The GovFresh Podcast

California Alpha (Part 2)

In this episode, we dive into a bold, state-sponsored experiment that reimagined how government can build digital services. In 2019, the State of California launched California Alpha [http://Alpha.CA.gov]—a three-month prototype that challenged the status quo and showed what’s possible when you start from scratch with a small, focused team and a clear mission. You’ll hear directly from the people who built it: the early hurdles, breakthrough moments, and lessons that could reshape how public services are delivered. Whether you work in tech, policy, or public service—this is what it looks like to build government differently. This conversation includes Alpha team members Kimberly Glenn, Aaron Hans, Art Khomishen, Carter Medlin, Angie Quirarte and Luke Fretwell. Be sure to also listen to California Alpha (Part 1) [/episode/california-alpha-part-1], where Angie discusses setting the Alpha foundation. LINKS * California’s Alpha Team Takes on Real-Time .Gov Redesign [https://www.govtech.com/gov-experience/Californias-Alpha-Team-Takes-on-Real-Time-Gov-Redesign.html] * State Website Redesign Could Influence Other Departments, Processes [https://insider.govtech.com/california/news/state-website-redesign-could-influence-other-departments-processes.html] * The Time Has Come for Alpha 2.0 [https://insider.govtech.com/california/news/commentary-the-time-has-come-for-alpha-2-0] * Welcome to Alpha.CA.gov [http://Alpha.CA.gov] * California’s Alpha Team Takes on Real-Time .Gov Redesign [https://www.govtech.com/gov-experience/Californias-Alpha-Team-Takes-on-Real-Time-Gov-Redesign.html] * State Website Redesign Could Influence Other Departments, Processes [https://insider.govtech.com/california/news/state-website-redesign-could-influence-other-departments-processes.html] * The Time Has Come for Alpha 2.0 [https://insider.govtech.com/california/news/commentary-the-time-has-come-for-alpha-2-0] * Introducing the Alpha Team - ODI Blog [https://innovation.ca.gov/blog/posts/introducing-the-ca-gov-alpha-team/]

Hack to the Future with Emily Crose

In Hack to the Future: How World Governments Relentlessly Pursue and Domesticate Hackers [https://govfresh.com/books/hack-to-the-future], Emily Crose offers a cultural, historical and legal schooling on government’s approach to hackers and hacking. The relationship between hackers and the government has evolved over the decades, from combative to somewhat congenial, but it’s continuously complicated. In this episode, Emily and I discuss the evolution of hacking and how governments can better work with hackers, particularly in recruiting them for public service. My big takeaway from talking with Emily is that hacking is not about just one person or group, but a community built on creativity and joy, of people who are artists who also happen to be technologists. If government can better grok this, we’ll have a more symbiotic and productive relationship between the bureaucracy and hackers that better serves us all. ABOUT EMILY Emily Crose is a cybersecurity expert with over 13 years of experience, including roles at the National Security Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, and U.S. Army INSCOM. She has worked in both offensive and defensive network security, specializing in Industrial Control Systems (ICS) for sectors like energy and transportation. Currently a research manager at Sophos Labs [https://www.sophos.com/en-us], she focuses on Linux behavior and ICS security. Crose is a respected speaker, having briefed military and corporate leaders, and collaborates with the International Spy Museum [https://www.spymuseum.org]. An advocate for transparency and counter-extremism, she also educates on cyberwar threats and privacy protection.

Government PDFs

The PDF, short for portable document format, is a file format created by Adobe that lets people easily create documents. Government loves PDFs. They’re used for meeting agendas and minutes, newsletters, staff reports and, well, everything imaginable. When not created properly – and often they aren’t – they are inaccessible. But there are broader public service problems PDFs cause, particularly in the machine-readable direction we’re heading. They are cumbersome and research shows that people just don’t like them. In this episode, I speak with Department of Civic Things CEO Rebecca Woodbury. Rebecca works with governments on content strategy and implementation. This includes PDF audits and best practices. Rebecca and I talk about why PDFs are a digital experience pain point, and how government can move beyond them. LINKS * PDF: Still Unfit for Human Consumption, 20 Years Later [https://www.nngroup.com/articles/pdf-unfit-for-human-consumption/] * Why governments should get rid of PDF documents [https://deptofcivicthings.com/why-governments-should-get-rid-of-pdf-documents/] * The elephant in the new accessibility law: PDFs [https://deptofcivicthings.com/the-elephant-in-the-new-accessibility-law-pdfs/] ABOUT REBECCA Rebecca is the founder of Department of Civic Things [https://deptofcivicthings.com/]. She worked in local government for 12 years and was the City of San Rafael’s first director of Digital Service & Open Government. Government Technology named her one of the Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers. She has a masters in Public Policy from Mills College in Oakland, California.

