A public talk and book reading by Beth Simone Noveck, Co-Founder and Director of The GovLab at New York University

February 22, 2016 | 5:30 pm – 7:00pm

Paul Brest Hall | 555 Salvatierra Walk

Stanford, CA 94305

Event Overview

Government “of the people, by the people, for the people” expresses an ideal that resonates in all democracies. Can we get closer to this ideal using new technologies of engagement?

Can institutions built around closed forms of expertise open up and benefit from petitions, crowdsourcing, and wikis to improve how governments work? Beth Noveck will discuss these questions and read from her new book, Smart Citizens, Smarter State: The Technologies of Expertise and the Future of Governing. Noveck is the founding director of the GovLab at NYU and was the first Deputy Chief Technology Officer of the United States and is a former director of the White House Open Government Initiative.

Rob Reich, Professor of Political Science and faculty co-director of Stanford’s Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, and Lucy Bernholz, will moderate the discussion.

Copies of Noveck’s book, Smart Citizens, Smarter State, will be available for purchase and signing.

About the Author

Beth Simone Noveck is Co-Founder and Director of The GovLab and its MacArthur Research Network on Opening Governance. Funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and Google.org, the GovLab strives to improve people’s lives by changing how we govern. The GovLab designs and tests technology, policy and strategies for fostering more open and collaborative approaches to strengthen the ability of people and institutions to work together to solve problems, make decisions, resolve conflict and govern themselves more effectively and legitimately.

The Jerry Hultin Global Network Professor at New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering, she was formerly the Jacob K. Javits Visiting Professor at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and a visiting professor at the MIT Media Lab. Beth is a professor of law at New York Law School. She served in the White House as the first United States Deputy Chief Technology Officer and director of the White House Open Government Initiative (2009-2011). UK Prime Minister David Cameron appointed her senior advisor for Open Government, and she served on the Obama-Biden transition team. Among projects she’s designed or collaborated on are Unchat, The Do Tank, Peer To Patent, Data.gov, Challenge.gov and the Gov Lab’s Living Labs and training platform, The Academy.

Event Location

Paul Brest Hall is located at 555 Salvatierra Walk, Stanford, CA, 94305.

The nearest parking lot to Paul Brest Hall is Parking Structure 6.
It is an underground parking lot. Parking on campus is free after 4:00 pm.