apidays Paris 2022 - APIs the next 10 years: Software, Society, Sovereignty, Sustainability December 14, 15 & 16, 2022 How APIs transform nations Shelby Switzer, Fellow at Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation ------ Check out our conferences at https://www.apidays.global/ Do you want to sponsor or talk at one of our conferences? https://apidays.typeform.com/to/ILJeAaV8 Learn more on APIscene, the global media made by the community for the community: https://www.apiscene.io Explore the API ecosystem with the API Landscape: https://apilandscape.apiscene.io/ Deep dive into the API industry with our reports: https://www.apidays.global/industry-reports/ Subscribe to our global newsletter: https://apidays.typeform.com/to/i1MPEW

1. How APIs
transform
nations

2. Shelby Switzer
2
@civicunrest@universe
odon.com
shelby@civicunrest.com
Fellow, Beeck Center for Social
Impact + Innovation at
Georgetown University

3. 2023 SERIES OF EVENT
New York
May 16&17
Australia
October 11&12
Singapore
April 12&13
Helsinki & North
June 5&6
Paris
SEPTEMBER
London
November
15&16
June 28-30
SILICON VALLEY
March 14&15
Dubai & Middle East
February 22&23

4. 3
Intergovernmental
Software
Collaborative
https://softwarecollaborative.org/

5. Our Hypothesis
4
Collaborating with other jurisdictions by default will save governments
time and money while increasing the likelihood of success of the project,
the quality of the end solution, and customer satisfaction ratings from
the public.

6. Our Goal
5
Make the right thing (collaboration by default) the easy thing.

7. 6
Research and Storytelling
"Writing" by jjpacres is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Advocacy Community and Capacity
Building

8. 7
The status quo

9. City
8
What does a city do? Some examples…
1. Water system management (utilities)
2. COVID case + vaccine tracking (public
health)
3. Monitoring and managing vacant
properties (code enforcement)
4. Helping families find affordable child
care (social services)

10. City 1
9
1. Water system management (utilities)
2. COVID case + vaccine tracking (public
health)
3. Monitoring and managing vacant
properties (code enforcement)
4. Helping families find affordable child
care (social services)
City 2
1. Water system management (utilities)
2. COVID case + vaccine tracking (public
health)
3. Monitoring and managing vacant
properties (code enforcement)
4. Helping families find affordable child
care (social services)

11. City 1
10
1. Water: Custom built system by big
vendor
2. COVID: Custom ESRI dashboard
3. Vacant properties: SaaS product
4. Child services: Spreadsheets and paper
City 2
1. Water: SaaS product
2. COVID: University -built dashboard
3. Vacant properties: Custom built by a
small vendor
4. Child services: Salesforce

12. I was laid off during COVID, and I need
h e lp fin d in g ch ild care so I can re tu rn
to w ork. I n e ve r kn ow w h e n ch ild care
facilitie s w ill b e close d b e cau se of h ig h
case cou n ts in m y are a. Me an w h ile , I’m
b e h in d on m y u tility b ill p aym e n ts.
Un kn ow n to m e , social se rvice s w ill
fast track m y ch ild care su b sid y
ap p lication if I am sh ow in g sig n s of
e xtra e con om ic b u rd e n , like u n p aid
w ate r b ills, an d th e u tilitie s syste m w ill
w aive late fe e s w h e n COVID cou n ts are
h ig h .
11
Public user
scenario

13. City 1
12
1. Water: Custom built system by big
vendor
2. COVID: Custom ESRI dashboard
3. Vacant properties: SaaS product
4. Child services: Spreadsheets and
paper

14. 14
The public doesn’t understand your city’s
complexity, and they don’t care about it.

15. 15
The public user doesn’t understand your
city’s system’s complexity, and they don’t
care about it.

