I applaud the fact that Redford proposes to do this should she win and at some point become Premier of Alberta.  That said, the question must be raised as to why it’s taken till 2011 and into 2012 to do something this simple in principle?

Only the beginning

This is certainly a positive step should it come to pass, AND it’s only the beginning of the required level of transparency and accountability we need in Alberta.  Is this truly a change in “attitude?”  I’m not ringing the change bell just yet.

What I believe would serve Albertans even more than a single act like this one would be for a political candidate to explain how they intend to deliver an “Open Alberta.”  A comprehensive Open Government Framework, a concept that I’ve written about multiple times in the past year or more.  I’ve even called for these candidates to “pledge” an Open Government as part of their administration.  Yesterday we announced on our blog that this Thursday on Gov2TV, I’ll be speaking with the Government of British Columbia’s Minister of Labour, Citizens’ Services and Open Government Stephanie Cadieux about the status of her government’s Open Government activity.

While at the international level, the US was releasing their public data in 2009, making it available for the public to work and innovate with, followed by the UK in 2010.  The United States then dubbed 2010 the year of “participatory platforms.”  Here in Canada we’re still in the “pilot project” stage.  Yes, it also seems some are attempting to get their Open Data groove on by working on Open Data licences as written by David Eaves earlier this year which is cool.  However, noticeably absent in this effort is Alberta.

Here at home, we’re talking about helping the public better understand how MLA’s get paid as a shift in transparency.  No doubt this is important, and yet, we have a long way to go regarding our actions on transparency and accountability.

Further, it’s not enough for a government to simply launch a Facebook fanpage, Twitter account and say, “we’re social and being transparent.”

To do this properly I believe a leader must understand the needs of Albertans today, and into the future.  Ensure that at every policy discussion there’s someone credible to speak to the integration of social or Web 2.0 technology into that policy, and the impact of same.  Speaking from experience that exists beyond having 98 followers on Twitter.

We need to raise our game, we need someone in the Government who is plugged in globally on this issue, who is advising on global best practices as they develop and who can advise the next Premier, and working together with Albertans quickly position Alberta as a leader and global partner in being Open.

Why is an Open Alberta so critical?

An Open Alberta leads to innovation within government, business and the community-at-large in a multitude of ways.  Improving the sharing of information and reducing costs, while ensuring proper privacy and security in areas like education and healthcare as is happening around the world.  Transportation and infrastructure can be positively impacted.  The environment, water conservation, and yes, land usage, can all be included in this mix of areas that Open Data.  This as a foundational linch pin in a broader Open Government plan can improve services for Albertans.  The best part will be that Albertans using public data will create digital eco-systems important to them, while working with government to change Alberta for the better.  Then as I’ve written about last year, we won’t have a broken link at data.alberta.ca.

This concept isn’t perfect, there’s still a lot to learn, the great thing is, we can learn together.  There are Open Data and Open Government models, policies, licenses etc, being constructed all over the world, replacing old tired systems at every level of government and it’s happening almost daily now.  Underneath those new systems is the support of a new breed of leader, and culture that embraces citizen opinions, and rather than just saying “we’ll work together with Albertans,” they actually do it openly.

An Open Alberta isn’t work done behind closed doors.

I’ve heard through the grapevine that at least one or more of the Alberta PC leadership candidates and some within the Government of Alberta have been reading my blog on this topic, and all of us here at fusedlogic appreciate that.  I’ve also heard that apparently there’s work being done internally within the Government of Alberta in this area.  Not sure what that means, but here’s the concern. Why is the Government of Alberta doing any of this behind closed doors?  Open Government is just that, you facilitate an open discussion on our future.  For example, that’s precisely what ChangeCamp did for Edmonton.  We as citizens publicly contribute in meaningful ways, and the government facilitates our collective wishes based on stated priorities.  Not go into Santa’s workshop and have the elves build some shiny new toys (you think we should like) to hide under the tree only to be revealed on Christmas Day.

