Government

The US government’s digital strategy: The new benchmark and some lessons

The White House recently launched its new roadmap for digital government. This included the publication of Digital Government: Building a 21st Century Platform to Better Serve the American People (PDF version), the issuing of a Presidential directive and the announcement of White House Innovation Fellows.

In other words, it was a big week for those interested in digital and open government. Having had some time to digest these docs and reflect upon them, below are some thoughts on these announcement and lessons I hope governments and other stakeholders take from it. » Read more

0 CommentsPosted 14 Jun 2012 by David Eaves

Larry Lessig: The corruption of the American political system

Two years ago, I interviewed law professor, author, and Creative Commons co-founder Larry Lessig to discuss his work on institutional corruption and what he describes as the "economy of influence" in American politics. This week he was back in Durham, NC to discuss his new book, Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress—and a Plan to Stop It.

Nearly 100 people crammed into the basement of the matchbox-sized Regulator bookshop to hear Lessig read from his latest work and take questions about how to change the way money influences elections. The basic problem, he said, can be summed up with four numbers: » Read more

6 CommentsPosted 13 Jun 2012 by Melanie Chernoff (Red Hat)

What open source can teach government officials

What started with a unanimous vote to adopt an open source resolution eventually became a long-term commitment to the open source way. How many of you have had an elected official attend a citizen-lead event? Probably some of you. But how many of you have had your entire city or town council attend an unconference?

At a recent open government unconference, all city council members—including the mayor of Raleigh, North Carolina—attended some or all of the event. Their attendance wasn't a requirement—and it wasn’t a political drive-by. It was genuine, natural. And some of them got knee-deep in the “code,” competing in the civic hackathon. » Read more

1 CommentPosted 7 Jun 2012 by Jason Hibbets (Red Hat)

How do we recycle hackathon code?

With the sheer number of civic hackathons starting to reach a critical mass, some are asking whether the energy and drive embodied by these events can be directed to reusing existing applications or projects started at earlier events.

This is an important issue, as some projects worked on at civic hacking events aren’t actively pursued after the event is over. Is there an opportunity to better focus the energy and talents of civic hackers to reuse existing applications, or to take the work from previous hackathons further? » Read more

0 CommentsPosted 6 Jun 2012 by Sheba Najmi

The merits of failing faster

Promoting a culture that supports failure is a foreign concept to most people, but not for the panelists speaking about open government and business at CityCamp Raleigh. According to the panelists, who range from vice presidents of corporations to chief information officers of Raleigh government, there is a general consensus that failing faster provides a quicker path to innovation. » Read more

8 CommentsPosted 5 Jun 2012 by Casey Brown

GovHack, GovCamp, GovJam aim to advance Gov 2.0 in Australia

Not one, but three upcoming events will bring more open government to Australia over the course of a week. GovHack, GovCamp, and GovJam will collectively allow citizens to interact with the public sector to collaborate, innovate, and share--advancing Gov 2.0 by using government data in new ways. » Read more

0 CommentsPosted 31 May 2012 by Jason Hibbets (Red Hat)

CityCamp Raleigh sets up for year two this weekend, $5000 prize

Last year, CityCamp Raleigh raised the bar on the city’s adoption of open sourced solutions and helped bring citizens to the problem solving table. This weekend, the gang behind the event are hosting it again with the same $5000 prize for the best idea and solution. » Read more

0 CommentsPosted 29 May 2012 by Leo Suarez

A look inside Code for America

Last week while I was in San Francisco for the Open Source Business Conference I stopped by to visit Code for America. I arranged some office time a few weeks ago when I was planning my travel. This wasn’t just another office tour; this is where web geeks, city experts, and technology industry leaders are making a difference. This is where civic ideas are transformed from sticky notes and whiteboards to code. » Read more

0 CommentsPosted 28 May 2012 by Jason Hibbets (Red Hat)

Innovation and collaboration stifled in red tape

It is hard to think of any environment as conducive to innovation as the Internet. With a good idea and the motivation to follow it through, anything is possible. Look at Wikipedia, the Google search engine, and Facebook, to name just a few success stories.

Behind them are thousands of less famous web-based innovations that are also having a huge impact on society. These include many thousands of small firms and individual web developers based in Europe.

Collaboration is vital. Technologies do not emerge out of the blue. They are built on innovations by others – building-block technologies that are offered up as industry standards. » Read more

0 CommentsPosted 24 May 2012 by Paul Meller

What innovations can change America’s voting rates?

People often ask me about various innovative efforts to change America’s voting rates, habits, or options. There is a ton of interesting experimentation happening here, from TurboVote to ElectNext to Americans Elect. I haven’t dug in deeply to any of these projects, but it’s clear they are offering some new thinking to a deep and important problem. » Read more

2 CommentsPosted 22 May 2012 by Jennifer Pahlka