Edmonton Open City Workshop – International
As many know the City of Edmonton’s Open City Workshop is scheduled to start tomorrow at 10am MST and run until 4pm MST and this will be the first “unconference” to happen at the new Art Gallery of Alberta. What is really cool is that the City will be making some interesting announcements tomorrow and I know from the list of registered attendees that the room is going to be filled with great people. Another fascinating thing is how this has all evolved. The evolution that is happening surrounding this event and the Open Data movement right here in the region is simply amazing to be a part of.
Below is a 2-minute video of the City of Edmonton’s Chief Information Officer, Chris Moore speaking about Open Data in relation to tomorrow’s big event, as well as, continuing the vision forward.
As mentioned, the stage is set for the regional Open Data movement to continue to travel leaps and bounds. The list of folks scheduled to be in the room or participating online is diverse and represents our region, province, country and international friends from many angles and that goes directly to how well the communications about what’s going on has penetrated and inspired folks to take action, all this since the first event on November 21, 2009. Whether that be through the use of social or traditional media, the results are clear.
Just this week, Edmonton was recognized as a leader in the Open Data movement during a major announcement by San Francisco’s Mayor Gavin Newsom in the United States regarding their National Open 311 initiative.
Please see the video below and pay careful attention to the organizations listed in the background.
How can you participate?
Well first, if you have an opportunity please come out in person and participate directly in the “unconference.” Secondly, if you are unable to attend in person, then you are invited to watch the live video stream. Further, anyone in the world may also “embed” the live video stream into their website, blog, etc…
Why would you want to do that? Those who are considering an Open Data initiative in their region may want to communicate and educate certain local audiences that frequent their site. You now have that opportunity, thanks to the City of Edmonton’s willingness to share with other communities, not only here in Alberta and in Canada, but also around the world. I’ve had personal discussions with people from the US, Australia, even with Annemarie van Campen who is excited about the Dutch “fresh government” Open Data initiative. I love the “fresh government” tagline, it’s brilliant. We won’t be able to tell or communicate leading up the event as to everyone whom might be planning to carry the feed unless someone confirms that ahead of time, so please tell us here if you can. Such as in the case of Nick Charney and his very popular Gov 2.0 cpsrenewal blog Nick is also going to be a panelist here in Edmonton. I’d also like to mention once again how cool it is for the Edmonton Journal and GovLoop.com to be participating as mentioned in a previous post.
The team
I know one thing for sure, regardless of the really great discussion, ideas and thoughts shared tomorrow at the workshop. You should be very proud of the City of Edmonton event planning team. This takes a lot of effort to properly represent the fourth largest city in Canada on such an important subject.
Councillor Don Iveson, Chris Moore, Jacob Modayil, Scott Lundy, Jason Darrah, James Rugge- Price, Devin Serink, Raffaella Loro and Ashley Casovan who has been rock solid in terms of keeping everyone marching forward to ensure the event is terrific, that’s a tough gig regardless and she’s handled it very well so far I thought. I’d also like to mention our project team, Evan Adnams, Kelly Lalonde and Genoa Adnams who have been working hard on this project to ensure our first ever (and I believe for the city as well) “bilingual” webcast goes without a hitch.
Due to everyone’s hard work, increased awareness and even recognition for this region and the Open Data work has already happened prior to the event itself taking place and that’s something to be proud of. Of course, there is a lot of work still ahead and yet, clearly the momentum is building going into tomorrow and that I must say is highly cool.
City of Edmonton Update
When people ask the question – How do you measure the return on social media? I typically respond with some basic fundamentals in mind and always refer to the fact that it depends on what the specific objectives were to begin with.
Can you measure buzz and awareness?
Absolutely, several different ways in fact. This is where the use of social media is a no-brainer as a starting place. In the case of the City of Edmonton and the upcoming Open City Workshop (register here space left is limited) my opinion is that increased awareness is critical. Sharing ideas, listening and educating new audiences as to what Open Data is will be one of many messages I expect to come out of Saturday. Further, software developers local and non-local alike are no doubt excited to hear about upcoming announcements, the vision in general and how they may play a direct role.
