Creating the Technologies We Want Through Public Design Processes

One of the founding ideas of our organization is the notion that the technologies we use in so many different settings could be built differently, both public and private.

Our work on procurement reform seeks to take a core part of technology - requirement writing - and make it a political process that more of us take part in.

A recent project that highlighted issues with city procurement was the City of Toronto’s procurement of a product called PayIt - a product that enables online payment of municipal bills (parking, utility bills, etc.). It’s also a product that outsources a critical relationship between the City of Toronto and its residents. A summary of our recent work on this project is here.

Join us to stay informed about this work and to take part in our efforts to put forward alternative approaches to public procurement.