Kate Krontiris is a researcher, strategist, and facilitator working to transform civic life in America. With full research support from Google’s civic innovation portfolio, she is currently investigating how we have become a nation of interested bystanders, and what can be done to nudge everyday people to assert greater ownership over the decisions that govern their lives.
Kate is best known for her applied research on how people use technology for civic purposes. Previously, Kate shepherded a discovery and design process on behalf of Personal Democracy Media to investigate and envision a new center for civic innovation in New York City. She also led a first-of-its-kind investigation into American elections to assess the human motivations, technological systems, and institutional landscapes that define elections administration at the most local levels, on behalf of the non-profit, non-partisan civic startup TurboVote.
For the 2014-2015 academic year, Kate will be a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. She holds a Masters in public policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and an MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management. Kate serves as a member of the Harlem Justice Corps Community Advisory Board and is an alumna of the AmeriCorps National Service Program.
elections
Getting the Digerati to Double-Down on Civic Challenges
I have spent the better part of the past year investigating civic life in America. Last spring, on behalf of the organizations TurboVote and Reboot, I embedded for a week at a time in six different elections offices across this country, ranging from Brattleboro, Vermont, to Travis County, Texas. I met public innovators working hard behind the scenes, but I also found lumbering bureaucracies dependent on legacy technology systems.
Rethinking International Development: Big Ideas from the Invention Generation
Krontiris: Okay, good morning everybody! My name is Kate Krontiris and I am a fellow of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, and I have the thrill of moderating what I think is going to be a fascinating discussion. If you came here this morning looking for some inspiration, I think you’re going to […]
disinformation
Towards 2016: The Future of American Elections
Democracy requires participation. Only 55 percent of registered voters vote in major U.S. elections. Voting laws are meanwhile getting even more restrictive and locally unique, thanks in part to recent Supreme Court revisions to the Voting Rights Act. Can technology help fix America's broken voting system? Will we eventually vote by phone or internet? How will 2016 be different from 2012? Jocelyn Benson of Wayne State University, Judd Choate of the Colorado Department of State, Scott Duncombe of ShareProgress, Google's Eric Hysen, Tammy Patrick of Arizona's Maricopa County, Katherine Grainer of Civitas, and civic researcher Kate Krontiris discuss at Techonomy 2013 in Tucson, Ariz. Watch video and read the complete transcript here.
Betting Big on Civic Innovation
Civic Researcher and Strategist Kate Krontiris discusses the current and future relationship of technology and the elections process. Watch the video and read the full transcript here.
Conferences
Techonomy 14
This year Techonomy moves to the beautiful Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay, November 9-11, on the cliffs south of San Francisco, near Silicon Valley.
Conferences
Techonomy 13
A new society is coming into being. People around the world are building it using the rapidly-evolving tools of technology.
