Government

Reclaiming public space in your city

My love affair with cities, San Francisco in particular, started early. Though my parents moved from San Francisco to the suburbs before I turned one, we visited the city often. One of my earliest memories of the City: In the family car driving up Interstate 280, face pressed to the window, I look out at the houseboats anchored in Mission Creek and wish that I could live there.

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0 CommentsPosted 22 Oct 2012 by Elizabeth Hunt

Community Spotlight: Denis Parfenov, restoring trust in politics through open government

According to the 2012 Web Index Report, modern technologies are critically under utilized in Ireland—making the work of citizens like Denis Parfenov significantly challenging. If he wants to open up the Irish government, he's got to find a way to open up the data.

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2 CommentsPosted 19 Oct 2012 by Jen Wike (Red Hat)

Can we upgrade democracy with open source version control?

As Luis Ibanez pointed out on Friday, Clay Shirky's latest TED Talk—exploring what open source version control systems may mean for democracy—is great food for thought. Shirky says tools like Git will one day transform democracy, because they will make it easier than ever for citizens to participate in lawmaking and other formerly hierarchical civic processes. Imagine, for example, if anyone could propose a "patch" to the legal code, as easily as they can for computer code. It might be feasible for many more people to be directly involved, and the code might get much better. » Read more

1 CommentPosted 17 Oct 2012 by David Robinson

Open source in U.S. government in five minutes

Gunnar Hellekson, Technology Strategist for Red Hat's U.S. Public Sector Group, presents a timeline created by tying together data about software the government has released as open source.

Interesting facts: » Read more

7 CommentsPosted 15 Oct 2012 by Gunnar Hellekson (Red Hat)

Clay Shirky on how the Internet will one day transform government

Clay Shirky has done it again. In a fascinating TED Talk, Shirky examines the impact that collaboration tools developed for and by open source communities will have on the way citizens participate in public life and how they can steer the political processes. » Read more

1 CommentPosted 12 Oct 2012 by Luis Ibanez

CTO Park: Doing business with the Federal government should be EZ

U.S. Chief Technology Officer Todd Park and Director of New Media for the White House Macon Phillips held a roundtable at North Carolina Central University's School of Law last week to discuss open government projects spearheaded by the new Presidential Innovation Fellows program. » Read more

0 CommentsPosted 8 Oct 2012 by Melanie Chernoff (Red Hat)

One-day of innovation for Colorado municipal governments and community organizations

Open Colorado is announcing the third annual CityCamp Colorado unconference scheduled for Friday, October 26, 2012. The unconference will bring together people to share ideas that aim to enhance government transparency, citizen participation, and accountability. Ultimately, these goals look to enhance the citizen experience and foster a more healthy, livable community. » Read more

0 CommentsPosted 4 Oct 2012 by ScottPrimeau

Hacking on code and culture: Failure as validated learning

Open source is about more than the code, it’s about the culture. The open culture that many open source communities embrace is entrenched in organizations like Code for America. It’s obvious as I sit here during the opening day of the Code for America Summit in San Francisco, CA.

Jennifer Pahlka, founder and executive director of Code for America, started off the conference with a call to action, "Beliefs aren't enough, we have to act." » Read more

2 CommentsPosted 1 Oct 2012 by Jason Hibbets (Red Hat)

Beth Noveck predicts two phases of open government in TED Talk

I recently watched a new TED Talk by the first and former White House Deputy CTO Beth Noveck, delivered in Edinburgh, Scotland. She is really the initial instigator of the modern open government movement in the United States and is now working to make it a reality worldwide. What I like best about her talk is the litany of examples that are happening all over the world—from painting the national budget on hundreds of walls so that locals can comment on it to a Texas wiki that lets citizens and businesses comment on regulations. Take a look:

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0 CommentsPosted 27 Sep 2012 by Andrew Krzmarzick

How far does openness in government trickle down?

What's it like to work for your state government? What kinds of software are approved for use? How far do you think openness in government trickles down?

I've been asked questions likes these as a Geographic Information Systems Technician with the State Department of Health and Human Services in North Carolina, where I spend most of my day looking at maps. And currently, open source solutions are not approved for use in my department, but there does appear to openness in my midst.

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0 CommentsPosted 25 Sep 2012 by Charles Rudder