Open Austin: Reimagining Civic Engagement and Digital Equity in Texas

3 weeks 2 days ago

The Electronic Frontier Alliance is growing, and this year we’ve been honored to welcome Open Austin into the EFA. Open Austin began in 2009 as a meetup that successfully advocated for a city-run open data portal, and relaunched as a 501(c)3 in 2018 dedicated to reimagining civic engagement and digital equity by building volunteer open source projects for local social organizations.

As Central Texas’ oldest and largest grassroots civic tech organization, their work has provided hands-on training for over 1,500 members in the hard and soft skills needed to build digital society, not just scroll through it. Recently, I got the chance to speak with Liani Lye, Executive Director of Open Austin, about the organization, its work, and what lies ahead:

There’s so many exciting things happening with Open Austin. Can you tell us about your Civic Digital Lab and your Data Research Hub?

Open Austin's Civic Digital Lab reimagines civic engagement by training central Texans to build technology for the public good. We build freely, openly, and alongside a local community stakeholder to represent community needs. Our lab currently supports 5 products:

  • Data Research Hub: Answering residents' questions with detailed information about our city
  • Streamlining Austin Public Library’s “book a study room” UX and code
  • Mapping landlords’ and rental properties to support local tenant rights organizing
  • Promoting public transit by highlighting points of interest along bus routes
  • Creating an interactive exploration of police bodycam data

We’re actively scaling up our Data Research Hub, which started in January 2025 and was inspired by 9b Corp’s Neighborhood Explorer. Through community outreach, we gather residents’ questions about our region and connect the questions with Open Austin’s data analysts. Each answered question adds to a pool of knowledge that equips communities to address local issues. Crucially, the organizing team at EFF, through the EFA, have connected us to local organizations to generate these questions.

Can you discuss your new Civic Data Fellowship cohort and Communities of Civic Practice?

Launched in 2024, Open Austin’s Civic Data Fellowship trains the next generation of technologically savvy community leaders by pairing aspiring women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ data analysts with mentors to explore Austin’s challenges. These culminate in data projects and talks to advocates and policymakers, which double as powerful portfolio pieces.  While we weren’t able to fully fund fellowship stipends through grants this year, thanks to the generosity of our supporters, we successfully raised 25% through grassroots efforts.

Along with our fellowship and lab, we host monthly Communities of Civic Practice peer-learning circles that build skills for employability and practical civic engagement. Recent sessions include a speaker on service design in healthcare, and co-creating a data visualization on broadband adoption presented to local government staff. Our in-person communities are a great way to learn and build local public interest tech without becoming a full-on Labs contributor.

For those in Austin and Central Texas that want to get involved in-person, how can they plug-in?

If you can only come to one event for the rest of the year, come to our Open Austin’s 2025 Year-End Celebration. Open Austin members and our freshly graduated Civic Data Fellow cohort will give lightning talks to share how they’ve supported local social advocacy through open source software and open data work. Otherwise, come to a monthly remote volunteer orientation call. There, we'll share how to get involved in our in-person Communities of Civic Practice and our remote Civic Digital Labs (i.e. building open source software).

Open Austin welcomes volunteers from all backgrounds, including those with skills in marketing, fundraising, communications, and operations– not just technologists. You can make a difference in various ways. Come to a remote volunteer orientation call to learn more. And, as always, donate. Running multiple open source projects for structured workforce development is expensive, and your contributions help sustain Open Austin's work in the community. Please visit our donation page for ways to give.

Thanks, EFF!

Christopher Vines

[B] 「パレスチナ同様、国連事務総長頼りの西サハラ」【西サハラ最新情報】  平田伊都子

3 weeks 2 days ago
「今回はとても残念ではありましたが、平田さん、ベイサットさんが謝る必要は全くありません。、、」と、JNPC日本記者クラブからのメールをいただいた時、ホッとし心から感謝の思いがこみ上げてきました。 8月25日に予定していたJNPC日本記者クラブ でのベイサット西サハラ外相記者会見が、前々日の23日に心ならずも強制出国させられ、中止せざるをえなかったからです。 そして、同じく25日に予定していた面談に関しては、福島瑞穂・社民党党首殿と山添拓・共産党参議院議員殿に平田の代行を許していただき、西サハラの現状を僅かながらもお伝えすることができました。 日本人の優しさに触れた面談でした。
日刊ベリタ

【お知らせ】「生成AI問題と著作権」についての勉強会=出版ネッツ

3 weeks 2 days ago
 近年、生成AIへの関心が高まっています。便利である反面、様々な危険性もあわせもつ生成AIについて、まずは基礎知識や、海外の動きなどを学ぼうと、勉強会を企画しました。 連続講座にしたいと考えており、第1回では、「生成AI問題と著作権」をテーマにします。 クリエイターの皆様のご参加をお待ちしております。日時:9月4日(木) 19時~21時開催方法:オンライン(Zoom)のみ料金:1,000円(Peatixで申し込み=https://x.gd/lxy4x)※出版ネッツ組合員は無料..
JCJ

Join Your Fellow Digital Rights Supporters for the EFF Awards on September 10!

