Jennifer Pahlka: Coding A Better Government

on August 17, 2012 at 10:00 AM


This feature showcases one video each Friday that captures the essence of innovation, technology and new ideas happening in government today.

This week’s video and text courtesy of TED.

Description: Can government be run like the Internet, permissionless and open? Coder and activist Jennifer Pahlka believes it can — and that apps, built quickly and cheaply, are a powerful new way to connect citizens to their governments — and their neighbors.
Pahlka is the founder of Code for America, which works with talented web professionals and cities around the country to promote public service and reboot government. She spent eight years at CMP Media where she led the Game Group, responsible for GDC, Game Developer magazine, and Gamasutra.com; there she also launched the Independent Games Festival and served as executive director of the International Game Developers Association. Recently, she ran the Web 2.0 and Gov 2.0 events for TechWeb and co-chaired the successful Web 2.0 Expo. She is a graduate of Yale University and lives in Oakland, CA with her daughter and six chickens.

To learn more about what Code for America is doing for government, sign up for Breaking Gov’s upcoming conference to attend a presentation from the organiztion’s Director of Strategy and Communications, Abhi Nemani.