I'm Jeff Maki, Founder and Principal Consultant at Public Works Office.
I build technology for the public: people and spaces. My goal is to make public "things" more usable, giving users the ability to make decisions in accordance with their own preferences and values.
I often collaborate with domain experts such as professional engineers, urban planners, roboticists and user experience designers. Like an artist, I think of my superpower as being able to imagine new futures; my technology and consulting background allow me to chart a credible path to get there.Career accomplishments include re-imagining out-of-home transit advertising as a way to fund customer experience innovations, a vision LA Metro's board cited in awarding Intersection its 10-year rail advertising contract; leading partnerships for LinkNYC, New York City's advertising-funded replacement for its aging payphones, offering free gigabit WiFi and city services at no cost to taxpayers; successfully piloting and then scaling a machine-learning-powered arrival prediction system to serve New York City's 2 million+ daily bus riders; and launching an online experience to share never-before-captured gigapixel+ images from around the world, using technology from NASA's Mars rover program.
When not working, you can find me renovating an 1876 townhome in Philadelphia.
