Ryan Koch
@ryanakoch.com
Host of Civic Tech Chat https://civictech.chat
Nerdy for all things tech, political science, and public policy
Nerdy for all things tech, political science, and public policy
A consultant recommended golden shovels for a groundbreaking photo op. $1,000 each, and they needed about ten.
The maintenance crew went to Home Depot, bought regular shovels and a can of gold spray paint, and made a video about it.
The maintenance crew went to Home Depot, bought regular shovels and a can of gold spray paint, and made a video about it.
September 16, 2026 at 2:47 PM
A consultant recommended golden shovels for a groundbreaking photo op. $1,000 each, and they needed about ten.
The maintenance crew went to Home Depot, bought regular shovels and a can of gold spray paint, and made a video about it.
The maintenance crew went to Home Depot, bought regular shovels and a can of gold spray paint, and made a video about it.
Luke Fretwell told a vendor: you didn't make that change for the agency, you made it for the million people on the other end of the service.
They said they'd never thought about it that way.
Full conversation: civictech.chat/episodes/pro...
They said they'd never thought about it that way.
Full conversation: civictech.chat/episodes/pro...
September 15, 2026 at 10:03 AM
Luke Fretwell told a vendor: you didn't make that change for the agency, you made it for the million people on the other end of the service.
They said they'd never thought about it that way.
Full conversation: civictech.chat/episodes/pro...
They said they'd never thought about it that way.
Full conversation: civictech.chat/episodes/pro...
Rebecca Woodbury's dad summed up life as: hassle, hassle, hassle, die.
She's built a career out of removing a little bit of the hassle every day for people dealing with government.
Full conversation: civictech.chat/episodes/pro...
She's built a career out of removing a little bit of the hassle every day for people dealing with government.
Full conversation: civictech.chat/episodes/pro...
September 11, 2026 at 2:15 PM
Rebecca Woodbury's dad summed up life as: hassle, hassle, hassle, die.
She's built a career out of removing a little bit of the hassle every day for people dealing with government.
Full conversation: civictech.chat/episodes/pro...
She's built a career out of removing a little bit of the hassle every day for people dealing with government.
Full conversation: civictech.chat/episodes/pro...
A consultant recommended golden shovels for a groundbreaking photo op. $1,000 each, and they needed about ten. The public works crew went to Home Depot and bought a can of gold spray paint instead.
That story, and how nearly 30 people wrote a book in the open: civictech.chat/episodes/pro...
That story, and how nearly 30 people wrote a book in the open: civictech.chat/episodes/pro...
Civic Tech Chat | Proudly Serving: Writing a Book in the Open
Rebecca Woodbury and Luke Fretwell discuss their collaborative process in writing 'Proudly Serving,' a book aimed at making civic tech and government more accessible, responsive, and effective. The...
civictech.chat
September 11, 2026 at 2:11 PM
A consultant recommended golden shovels for a groundbreaking photo op. $1,000 each, and they needed about ten. The public works crew went to Home Depot and bought a can of gold spray paint instead.
That story, and how nearly 30 people wrote a book in the open: civictech.chat/episodes/pro...
That story, and how nearly 30 people wrote a book in the open: civictech.chat/episodes/pro...
An AI tool can't be held accountable. A machine isn't a legal or moral agent.
So accountability has to land on a named human. That's the core of ISO 42001: named owners, and a kill switch someone can actually hit.
🎧 civictech.chat/episodes/ai-...
So accountability has to land on a named human. That's the core of ISO 42001: named owners, and a kill switch someone can actually hit.
🎧 civictech.chat/episodes/ai-...
August 14, 2026 at 1:02 PM
An AI tool can't be held accountable. A machine isn't a legal or moral agent.
So accountability has to land on a named human. That's the core of ISO 42001: named owners, and a kill switch someone can actually hit.
🎧 civictech.chat/episodes/ai-...
So accountability has to land on a named human. That's the core of ISO 42001: named owners, and a kill switch someone can actually hit.
🎧 civictech.chat/episodes/ai-...
AI tools have moved into the middle of how real work gets done. So who’s actually governing them?
Our new episode is a practical playbook: keep a human accountable, know what your tools are doing, and treat AI as something to be governed, not just installed.
civictech.chat/episodes/ai-...
