A Competitive Alberta
I attended a reception and dinner hosted by the Alberta Chambers of Commerce tonight as part of the Political Action Day event on behalf of the Sherwood Park and District Chamber of Commerce.
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.
data.alberta.ca
This afternoon I was invited to participate in the first of three Mayors’ Caucuses being held by the AUMA. This first group of Mayor’s were representing communities of 2500 people or less. I was on a panel with Mayor Jerry Iwanus (@bawlfbomber) representing the Village of Bawlf Alberta and Grant Ainsley of Grant Ainsley Inc., a media and management consultant from Edmonton.
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.
Edmonton’s Open Government a model for Alberta
- Image by mjb84 via Flickr
Scott McKeen of the Edmonton Journal wrote:
“City Hall has embraced open data. Great. But I’m confused”
McKeen goes on further to describe himself as a “second-class citizen.” In theory, because he doesn’t entirely understand or use technology in the way early-adopters within the City of Edmonton’s tech community do or will now that the city’s data catalogue has been partially released.
Although it’s true that some of this data has been publicly available online in some cases for years. The difference now, is that it’s in machine readable format now and not a PDF or application that doesn’t allow for independent coders to work with it. As McKeen explains this will inspire a new level of innovation in the Greater Edmonton Region. Our iPhone transit application Route 411 is a prime example of the kind of innovation that can take place when a city such as Edmonton, Vancouver or Toronto releases transit data.
Many may not be aware of the fact that I’m well into writing my first book on Government 2.0 and the “open data movement” that’s happening around the world as we speak. During this experience of exploration within government, I’ve managed to have some very interesting discussions and exchanges with thought leaders in Canada and the US. There’s a distinct overlap of social media, and this is where Web 2.0 applications are really shining and driving innovation. The return on investment for Open Data is a higher quality of life for citizens and a considerable savings in tax dollars.
Freedom to Create, Spirit to Achieve
Rather than make this about the book, I thought I’d provide another short list of applications or projects that are available as a result of government releasing data. A process which I’ve said many times on Twitter that our own Government of Alberta needs to work towards immediately. We need to be forward thinking in Alberta and of course, it takes more than simply stating, Freedom to Create, Spirit to Achieve. If one believes the propaganda behind the current Alberta brand, then it’s high time we act on it. I’m not referring to our oil industry, royalty reviews or the environment. Rather, our strong Alberta tech community putting words into action and leveraging our strengths, which are considerable and should be given “more credit.”
SIDEBAR: Not looking to sound overly critical, but why are we spending tax dollars to “rebrand” a department that has connections and rapport around the world at a time when what we really need is an “open government directive” and policy with teeth? Just think about the simplest of tasks for the over 700 people in this department that now have to take the effort to explain to people across Alberta and around the world, “no it’s still us, but change our name and update your address book.” Further, in the interest of transparency, every government worker should have a complete LinkedIn profile so that they can be easily reached. How’s that for making you feel uncomfortable?
This is constructive criticism from the heart – it’s also motivation, inspiration and evangelism for this great province and its’ people inside and outside government to embrace what’s already here and has been since 2007.
Below are just a few open data examples and sources from around the world on how government can work as a platform for citizens to leverage:
There are countless more applications and websites being launched, it seems daily, as more and more governments open their data to the public. I encourage bloggers across Alberta and beyond to create your own list and share it with the world. Increased accountability, transparency, participation and collaboration are the results. Those detractors from this movement are typically worried about privacy and security issues or they simply don’t get it. Privacy and security are important and yet, not barriers to be used as excuses for inaction.
For those government jurisdictions considering the open government movement here’s a list of guiding principles to get you started.
Open Government Data Principles
Government data shall be considered open if it is made public in a way that complies with the principles below:
- 1. Complete
- All public data is made available. Public data is data that is not subject to valid privacy, security or privilege limitations.
- 2. Primary
- Data is as collected at the source, with the highest possible level of granularity, not in aggregate or modified forms.
- 3. Timely
- Data is made available as quickly as necessary to preserve the value of the data.
- 4. Accessible
- Data is available to the widest range of users for the widest range of purposes.
- 5. Machine processable
- Data is reasonably structured to allow automated processing.
- 6. Non-discriminatory
- Data is available to anyone, with no requirement of registration.
- 7. Non-proprietary
- Data is available in a format over which no entity has exclusive control.
- 8. License-free
- Data is not subject to any copyright, patent, trademark or trade secret regulation. Reasonable privacy, security and privilege restrictions may be allowed.
Compliance must be reviewable.
Clearly, Open Data is here!
