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Technical.ly
13 hours ago
- Business
- Technical.ly
The other approach to ‘government efficiency': How digital teams serve the public
Government efficiency is a hot-button issue this year, with masses of federal workers having lost their jobs in its name. But when it comes to state and local government, efficiency-based reform is all about making things work smoothly, with the help of tech. 'The Other Approach to Government Efficiency,' a session at the 2025 Builders Conference, featured two civic innovators: Eliza Erickson, who leads permit reform efforts in Pennsylvania's Governor's Office, and Max Gigle, a digital product leader in Connecticut. Moderated by Kaela Roeder, the panel broke down how government can better serve people, even when the results don't make headlines. 'In some ways, government is 15 years behind the arc of technology and innovation in the private sector,' Erickson said. 'But we're recognizing more and more the need for real, high-quality technology in the public sector — and we're finding ways to invest in that talent.' Rather than focus on flashy apps or front-facing dashboards, both panelists stressed that the most meaningful work starts much deeper in the process. Gigle, who leads digital efforts for Connecticut's Department of Administrative Services, described how his team redesigned the state's approach to business licensing. What seemed like a simple task — building a new website — actually required collaboration with more than a dozen agencies, deep process mapping and a culture change in how services are delivered. 'If someone said, 'We made a website and it took eight months,' I think most folks in the tech world would be like, 'What in the world are you doing with their money?'' Gigle said. 'But in order to really get to the core of the challenge, it took a lot of time to ask questions of what's important here, how do we work across a ton of different stakeholders that have different interests, how do we centralize brands and work through tough challenges?' In Connecticut, that meant understanding that the real barrier to entrepreneurship wasn't the form itself, but the knowledge gap around what to do when, and with whom. Sustainability over splash Both Gigle and Erickson emphasized that true government innovation is measured in staying power, not just short-term wins. Erickson stressed that at its core, 'successful government innovation … has to be sustainable,' so it lives on after the specific tech team that led that initiative leaves. Her own team builds from the ground up, empowering the frontline staff who will be there long after an administration changes, making sure they have ownership over new systems and practices. Making lasting change also means being honest about progress: If a new permit system isn't fully rolled out yet, talk about the education campaigns, the translation work and the user testing that's already reshaping the process. Those behind-the-scenes steps may not sound exciting, but they're often the reason a teacher can get certified faster, or a barber can open shop a few months earlier. Narrative, Erikson said, is also important. Government work is often invisible unless it fails, so part of the challenge is sharing success in ways people actually understand, whether that's via TikTok, community meetings or just clearer metrics. She pointed to Pennsylvania's push to reframe permit reform as a tangible quality-of-life issue, not just red tape. 'If you are a teacher looking for a job and it takes you six months to get your certification, that's six months that you're not allowed to work,' Erickson said. 'If we shorten that time to two months, that's four more months of income. That is really impactful.' Inviting more people into public service Civic technologists — a group that once meant mostly IT staff — now include designers, product managers, data analysts and software engineers. Both panelists encouraged students and career switchers to consider public-sector roles, even if they've never seen themselves in government. 'If you care about your city and your state, get involved,' Gigle said. 'Government … can look toxic on the surface. It's not sexy every single day, but, I promise you, the outcome is fantastic.' The skills you build in government — navigating complexity, managing risk, scaling services — translate directly into roles in big tech and beyond, he added. Erickson agreed, especially when it comes to the early career opportunity. 'You can put your skills to positive use in such a tangible way,' she said. 'You do two or three years in the public sector, and it puts you on a really impactful career path.' What innovation really looks like During a wide-ranging Q&A, attendees asked about risk, disruption and why the government seems so slow to change. Gigle offered a clear-eyed take: The real risk is not changing. And disruption can come in many forms, from COVID's sudden shift to remote service delivery to a renewed focus on equity and inclusion within government ranks. Erickson noted that meaningful change often comes from within, when agencies empower the right people to ask why. 'A lot of the bureaucracy and the red tape that exists in government is because someone at some point really believed that it was the right thing,' she said. 'The problem is that we just build bureaucracy and regulations on top of bureaucracy and regulations without unpacking what's been done.'