Our new episode is a practical playbook: keep a human accountable, know what your tools are doing, and treat AI as something to be governed, not just installed.
civictech.chat/episodes/ai-...
Civic Tech Chat | AI Governance: Who's Accountable When the Machine Decides?
AI tools have quietly moved out of isolated dev environments and into the middle of how real work gets done. That shift is genuinely exciting, and it brings a fresh set of risks worth sitting with....
civictech.chat
August 13, 2026 at 2:51 PM
AI tools have moved into the middle of how real work gets done. So who’s actually governing them?
Our new episode is a practical playbook: keep a human accountable, know what your tools are doing, and treat AI as something to be governed, not just installed.
civictech.chat/episodes/ai-...
Our new episode is a practical playbook: keep a human accountable, know what your tools are doing, and treat AI as something to be governed, not just installed.
civictech.chat/episodes/ai-...
Civic Tech Chat is on YouTube these days if video is more your thing. It’s only recently gotten love, but I’m hoping it’ll continue on strong. Check out the channel over here: m.youtube.com/@CivicTechChat
Civic Tech Chat
m.youtube.com
June 3, 2026 at 3:32 PM
Civic Tech Chat is on YouTube these days if video is more your thing. It’s only recently gotten love, but I’m hoping it’ll continue on strong. Check out the channel over here: m.youtube.com/@CivicTechChat
New civic tech chat today! I talked with Brian Chidester from over at Adobe to talk about organizational and government AI readiness.
Check it out here: civictech.chat/episodes/wha...
Check it out here: civictech.chat/episodes/wha...
Civic Tech Chat | What is AI Readiness?
In this interview, Brian Chidester from Adobe discusses the importance of AI readiness in government, data governance, and the future of AI in public sector transformation. Learn how organizations ...
civictech.chat
June 3, 2026 at 3:31 PM
New civic tech chat today! I talked with Brian Chidester from over at Adobe to talk about organizational and government AI readiness.
Check it out here: civictech.chat/episodes/wha...
Check it out here: civictech.chat/episodes/wha...
Check out the latest episode of Civic Tech Chat, where we talked with Christian Martinez about their experiences exploring open data with the R programming language. civictech.chat/episodes/rel... #civictech #rprogramming #statistics #science
Civic Tech Chat | Relevance Drives Rigor: Exploring Open Data with R
Christian Martinez shares his journey from cognitive neuroscience to civic tech, highlighting the importance of open data, reproducible research, and building accessible tools like R packages. Disc...
civictech.chat
April 30, 2026 at 2:18 PM
Check out the latest episode of Civic Tech Chat, where we talked with Christian Martinez about their experiences exploring open data with the R programming language. civictech.chat/episodes/rel... #civictech #rprogramming #statistics #science
Check out the latest Civic Tech Chat episode where we talk open source. I’m joined by Edward Mullen and Lauren Ciferri to talk about their work with Nava Strata, open software meant to help aid and accelerate public projects.
civictech.chat/2026/02/nava...
civictech.chat/2026/02/nava...
Nava Strata: Open Source Government Technology 💻🏛️ - Civic Tech Chat
We’re joined by Ed Mullen, Technical Solutions Director and Lauren Ciferri Director of Product, over at Nava PBC. We’ll have a conversation about open source...
civictech.chat
February 19, 2026 at 5:33 PM
Check out the latest Civic Tech Chat episode where we talk open source. I’m joined by Edward Mullen and Lauren Ciferri to talk about their work with Nava Strata, open software meant to help aid and accelerate public projects.
civictech.chat/2026/02/nava...
civictech.chat/2026/02/nava...
Reposted by Ryan Koch
🚨We analyzed 138 million geocoded property tax records to quantify how municipal boundaries spatially overlap onto economic segregation in every US metro area—creating disparities in localities’ ability to fund public goods. And we made an interactive map of our results! [1/16]
November 24, 2025 at 4:31 PM
🚨We analyzed 138 million geocoded property tax records to quantify how municipal boundaries spatially overlap onto economic segregation in every US metro area—creating disparities in localities’ ability to fund public goods. And we made an interactive map of our results! [1/16]
We didn’t need or want a silicon based sequel to the gilded age.