16. All of this happened, and then I move
to an oth e r city to take care of a sick
re lative . W h e n I try to fin d ch ild care
an d re sou rce s to p ay for it, social
se rvice s says I n e e d a ye ar’s h istory
sh ow in g m y e con om ic situ ation to g e t
su p p ort. I d id n ’t b rin g an y of m y
p ap e rw ork.
16
Public user
scenario

17. City 1
State/province
18
1. Water system regulation
2. COVID case + vaccine tracking
3. Eviction relief and funding for housing
programs
4. Help families subsidize child care
5. Implement other benefits such as
MEDICAID or food support
City 2
State/province
1. Water system regulation
2. COVID case + vaccine tracking
3. Eviction relief and funding for housing
programs
4. Help families subsidize child care
5. Implement other benefits such as
MEDICAID or food support

18. City 1
State/province
Country
19
1. Water system regulation
2. COVID case + vaccine tracking
3. Eviction relief and funding for housing
programs
4. Manage immigration
5. Fund benefits such as MEDICAID or
food support
City 2
State/province
Country
1. Water system regulation
2. COVID case + vaccine tracking
3. Eviction relief and funding for housing
programs
4. Manage immigration
5. Fund other benefits such as MEDICAID
or food support

19. 20
City City
State/provin
ce
State/provin
ce
Country Country
?
?

20. 21
There must be a
better way.

21. Paths to better public service delivery
22
1/
2/
3/
4/
5/
Through shared infrastructure + services
Collaboratively or cooperatively built/maintained software
Investment in open source components or applications (gov -maintained or not)
Data standards (Vocabulary, not just format or types)
Shared service APIs maintained by a parent government or
consortium
Internal APIs enabling agency and inter -agency systems

22. 23
3 types of
government APIs

23. Open
24
Trusted
partners
Internal
● RTD Real -time transit
data API (Denver)
● Postal service address
API
● Open data APIs
● CMS: Data at the Point
of Care
● X-Road
● Aarogya Setu API
● covidtests.gov
● Medicare
modernization APIs

24. 25
3 driving forces for
APIs in government

25. Legislation
26
Internal
demands
Product
innovation
● Laws mandating data
be open
● Laws mandating real -
time access to
information
● Laws funding
interoperability or data
exchange systems
● Modernization of
legacy systems
● Internal business
needs for data sharing
or transactions
● Agency policy
● Executive orders (e.g.
the Customer
Experience EO)
● May be industry -
inspired or
competitive with
industry
● Filling market gaps
● Demand from
constituent gov users,
leading to shared
service APIs hosted by
parent government
(e.g. Medicaid API)
● Demand from users

26. 27
A vision

27. City 1
28
1. Water: Custom built system by big
vendor
2. COVID: Custom ESRI dashboard
3. Vacant properties: SaaS product
4. Child services: Spreadsheets and paper
City 2
1. Water: SaaS product
2. COVID: University -built dashboard
3. Vacant properties: Custom built by a
small vendor
4. Child services: Salesforce

28. City 1
29
1. Water: Cooperatively purchased SaaS
product
2. COVID: Country -powered API with OSS
reusable visualization tools
3. Vacant properties: OSS product built for
and by cities
4. Child services: Baserow table connected
to multiple internal APIs
City 2
1. Water: Cooperatively purchased SaaS
product
2. COVID: Country -powered API with OSS
reusable visualization tools
3. Vacant properties: OSS product built for
and by cities
4. Child services: Baserow table connected
to multiple internal APIs

29. City 1
30
1. Water: Custom built system by big
vendor
2. COVID: Custom ESRI dashboard
3. Vacant properties: SaaS product
4. Child services: Spreadsheets and
paper

30. City 1
31
1. Water: Custom built system by big
vendor
2. COVID: Custom ESRI dashboard
3. Vacant properties: SaaS product
4. Child services: Spreadsheets and
paper

31. About the Beeck Center.
32
The Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University
brings together students, expert practitioners, and extended networks to work
on projects that solve societal challenges using data, design, technology, and
policy. Our projects test new ways for public and private institutions to
leverage data and analytics, digital technologies, and service design to help
more people.
Stay Connected With Us.
@BeeckCenter /@BeeckCenter /Company/BeeckCenter