The Open Data movement is something that all levels of government, in all regions within the industrialized world and beyond should immediately be looking to address. This isn’t a matter of “if” it’s going to happen, it’s already here. Being discussed for nearly 3 years now, more action is required. Yesterday on Twitter, Kathy Telfer according to her LinkedIn profile a Director in the Government of Alberta but her Twitter account says she’s a communications consultant for the Government of Alberta. (Who by the way is working on a great project called InspiringEducation). That said, Kathy was extolling the virtues of “patience” as it relates to the Government of Alberta and the current adoption rate of social media. With all due respect to the belief that citizens need to be patient, strategic and prudent, which I agree with to a point. What the majority do not know is that the impending release of the “latest version” of social media guidelines and policies for the Government of Alberta has been more than a year in the making. I suggest we need to “speed up government,” while increasing transparency. Patience in government is often a crutch that reinforces the slow-moving status-quo. Imagine what we could accomplish if we looked to speed up even 25% of our efforts? I believe that our governments have incredibly smart people working for them who want to work with more urgency but don’t have the support to do so.
Our leaders need to provide these people with a directive to move which supports internal early-adopters and evangelists who are chomping at the bit. The Government of Alberta in particular needs a Chief Information Officer to bring into policy discussions, the perspective of an Open Data culture. Further, we need to realize that while Premier Stelmach may be in Dubai speaking about our oilsands, the environment and our efforts around that issue. We, in the Alberta tech community, another one of Alberta’s key industries, require more than a $100 Million dollar tech fund that has strings attached to it. While that’s wonderful, we need speed, we need policies and programs that reflect today’s fast paced open and collaborative ecosystem, not yesterday’s proprietary silos. We need the government’s culture to change and support us on the fringes, outside of academia. We need a government that understands that by the time a researcher has filled out the funding application to further “differentiate Alberta’s research institutions,” someone could have written the code for a new Twitter or GoogleWave like application and they need support at the speed at which they work. This isn’t what’s best for government process, it’s what’s best for its’ citizens. Don’t just start attending DemoCamp in Edmonton or Calgary, start funding companies and developers at DemoCamp. Business plan contests are great, and there are other methods we should be employing. This shouldn’t take this long to get our ducks in a row and at the risk of not being politically correct we don’t always have to include every single slow-moving agency, organization or institution, academic or otherwise, before the first project gets support.
We need Government 2.0 leadership to go with our Web 2.0 ideas.
Patience? We’ve been patient, we continue to be patient and yet, there’s evidence throughout our political landscape which suggests that patience is running thin…
The oil industry in this province may be content to refrain from communicating openly about the issues, Alberta’s tech industry will not take the same approach and folks…we know how to self-organize, amplify messaging and engage to apply pressure in a myriad of ways.
Work with us, we’ll collaborate with you and help you work even more efficiently. Transparency and open data means we can help you accomplish this and countless other tasks right here at home. You don’t need to buy Microsoft, SAP and IBM solely anymore. Your Alberta tech community will make you look good, you just need to support us by enabling our creativity through the “open government movement” and in my humble opinion, “sooner rather than later…”
All it takes to get things started is a memo from the right person.
Ask Premier Ed
Earlier this summer fusedlogic launched a social media website called “dearmrpremier.ca” in an attempt to enable an open and direct line of communications with Premier Ed Stelmach and his office. The thought is, Albertans could respectfully ask a question directly of Premier Stelmach and he could select one or more questions to respond to personally with the understanding that he couldn’t possibly answer every single one. The catch is that this would all be open to comment and vote by the public.
We started this prototype process by inviting college students to participate and in fact a few did. Because of ongoing discussions, we haven’t put any resources behind marketing the project, as we were waiting for a more opportune time to move forward. After the soft launch on Twitter we were notified in less than an hour that Premier Stelmach’s staff were actively searching for answers as to who was behind the site. After it was determined through our communications that our intent was not malicious we had asked if there may be an opportunity to discuss the future of the site and the potential of having Premier Stelmach’s direct participation. Those meetings have not as of yet happened.
In the meantime, so that Albertans have a better understanding of the differences in functionality and approach between dearpremier.ca and Ask Premier Ed we’ve prepared a brief comparison of models below.
| Dear Mr Premier | Ask Premier Ed | |
| Channels of Communication | Open post, can be shared on Facebook/Twitter | Twitter, YouTube, Online Form |
| Timeline | Launched March 15, 2009 | Launched November 25, 2009 |
| Openness | All posts are visible, moderation happens after | Moderation happens behind the scenes |
| Likelihood of a Response | Only upon a certain level of public involvement | For a chosen post, guaranteed |
| Discussion Around Ideas | Complete open citizen participation through comments or followup questions | No discussion functionality available |
| Importance Determined By | Public voting | The Premier’s office |
| Design | Simplicity | Integrated with other government resources |
Further Examples of Communication Models:
Open for Questions (Official WhiteHouse.gov page)
Prime Minister Harper’s Facebook Page
fusedlogic Food Bank Challenge Leads to a “Happy Mind.”
