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Digital Trust

We are dedicated to ensuring data collection in the public realm inspires resident trust, engagement, and delight.

The trust and engagement of Bostonians is fundamental to any successful data collection initiative. Our goal is to make the data the City collects work better for our residents by:

  • experimenting with citizen science, art, and open data
  • testing smart-city solutions built around privacy and equity, and
  • setting a research agenda that prioritizes trust in data management.

We work with the Department of Innovation and Technology and university, nonprofit, and tech partners.  We aim to learn how people consume data. We also want to understand how to use data to promote engagement with City Hall. 

Our guiding values

It's important to be intentional in the initiatives we undertake and the processes we design. We have taken care to follow a set guiding values. These values ensure that public interest is central to any technology we adopt.

Technology in the public realm should be:
ETHICAL
  • Reduce existing social, racial, economic, and spatial inequities
  • Build constituent trust and increase accountability of planning decisions
  • Steward the privacy, security, and right-sized collection of public data
RESILIENT
  • Use technology to enhance climate, community, and creative resilience
  • Expand access and knowledge
  • Engage people in ways that are useful, beautiful, and delightful
OPEN
  • Inform public dialogue on digital technology and data
  • Ensure benefits become catalysts for social, artistic, and economic innovation
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