Further, I sure hope that a large vendor hasn’t swooped in to save the Open Government day, and that we’ll learn of a large enterprise purchase made on behalf of Albertans being spun as a big first step solution.  No offence to any one vendor such as Google, Microsoft, IBM or Open Text, but Open Government is not an excuse to simply buy more software.  Not until a lot of work and discussion with citizens on engagement, culture and policies is done should we consider the technology platforms for participation.  And Open Source must absolutely be a part of the discussion.  Premier Stelmach didn’t take a leadership role publicly on this issue.  The next Premier of Alberta must.  That’s where we start.

Regardless of your political party, if you want to be Premier of Alberta, this needs to be a primary part of your policy platform, technology permeates every single Albertan’s life in some way.  This is a shift in attitude, one that in my opinion represents true leadership for Alberta into 2012 and beyond.  Although a strong message, it’s certainly more than a promise to help Albertans know and understand the pay structure of provincially elected officials…

Also, many probably know by now, this wasn’t entirely Lynda Steeles’ fault by the way, someone else is culpable within Global for the release of certain information.  Further, I like the folks over at CTV, and yet people should know they played a key role in this situation too.

By the way, in an Open Alberta, Ted Morton and his team would have been collaboratively and transparently working with citizens on the budget.  In an Open Alberta, we might be able to contribute to the budget directly via a wiki.  There’s less need for the work behind closed doors, big political announcement machine if we’ve all worked on the budget together and there has been lots of open discussion about priorities along the way.  However, that type of environment doesn’t sit well with people who like to have control.

I clearly understand what an Embargo is and the need for accountability in support of that agreement.  However, evidence continues to suggest that the GoA hierarchy, indeed many governments and bureaucracies are not ready for the current digital reality.  In Seattle, I listened to Douglas Shuler, of Evergreen College speak about “civic intelligence.”  The “command and control, vending machine” government model is ill-prepared for the social web, is ill-prepared for our collective “civic intelligence.”  The difference is how some are being proactive and how others are clinging onto the last few strands of the government processes established in the previous century.

Lynda Steele and Global Edmonton et al, are banished by the PAB for the rest of 2010.  Along the same lines of accountability, does that mean that Mack Male (@mastermaq) has been banned or had something more severe happen as a result of action taken by the Government of Alberta for a security breach of the Budget 2010 website a day before the Embargoed press conference?  Notwithstanding the fact that it was so simple to do, I’m not aware of anything happening there regarding that hack.  I’m not advocating that something should happen to Mack, just asking a question about an incident related to accountability on several levels and from different angles.

For example, how should we as Albertans hold the GoA accountable for their inability to secure “our” digital assets?  The argument offered by Bart Johnson, Director of Communications for Alberta Finance and Enterprise who said in an Edmonton Journal article, “It’s a concern that someone should be able to access a site that is secure, but I want to emphasize that all he got a look at were blank pages and placeholders.” Just because the pages were blank doesn’t alleviate the issue of poor GoA Internet security processes and the inequality of reactions to said breach.  At the risk of comparing apples and oranges to some degree, which infraction and reaction was worse?

What we really need to do is analyze how not only this government works, but how others do as well.  We as citizens need to tell decision- makers what we want from them.  Explain how we want information delivered to us or how we want to access that information from government or its agencies.  Explain to them that they need to get up to speed on the social web, integrate it into processes and commit to working side by side with us at more than just the odd stakeholder engagement town hall.

We need to explain that a $70M contract to one large vendor is actually moving away, some might say backwards, from an Open Government direction.  We need to ensure that Assistant Deputy Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Ministers, MLA’s, MP’s, Mayors, Councillors, and other government officials actually learn the difference between the social web, real-time web, and Web 2.0 and how to deploy in all situations as appropriate.

Experience suggests that much of the decision-making, elected official hierarchy is passing judgement in the dark on this issue.  Not just in our province at all three levels of government, but in other provinces and countries for that matter.  In addition to our work performed inside government, the signs are all around us.  Only a few decision-makers show up for ChangeCamp Edmonton, Social Media for Government Conference only had Mayor Glenn Taylor participate, Open Gov West had a few elected officials in the room for opening statements and announcements, but the majority moved on pretty quickly and didn’t attend the panel discussions or breakout sessions.  This is a continuing trend and it needs to change for countless reasons.