Technical.ly
7 days ago
- Business
- Technical.ly
Want your brand to resonate online? Work with creators who bring more than just followers
In the world of modern marketing, a company's social media isn't just an obligation – it's an opportunity to collaborate and reach larger audiences. Working with content creators can be a way for brands to capitalize on that opportunity, said panelists at 2025 Builders Conference panel on how to work with independent creators. Brand-creator partnerships can offer major benefits, but when companies move away from traditional marketing, they also risk running into common pitfalls. A collaboration with a content creator isn't just about generating likes and hashtags; it can add soul to a company's online presence, said panelist Calan Wilson, a Philadelphia-based artist and startup founder known as Calan the Artist. 'When it comes to the [brand-creator] relationship, you have to show up and understand… that we give cultural capital,' Calan said. 'I find [brands] very boring, very dull, very dry, because that's what they have to be but we can be anything that we want.' Rather than dictating what creators should say and how to say it, panelists encouraged brands to approach these relationships with flexibility and respect. Giving creators room to infuse their own voice and style into the content can be key to a successful partnership. Collaborating with a creator allows companies to present their brand with a unique, authentic voice, said comedian Na'Tosha Wyles, known as TaTa Sherise online and onstage. While it's important to clearly outline expectations in a formal contract, she said it's equally important to trust creators to deliver the message in their own style. An added perk of working with creators is the ability to reach communities often overlooked by traditional marketing. 'You really get diversity through the internet, because that's where a lot of Black and brown voices are free,' Wyles said. 'Traditional marketing doesn't really target Black and brown people as much.' Finding the right creator to bring a brand's vision to life Finding the right creator whose personality and goals align with the brand's message starts with shared values, said Alex Peay, a nonprofit founder and content creator known for his character Pop Pop Bruce Johnson, who has amassed a combined following of over 1.5 million across TikTok and Instagram. While Peay isn't old, his online persona is. Pop Pop Bruce Johnson is a grandfather-like figure for watchers, offering life advice and encouragement in a comedic way. For that reason, the organizations that often work with Peay support mental health, youth development and social impact, aligning with the values his character represents. Businesses can use hashtags on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram to search for content that aligns with certain relevant topics or audiences, Wyles said. Companies can also work with influencer marketing agencies that specialize in recruiting and managing a large list of content creators, Calan said. And just like dating, creator-brand partnerships don't always work out. Separation terms should be included in contracts from the start, panelists said. 'We've all been through breakups, business and personal,' Wyles said. 'It can happen. You can break up with a content creator if you need to.' Metrics matter, so pick the right ones to prioritize While follower count can be an attention-grabbing number, other metrics often have more impact on the long-term success of a creator-brand partnership. Impressions and engagement frequently matter more than raw follower numbers, Wyles said. A creator with a smaller but highly engaged audience can create deeper connections and greater influence than someone with a large but less involved following. This type of engagement is measured by the number of comments a post receives, how often it is shared and the amount of time followers spend viewing it. However, if creators are bringing soul to a brand that can be hard to measure, Calan said. 'Be loose with the metrics, but understand the goal,' Calan said. 'I think a lot of brand partnerships that I've worked with, they didn't understand what they wanted, and I didn't understand what they wanted.' Short-form content is first, but algorithms are constantly evolving Short-form content rules most platforms, panelists unanimously agreed, and it's often the most effective way to reach audiences. 'Until someone is super famous, it's always going to be short-form content,' said Wyles. Platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts reward consistency and snappy storytelling. But how short is short enough? That depends on where it's being posted, said Peay. On Instagram, videos under a minute tend to perform best, while slightly longer content can work well on TikTok. With that said, long-form isn't dead. YouTube is doubling down on longer videos and show-style content, Peay said. 'If you want to [post] on YouTube, think about it like a show, like a campaign that you're actually doing with that creator,' Peay said. 'I would say it really depends on the platform that you're using.' Timing can also influence a post's performance. Wyles said she often posts early in the morning, between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m., to catch people scrolling before work. Consistency is also important. Peay said he discovered that posting on Instagram around 12 times per month was optimal, but trying the same frequency on TikTok caused him to lose followers. Ultimately, success requires trial and error. 'It's a numbers game,' Peay said. 'These algorithms are something, but it's about testing things out.'
