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| Transportation |
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To take advantage of the thousands of points of data that motorists unknowingly collect when they are on the road, New York City’s Department of Transportation is embarking upon a pilot program to equip cars with transmitters that collect this data from their onboard computers. The transmitters, which will initially be installed on 500 vehicles, will provide information regarding average speeds that the vehicle moves through city traffic and on certain streets, gas mileage, and other data points that allow analysts to identify problematic routes or intersections. A smartphone app will allow the driver to monitor many of the same statistics and provide insights to drivers about their driving behavior. The program is funded by a $1 million grant from the Federal Highway Administration.
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| Corrections, Probation & Parole |
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At least 15 state parole boards are using analytics to supplement qualitative assessments for parole. The software analyzes 50 to 100 different factors, such as age, level of education, and prior offense history, before submitting a recommendation for release. The goal is to improve upon traditional assessments, such as prisoner remorse and severity of crime, which are often inaccurate indicators of success on parole. Increased use of analytics has led to an increase in the number of inmates released with a related decrease in recidivism. Observers note that the systems can sometimes implicitly import racial bias when considering factors such as age of first incarceration and total number of incarcerations, and thus close human monitoring is still needed.
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| Service Delivery |
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To promote local artists while enlivening the time citizens spend waiting on the phone to connect with city services, the Boston Department of Innovation and Technology will be crowdsourcing submissions of compositions from local musicians to replace the traditional city hall transfer music. To participate, musicians or groups (with at least one member living in the city of Boston) can upload one original song to a music streaming service and submit a link to the Department. Submissions will be accepted until December 2.
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| Economic Development |
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Scale Up Milwaukee uses multifaceted interventions to train local entrepreneurs to expand their business, which in turn will employ more residents and strengthen the city of Milwaukee and other areas in the state. Believed to be the first program of its kind to focus on growing businesses, Scale Up Milwaukee is a joint project conceived by local and state government in conjunction with partners from the nonprofit and private sectors. One Scale Up intervention is the “Scalerator” — intensive workshops that operate as mini-MBA programs on business expansion for business owners.
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| Cultural Preservation |
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The Smithsonian Institution is placing some of its vast collection online to provide Internet visitors with a deep, 3-D perspective of its famous artifacts. The Smithsonian X 3D project provides a collection of 3-D images of artifacts—from whale fossils to the Wright Brother flyer—digitally scanned by the museum. The initiative also provides data to allow persons with a 3-D printer to download and print the items. With only 1 percent of its 137 million objects on display at any one time, the Smithsonian’s digitization process will bring more of the institution’s collection to more people.
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| Policing & Crime Prevention |
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New York City investigators are using CSI-style technology to solve crimes against animals and put offenders behind bars. Investigators are swabbing cats and dogs for DNA, engaging in ballistics analysis, and using a mobile evidence lab provided by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to conduct their work. Officials are even finding that animal evidence can also solve crimes against humans if the animals are proximate to a crime scene.
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| The Struggle to Innovate When Resources Are Scarce |
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There are lessons for other cities and initiatives in Oakland's ongoing effort to create a public safety "dashboard." Getting a project like a department dashboard off the ground would demonstrate that key innovations are possible even when resources are scarce.
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| Public Transit's Labor Madness |
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Despite some positive steps, the industry's outdated pension and disability policies continue to be a sweet deal for workers and a costly one for taxpayers. Bringing some sanity to transit industry collective bargaining agreements will have to be part of any serious effort to address the larger challenges of funding governments' future pension obligations and meeting our myriad transportation infrastructure needs.
Newsletter produced by: Jessica Engelman, editor; Brendan St. Amant, researcher and writer.
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About the Ash Center
The Roy and Lila Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation advances excellence in governance and strengthens democratic institutions worldwide. Through its research, education, international programs, and government innovations awards, the Center fosters creative and effective problem solving and serves as a catalyst for addressing many of the most pressing needs of the world's citizens. The Ford Foundation is a founding donor of the Center. Additional information about the Ash Center is available at http://ash.harvard.edu.
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