broadband and data services, there is a new possibility for collaboration that wasn’t available even a few years ago. There are lots of exciting things brewing in the lab which we cannot talk about. Stay tuned.
Is there anything you would like to add?
Our mission is to transform civic engagement from the inside out, which is the heart and focus of social enterprise. Please check out our website for more information and watch for your city to be serviced by CitySourced.
When asked, Daradics said his application does not directly promote social justice. I respectfully disagree. While the definition of social justice is somewhat elusive, I’ll define it as helping to ensure everyone has the same opportunity to prosper. CitySourced certainly does this. After all, how can people advance in a society if their communities are littered with decaying and rotting trash, gangs are hanging out on the street corner selling drugs, and entire buildings are covered in graffiti? By engaging citizens to address local issues, they are helping their neighbors as well, thus helping others live in safer and cleaner communities and helping to create more equitable opportunities, neighborhood by neighborhood.
Additionally, while Daradics focuses on the importance of civic engagement, it seems to me the important part of CitySourced is the outcomes. CitySourced does more than just engage people in their community: it also empowers them to fix local social problems and make their local communities healthier and, yes, more just. Thus I think Daradics is unnecessarily modest in terms of the impact this application could have on cities around the world. Per his suggestion, I will certainly stay tuned.
For more information about CitySourced, please see:
Esri User Conference Presentation with Jack Dangermond
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