Technical.ly
21-05-2025
- Business
- Technical.ly
Meet our new reporter: Baltimore County native brings global experience to covering Maryland's digital divide
Maria Eberhart remembers when laptops arrived in her school district. In 2014, in Baltimore County, a racially and economically diverse jurisdiction that stretches from the metro suburbs to rural areas along the state's northern border, that was not a given. Nor was the digital literacy program's success, as an outside evaluation found four years later. Come this summer, Eberhart will be exploring how tech makes its way into school systems throughout the region and state as newest reporter in Baltimore. 'I'm interested in tracking the expansion process of educational technology around Maryland and how students fall through the cracks in underserved areas,' she said. Eberhart comes to via Report for America (RFA), a philanthropic initiative that places emerging journalists in local outlets to cover communities and issues underserved by the existing media ecosystem. During their tenure, corps members dive headlong into specific topics while receiving mentorship and training through the employer and RFA, which will match local funding to support the position. (If you or your organization wants to see more Baltimore and Maryland stories of innovation, contact CEO Chris Wink to help us fully fund this role.) The University of Southern California journalism school alum joins our distributed newsroom, which has previously hosted RFA corps members in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Baltimore. She'll work closely with this writer and lead reporter Kaela Roeder as she reports on Maryland's urban-rural digital divide, as well as the related tech, innovation and workforce development topics has been covering in Baltimore for nearly 12 years. So much of our current tech discourse revolves around AI and new, world-changing tools. While these discussions have a place, it's vital to cover the communities that lack the fundamentals. Maria Eberhart The timing couldn't be more urgent. Digital equity in all its avenues — device adoption, broadband access and speeds, corporate oligopoly and government priorities among them — remains an issue in Greater Baltimore and Maryland. Its aftershocks ripple beyond schools into local economies, which suffer if their prospective workforce cannot access the resources needed to participate in them. The current federal administration's negative stance on net neutrality and the Digital Equity Act threatens to slow or even reverse progress on a situation that disproportionately hurts Maryland's rural areas and its redlined, largely Black and brown urban communities. Eberhart has worked in both local and national journalism, as well as international education. She previously interned at the Baltimore Sun, where she covered topics ranging from disability services worker training to efforts to make the local skateboarding community more equitable for LGBTQ skaters. She served as an editorial assistant for the music media juggernaut Pitchfork and an administrative coordinator for New York Public Radio's newsroom. She joins following a stint teaching English in Bogotá, Colombia. She marries this with a palpable passion for where she's from. Learn more about Eberhart's journey and reporting interests before catching her around town starting in July. This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity. How did you get into journalism? I started writing for my high school's student newspaper and fell in love with storytelling. I went to a big school and loved how journalism introduced me to different parts of the student body. I spent a lot of late nights laying out pages and editing articles, but after catching the reporting bug, I couldn't stop. What excites you about covering the rural-urban digital divide in Maryland? I'm excited to connect with the lawmakers and activists working to tackle this digital divide in Maryland. So much of our current tech discourse revolves around AI and new, world-changing tools. While these discussions have a place, it's vital to cover the communities that lack the fundamentals. I was a Baltimore County Public School student when the district introduced laptops into the classroom. I'm interested in tracking the expansion process of educational technology around Maryland and how students fall through the cracks in underserved areas. What questions are you hoping to answer in your work here? It's great to see reporting on emerging entrepreneurs in the Baltimore area. I'm curious to learn more about the tech industry's growth here. While it might not always make national headlines, there's a vibrant ecosystem developing. In my work, I want to explore what role tech expansion has in shaping the city's economic future and whether its prosperity will address Baltimore's systemic inequities or further entrench them. You'll be moving back to your hometown region — what did you miss the most? I've missed the music scene in Baltimore! I grew up going to concerts, and I haven't seen the same energy in other cities at shows. There are so many great established and DIY venues that support a robust arts community. I'm always bragging to my non-Baltimorean friends about the wealth of musical talent from the area. What do you like to do outside of work? I'm a big fan of film photography and love shooting portraits of my friends and family in my free time. I'm working on my darkroom skills, and I hope to learn more about printing
Technical.ly
15-05-2025
- Business
- Technical.ly
This entrepreneur from Ireland is helping US farmers wield analytics
