The Citizens Technology Brief is a new publication aimed at the New York City government. You can submit here.
Are you a technologist who wished the government understood your work?
Do you see important societal consequences radiating out from contemporary technological development?
Do you want to help prepare the civic sphere to absorb new technology for the benefit of all?
If any of these is true, I want you to submit to the Citizens Technology Brief (CTB).
What is the Citizens Technology Brief?
The CTB is a Maximum New York publication that will go out at least once a month. It will summarize the technological work that is being done in, and/or is relevant to, New York City.
Submissions are open on a rolling basis, and you can submit here.
The brief’s audience includes (but is not limited to) the New York City Council’s Committee on Technology, and the Mayor’s Office of Technology and Innovation.
What are the submission requirements?
Go for the big three:
- Be concise: get to the points—what is your thing, why is it important to know about, and what might be done about its impacts (good, bad, or in between)?
- Be kind: no screeds, harangues, or jeremiads. You don’t have to sugarcoat anything, but do recall that a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down. Further: your submission doesn’t have to be about something going wrong. It can be about what could go right.
- Be rigorous: have the relevant data/info/writing needed to properly back up what you’re submitting, and make sure it’s linked.
Your submission should be under 200 words (although I haven’t put a hard cap on that—judge for yourself if you must go over), but you can include links.
Accepted subject matters are wide. If it can be considered “technology,” go for it. I will revise these guidelines in the future only if necessary.
I might reach out regarding your submission, especially if I think significant edits are in order; otherwise you can assume your submission might be published with light copy edits. There's no guarantee that I can include any individual submission in the Citizens Technology Brief, but my goal is to be as broad as possible.
What if I’m unsure about submitting?
DM me on Twitter or email me at daniel@maximumnewyork.com.
We can discuss what you might want to submit.
What is the point of the Brief?
The goal is for this to be a fun, interesting, engaging read.
Legislators are incredibly busy, and they can always use the hard work of engaged citizens to assist. You all can help me gather need-to-know developments, and I can package them for delivery.
We live in a self-governing country, after all. Let us lean into the honor.
Excelsior.