open government - Page number 7

Below are my notes from the talk I gave at OSDC (Open Source Developers Conference) 2011 on open government, where I tried to go into some of the practicalities of open government implementation and projects. I had a great response from the packed room, so thanks everyone for attending (and for encouraging me to blog) » Read more

As cities are facing growing demands and shrinking resources, they have to find new ways of solving problems. Change by Us, a new digital platform that enables citizens to collaborate on projects for city improvement themselves, is a promising model of a new kind of civic engagement. Launched in New York City earlier this year, the application is now being used in Philadelphia as well and is freely available for reuse through a open source license.

OMB Watch and the Sunlight Foundation today [November 16, 2011] released an open letter to the U.S. Senate supporting continued funding for the Electronic Government Fund's important transparency projects. The letter echoes the Obama administration's policy statement issued Nov. 10. » Read more

The second CityCamp Colorado started off with two speakers from the City of Denver setting the stage for the day’s theme: enhancing access to government. Held at the Jefferson County Administration and Courts Facility on October 28, 2011, more than 70 people gathered to participate, learn, and advance the open government movement. After Tom Downey, talked about the power shift in open government, Deputy Chief of Staff Stephanie O'Malley for Denver Mayor Michael Hancock explained the importance for citizens of knowing how to find government information. » Read more

The second CityCamp Colorado started off with Tom Downey and Stephanie O'Malley from the City of Denver setting the stage for the day’s theme: enhancing access to government. Held at the Jefferson County Administration and Courts Facility on October 28, 2011, more than 70 people gathered to participate, learn, and advance the open government movement. » Read more

The publication, Guide to Owning Transparency: How Federal Agencies Can Implement and Benefit from Transparency, was released earlier this month and is the result of an extended collaboration. The guide was sponsored by the US Office of Personnel Management (formerly the US Civil Service Commission)—which is the "human resources" agency for the US Government.

» Read more

Last year, with only a month of notice, a small group passionate people announced we'd like to do an international open data hackathon and invited the world to participate.

We were thinking small but fun. Maybe 5 or 6 cities.

We got it wrong. » Read more

Can an entrenched bureaucracy, encumbered by a rigid culture and public records compliance adapt open source ways to collaborate more effectively? Is it like pulling teeth just to get people to share ideas? Is that devil's advocate bringing your team down? If you want results, try something different. Use open communications and transparency with your team. You might be surprised how these open source pillars will create the ownership and accountability to achieve your desired results.

Imagine you came from a world were the freedom to share and collaborate were the way your organization survived. Can you apply this recipe to government? » Read more

CityCamp Colorado 2011 aims to bring together people like yourself to share ideas around this years theme, "Enhancing Access to Government." On Friday, October 28, 2011, the 2nd Annual CityCamp Colorado unconference will be held at the Jefferson County Administrative building (a.k.a. The Taj Mahal). Register for the event to reserve your spot, because space is limited.

Why do we want to enhance access to our government? » Read more

Hack4Reno is a 24-hour hackathon being held on October 15-16, 2011. But you don't need to hack on code to be part of this movement. The goal is to build things that make Reno better by demonstrating the value of open data and open government. This event allows developers, designers, and citizens to learn new technology, showcase their talent, and, ultimately, build new applications that help make Reno a smarter, more engaged place to live. » Read more