Tuesday, Mar. 29, 2011

Raleigh councilman joins national tech panel

Bonner Gaylord loves technology.

The youngest member of Raleigh's City Council - and a self-described geek - championed the SeeClickFix mobile app to let residents report potholes, graffiti and other problems. And last summer, Gaylord offered to name his twin boys Larry and Sergey after Google's founders if the company brought high-speed Google Fiber to Raleigh (Instead, the boys are named Demetri and Mont).

Now Gaylord, who represents northwest Raleigh, will serve on the National Technology Adoption Advisory Council (NTAAC), a coalition of 80 elected officials who support improved access to technology and sustainable broadband initiatives. Gaylord, 33, talked about his new role with staff writer Matt Garfield.

Q. What will you bring to the group?

A. "To me, broadband is synonymous with access to information. Just as libraries in the past were the sole location for vast amounts of information, now broadband access is that (venue). How that's delivered, I think is up for discussion."

Q. What's the most common thing you hear from constituents about technology and Raleigh?

A. "I spoke the other night at a CAC that wanted me to talk about SeeClickFix. They were excited about it. There was a huge round of applause afterward. They felt like they finally had a transparent way to reach out.

"There's a need for technology in underserved areas. It's just like not having access to a library. It has the potential restrict those areas. It's going to potentially stifle learning and growth."

Q. Is City Hall ahead of or behind the curve?

A. "I think city government is behind the curve. There are all sorts of emerging technologies that, in the private sector, don't need a public vetting to be adopted. The public process is inherently slow and measured. Although that's appropriate in most situations, unfortunately, we can sometimes end up a good ways behind. The remedy is to push harder and make it a priority constantly."

Q. In terms of technology, how do you see the needs of the city changing over the next five to 10 years?

A. "I'd like to see more public information available to more people - with simpler interfaces. And for people to be able to quickly figure out how they need to pay their bills, find out about events. We're going to have ever-increasing data needs. When the iPhone came out, data usage went way up. Those devices are becoming ever more available, and even simpler to use. It means that we need to adapt to those changes, and make our information available in formats people prefer."