opengov - Page number 5

From amazing metaphors involving adorable puppies to reflections about how data can transform generalities into actions, I was fortunate to attend the first CityCamp held in Minneapolis, Minnesota on November 12, 2011. This un-conference is designed to be more of an open exchange of ideas than the traditional professional conference that most of us are use to – whatever profession you work in. » Read more

Every time I come to The Syracuse Tech Garden there is always something new and exciting. This time around Todd Park, chief technology officer (CTO) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services(HHS) spoke to the upstate New York community in a talk titled Unlocking the power of data, IT, and innovation to improve health.

Park first got onto my radar late one night when I was trolling CSPAN around 4 a.m.. It was the first time I heard the words 'open source' mentioned on CSPAN, and I was more than excited to see the genuine article. Mr. Park did not disappoint. » Read more

Picture this: A six hour coffee break with over 100 social media and open source enthusiasts from government, community organizations, technology start-ups, and the community at-large. Ahead of you in line at the coffee pot are software developers, social media experts, open government advocates, and students. What’s that? It sounds too good to be true?

Think again! » 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

In part one of our interview with David Diaz, president and CEO of the Downtown Raleigh Alliance, we explored how open source is applied to economic development, how his organization works with local government, and the programs Downtown Raleigh Alliance has implemented.

Now, David tells us how influential open source is to local leaders and how they educate government and business leaders about the power of open source. He also shares his experience with citizen participation and how he uses the open source way in his everyday life. » Read more

Amid the last two decades' astounding advances in consumer and enterprise technologies, governments at the city and county level—ones that are responsible for delivering public services every day—have largely been standing on the sidelines. Civic Commons is a new non-profit initiative that’s dedicated to helping government embrace the transformative potential of shared technologies and collaborative development techniques that have been pioneered and proven in the private sector. » Read more

I've found myself hanging out more and more on GovLoop lately. It's a social network for the government community focused on connecting people and sharing information. It boasts more than 45,000 members, and I'm happy to be a part of the community. I first learned about GovLoop at a CityCamp event earlier this year. Now that I've become more active in the community, I wanted to share a few topics from GovLoop that you might find interesting. » Read more

Can you revitalize a city and attract businesses using open source principles? David Diaz, president and CEO of the Downtown Raleigh Alliance thinks so. In fact, I got a chance to sit down with David to discuss how economic development organizations are interacting with their local and state government, citizens, businesses, and landlords. Diaz and his organization apply the principles of transparency, participation, and sharing to their economic development programs.

In part one of our interview with David Diaz, we explore how open source is applied to economic development, how his organization works with local government, and the programs Downtown Raleigh Alliance has implemented. » Read more

Firmstep has launched a new service called AchieveCity, a Web-based government platform powered by the Drupal distribution OpenPublic (developed by Phase2 Technology) and hosted in the Amazon EC2 environment.

Firmstep says five municipalities will go live in August, and those signing up now will launch beginning in September. Founder and CEO Brett Husbands talks with GovFresh about the new service. » Read more

I participated in the first-ever Twitter @townhall meeting hosted by the White House on July 7. Of course, I wanted to see if my questions would make it to the big screen, but I was more interested in the participation and transparency of the event. » Read more