Magnify the effect through sharing
One of the fundamentals of Government 2.0 is participation. The social web, in particular the government 2.0 segment of the social web is already responding to what the City of Edmonton is doing. By agreeing to share the live bilingual webcast feed (a first for the City and very progressive by anyone’s standards in government) with anyone who would like to embed the feed on their site, it’s already opened up new communications doors for the City of Edmonton brand. Not the least of which is GovLoop.com out of Florida. With over 25000 Gov 2.0 community members having the stream featured on the home page of this site is important for the purposes of building international credibility and awareness for the Open Data movement and the City of Edmonton.
Here is another example on Mashable.com of the buzz potential surrounding what’s happening here. Evan from our team made sure to mention in the comments what we’re all up to, nicely done Evan. One never knows who may choose to watch and participate in the online discussion as a result and where that will lead, only time will tell.
Further, the media is also getting into the act and so you can expect to find the feed on one or more major traditional media websites on Saturday too. In fact, the Edmonton Journal has authorized me to let everyone know that they’re excited to be carrying the feed, it’s so great that they’re participating and helping to spread the word about Open Data.
The bounce
What can we expect short to mid-term out of this effort on behalf of the City’s IT and Communications collaborative efforts? In politics and other circles it might be called the “bounce.” I predict that Edmonton area companies, the Alberta and federal governments, more than one post-secondary institution, as well as, countless folks outside the region will definitely see all kinds of opportunity coming out of Saturday.
I also think City Council and administration in Edmonton (and others whom I know are watching closely) will be able to witness first hand just how much the City of Edmonton is quickly moving towards being a strong model for Open Government. Saturday will prove yet again that working in real-time with citizens can be extremely beneficial and not something to be feared but embraced. That sharing our plans with the world outside our region is progressive and it too will benefit the local economy and attract new people, business and brand awareness. The Edmonton area (I’m in Sherwood Park) is a great place to live, work and play.
Open City Workshop
The Open Government force is strong here in Edmonton, Alberta. This Saturday March 6th, 2010 the City of Edmonton will be hosting the next Open Data related event to help citizens understand why this is so important. Whether, you’re in government, a business person or private citizen, I recommend attending or participating online. Your voice is important.
Live!
Here’s a special twist. fusedlogic is proud to announce that we’ve been hired by the City of Edmonton to provide a live bilingual webcast of the event. We’ve twisted the City’s arm (it didn’t take much) and asked if we could provide the live stream to others who may want to share it. They said yes.
Hello embed code! If you’d like to generate traffic and attention to your Government 2.0 focused blog, website or community this is a terrific opportunity to provide content to your online community. If you’re in the media and would like to have the stream on your site, let a thousand flowers bloom.
The City of Edmonton is listening to your Open Data ideas and they’re acting on it.
The spirit of this event is to share ideas and thoughts, learn and collaborate on the way forward. It’s events like this that help to shape a city, everyone’s job is to come out and contribute directly or online.
Trust
One of the fundamental elements of an Open Government is trust. The City of Edmonton said it would open its’ data, it has. The City of Edmonton said it would expand this Open Data movement to the entire region so as to benefit all citizens, it is. Citizens are often skeptical of government for many reasons not the least of which is they don’t feel their voice will be heard. The City of Edmonton’s IT Branch is listening and led by Councillor Don Iveson, CIO Chris Moore, and the team in the IT Branch they’re acting on it. Look out folks, this is only the beginning.
Special Guests: 3 impressive Open Government minds are flying in to Edmonton to participate on a Open Government panel. David Eaves, Mark Kuznicki and Nicholas Charney I expect this to be great fun, and a tremendous learning experience.
See you on Saturday and follow along on Twitter using the Twitter hashtag – “yegdata”
Embed code will be provided for you on our site here: http://fusedlogic.tv/events/yegdata/
More information on the event itself is on the City of Edmonton’s website
Register here to attend the FREE Open City Workshop
Open Government – A personal lesson from Tim O’Reilly
Below is an opinion based on what Tim O’Reilly shared with me this past New Year’s Eve.
This whole conversation with Tim happened as a result of doing research for my upcoming book entitled Escape Velocity and Tim was kind enough to share an unpublished chapter from his upcoming book – Open Government. He gave me permission to work with small parts of this body of work in support of helping me form thoughts about Government 2.0.
Tim has approved this content which is an important point, as I want to ensure I don’t overstep my bounds.
Being this fortunate means not only has Tim afforded me with the ability to study his work ahead of release, but also to communicate with him directly. This wonderful gift also means that I can share brief thought provoking portions with you here on my blog as part of the process.