Below is a series of images drawn by public servants about their perception of their work environment as it relates to the use of social media, you can draw your own conclusions about how they feel…

Updated August 21, 2010

I have to admit that the highlight for me was two-fold.  First, when the premier stated that our proposed hospital here in Sherwood Park (and others across the province) would be going ahead.  Also, when I went up and said hello to Premier Stelmach and shook his hand after the post dinner Q&A.  He provided me with a warm hello and mentioned that he hasn’t been out to Sherwood Park in awhile.  Premier, the invitation to return and speak at a Chamber function is certainly open.

A question was put to Premier Stelmach by Danielle Klooster from Red Deer in support of earlier discussion about a “diversified economy” and asking about specific strategies the Government of Alberta had in play that were designed to open up new international markets, and foreign investment thus making us more competitive.

“That’s a loaded question,” the premier responded.  In other words, a complex question.  The premier talked about education being a key to a diversified economy, he referred to Port Alberta although not by name, and understanding the larger picture such as an “open skies” agreement that would change all the protectionism of Air Canada and allow foreign airlines to enter Canada with routes to places like Abu Dhabi, a location the premier visited recently.

During this, I couldn’t help but think how much more competitive Alberta would be if it was “Open.”  How municipalities across our province would benefit and by extension Albertans-at-large.  A more efficient government, considerable tax dollars saved, increased private sector opportunities.

Premier Stelmach mentioned that tomorrow a Competitiveness Bill will be brought forward and is expected to pass, he considers this an important Bill because in his words, “Alberta will not retire.”  Explaining that being strong stewards means smart succession planning for future generations.

As many know by now, I believe that an Open Government Framework should be a key part of a “competitive Alberta” today and in the future.  Time will tell if this idea starts to gain traction, I hope it does. Let me know what you think.

Alberta has some really terrific elected officials at the municipal level and AUMA as an organization is doing some amazing things.  As we found out today with the joint-announcement made with the AUMA, Government of Alberta and AAMDC  covering the new Municipal Climate Change Centre to be housed at the new AUMA building.

Below are the presentations that I referenced several times of the course of the two days for you to use and in the case of the PPT you can download that, I just ask that you continue to keep the branding in place and provide credit as have done…

I found our experience to be fascinating albeit too short, and yet, it was great to hear Jerry and Grant provide their perspectives.  What I found even more fascinating was the group of Mayors and their questions.  Grant asked how many of the audience was on Facebook and I’d say nearly 75% put up their hands.  This is a good sign.  When it comes to twitter however, only three folks not including myself identified themselves as being micro-bloggers.

65 minutes!

There were questions about time commitment, what tools to use, how to engage regionally via the social web but actually the most fascinating question was really more of a statement for the record by a Mayor, who’s first name was Barb, I didn’t catch the name of her community but she wanted to raise the issue about ambulance response times being nearly 65 minutes in her community.  Essentially, she explained that Alberta Health Services AHS had cut services which affected her region.  Now if you’re a citizen having a heart-attack first responders “can give you an IV and an aspirin while everyone waits for the ambulance,” said the Mayor.  When Barb asked if any other communities were experiencing similar service reductions other hands definitely went up.  Are you kidding me? What are we doing in this province?  We’re not broke, why are we operating as if we’re a developing country when it comes to essential services?

AUMA’s President Darren Aldous who is also the Mayor of the Village of Breton, Alberta said that the good folks at the AUMA will be submitting the formal written communications on this issue to the Government of Alberta and AHS which is great.

So much could be done

However, here’s where social technologies could play a direct role in terms of communications in a case like this.  While paper is being submitted through formal channels, towns and villages with small councils and little in the way of resources could be leveraging other means to get the word out, gather support and consensus and get things moving.  Of course, my head jumps to Open Data and how if only the province moved immediately towards releasing a data catalogue people could start creating value-added services that could help these hard-working folks and the citizens in their communities.

