About Atlanta Scribes

The Story
Traditionally, the Atlanta City Council collects public comment at their public meetings, where residents attend, record their attendance on sign-in sheets, and give verbal testimony. With the City of Atlanta in various degrees of lockdown due to Covid19, the Atlanta City Council needed to provide different methods of collecting public comment. The result was a publicized telephone number: residents could call and leave a 2 minute recording of their testimony.

The Council received over 50 hours of voicemail public comments. And although the Council played and listened to each voicemail at their public meetings, it was apparent that:

1. The Council could make use of different technology to make the comment collection more efficient and less error-prone.

2. Assistance was needed to generate thorough reports and analyses of the public comments.

Mission
Bring technical processes and solutions to government bodies, enabling them to create accessible, consumable, and effective public comment collection. This project centers on the Atlanta City Council, but can be translated to city councils and government entities nationwide.

 

Vision
We envision a tool that allows collection of public comment via multiple channels that is instantly analyzed and made available to the public and the council itself. 

Our Values

Opportunity

We encourage public participation and want to extend the opportunity to talk on new channels in ways that make sure everyone gets a chance to speak.

Transparency

We champion transparency by making it easier for everyone to consume lots of feedback and understand it all. We echo this with our commitments to our open process.

Equality

We "Count Every Voice" regardless of race, creed, color, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, ability, political affiliation, or citizenship status.