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By Nikki Cabus

City of Ft. Lauderdale CIO Tamecka McKay named Top Ten City CIO 2023

Read Time 3 Minutes

Government CIO Outlook, announced their Top 10 City CIOs of 2023 and a South Florida CIO made the list!

As part of their civic outreach efforts, Govt CIO Outlook, recognizes the technology leaders across the country in their annual prestigious listing of the Top Ten City Govt CIOs who have played an important role in understanding and implementing both technological and operational processes seamlessly within their cities.

Government CIO Outlook is a technology magazine which reaches out to subscribers across globe It is the go-to resource for senior-level government officials and decision makers to learn and share their experiences with products/services, technologies and government technology trends.

The Top 10 City Govt CIOs of 2023 are:

  • Bill Zielinski | City of Dallas, TX
  • Craig Poley | City of Arvada, CO
  • Jason Sankey | City of Atlanta, GA
  • Justin Fair | City of Goodyear, AZ
  • Kevin Gray | City of Burbank, CA
  • Sabra Schneider | City of Bellevue, WA
  • Tamecka McKay | City of Ft. Lauderdale, FL
  • Tony Batalla | City of Oakland, CA
  • Travis Cutright | City of Mesa, AZ
  • Tyson Morris | City of Chattanooga, TN

Tamecka McKay, Chief Information Officer for the City of Ft. Lauderdale, the largest city in Broward County, oversees the City’s entire Technology Infrastructure and Services. The City of Ft. Lauderdale is currently investing over $1 Billion to enhance and maintain their infrastructure network!

The City has launched “LauderWorks” which is an online service that tracks ongoing projects throughout the City which can be filtered by neighborhood, commission district or even the type of project. This allows City residents and interested parties to get details on what the project includes, how much money is being invested and the phase of the overall project. It’s all part of the City’s commitment to transparency in public service.

Her responsibilities include cloud, and on-premise Data Centers, Network, Storage, Systems, Telephony, Mail and Print shop, Audio/Visual, ERP, GIS, Business Applications, Service Desk and Desktop Support services, Mobile technology (tablets, iPad, cell phones) as well as Public Safety technologies including Automatic Vehicle Locaters (AVL), License Plate Readers (LPR), Body Worn Camera technology, Security Surveillance and mission-critical Radio Communications networks for emergency responders and external local government departments.

As an industry certified IT professional, Tamecka has over 23 years of experience. She holds a master’s degree in Public Administration, a bachelor’s degree in Technology Management, and dual associate degrees in Psychology and Computer Information Systems (with honors). As a life-long learner, Tamecka is also currently pursuing her PhD in Public Policy at Florida International University.

Learn more about the City of Ft. Lauderdale here

By Nikki Cabus

University of Miami students among finalists at this year’s AWE XR Prize Challenge on Fighting Climate Change

Read Time 4 Minutes

The University of Miami‘s The Mangrove City project is among this year’s finalists for the AWE 2023 XR Challenge. 

Mangrove City is a VR experience designed for middle school students to explore the crucial role of mangrove forests in protecting coastal communities and mitigating climate change. The VR experience was developed by a team of University faculty, staff members, and students as a part of UM’s XR Initiative active in the fields of architecture, health care, sustainability, climate change, art history, behavioral research, human-computer interfaces, UI/UX, new media, and narrative/storytelling research.

Augmented World Expo. or AWE, launched the “XR Prize Challenge: Fight Climate Change” in October 2022. The challenge gives subject matter experts, engineers, entrepreneurs, technologists, and other professionals an avenue where they can use XR technology to visualize information and create potential solutions to fight climate change. A group or individual has a chance at winning a cash prize of $100,000.

There were four distinct categories under which entrants could submit their nominations. These categories were:
  1. Replacing Wasteful Material Consumption – For solutions that demonstrate that XR is a viable medium for reducing society’s dependence on wasteful transportation, consumption of goods, and unsustainable real estate development.
  2. Visualizing The Causes & Impacts of Climate Change – For solutions that demonstrate XR’s unique ability to educate people about the causes and effects of climate change, and influence behaviors and policies to promote equity and fairness.
  3. Educating About Solutions to Climate Change – For solutions that demonstrate XR as a unique story-telling medium for giving a voice to climatologists and sustainability solutions providers, providing them with a powerful platform to educate communities and expand their reach.
  4. Optimizing Design & Execution of Climate Solutions – For solutions that demonstrate XR as a unique decision-optimization tool, enabling professionals to design and develop perfected solutions that give us the best possible chance to mitigate and reverse climate change.

In January 2023, with hundreds of submissions from around the world, 150 projects from six different continents were chosen to move onto the MVP Phase.” They had to demonstrate a minimum viable product and highlight to judges exactly how their solutions addressed aspects of:

  1. Creativity – Entrants had to demonstrate how their submissions exhibited appropriateness, quality, beauty, design, and originality, as well as highlight the uniqueness of their XR product or project as a solution for fighting climate change.
  2. Functionality – Entrants had to show how their submissions took into account a range of functional requirements, including thoughtful user experience, access, ease of use, and an innovative user interaction associated with their XR-based solutions.
  3. Impact – Entrants had to quantify the impact that their XR-based solutions would have and demonstrate how they would deliver on their promise to fight climate change, including the viability of the solution in the marketplace, its ability to be scaled, and how a solution would be demonstrated or calculated to achieve its intended effect.

Then, on May 3rd,  2023, AWE announced the finalists for the XR Prize challenge – only 11 were chosen – and the University of Miami made the cut!

AWE’s website states that “many of the finalists demonstrated innovative ways in which augmented, virtual and mixed reality technology can be used to help humanity in its fight against one of the biggest existential threats that we are facing as a species today – climate change.”

“It’s humbling to work with so many diverse teams haling from all around the globe and truly inspiring to see and experience so many creative proposals to harness XR in our fight against climate change,” said Dace Campbell, XR Prize Manager, ”

Dace is a professionally licensed architect with extensive experience developing and implementing strategy and innovation with an expertise in XR technology: researching, developing, testing, and applying XR on hundreds of successful projects. Throughout his career, Dace has been a champion for the  the use of virtual reality and augmented reality in industry. He has proven they enhance productivity, sustainability, and equity for designers, builders, and owners winning multiple awards for furthering industry excellence. 

👉🏽 Check out UM’s video here. 🎥

Each team will demonstrate their solutions at final presentations in-person in front of a live judging panel on May 30th at AWE 2023 held in Santa Clara, California. The XR Prize winner(s) will be announced on June 1 at the event during the Auggie Awards ceremony.

The judges panel includes:

  • Katerina Cizek – Award-winning documentary director whose body of work includes documenting the Digital Revolution. Cizek is also the co-founder of the Co-Creation Studio.
  • Robert Fine – Executive director and founder of the International Virtual Reality and Healthcare Association (IVRHA).
  • Marina Psaros – Sustainability expert who has over a decade of experience leading climate action programs. Psaros is also Unity’s global sustainability lead.
  • Dr. Erika Woolsey – Dr. Woolsey is a marine biologist, as well as the chief scientist and co-founder of the Hydrous, a non-profit organization that uses science-based experiences and scalable solutions, such as VR, to further our understanding of and education on ocean science.
To view all 11 finalist projects selected for the final round, click here.
City of Ft. Lauderdale CIO Tamecka McKay named Top Ten City CIO 2023
University of Miami students among finalists at this year’s AWE XR Prize Challenge on Fighting Climate Change