I’ve said before that Premier Stelmach and his administration need a CIO who could then align with the Open Data Movement here in Alberta and launch something real (instead of a broken link) - data.alberta.ca.

We need more sites like what Gisela Hippolt-Squair is doing over at the Alberta Geological Survey

Without providing specifics on my ideas here, there’s no doubt that lives and services could be improved in rural Alberta nearly overnight.

Imagine your family member waiting while having a heart-attack for 65 minutes just to have an ambulance arrive and the only reason, as explained by Mayor Barb, is due to funding cuts…it’s absolutely shameful.  Just because you’ve chosen to enjoy this great province in a rural setting shouldn’t mean you also dramatically increase your chances of dying because of it.  Rural Alberta, indeed rural communities in general simply get little to no respect.

I’m excited that there’s more to learn during two additional social media related panel sessions tomorrow with Mayors from medium and large communities.  Expected to be in the room are provincial MLAs…Hmmm, this is going to be fun.

Well then, who should be paying attention to the Government 2.0 movement?

Elected officials, town or city administrations that’s who.  Ultimately citizens want their roads cleared, buses to run on time, garbage picked up and…well you get the point.  Citizens want services in exchange for tax dollars.  Most of the time citizens feel like they’re getting the short-end of the stick and they’re not afraid to light-up the complaint line and let you know about it either.

Why don’t they care?

Most people get into their car and turn the key, they’re not interested in precisely how the engine works with each turn of the crankshaft. Should the car break down, they’ll take it to a guy who knows how to fix it and frankly, they’re mostly upset about the cost and inconvenience of the whole ordeal and not so much the part.  The same goes for Gov 2.0, and most people absolutely care-less with respect to the fact that I’m writing a book on the topic.  As far as they’re concerned, I might as well be writing about typewriter maintenance.

That’s ok, I’m not discouraged and here’s why.  Do open government initiatives save tax dollars?  Absolutely!  Do open government initiatives improve the quality of life for massive amounts of citizens?  Absolutely!  Do Web 2.0 technologies play a key role?  Once again absolutely!  These are the end results and outcomes citizens care about.  Should Premier Stelmach fire-up a conversation with kids in government about what the province should do?  Of course, yesterday in fact, truth is I know he’s already having those kinds of chats.  The real test will be if the Government of Alberta gets past the chatter and takes action.  We’ll have to wait and see but at this point the province is lagging behind.  I know, no surprise right?  Despite that fact, we’ll keep cheering them on.

If you’re a town administrator or Mayor and you do not understand these concepts, it is recommended that you get up to speed quickly. Will it mean more work?  Oh the cry of the overworked bureaucrat.  Of course!  In the short-term, learning new things always means more work, and there’s terrific payoffs for your community should you be able to heard the rest of the cats in your administration.

The potential payoffs

1. Increased citizen engagement
2. Increased process efficiencies
3. Increased relevant communication reach internally
4. Decreased tax dollar spending on IT, while increasing available applications driven by the private sector
5. Increased information distribution which will lead to improved citizen conveniences
6. Increased awareness of the community-at-large, good for economic development and tourism
7. Increased opportunities for collaboration internally and with other levels of government
8. Government speeds up – HURRAAYYYY!

There are others and this is quick list for you to consider.  As for motivation to care, we’re heading into a municipal election year are we not? Hmm, you may want to be careful, your opponent or a citizen at a town hall may be well-versed in these areas and you could find yourself at a disadvantage at the worst possible time.  The outcome being that you suddenly have plenty of time to read my book and the soon to be released expanded edition on typewriters.

My personal pipe dream

Imagine a world where the federal government banned the phrase “that’s the way we’ve always done it” and began to collaborate in real-time internally and with provinces and the provinces shared data and information in real-time with cities and towns and they in turn all shared that data with us…(appropriately of course).

Unfortunately, in order for that to happen we need leaders.  Leaders who care about what I’ve just written above and leaders who care about you.  Further, we need administrations who don’t cringe at the hint of learning and implementing something new.  We need leaders who demonstrate caring through action rather than words to placate.  Leaders driven by the motivation to collaborate for the greater good rather than by identifying barriers out of fear of losing their jobs.

