We use cookies to help understand our community better.Learn More

To round out the end of the year, we’re highlighting some of the amazing civic tech projects that have caught our eye.

The three projects we’ve chosen to highlight.

It’s been an amazing time in civic tech. As a result of the pandemic, we’ve seen a huge rise in interest in how technology and civic duty and communication intersect, and we’ve also witnessed more people take creating and maintaining solutions into their own hands.

This episode serves to highlight just a few of those amazing projects and hopefully, the fantastic and innovative people we speak with might inspire some of you to get activated, get involved, and get making.

We’ll be hearing from the folks at Design System AU, who are keeping the Australian Government Design System alive via a community initiative; we’ll hear from Ken Tsang, creator of COVID Near Me, as well as the folks at Civic Makers, a volunteer led initiative who are helping councils solve big problems.

Listen

Transcript

A full transcript of this episode is available as a PDF here and in Plain Text here.

The Projects

Design System AU

About the project:

Design System AU is an open community of developers, designers, accessibility experts and others set up to maintain the Australian Government Design System (now re-named GOLD). Their mission is to provide permanent ongoing management of and support for the System, ensuring it will remain a viable solution for existing and future users.

From the podcast:

“There’s support there — if something happens in the middle of your project you’re using the Design System, the community is there just a stones throw away to support you to figure out how to get your problem over the line. That’s the whole premise of the community and what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to have one big digital team. We’re from many places in Australia, in government, even in private and public places, but together we’re building this system and, we’re here for one another.”

Get involved:

COVID-19 Near Me

About the project:

COVID-19 Near Me 2021 is an unofficial website based on official sources. Noticing a lack of ease and clarity in the way State governments were reporting exposure sites and vaccination clinics, Ken Tsang took the data provided by the government and created this map-based system where users can easily access the information.

From the podcast:

Another thing to keep in mind is that civic tech is a partnership between government and individuals. It’s quite easy for us to criticise government for not giving us the perfect data set, but I think it’s really a case of show, not tell. If you can show what can be achieved by releasing open data and the benefits of it, governments and ultimately, the decision makers in government are more willing to open up the data and make it easier for future projects.”

Find out more:

SeeChange by Civic Makers

About the project:

Civic Makers is a volunteer-led program supported by Code for Australia that brings people together to say, “how can we make our communities better?” They do this through the lens of civic tech. They’re currently building a climate change tool for local councils.

From the podcast:

“I’ve seen the power of communities to create change. It’s easy to say something’s not working, but then decide you don’t really have the time to deal with it. But there are a group of people who have that capacity and want to do something about it — there are groups like Civic Makers.”

Get Involved:
Check out more of our resources

Check out more of our resources

Aboriginal FlagTorres Strait Islander FlagLGBT Flag

We're based in Melbourne, on the traditional lands of the Woiwurrung and Boon Wurrung peoples of the Kulin nation. We acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded and pay our respects to elders past, present and emerging across Australia.

As an organisation we benefit from the rich history of contributions that Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people have made to the world.

Copyright © 2022 Code for Aus Pty Ltd.