Tag: Google Hangout

Watch: Building a Better Government for the 21st Century

Posted on by robbie

Jennifer Pahlka, founder and executive director of Code for America, a non-partisan group that works to bridge the gap between public and private usage of technology, looks at government as a platform in need of a relaunch.

At SXSW Interactive in Austin, Texas, Pahlka held a session called “How Government Fails and How You Can Fix It.” She and Mikey Dickerson, who left Google to save the day at the White House, explained, for example, how the U.S. Digital Service changed millions of lives by addressing the problems that plagued the Healthcare.gov launch.

Code for America “believes government can work for the people, by the people in the 21st century.” Through its fellowship — a service year model — the nonprofit organization places designers and developers within local governments to apply their problem solving and app building skills to make government work.

The group brought its message on why government must become competent, or even excellent, at digital to SXSW, with Code for America designers leading a separate SXSW session on urban planning tools.

Pahlka, a former U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer, recently left the beltway and returned to the Bay Area, where she is working to figure out what is next for this “Peace Corps for geeks.” SXSW provided a preview of what’s to come, but to learn more, watch our Google Hangout on Air to continue the conversation with Code for America. This is part of a series of live interviews featuring service opportunities — a way to raise awareness to the mission of the Franklin Project at the Aspen Institute, which is to mobilize a million young people to serve.

The video interview features Molly McLeod, who describes herself as a graphic designer and civic hacker who saves “good causes from bad design,” Alex Soble, who led digital projects at Chicago Public Schools before working with the city of Somerville, Mass., on education, and Nicole Neditch, Code for America fellowship director.

Tune in by watching the video above then click the Take Action button to learn how you can join NationSwell and The Franklin Project to spread the word on service year opportunities.

Watch: Our Q&A With FoodCorps, The Nutrition Movement Changing How American Kids Eat

Posted on by robbie


Over the last few weeks NationSwell has been introducing you to a number of groundbreaking innovators who are making big bets to tackle even bigger national problems. The topics have ranged from education and national service to our recent installment featuring FoodCorps, an organization dedicated to teaching kids across 15 states how to grow and eat healthy food.
On June 24, NationSwell hosted its first ever live Google+ hangout to discuss these initiatives. NationSwell’s Special Projects Editor Cat Cheney, FoodCorps founder Curt Ellis, and FoodCorps service member Meghan McDermott elaborated on how specifically the organization is changing their communities for the better.
As Curt Ellis puts it, “There are 100,000 public schools in America. As we’ve learned in the first few years, changing a lunch line from serving french fries to fresh greens takes a great deal of work.” Not only that, but changing a child’s attitude toward food is not exactly a simple task either. To try to teach her students to have an open mind to foods they instinctively dismiss without trying, food service member Meghan McDermott’s motto in her classroom is ‘Don’t yuck my yum.’ “We try to teach kids to be respectful of other people’s eating habits and their likes and dislikes. We teach them that everyone’s tastebuds are different. They might like something now that they don’t like later, or they might not like something now that they might like prepared a different way.”
Watch the video above to learn more about the inner workings of FoodCorps and how you can get involved. To continue the conversation, share your thoughts with the hashtag #NSBigBets.

What This Children’s Hospital Is Doing With Google Glass Will Make You Smile

Posted on by robbie

Say what you want about the wearable technology trend, but sometimes Google Glass can really be used for good. Using the nifty specs, the young patients at the Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital can now see the meerkats, jaguars, giraffes and all the other animals at the Houston Zoo without leaving their bed.
In the video from the Houston-based hospital above, you can just see how the kids’ faces light up as they virtually experience the zoo right from their hospital rooms. Take 6-year-old Jayden, who’s been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and would always try to spot animals at the nearby zoo from the window of his hospital room. Using the Google Hangout feature on the glasses, linked-up zoo staffers were able to take Jayden on a personal tour of the zoo and even brought him backstage to see the sea lions.
Additionally, the children’s hospital touted a study on their YouTube page that Google Glass can being a sense of calm to patients during surgery. The study found that the glasses are also a welcome distraction to the young patients in hospital rooms. “It gave my son a chance to feel like he was a normal kid,” Jayden’s mom said. “He was able to see the zoo [from] a hospital bed—what’s a greater thing than that?” We couldn’t agree more.
MORE: These Hearing Aids Are Like Google Glass for Your Ears