Vivek Kundra, Possible Obama Tech Czar
January 6th, 2009 — Chris Van BurenCheck out this interesting Post piece about Vivek Kundra, the District of Columbia’s chief technology officer. His gangantuan task is accelerating the implementation of innovative technology, despite an often dilatory Washington bureaucracy. What makes Kundra so exciting, and what has caught the eye of the Obama folks as a tech policy advisor, is his desire to use technology to open and speed up local governance by utilizing the power of social networking and Web 2.0 technology.
Instead of contracting with expensive software developers, Kundra used a YouTube-based contest to crowdsource the software he needed. He also has plans to digitize the vast reams of the government data about crime rates and police response times, which are currently available, but poorly accessible. This has naturally rankled some bureaucrats, but I think there is some potential in his proposals, if not for more transparent, then atleast for more efficient local government.
Vivek has the mind of a private sector tech start-up balanced with his commitment to public service. I think that puts him quite clearly into the orbit of Obama’s vision of the internet and citizenship (see my piece from a few months ago for more), which emphasizes broad access, open information and creative tech solutions to democratic problems. Here’s hoping Obama might even tap Kundra tomorrow for the much hyped technology czar position.
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January 11th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Let me tell you: he’s the real deal — brilliant, and with a passion for democracy and empowering the citizenry! his is a piece I excerpted from a book, Democratizing Data, that Vivek and I are writing for O’Reilly (July), arguing that DC’s approach to strategic use of structured data feeds can help Obama overcome opposition to the stimulus package through total transparency, while simultaneously improving the functioning of federal agencies by giving workers the data they need.
January 13th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
[…] of Washington, D.C. are using QuickBase to replace some expensive enterprise applications. (Best of luck, Vivek! You have the QuickBase team’s […]
January 15th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
[…] Sunlight Foundation — building on one its own contests and similar efforts by Vivek Kunda, the District of Columbia’s effervescent tech czar — is sponsoring a competition to […]
January 16th, 2009 at 3:54 am
Check out some of my thoughts on why Vivek is the right choice and what initiatives the first ACTO should champion:
http://zwadia.com/?p=75
January 18th, 2009 at 1:29 am
[…] Sunlight Foundation — building on one of its own contests and similar efforts by Vivek Kunda, the District of Columbia’s effervescent tech czar — is sponsoring a competition to build open […]
January 27th, 2009 at 5:25 am
[…] » Vivek Kundra, Possible Obama Tech Czar I&D Blog […]
January 29th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
Before Obama makes this choice, I think it would be prudent to really check what Vivek has done in DC in the two years – projects success and benefits to the citizens (check things at MPD). One can say his intentions may be good. And is definitely great in marketing & selling ideas. But, the important question is what is the real return of investment of his stock market model and if its workable in the real world. It sounds nice in theory.
April 15th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
[…] legal services accessible — is a smart solution to the morass of paperwork, the kind of thing Vivek Kundra would think up. The Hey Judge, TXT Me by Internet & Democracy Blog, unless otherwise expressly […]