In the Spotlight: Cyd Harrell
We highlight a public interest technologist in every newsletter. This week, we talked to Cyd Harrell, a UX researcher and author of the book A Civic Technologist's Practical Guide. Subscribe to our newsletter here.
A BETTER TECH: What does Public Interest Technology mean to you?
CYD HARRELL: I'll approach this from the perspective of design: it means what I work on is for everyone, and I have a responsibility to embed justice and care in what I do. It can be almost anything with a public mission - there are so many organizations inside and outside government that need to step up their tech. And it almost always means working with colleagues for whom tech isn't a top priority - if it's even on their priority list at all - so it means sharing what I know with humility, and learning from their much greater knowledge of their missions.
ABT: What does your work look like, and what have you been working on lately?
CYD: I'm consulting steadily with a state level court system and intermittently with other governments. I'm also on the board of a new professional association, Technologists for the Public Good, which I'm pretty excited about. For the state court system, we're mainly working on improving their online services for people who don't have lawyers. This means mainly the civil justice system - restraining orders, small claims court, most matters of family law, name & gender changes. We do user research, a LOT of web content work, and some feature development. Helping the organization increase its capacity in tandem with doing the work, as well.
ABT: If students are interested in pursuing a career in public interest technology, where might they start?
CYD: Look into the wonderful Coding It Forward program as a possible summer or post-grad activity. If you're near a Code for America Brigade group, they welcome newcomers and have lots of shovel-ready projects for people to start on. Anything civic you can do now - volunteer as a poll worker, join a community oversight board, consider a staff job in a legislative office - will give you lots of opportunities to think about ways tech could help (and also where it probably can't). You'll also get an up-close look at the work already being done on these missions, and you may find yourself incredibly inspired by the people you meet!
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