Host of @civictechchat podcast and IT Director at Child Care Aware of America
Busan, Korea
Joined March 2009
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Ryan Koch retweeted
1853: people in Erie, PA tore up train tracks and burned a bridge to keep a gauge break running through town. They were making a living off the friction.
civictech.chat/episodes/gaug…
Ryan Koch retweeted
If you've ever written a web scraper and thought "there should be an API for this," congratulations. You've built a 19th century hoisting machine.
civictech.chat/episodes/gaug…
Ryan Koch retweeted
“You are not in a vacuum.”
Sophia Philip of Nava Labs, for anyone in government working through H.R. 1 or a first AI project:
civictech.chat/episodes/six-…
Ryan Koch retweeted
“Build this thing and don't make any mistakes.”
Laurence Goolsby on the running joke at Nava, and why AI still needs someone at the wheel:
civictech.chat/episodes/six-…
Ryan Koch retweeted
If a state has to gut the house to fit your tool in, it's a hard sell.
Sophia Philip on why Document AI meets states on the infrastructure they already run:
civictech.chat/episodes/six-…
Ryan Koch retweeted
If the system doesn't recognize your document, that's not your fault.
Laurence Goolsby on why Document AI doesn't reject documents it hasn't seen before:
civictech.chat/episodes/six-…
Keen take from Sophia. Choosing to focus on processing documents as a thing separate from policy is a solid separation of concerns that helps make the use of tools like this possible in complex systems.
Document AI checks the document. It doesn't decide your case.
Sophia Philip of Nava Labs on why there's no policy coded into it:
civictech.chat/episodes/six-…
Ryan Koch retweeted
Every agency has a Form 105-B6Q.
Laurence Goolsby on teaching Document AI a new form by describing it in plain language:
civictech.chat/episodes/six-…
Ryan Koch retweeted
Not every paycheck comes with a W-2.
Sophia Philip of Nava Labs on why Document AI handles handwritten invoices from gig and informal work:
civictech.chat/episodes/six-…
Ryan Koch retweeted
A tool that's right most of the time trains people to stop checking.
I asked Laurence Goolsby of Nava Labs how Document AI handles that:
civictech.chat/episodes/six-…
Ryan Koch retweeted
You meant to upload your W-2. You uploaded your dog.
Sophia Philip & Laurence Goolsby of Nava Labs on catching that before it reaches a caseworker:
civictech.chat/episodes/six-…
Ryan Koch retweeted
The model was 60% confident. It was also right.
Laurence Goolsby of Nava Labs: "Confidence does not mean accuracy."
Full episode:
civictech.chat/episodes/six-…
Sponsored by Nava PBC
Ryan Koch retweeted
When H.R. 1 passed, Nava had six weeks to get Document AI live in Pennsylvania. No architecture yet.
Laurence Goolsby on how they pulled it off:
civictech.chat/episodes/six-…
Sponsored by Nava PBC
I went into this conversation expecting a speed story. What sticks is what it doesn't do.
Document AI checks whether an upload is legible and whether it's the right kind of document. It doesn't decide eligibility - there's no policy coded in. Full conversation below!
Nava had six weeks to help Pennsylvania launch a tool that catches bad document uploads before they reach a caseworker.
It became Document AI, now open source. Sophia Philip & Laurence Goolsby of Nava Labs on how they built it:
civictech.chat/episodes/six-…
Sponsored by Nava PBC
Ryan Koch retweeted
I asked which chapter of their own book they struggle to live up to.
Rebecca Woodbury picked the one on remembering why you do this. She burned out and left a 12 year government career. #PublicService
Ryan Koch retweeted
A consultant recommended golden shovels for a groundbreaking photo op. $1,000 each, about ten of them.
The maintenance crew went to Home Depot, bought regular shovels and a can of gold spray paint. #LocalGov
Ryan Koch retweeted
Luke Fretwell told a vendor: you didn't make that change for the agency, you made it for a million people.
They said they'd never thought about it that way.
Full conversation: civictech.chat/episodes/prou…
#GovTech
Ryan Koch retweeted
A consultant wanted golden shovels for a groundbreaking photo op. $1,000 each, about ten of them. The public works crew bought regular shovels and a can of gold spray paint instead.
That story, and how 20+ people wrote a book in the open: civictech.chat/episodes/prou…
Ryan Koch retweeted
Rebecca Woodbury's dad summed up life as: hassle, hassle, hassle, die.
She built a career out of removing a little of the hassle every day. Bleak line, generous job.
Full conversation: civictech.chat/episodes/prou…
#PublicService #CivicTech
The tool can’t own the outcome, so a person has to. Simple to say, easy to skip when you’re standing up a system.