November 7, 2025 at 2:18 PM
We didn’t need or want a silicon based sequel to the gilded age.
Reposted by Ryan Koch
A fun question. In 5 years time, what looks better? The US’s enormous bet & capex on AI? Or China’s equally enormous bet and capex on renewables?
China has made cheap, clean energy available in huge quantities. The world should take the win econ.st/4oqFszB
Photo: Eyevine
Photo: Eyevine
November 7, 2025 at 7:10 AM
A fun question. In 5 years time, what looks better? The US’s enormous bet & capex on AI? Or China’s equally enormous bet and capex on renewables?
I recently had the privilege to speak with @senongo.bsky.social, VP of Design and Research at Nava PBC. Senongo has a lot of insight into the evolving nature of the practice’s role in Civic Tech.
Check out the conversation over on Civic Tech Chat: civictech.chat/2025/10/evol...
Check out the conversation over on Civic Tech Chat: civictech.chat/2025/10/evol...
Evolution of Design and Research in Civic Tech 💻🥼 - Civic Tech Chat
We’re joined by Senongo Akpem Vice President of Design and Research at Nava PBC. Together we talk about shifts in the direction of the design and research pr...
civictech.chat
October 20, 2025 at 5:25 PM
I recently had the privilege to speak with @senongo.bsky.social, VP of Design and Research at Nava PBC. Senongo has a lot of insight into the evolving nature of the practice’s role in Civic Tech.
Check out the conversation over on Civic Tech Chat: civictech.chat/2025/10/evol...
Check out the conversation over on Civic Tech Chat: civictech.chat/2025/10/evol...
New Civic Tech Chat episode! I was joined by @amandarenteria.bsky.social to talk about good government forms and to let you know about FormFest (a neat event about them)! Check it out over here: civictech.chat/2025/09/form...
FormFest 🧑💻 - Civic Tech Chat
We’re joined by Amanda Renteria CEO of Code for America. We dive into a conversation about what’s needed to make ‘good’ government forms and we let you know ...
civictech.chat
September 29, 2025 at 4:31 PM
New Civic Tech Chat episode! I was joined by @amandarenteria.bsky.social to talk about good government forms and to let you know about FormFest (a neat event about them)! Check it out over here: civictech.chat/2025/09/form...
New civic tech chat out today!
We talked about experimentation in government services with two experts from Nava Labs: Genevieve Gaudet and Martelle Esposito.
Learn about their approach to experimentation, leveraging data, and how they advocate for adoption.
civictech.chat/2025/06/pion...
We talked about experimentation in government services with two experts from Nava Labs: Genevieve Gaudet and Martelle Esposito.
Learn about their approach to experimentation, leveraging data, and how they advocate for adoption.
civictech.chat/2025/06/pion...
Pioneering Progress: Advocating for Experimentation in Government with Nava Labs - Civic Tech Chat
We’re talking about experimentation in government services with two experts from Nava Labs, a philanthropically funded part of Nava PBC: Genevieve Gaudet (Di...
civictech.chat
June 25, 2025 at 7:34 PM
New civic tech chat out today!
We talked about experimentation in government services with two experts from Nava Labs: Genevieve Gaudet and Martelle Esposito.
Learn about their approach to experimentation, leveraging data, and how they advocate for adoption.
civictech.chat/2025/06/pion...
We talked about experimentation in government services with two experts from Nava Labs: Genevieve Gaudet and Martelle Esposito.
Learn about their approach to experimentation, leveraging data, and how they advocate for adoption.
civictech.chat/2025/06/pion...
This was a thoughtful conversation digging into the work Ami Yares and Shannon have been doing to share the stories of Federal workers through @wethesongwriters.bsky.social. Along the way they've hoped to build empathy and give folks an artistic outlet. Listen in here: civictech.chat/2025/05/we-t...
96 We the Songwriters 🎵 - Civic Tech Chat
We’re joined by Ami Yares, songwriter and Executive Director of Build a Bridge, a non-profit that focuses on transforming lives through art-making, and by Sh...
civictech.chat
May 30, 2025 at 12:50 PM
This was a thoughtful conversation digging into the work Ami Yares and Shannon have been doing to share the stories of Federal workers through @wethesongwriters.bsky.social. Along the way they've hoped to build empathy and give folks an artistic outlet. Listen in here: civictech.chat/2025/05/we-t...