This is about the little boy or girl sitting at a table, hungry and waiting for mom and dad to put a bowl of food in front of them…and nothing happens. They can’t afford to eat. This is about the homeless person who shows up to a mission for a hot meal only to return to a box under a bridge when it’s done. This is about the single mom trying to make ends meet and feed her hungry family. This is about the dad who has lost his wife and is devastated, depressed and somehow finds himself in a place struggling to feed his family.
If our challenge helps one more person, child, family eat- it was WELL WORTH the effort.
Many may have thought that we forgot about this charitable social media project, the Facebook group and flickr groups have seemingly been ignored and it’s all over before it really got started…WRONG! Our work has been to inspire and organize and then inspire and organize some more. Starting with keeping Edmonton’s Food Bank in the loop, which has led to a discussion at the provincial level with the Alberta Food Bank Network Association, we hope to involve the national and international organizations shortly.
Achieving a “happy mind.”
The fragmented photo group approach wasn’t going to work. So we found some great and very giving people for the construction of a centralized website to house all the photos. This is being donated by Victor Rubba and his Crazed Coders of Edmonton. Victor assures us that the site which is to be located at www.happymind.ca will be fully operational on August 15th, 2009. We chose “happymind” by the way because it represents two things: One, the state of mind after donating. Two, D-DAY or donation day for this challenge will be in support of and coordination with the central message from His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, who is scheduled to speak in Calgary, Alberta on October 1st, 2009.
We want to get his attention by scheduling this on September 30th, 2009.
SIDEBAR: I was invited to meet with and speak to the University of Calgary steering committee on the topic of social media at one of their meetings this summer. This great group of people responsible for inviting the Dalai Lama to speak inspired me to align this challenge with their efforts around actNOW and what we’re doing perfectly supports the message from the Dalai Lama of achieving a “happy mind.”
Trying to collect 1 million photographs representing 1 million donations from people around the world predominantly via social media is a daunting task and one I know we’re all up for. There have been many social media initiatives for the purposes of charity that have done very well in the past. Twestival comes to mind, I attended the Edmonton event and that model is brilliant and we’d love to inspire a similar effect in cities around the world. The 12 for 12K gang continues to do great work each and every day as well. The real challenge here is to get folks not only to donate food but then take a picture and upload it. We hope you’ll agree, that in this day and age of uber connected citizens, donating a picture is not too much to ask in order to achieve a “happymind.”
Our plan remains simple.
Go out to the universe and ask for your help. To support you, we’re working through Rotary International and still need to reach higher within that organization. Anyone know John Kenny President of Rotary International? By the way, Rotary has 1.2 million members and great communication channels within their organization, Rotarians are very special people and their help would be spectacular. We’re also approaching other organizations with considerable size such as the Lutheran Church of Canada and Edmonton’s World Trade Centre organization. We’ve had numerous discussions with Share Our Strength on their ability to help promote and support this initiative. They have agreed to promote this to their 40 thousand newsletter subscribers and we are very grateful for that. Wouldn’t it be fantastic if President Obama, Prime Minister Harper made a donation and posted a twitpic? They both have twitter accounts, so does Premier Stelmach for that matter. What about other world leaders? How about the United Nations? There are people out there with connections to get folks like this involved. Please reach out and touch them…
Does anyone know somebody at Feeding America or having anything to do with the Pound for Pound Challenge? Please contact me at walter[at]fusedlogic.com your help is greatly appreciated.
What about brands? How can your corporation benefit? Simple, own this event, put your brand behind it, your marketing message of inspiration. We want to share this experience with you, it’s about feeding the hungry for us and we know we cannot do it alone.
How can you help?
1.) Donate, take a picture and upload it to www.happymind.ca once it goes live or the facebook, flickr groups already in place today.
2.) Inspire everyone in your personal network to donate food and a picture at work, home, friends and family and the world at large via all means possible on or before September 30th, 2009.
3.) Be creative, persistent and inspirational in your communications regarding this world changing challenge, we won’t stop after September 30th and we must surpass the 1 million photos. Hold tweetup food drives in your city on September 30th and post the pictures. Write a song, make a video to inspire others and post it on Youtube, (our channel).
4.) Be an Ambassador! Get your local organizations like the food bank, Second Harvest, Rotary Club, chamber of commerce, church, mass media, politicians, schools etc involved. Send them the link to this blog post or others that explain the goal and what to do.
5.) Use Social Media: On Twitter (@fusedlogic) please use the hashtag #happymind, on your blogs please consider posting a “happymind” badge. Spread the word through Facebook, with well over 200 million people, we can do it folks, take minute to inspire others.
VERY IMPORTANT: Please tag your photo with “HAPPYMIND.”