Entering the large US market can be intimidating for some immigrant founders, but international experience can help give them a competitive edge. For Daniel Foy, cofounder and CEO of agtech startup AgriGates, leaning into his identity as an immigrant and his connection to agriculture helped him find support for his business. Foy grew up in the world of farming, food production and entrepreneurship in his home country, Ireland. His family is made up of farmers and his parents owned a local supermarket in his small town. He didn't choose to take on either of those businesses, instead going on to study pharmacology and microbiology in Scotland. Foy found himself returning to his childhood experience when he pursued food tech and worked with dairy and food companies to increase safety, nutrition and marketability. While he was working for a company that makes wearable technology to track livestock health, essentially 'Fitbit for cows,' he said, he was introduced to the North American market and American agriculture and agtech. In 2016, Foy moved to the US and went on to learn about the challenges the agriculture industry is facing, including how to use the data they were collecting about their livestock. There was no unified reporting system that connected all of the technologies farmers were using, he said. He started Philly-based AgriGates in 2020 to help farmers collect and analyze their data in one database, but ran into low-quality information. So, he pivoted to developing a hardware and software system that gathers high-quality data about individual animals throughout their lives. Foy's company uses machine learning to produce insights about the animals that farmers can use to make decisions about their business, he said. In this edition of How I Got Here series, Foy discusses how his experience as an immigrant has helped him navigate the agtech space in the United States and why he's excited about the impact technology will have on the food production industry. This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity. What have you learned from your experience as a founder? You build a lot of confidence as you go. Do you believe you can do it at the start? Yes, but there are all these new unknowns that challenge you to keep moving. I'm a subject matter expert, but sometimes what business and funders want is different from being a subject matter expert. So you have to have your business case. You have to understand how it applies, how it's going to scale, what's the value. I'm at five years, and I would say, in the last year, I've become more confident in those areas. I hear a lot of companies in agtech talk about how much they're going to save farmers, but have never proven that in their use cases. We're really working to try and build trust and reliability into data. How has being an immigrant impacted your entrepreneurial experience? If you're coming in and you don't have an understanding of the US, you have to operate somewhere where it's hundreds of times bigger. That challenge as an entrepreneur, if you're coming into the market, should not be underestimated, because America is ginormous. In the last 12 months, the amount of support I get locally is astounding. People are cheering us on in Pennsylvania, which is so encouraging. And even being an immigrant, they want me to do well, because that is the viewpoint of success in America. It resonates with a lot of people, and I find that quite exciting. One of the things I have to my advantage is that I do come from a rural community. I have an understanding of rural life that excites people, because people imagine what Ireland's like, green fields and dairy industry. My native identity is associated with agriculture. I think partners are very willing to say, well, here's somebody who's come here who wants to help us have a better system in place. We should at least listen and support them, because there's a new possibility. As an outsider, it has not been negative. It's actually been really encouraging. What's next for your company? Our emphasis on welfare is really getting people excited, because if we can improve the lives of animals, and we can still have a profitable industry, we can have nutritious products and feel like we're paying a farmer and they're getting rewarded. But we're also able to have peace of mind that this animal has had a good life, and it's still supplying nutritious products to us. I'm just so excited about machine learning coming, or AI coming, to assist us with that. The foundation infrastructure and what we're doing with machine learning are about to blow that apart in our space. What excites you right now about the agtech industry in general? If farmers can actually have these metrics that we're talking about on their farms, they'd be standing in front of the milk and cheese and butter sections to promote their products, because they're so proud that they need more tools to help them be able to demonstrate that to the consumer. When that relationship is really digitized, and consumers can really look at a product and go back and maybe take a QR code and see where it came from, that's going to create a whole new understanding of where food comes from. That will get the consumer connected back to basic food, because we're so far removed. We want to build trust. Whatever part of the world you're in, you like going to markets. You like going to your butcher. You like going to these places, creating those opportunities for the consumer with technology from the farm level. I think it's so exciting for us as consumers and the industry itself. What advice would you give a fellow entrepreneur? Speak to everybody. If there is a goal, I will always communicate with people to find new ways to solve these problems. Lifting up your phone or writing to somebody and telling them what you need, how it would help, I think that's been one of the most valuable things I've ever done. Continuing to communicate with people about the challenge and what we're doing, you can't underestimate that. You have to plan. Don't hope that somebody's going to call you and help with your idea. You go out there and do it and keep going forward until you get what you need, and people communicate with you. Sarah Huffman is a 2022-2024 corps member for Report for America, an initiative of The Groundtruth Project that pairs young journalists with local newsrooms. This position is supported by the Lenfest Institute for Journalism.
