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.
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
AUMA Mayors’ Caucuses Presentation
Wow, what a wonderful couple of days with great people.
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…
Do citizens care about Gov 2.0?
In a word, NO. If you walked down main street of your town and ask the average citizen what Government 2.0 is, you’d probably get a blank stare and maybe even a bonk on the head for wasting their time.
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
- Increased citizen engagement
- Increased process efficiencies
- Increased relevant communication reach internally
- Decreased tax dollar spending on IT, while increasing available applications driven by the private sector
- Increased information distribution which will lead to improved citizen conveniences
- Increased awareness of the community-at-large, good for economic development and tourism
- Increased opportunities for collaboration internally and with other levels of government
- 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.
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.
