O’Neil is responsible for strategy and oversees all of our initiatives. Prior to the Smart Chicago, O’Neil was a co-founder of and People Person for EveryBlock, a neighborhood news and discussion site serving 16 cities. See writing, Twitter,Slideshare, about, portfolio, and Flickr.
Daniel X. O’Neil is the Executive Director of the Smart Chicago Collaborative, a civic organization devoted to making lives better in Chicago through technology.
Prior to the Smart Chicago, O’Neil was a co-founder of and People Person for EveryBlock, a neighborhood news and discussion site serving 16 cities. He was responsible for uncovering new data sets through online research and working with local governments. In August 2009 EveryBlock was purchased by msnbc.com. After acquisition, O’Neil ran Business Development for EveryBlock, working on advertising, content partnerships, and integration with the core msnbc.com site. During this time period, O’Neil participated in the open data/ open government movement, advising governments and candidates on policy.
Prior to EveryBlock, O’Neil spent 10 years as an Internet strategist and project manager for Streams Online Media, one of the first web design firms in Chicago. He continued this work at Dunn Solutions Group after their purchase of Streams in 2001, with a focus on technology requirements training and the development of Web-based tools for training, e-commerce, and content management. He also created a number of sites for municipalities, including the first Web site for the Chicago Inspector General, the person in charge of rooting out corruption in Chicago city government.
Since 2002 he’s run a number of independent Web projects, including CTA Alerts/ CTA Tweet and CityPayments.org. He’s developed dozens of Web sites for nonprofits, schools, and small businesses using easy-to-use and inexpensive tools such as weblogs, wikis, and social networking sites. In June of 2011 he was honored by the White House as a Champion of Change for Technology and Innovation.
O’Neil has a degree in English and Anthropology from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
