I have worked at the nexus of technology, design, and the public interest for nearly 20 years — originally in international development, but for the past decade more domestically in the delivery of public services. Since 2017, I have been studying and teaching about the role of technology in the delivery of public policy. I'm now turning my attention to the role of technology in our lives, our homes, and with our children.

I'm Emily. My work explores how digital technology is actually used by people, organizations, and governments — not the potential, the practice.

I am not a scholar. I am an expert in implementation: how technology is used in practice by governments, institutions, and individuals to accomplish an intended goal. Or the flip side: how we are captivated by the stated potential and promise of technology, and fail to consider the capacity of institutions and individuals to effectively implement and engage with the technology.

I believe everyone should understand the degree to which technology shapes our public institutions, our daily lives, and the role we each play in that dynamic. To that end, I create oral histories, teach courses, and host conversations to help collectively make sense of it all.

Current work.

I am the curator of two oral history projects: United States Digital Service Origins, and the Civic Tech Memory Bank — a forthcoming oral history project housed at William & Mary’s Swem library, documenting the civic tech movement in the United States. I am doing this because our understanding of the past shapes how we engage with the present and our vision for the future, and we must preserve first-hand accounts and experiences while they are still fresh.

As an adjunct professor at Georgetown's McCourt School of Public Policy, I focus on the nexus between technology, design, and public policy. My courses aim to better equip current and future policymakers with the skills and knowledge they need to make more effective decisions about technology. I believe strongly that digital technology is the spinal cord of government — if we want to improve how government works, current and future policymakers must understand the degree to which technology underpins both our institutions and our democracy itself, and how to improve it.

I am also on the Advisory Board of the Center on Privacy and Technology, and a founding Advisory Board member of the Public Tech Leadership Collaborative.