This document summarizes various experiments conducted by the city of Boston to engage citizens and make government more transparent and personalized. It describes experiments from 2008-2013 like Citizens Connect, City Worker, and Street Bump that aimed to connect citizens to government services via mobile apps, online chat, and collecting street condition data. The impact of these experiments included doubling service requests while maintaining delivery times, one third of cases now handled digitally, and an 89% recommendation rate from users, up 21% since starting these efforts. The document advocates that transparency, communication and personalization, if done right, can inform, empower and engage citizens.

1. Boston Civic Expo

2. We are all urban mechanics.
- Mayor Thomas M. Menino

3. Focus on Engagement & Empowerment
DRAFT

4. Personalizing Government

5. The Experiments
Citizens Connect
2009
Citizens Connect 2.0
2010
City Worker
2011
Spot Tag
2011
CC TXT
2011
On Line Chat
2012
Street Bump
2012
Commonwealth Connect
2013
Citizens Connect 4.0
Coming 2013
Street Cred
Coming 2013Mayor’s Hotline
2008

6. The Streetlight Study

7. The Streetlight Study
More
than a
month
Less
than a
week

8. The Flyer Project

9. The Flyer Project

10. The Flyer Project
Limited
Impact
80%
Success

11. The Transparency Project
VS

12. The Transparency Project
VS

13. The Impact
33%
2x
89%
Double the number of service requests
while maintaining or improving service delivery.
One third of all cases are now handled
through mobile apps or web site.
89% of users would recommend us to a friend,
up 21% since we started this effort.

14. Transparency, Done Right, Informs

15. Communication, Done Right, Empowers

16. Personalization, Done Right, Engages