That my friends, is why in many cases, this is a pipe dream and yet I remain optimistic.

Yesterday I read “Is Social the new dirty word?” by John Moore out of Boston.  Moore’s post highlighted what I’ve been feeling for nearly a year or more but especially in the last 6-8 months.

I’m concerned with the dramatic “watering down” of the burgeoning industry that my team and I work in full-time.  So I thought I’d reference a point in time and then tell a bit of our story.

For example, I was walking to my truck while at nextMEDIA in Banff, Alberta last summer.  The timing was such that I happened to bump into Kris Krug (@kk) who was outside taking photographs of the beautiful scenery,(here we are).  We had an interesting chat, not only then but later on camera, as the fusedlogic team streamed live interviews from nextMEDIA and Kris was kind enough to stop by.  Kris is a unique character, a non-conformist, and I’ve learned a staunch evangelist for his community, his craft (photography) and the non-use of labels.  I know Kris well enough now from our online exchanges and phone calls to know that he reluctantly refers to himself as a “web strategist” but really, he’s a guy who likes to be a part of the social experience through is crazy skills as a photographer.  He’s also committed to and an integral part of the cool happenings around his community of Vancouver which often includes considerable charity work with the Union Gospel Mission and others.

Here’s the dilemma, not all of us can develop the nomadic persona or lifestyle of a Kris Krug, our clients wouldn’t understand it and it wouldn’t be authentic.  That’s in part, what makes Kris a unique human being and business person, he has real-world experience having started Bryght in 2004 and successfully selling the company in 2007 to Raincity Studios.  That aside, he’s just being himself.  I respect Kris for what he’s accomplished and I suspect countless others do as well.

Having said that, I’ve never asked him directly, but to Kris during that chance meeting at the Banff Springs Hotel I must have appeared to be that outsider guy, that “what gives you the right to be a social media strategist guy?”

Interestingly, Kris said something I’ll never forget after our interview was over.  I thanked him for taking the time to speak on camera and told him I really enjoyed the experience of meeting him.  Kris said, “no problem, you know, it’s interesting we’re all here to talk about social media and you guys are in the room doing it….that’s cool man.”

Here are the “yummy chunks…”

November 2004

This is the night my Web 2.0 journey began. I watched CNN as they pulled commentary off of political blogs for the broadcast.  I found this amazing and started researching the blogosphere.

Many haven’t heard the fusedlogic story so I’m going to go over the last year or so rather than go over every blog post starting in September 2005 from my blogspot blog or since our incorporation in March of 2000.  (Secretly, I’ve been doing some thinking about where fusedlogic has come from and where we’re going, since this coming March will be our 10th anniversary).

Interestingly, I blogged about Twitter in April of 2007 but didn’t join until 2008.

In 2008 we continued to deliver social media work for several small businesses including Edmontonians Magazine, also notable was our project with the Public Affairs Bureau – Government of Alberta.

Crossing into 2009, we worked for ATB Financial, MacEwan School of Business, EEDC, Fringe Theatre Adventures – Industry Canada’s Marquee Tourism Program and we broke all sorts of ground on that project, multiple projects for NorQuest College which are still in play and again a number of small businesses mingled in.  Including our first Pay-Per-View live streaming sporting event with Aggression MMA. (our second PPV event will be tomorrow and it’ll be even bigger). We’re proud to say that our footage from the last event (as with our work tomorrow) will be broadcast on the FIGHT network, as well as, HDNet.

Also in 2009, we took on the digital marketing for Pik’s Revenge, an ambitious indie iPhone game developed by Edmonton’s Fluik Entertainment Ltd. Starting with zero Google search results for “Piks Revenge,” we now have nearly 1500 results and it will continue to grow as we’re expecting a big review from a major US property later this month.  The game was featured on the Apple app store which is not an every day occurrence.  Also, we’re doing something different with Pik as we build out the character a bit in real-life, expect more fun and dare I say “cheesy by design” things on that front soon.

