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To fix government, call in the geeks

By Rosie Perera | March 25, 2012 at 2:35 pm

This article and TED Talk call to mind my Dec 2009 article for Comment Magazine, Whither Democracy 2.0?.

The concept behind Code for America, kind of a Peace Corps for computer programmers, is using technology to empower citizens to solve problems that government isn’t capable of solving or isn’t solving fast enough. Here is a key excerpt from the CNN article:

“So an app that takes just a few days to write and spreads virally is a shot across the bow to the institution of government. It suggests how government might work more like the Internet itself: permissionless, open, generative.

“But what’s more important is how a new generation is tackling the problem of government, not as the problem of an ossified institution, but as a problem of collective action. This is good news, because it turns out we have actually gotten very good at enabling collective action with digital technology. And when we can put aside all the emotional baggage we all carry about government, government is simply what we do together.”

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