The 2025 Code for America Summit is coming up. Check out this interview I had with their CEO @amandarenteria.bsky.social. We talked about the event, the state of civic tech, some things they've learned in their adventures so far, and more. Check it out here: civictech.chat/2025/05/Code...
95 Code for America Summit 2025 🧑💻🇺🇸 - Civic Tech Chat
We’re joined by Amanda Renteria, CEO of Code for America to discuss their upcoming Summit event. We’ll cover a bit about the event itself, the state of the c...
civictech.chat
May 23, 2025 at 5:07 PM
The 2025 Code for America Summit is coming up. Check out this interview I had with their CEO @amandarenteria.bsky.social. We talked about the event, the state of civic tech, some things they've learned in their adventures so far, and more. Check it out here: civictech.chat/2025/05/Code...
Reposted by Ryan Koch
it feels like 500 years have passed since the martial law declaration and that 1000 upsets have happened in south korea since
South Korea's presidential race faces a shake-up as front-runner Lee Jae-myung is found guilty by the top court of violating election law
South Korea Court Finds Presidential Lead Guilty of Breaking Law
South Korea’s top court ruled that presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung violated election law and sent the case back to the high court for final sentencing.
bloom.bg
May 1, 2025 at 10:24 AM
it feels like 500 years have passed since the martial law declaration and that 1000 upsets have happened in south korea since
Non-profit tech modernization work is hard, but boy do those small wins feel so fantastic when you get them.
April 25, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Non-profit tech modernization work is hard, but boy do those small wins feel so fantastic when you get them.
Reposted by Ryan Koch
A tricky thing about modern society is that no one has any idea when they don’t die.
Like, the number of lives saved by controlling air pollution in America is probably over 200,000 per year, but the number of people who think their life was saved by controlling air pollution is zero.
Like, the number of lives saved by controlling air pollution in America is probably over 200,000 per year, but the number of people who think their life was saved by controlling air pollution is zero.
April 7, 2025 at 4:13 AM
A tricky thing about modern society is that no one has any idea when they don’t die.
Like, the number of lives saved by controlling air pollution in America is probably over 200,000 per year, but the number of people who think their life was saved by controlling air pollution is zero.
Like, the number of lives saved by controlling air pollution in America is probably over 200,000 per year, but the number of people who think their life was saved by controlling air pollution is zero.
It turns out that in some places it is possible to hold political leaders accountable. www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/p...
South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol impeached - The Korea Times
The Constitutional Court upheld the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol, resulting in his immediate removal from office. The decision to remove the president from office was unanimous, with all eig...
www.koreatimes.co.kr
April 4, 2025 at 5:20 PM
It turns out that in some places it is possible to hold political leaders accountable. www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/p...
I guess this is what squandering generations worth of work looks like.
March 3, 2025 at 4:38 AM
I guess this is what squandering generations worth of work looks like.
👇
I believe Musk and DOGE disbanded 18F because we stood in the way of their "procurement capture" operation. We get the government *out* of wasteful contracts. Musk wants that money back for himself.
Explanation by @anildash.com of procurement capture:
www.anildash.com/2025/01/04/D...
Explanation by @anildash.com of procurement capture:
www.anildash.com/2025/01/04/D...
Understanding DOGE as Procurement Capture - Anil Dash
A blog about making culture. Since 1999.
www.anildash.com
March 2, 2025 at 1:48 PM
👇
We’ve got a new episode of Civic Tech Chat out into the world! This time we talked about building accessible web services. @mgifford.bsky.social shared fantastic insights around this work and why it’s important to do. Check it out! civictech.chat/2025/02/buil... #civictech
93 Building an accessible web 🌐 - Civic Tech Chat
We’re joined by Mike Gifford, Open Standards and Practice Lead at CivicActions. We’ll dig deep into what it takes to build accessible web services and why th...
civictech.chat
February 21, 2025 at 10:37 AM
We’ve got a new episode of Civic Tech Chat out into the world! This time we talked about building accessible web services. @mgifford.bsky.social shared fantastic insights around this work and why it’s important to do. Check it out! civictech.chat/2025/02/buil... #civictech