Further, I started writing my book on Government 2.0 in 2009 entitled Escape Velocity, which is due out this spring provided I live up to the expectations of my editor.

In January 2010, we finally launched our iPhone transit application Route 411 and in less than 2 weeks we’ll be posting an update that will dramatically change the user-experience in Edmonton, Vancouver, and Toronto.  All I’m willing to say at this moment is that we’ve integrated York transit data with Toronto and we hope folks out there will appreciate that integration because it wasn’t easy to pull off that’s for sure.

Also, we’re celebrating a big week as we’ve closed a few new deals including a project with Health Canada and Alberta’s Centre for Child, Family and Community Research.  There’s much more to say about February and March but I’ll leave it there for now.

My point with all of this is simple, credibility in this game (as with all business and life) is paramount.  If Kris had asked for background in Banff I would have at least been able to provide names and brands as above where we have taken projects from concept to metrics. Granted, the brands are not global brands like Coke or Virgin, but to us and our clients, they are successful examples of digital planning and deployment experiences and it’s a story we’re very proud of and not even close to finishing.

Tim O’Reilly describes “Gov 2.0″ as government operating as a platform. This is a terrific description of what is currently evolving within many a legislative ecosystem.   I’ve been a long-time, vocal advocate both on this blog and in public presentations for an open and engaging government.  In particular I’ve focused my thoughts on our provincial government here in Alberta.  Imagine the Government of Alberta as an open collaborative platform where citizens get to contribute directly in the outcomes that affect us all.  We live in the greatest province, jurisdiction and country in the world.  I believe all three tiers of our government structure need to be on that leading-edge as well.

Think Gov2

I wonder just how many within government are spending time contemplating what Gov2 is and how it will impact their work within government?  If you’re not doing this, you should be.

Whether you’re a rural town or urban city council, a provincial Cabinet Minister, MLA back-bencher or MP, you must spend time learning about this.  Stopping the rural brain drain takes more than a Facebook fan page and an events calendar.  Want to get inside the heads of the locals regarding a new policy?  Gov2 is where it’s at.  Traction is being gained all over the world in this area, and the amount of success being gained is substantial.  Are you so upset with your present government that you’ve started a new party?  Gov2 holds a lot of promise if you can integrate it quickly into your processes.  For a party that is gaining momentum, establishing social media channels is great but not nearly enough.  Your policy platform must include Gov2.  Opposition parties should be racing to understand the finer elements of Gov2 and how it impacts citizen engagement should they ever want to lead in their jurisdiction.  Want to get elected in your next election and have a spectacular campaign?  Well, you already know what the answer is…

Attend this conference

If you fit in any of the above scenarios, then you should look to attend the upcoming Advanced Learning Institute conference (ALI) in January, taking place in Edmonton, Alberta.  The line-up of speakers is great and I anticipate learning a tremendous amount from all the great stories and examples that will be presented during the four day conference.

Further, I’m really looking forward to this conference for a number of other reasons.  As Chair of the conference I’ll have more responsibilities than my normal role as a single presenter which I’m so excited about I’m shaking in my space boots.  I’m also excited at the prospect of getting to meet all the new presenters and conference goers coming into Edmonton to learn more about social media and Gov2.

I’ve heard from Kelly Flynn with ALI that the registrations are coming in very well for this conference which is terrific and it’s great for the Edmonton region to be hosting such an important conference.  Here’s the agenda that the folks who attend from all over Alberta, Canada and the US will enjoy.

Now I’m off to continue working on my presentation material for the conference, I have high expectations of myself as I know all the presenters do.  See you next year in less than 30 days, this conference will be an excellent way to kick 2010 off.

We are clearly defining our digital lives through our participation or in many cases lack thereof.  There is evidence to suggest that this trend is shifting.  For example, Premier Stelmach’s statement about using social media to communicate more directly with Albertans because of the perceived media slant to his government’s message.

I would suggest that it’s a rare government who would publicly state that they’re getting “fair and unbiased” representation within the mainstream media.  Let’s be honest folks, that simply doesn’t happen across the board, the door swings both ways on that point.