3 weeks 3 days ago

For over 35 years, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has presented awards recognizing key leaders and organizations advancing innovation and championing digital rights. The EFF Awards celebrate the accomplishments of people working toward a better future for technology users, both in the public eye and behind the scenes.

EFF is pleased to welcome all members of the digital rights community, supporters, and friends to this annual award ceremony. Join us to celebrate this year's honorees with drinks, bytes, and excellent company.

 

EFF Award Ceremony
Wednesday, September 10th, 2025
6:00 PM to 10:00 PM Pacific
San Francisco Design Center Galleria
101 Henry Adams Street, San Francisco, CA

Register Now

General Admission: $55 | Current EFF Members: $45 | Students: $35

The celebration will include a strolling dinner and desserts, as well as a hosted bar with cocktails, mocktails, wine, beer, and non-alcoholic beverages! Vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free food options will be available. We hope to see you in person, wearing either a signature EFF hoodie, or something formal if you're excited for the opportunity to dress up!

If you're not able to make it, we'll also be hosting a livestream of the event on Friday, September 12 at 12:00 PM PT. The event will also be recorded, and posted to YouTube and the Internet Archive after the livestream.

We are proud to present awards to this year's winners:JUST FUTURES LAW

EFF Award for Leading Immigration and Surveillance Litigation

ERIE MEYER

EFF Award for Protecting Americans' Data

SOFTWARE FREEDOM LAW CENTER, INDIA

EFF Award for Defending Digital Freedoms

 More About the 2025 EFF Award Winners

Just Futures Law

Just Futures Law is a women-of-color-led law project that recognizes how surveillance disproportionately impacts immigrants and people of color in the United States.  It uses litigation to fight back as part of defending and building the power of immigrant rights and criminal justice activists, organizers, and community groups to prevent criminalization, detention, and deportation of immigrants and people of color. Just Futures was founded in 2019 using a movement lawyering and racial justice framework and seeks to transform how litigation and legal support serves communities and builds movement power.  

In the past year, Just Futures sued the Department of Homeland Security and its subagencies seeking a court order to compel the agencies to release records on their use of AI and other algorithms, and sued the Trump Administration for prematurely halting Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status, a humanitarian program that allows hundreds of thousands of Haitians to temporarily remain and work in the United States due to Haiti’s current conditions of extraordinary crises. It has represented activists in their fight against tech giants like Clearview AI, it has worked with Mijente to launch the TakeBackTech fellowship to train new advocates on grassroots-directed research, and it has worked with Grassroots Leadership to fight for the release of detained individuals under Operation Lone Star.

Erie Meyer

Erie Meyer is a Senior Fellow at the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator where she focuses on the intersection of technology, artificial intelligence, and regulation, and a Senior Fellow at the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy. She is former Chief Technologist at both the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Federal Trade Commission. Earlier, she was senior advisor to the U.S. Chief Technology Officer at the White House, where she co-founded the United States Digital Service, a team of technologists and designers working to improve digital services for the public. Meyer also worked as senior director at Code for America, a nonprofit that promotes civic hacking to modernize government services, and in the Ohio Attorney General's office at the height of the financial crisis. 

 

Since January 20, Meyer has helped organize former government technologists to stand up for the privacy and integrity of governmental systems that hold Americans’ data. In addition to organizing others, she filed a declaration in federal court in February warning that 12 years of critical records could be irretrievably lost in the CFPB’s purge by the Trump Administration’s Department of Government Efficiency. In April, she filed a declaration in another case warning about using private-sector AI on government information. That same month, she testified to the House Oversight Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation that DOGE is centralizing access to some of the most sensitive data the government holds—Social Security records, disability claims, even data tied to national security—without a clear plan or proper oversight, warning that “DOGE is burning the house down and calling it a renovation.” 

Software Freedom Law Center

Software Freedom Law Center, India is a donor-supported legal services organization based in India that brings together lawyers, policy analysts, students, and technologists to protect freedom in the digital world. It promotes innovation and open access to knowledge by helping developers make great free and open-source software, protects privacy and civil liberties for Indians by educating and providing free legal advice, and helps policymakers make informed and just decisions about use of technology. 

Founded in 2010 by technology lawyer and online civil liberties activist Mishi Choudhary, SFLC.IN tracks and participates in litigation, AI regulations, and free speech issues that are defining Indian technology. It also tracks internet shutdowns and censorship incidents across India, provides digital security training, and has launched the Digital Defenders Network, a pan-Indian network of lawyers committed to protecting digital rights. It has conducted landmark litigation cases, petitioned the government of India on freedom of expression and internet issues, and campaigned for WhatsApp and Facebook to fix a feature of their platform that has been used to harass women in India. 

Thank you to Fastly, DuckDuckGo, Corellium, and No Starch Press for their year-round support of EFF's mission.

Want to show your team’s support for EFF? Sponsorships ensure we can continue hosting events like this to build community among digital rights supporters. Please visit eff.org/thanks or contact tierney@eff.org for more information on corporate giving and sponsorships.

EFF is dedicated to a harassment-free experience for everyone, and all participants are encouraged to view our full Event Expectations.

Questions? Email us at events@eff.org.

 

Christian Romero