You’ll notice elements of his work in my PowerPoint from the recent ALI Social Media for Government Conference available for download here. http://bit.ly/anwOWY
From Tim O’Reilly’s chapter within the book Open Government.
As President Obama explained the idea during his campaign: “We must use all available technologies and methods to open up the federal government, creating a new level of transparency to change the way business is conducted in Washington, and giving Americans the chance to participate in government deliberations and decision-making in ways that were not possible only a few years ago.”
Allowing citizens to see and share in the deliberations of government and creating a “new level of transparency” are remarkable and ambitious goals, and would indeed “change the way business is conducted in Washington.” Yet, these goals do not go far enough.
I agree
I agree with Tim that the idea of an Open Government Initiative as explained by then Presidential Candidate Barrack Obama doesn’t go far enough. The next paragraph that Tim provides starts to talk about “government as a platform.” Why? Simple, just having citizens participate in a government based conversation is only the beginning of the change required and the change that is taking place.
For example, one of the things I’ve personally experienced is that it is the private sector who in many ways is driving innovation within an open and transparent government ecosystem. Open Data is a step towards the foundation of government operating, as Tim would say, a “platform.”
My firm is a direct beneficiary of Open Data and we’re the ones driving a specific form of innovation on behalf of three city governments at the moment with respect to our Route 411 transit application. We’re not the only ones or the first but we’re in the game. As Chris Moore, CIO for the City of Edmonton told a crowd at Pecha Kucha the other night. ”No tax dollars were harmed in the making of Route 411.”
I’m not making the above point to brag, only to reinforce one of the many positive outcomes which go beyond citizen generated conversations or direct participation in government deliberations.
The Open Data movement is a concrete step that governments can take to inspire innovation while saving tax dollars in the process. Our goal as citizens should be to push this effect further via those important digital conversations. Let your government know (regardless of level) that this is important to you.
Where social and government have come together.
This week I’ve had the extreme pleasure of being the Chair for ALI’s Social Media for Government conference in Edmonton. Today was day one of the conference, although yesterday we had pre-conference workshops. Stuart Crawford from Ulistic Internet Consultants out of Calgary started the day off and the fusedlogic team ran our workshop in the afternoon.
As I listened to the various speakers today, listed here. I found each one very interesting in their own way. Jas Darrah from the City of Edmonton provided some key insights into how he helped the City get started with the “SMAC” or Social Media Advisory Council down the social path. Jacob George from the City of Calgary, enlightened us about the overall digital footprint the city has and how quickly they respond to issues that arise. Also, Jacob used prezi and we’re big prezi fans too, so extra points for that.
I found our break-out blitz session to be most interesting as that’s when the audience was given a chance to contribute by telling a social media story other than their own as I encouraged them to meet someone new. Fear, still reigns supreme as the number one issue, time-management and capacity where also near the top of the list. However, trying to convince the “old guard” back at the office that this is the way to go is frustration that it seems everyone is feeling. Should you work in government and for someone who is actually a proponent of open government, you don’t know how lucky you are.
Nathan Freed and Manon Abud did an excellent job of explaining the issues, processes and opportunities behind Inspiring Education. A terrific Government of Alberta, Alberta Education initiative. Kudos to Minister Dave Hancock for supporting such a project. Now if we can just remove some more road blocks for Nathan, I bet we’d see even more from this project.
Other highlights include Troy Wason explaining to the crowd all about the ups and downs of being a assigned with getting the social media word out on behalf of the Alberta Government Caucus only to be shown the door as a result of doing his job “too well.”
And then ending the day on a pleasant note with Diane Begin from NAIT’s communications department who explained all the great things they’re doing over there involving the social web. All and all a wonderful day.
I was just on Twitter and Nick Charney wrote the following. “Thinking of writing a blog post called Rethink, Retool or Retire, but I think it’s too edgy.” To which I replied, “why not be a guest blogger on our site, I don’t think it’s too edgy.” In fact, I think it’s bang on. This sentiment also reminds me of a Lee Iacocca saying, “lead, follow or get out of the way.” Ultimately, this is really what we’re exploring at this conference, you can actually see the wheels turn as participants look for ways to convince colleagues back home that “Web2 and Gov2 have happened and they need to be prepared and involved.”
Tomorrow is another action packed day and I’m just as excited to be a part of it with this wonderful group. Especially since I’ve got a surprise or two cooked up for everyone…
