Leading the Field: Jennifer Thom

For our “Leading the Field” Q&A series, we’re speaking with leaders in the civic/gov tech space who are driving important change to make government work by the people, for the people, in the digital age. For Women’s History Month, we’re lifting up the voices of women who are working to ensure the government can serve everyone equitably, with dignity and respect.  This week, we spoke with Jennifer Thom, the Senior Director of Experience Insights at Code for America. At Code for America, we welcome a broad diversity of viewpoints—and we strive to let people speak in their own words about their own unique experiences. With that in mind, the following has received only minor edits for length and clarity, and the views expressed here reflect those of the author.

Tell us a little bit about your path into the world of civic tech. Is the thing that brought you here the same thing that keeps you here?

I’m a newcomer to civic tech! I’m a researcher by training, and went to grad school to get a PhD in human-computer interaction. I’ve always been interested in deeply understanding how the design of technology impacts behavior. Before Code for America, I spent much of my career working in consumer tech, building AI and machine learning-driven products and services. My prior work focused on building voice and conversational interfaces that help people ask for information more seamlessly on a smart speaker or be matched with the right kind of music to fit their mood. In general, I’m motivated by making human-centered products and services that have a positive impact on people’s lives. I made the switch to civic tech because I believe in Code for America’s mission to use human-centered technology to improve public services that reduce poverty and advance equity.

Experience insights might not be a discipline that a lot of people are familiar with. How do you explain the work you do to those who aren’t in civic tech?

Experience insights is a new discipline at Code for America that combines data science and qualitative research under the umbrella of a multidisciplinary practice focused on improving the client experience from end-to-end. Our team’s mission is to conduct mixed-methods research to produce actionable insights for driving strategic impact. Throughout my career, I have observed that evidence-based decision making is best driven by both qualitative and quantitative data. We conduct research to guide Code for America towards our north star of alleviating poverty. 

Throughout my career, I have observed that evidence-based decision making is best driven by both qualitative and quantitative data.

For instance, our data scientists will send out surveys to large groups of people to get a sense of broad patterns of behavior of what is happening at scale. Our qualitative researchers will partner with data scientists to look at the open-ended text comments that people leave or conduct qualitative interviews in order to understand the why of what’s happening on the ground. Data science and qualitative research are also working closely together as part of an organization-wide effort to ensure that the impact of streamlined, client-centered service delivery can be reliably measured both qualitatively and quantitatively. Again, this helps Code for America better understand how our products and services impact from both the macro and micro perspective. 

Emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) have a lot of potential to impact our work here at Code for America. What opportunity makes you most excited?

Code for America is in a unique position to leverage 15 years of experience working shoulder to shoulder with government agencies in identifying opportunities for the safe and ethical application of AI. Because of our position, we have a holistic view of the needs and challenges of individuals, communities, and people and systems that serve them. This helps us develop hypotheses for innovation with consideration for safety, privacy, and societal impact. In my role as the head of experience insights, I see human-centered research as a key component in this process. I’m glad to apply my background in machine learning prototyping and fair machine learning research to be able to help move this work forward. 

Because of our position, we have a holistic view of the needs and challenges of individuals, communities, and people and systems that serve them.

I’m especially excited about identifying opportunities for us to experiment with AI to reduce the bottlenecks that prevent people from getting the benefits they need, when they need them. Through our work in creating online integrated benefits applications and helping people complete their taxes, we know that clients need to upload document after document. We know that sorting through those documents and triaging them can be a time consuming process on the caseworker side. Knowing that, we can ask questions like: How might we use trusted AI techniques to work through those bottlenecks by identifying the type of documents being uploaded in a privacy-preserving way?

Ultimately, I believe AI, when applied responsibly, can help clients break through barriers by simplifying processes. Our expertise in understanding the client journey can help us identify the right places to guide people through the twists and turns. 

There’s also a lot of talk right now about how AI could change government. What things do we need to be considering when deploying new technologies in critical services?

We’re developing principles as an organization in how we engage with AI, based on our mission and values. These principles serve as a touchpoint for us at Code for America as we navigate through this new space. That said, we’ll approach AI much like we approach any technology, to make sure that we stay human-centered at each step of the way.  We’ll also continue to prioritize service delivery that’s ethical, equitable, and inclusive—we want to ensure that we apply AI to help make benefits more accessible to more people. 

We’ll continue to prioritize service delivery that’s ethical, equitable, and inclusive—we want to ensure that we apply AI to help make benefits more accessible to more people. 

At the same time, we do see incredible potential for using AI to scale service delivery so we are iterating and experimenting. It’s important to me, as a researcher, to also have built-in feedback loops so that we can observe, audit and evaluate the impacts of our explorations. Code for America’s commitment to staying accountable in how we interact with algorithms shows through our ethical data use policy and I’m proud to be part of an organization that takes a proactive approach in how we think through these issues. 

As we enter the “new digital age,” where do you think the field of civic tech has room to evolve and grow?

I’m incredibly excited about the conversations and partnerships that are blooming as a result of the increased awareness about AI’s potential. We’re forming new relationships across the civic tech ecosystem as different groups explore how we can apply AI responsibly. AI can be an incredibly important tool to help unblock those bottlenecks that contribute to tens of billions of dollars left on the table each year because of outdated, hard-to-use systems. But, it’s really our relationships and deep trusted partnerships that will help us figure out how to harness these technologies for lasting client impact.