Technical.ly
06-05-2025
- Business
- Technical.ly
This Week in Jobs: The mother of all career roundups with 26 tech opportunities
Mother's Day is this coming Sunday — and this year happens to be the 100th anniversary of a notable Mother's Day in history. Often considered a commercial 'Hallmark holiday,' Mother's Day was not, in fact, invented by the greeting card company, or the floral industry that does about a quarter of its business for the year on the day. It was first started in the US by a woman named Julia Ward Howe, whose precursor to modern Mother's Day, 'Mothers' Peace Day,' was created in the 1870s as an anti-war holiday. In 1908, a woman's activist named Anna Jarvis held the first organized Mother's Day celebration in honor of her own late mother, also an activist, in Philadelphia in 1908. It became a national holiday in 1914. Jarvis was far from a greedy company profiting from Mother's Day — in fact, by 1922, she was boycotting floral companies for raising the price of carnations in May. Then, on Mother's Day 1925, Jarvis crashed a convention of the American War Mothers, protesting what she saw as exploitation of the holiday to make money. Needless to say, Jarvis lost the war against commercializing the holiday. Whether it's a holiday you observe or not, it's a good day to remember that not everything is as it seems. In the meantime, check out this week's job listings below. The News If you want to make connections in your local tech community, you'll want to know these folks — 2025 RealLIST Connectors for Philly, DC, Baltimore and Pittsburgh are out now. Philly Tech Week is here! But that's not the only community event this month — check out this roundup of virtual and in-person gatherings across the mid-Atlantic and keep busy all May. Speaking of Philly Tech Week, here are some of the fantastic folks you can expect to meet at the Builders Conference on May 8-9. Learn how AI is both wiping out and creating jobs in Pittsburgh. Don't park in the bus lane: SEPTA and the Philadelphia Parking Authority are adopting AI to enforce parking regulations in the city. Immigrant entrepreneurs and workers in the mid-Atlantic discuss how things are going for them in 2025. Join the University of Pennsylvania tomorrow, Wednesday May 7, for a panel discussion exploring the balance between AI advancements and responsible development. Client Spotlight Step into Perpay's Center City Philadelphia office and experience a space designed for comfort and collaboration. With floor-to-ceiling windows, cozy meeting rooms, and a chef's kitchen stocked with daily breakfasts and weekly catered lunches, Perpay makes it easy to spend your day there. Learn more about Perpay's culture and explore career opportunities. The Jobs Greater Philly Vanguard has several new listings: Machine Learning Engineer Public Relations Consultant, Senior Specialist Senior Data Analyst – Python, SQL & Tableau Lead Data Analyst – Python, SQL & Tableau Senior Front-End Developer – GenAI Brooksource needs a Junior Data Engineer and a Business Analyst. Comcast is seeking a Full Stack Developer (React/Django). Forbes Advisor is looking for an SEO Director. The City of Philadelphia is hiring a Help Desk Analyst. DC + Baltimore PRS Guitars is looking for a Creative Project Coordinator. T-Mobile needs a Graphic Designer. Environmental Working Group has a listing for a Digital Marketing Copywriter. IKEA needs a Local Marketing Specialist in Baltimore. Under Armor is hiring a hybrid Presentation Designer. Pittsburgh Grey Swan AI wants a new Operations Manager. PNC needs a Software Engineer. Oculus VR is seeking a Unity Software Engineer iHeartMedia has an opening for a Regional Engineer. Aurora is hiring a Software Engineer II. Remote The End Till next time, may your job hunt be a success.