Pressure created by way of participation.

I believe the primary driving force behind the shift in communications approach by the Stelmach government is directly due to pressure created by every day Albertans outside of the media.  Pressure created by way of participation.  You’ve demonstrated that the social web is a communications tool and a place for dialogue on what the provincial government is doing.  You’ve demonstrated that in the absence of direct and personal government input, you will still discuss and hold them accountable publicly. This online debate demonstrates that you the citizen, own the government and ultimately control the message.  This pressure to change also exists internally from evangelists doing their part to influence from within, which to date has been a tough, frustrating job to be sure.  Citizens have proven their resilience and that cannot stop.

There is also evidence that more municipal governments and related organizations are embracing citizen participation via open data projects.  Actually they have been for sometime now as demonstrated by the following initiatives.  Washington DC in November of 2008, Toronto, Vancouver , Boston, even a non-profit in New Orleans is helping that city out.  Having said all that, one of the real visionary municipal leaders in the open data game in addition to San Francisco has clearly been the City of Nanaimo, British Columbia.

Leveraging Technical Expertise Locally

Chris J. Moore, the City of Edmonton’s CIO has been steadily learning from these examples.  He’s also been engaging outside of his own IT department with developers in Washington DC, as well as, the Edmonton I.T. community.  The latest example of this is the Leveraging Technical Expertise Locally pilot project.  Edmonton’s concept of a developer contest although narrowly focused on one solution is not entirely dissimilar to that of New York City’s NYCBigApps competition coinciding with the launch of the NYC Data Mine.

Citizen participation is driving open data projects in many cities and at all levels of government around the world.  Including of course the United States government, and here’s an interesting post by David Eaves comparing the US and Canada on the open data issue.  New Zealand should also be listed here for their work.

Through your participation you are influencing the future, pressuring bureaucrats to engage, holding politicians accountable publicly and driving innovation.

User participation creates:

1.  Participation creates a deeper connection between the organization and the audience.

2.  Participation creates opportunities to listen, learn and exchange ideas.  The futureedmonton.ca futurecalgary.ca sites are examples of this.

3.  Participation creates co-ownership of the brand, organization and/or message and that co-ownership results in influence.

How to influence a government or organization?

1. Start with one person who organizes an informal core group of evangelists.  Internally or externally, at first it doesn’t matter.

2. Be a source of statistics, information and opinion.

3. Formalize and self-organize, staying connected online, along with offline meetings.

4. Create a mandate for action.

5. Take focused and consistent action online as content publishers.

6. Internal evangelists should look for external like minded individuals to create discussion with.  External groups should look to identify internal supporters, steering committees or executives and invite them to participate.

7. All parties involved should capture the discussion digitally where ever possible.

8. Sharing the discussion with as many folks as possible through the use of social media channels will help build momentum.

Regarding the redesign of fusedlogic.com, we’d love to hear your comments, suggestions and ideas to ensure we have a great site.

Think the logo should be relocated like was suggested by @ivansf   

@ivansf @eadnams grats. You should center the logo #fusedlogic 

Let us know.  That’s not a bad idea actually Ivan, thanks, have the entire logo centered would probably look better.  What about sections or content you think is missing?  Let us know.  This also includes the type of blog content that is important to you.  Essentially, we’d love to hear from you on all topics and please include your concerns as well.

Finally, you’ll notice that we’re working on changing how we describe ourselves too.  Soon gone will be the word “strategists” from our midst.  Why you ask? Simple, ultimately we’ve always been about “engagement” and we intend to continue to demonstrate that fact. We’re Alberta’s only 100% dedicated social media engagement firm.  Over the past 10 months of our 9 year total history, we’ve worked with the MacEwan School of Business, ATB Financial, Government of Alberta, Edmontonians Magazine and several small business owners to name a few. Further, we’re proud to announce Edmonton’s Fringe Theatre Adventures as a new client, more to follow on that announcement soon.   

Regardless, we’re excited about the short-term and very excited about the mid-term…Thank-you for your support and friendship, we look forward to the conversation including your comments ahead.