California Alpha (Part 1)

In December of 2019, a small, ad hoc team assembled for a 90-day experimental project. Called California Alpha, its goal was to help the state rethink government digital service delivery. Its members – picked from government and private sector – had never collectively worked together. Their mission was to create – in three months – a culture and product that embodied a new way of delivering services to Californians – one that focused on designing for user needs and challenged the status quo of digital delivery in state government. This is the story of California Alpha, why it was stood up, how it worked, and the resulting impact it had on the government digital ecosystem, inside the state and beyond. This is a series on California Alpha, where I speak with Angie Quirarte, who played a key role in its creation and then led the project’s work. In this episode, Angie and I discuss setting the California Alpha foundation. LINKS * California domain name policy [https://cdt.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/TL-17-05.pdf] * California open data policy [https://cdt.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/TL-19-01.pdf] * CalData [https://data.ca.gov/] * California web standards policy [https://cdt.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/TL-18-04_2018-0725.pdf] * Digital Services Network [https://cdt.ca.gov/technology-innovation/dwsn/] * California 2019 Budget- Creation of ODI [https://ebudget.ca.gov/2019-20/pdf/Enacted/BudgetSummary/StatewideIssuesandVariousDepartments.pdf] * How civic hackers helped California’s DMV get digital momentum [https://govfresh.com/signal/how-civic-hackers-helped-californias-dmv-get-digital-momentum] * Francis Maude 2013 Letter on Open Government and Digital Strategy in UK [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-digital-strategy/government-digital-strategy] ABOUT ANGIE Angie Quirarte most recently served as Senior Advisor in the White House Office of Management and Budget where she led efforts to fix federal hiring and talent policy. She is a 2025 Federal 100 awardee. Angie has built digital service teams including leading Alpha, helped transform the California DMV, led the COVID-19 digital response team, matched hundreds of technologists in the public sector, and implemented policies and programs around open data, open source, web standards, and web accessibility.

Civic hacking with Carlos Moreno

Whether it’s cultural or political, sometimes government isn’t amenable to working with civic hackers. But as they say, “hackers gonna hack,” and designers and developers will always find a way to leverage their skills and passion to help fix something they see as broken. Citizen journalist and civic technologist Carlos Moreno shares his experiences and lessons learned civic hacking. Carlos talks about the dynamics of hacking when government isn’t civic hacker friendly and how nonprofit organizations can be a better outlet for technologists who want to help. Carlos shares how civic hackers in Tulsa, Oklahoma, shifted their focus from government to supporting local organizations. He also offers advice for how both can find and work best with one another for the greater good. LINKS * Greenwood Mapping Project [https://thevictoryofgreenwood.com/mapping/?v=7516fd43adaa] * The Victory of Greenwood [https://thevictoryofgreenwood.com/?v=7516fd43adaa] * 9b [https://www.9bcorp.com/] ABOUT CARLOS Carlos Moreno is a project manager at 9b and is the author of two books: The Victory of Greenwood [https://thevictoryofgreenwood.com/?v=7516fd43adaa] and A Kids Book about the Tulsa Race Massacre [https://akidsco.com/products/a-kids-book-about-the-tulsa-race-massacre]. He was selected by national urban-affairs magazine NextCity as part of its 2014 Vanguard Class. In 2015, he was certified by IDEO and +Acumen, in the practice of Human-Centered Design. Carlos earned a Bachelor of Arts in Administrative Leadership in 2017 and a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree with a focus on civic technology in 2020 from the University of Oklahoma. Carlos serves on the board of Urban Coders Guild which teaches programming skills to disadvantaged youth, as well as the leadership team of Tri City Collective [https://www.tricitycollective.com/] which provides journalism, cultural, and educational opportunities outside the classroom for youth and adults.