E D M O N T O N

July 2010

Jason Darrah, CommunicationsAshley Casovan, Information Technology

Open GovernmentNew community

opportunities through online technology

E D M O N T O N

Outline

• Big Picture – Open Gov

• Components (cases, CoE, future, Q&A):

– Transparency

– Collaboration

– Participation

• Open Data – convergence of opportunities & Apps contest

• Open discussion – opportunities / challenges

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Open Government

• We’re focusing on how technologies are enabling new opportunities

• Sometimes known as Gov 2.0

– Parallel to new user-driven nature of Web 2.0

– Some resist term “Gov 2.0” because they don’t want concept only perceived as for technologists

– Complements more citizen-involvement in government, regardless of technology

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Open Government in 3 Parts

• Initiatives in all parts exist without technology

• Technology and Internet increases potential

• Each has benefits and challenges for government

• Areas overlap

• One part not needed for other parts

• But something in one part helps potential of another part

CollaborationParticipation

Transparency

• Communications has role in each part

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Open government

Means different things to different groups…

• Democracy advocates seek more input in decisions

• Government critics seek transparency to keep elected officials honest and bureaucracy open

• Citizen advocates seek info about them, for them

• Entrepreneurs seek data to build tools that support consumers with useful info/data

• Academics seek information about populations for policy development…

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Part 1: Transparency

• Overview

• Cases

• CoE

• Future

• Openness about government business and decisions

• Keeps gov’t honest

• info about services info as a service

• info helps better discussion, input, advice, decisions

• Access to government data (vs. info)

• Shift “need to know” to “need to share”

Transparency

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There is an inverse relationship between control and trust

All strategies relating to web interactions should consider the relationship-building potential

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Part 2: Collaboration

• Overview

• Cases

• CoE

• Future

• Between orders of gov’t or jurisdictions (regional coordination)

• Between agencies (school/city)

Collaboration

• Government as platform (vs vending machine)

• Citizens’ DIY Gov’t

E D M O N T O N

Benefits• Communicate to many rather than 1x1

• Collaboration as lines of communication grow exponentially with size of group (internal and external)

2 5 20 100 10 000

Size of Group

1 25 200 5000 50 000 000

Lines of Communication

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Part 3: Participation• Overview

• Cases

• CoE

• Future

• New tools enable participation

• Online consultation

• Spectrum of engagement

• Input in operations

• Input in policy or decisions

Participation

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Public Input

Public Involvement

PublicInformation

Community Development

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Communicate to audiences where they want to interact

Go where your target is

Transportation

ETS

Roads

LRT

Sushi

Jobs?

Get others in an online community to answer questions for us

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Applying “long tail" to public policy

• Networked markets are more trustworthy than info from a single source

• Networked consumers know more about a product than the company/government knows

• In development with projects like Open Data Initiative

http://tinyurl.com/eaveslongtailpolicy

E D M O N T O N

Open Data

• Overview

– Uses/ benefits

• Cases

• Apps Contests

• CoE

• Future

CollaborationParticipation

Transparency

E D M O N T O N

E D M O N T O N

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Where is government going - online?

• Information and Conversations now

• Respond to reputation issues

• Open up data so users can re-package our data for more accessible use – Gov2.0

– Utility – services

– Transparency of government

• Long tail of public policy developing

• Engagement continuum: now - Forums, surveys for input; Future - Idea Zone 1.0

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Hierarchy of needs – for Citizens

• Safety and security

• Access to essential services

• Additional civic services

• Information about services

• Information as service

• Responsiveness

• Transparency, trust and confidence

• Engagement on Issues

• Humanizing the government

Sometimes one objective trumps others based on the tool…

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Resources• Digital Cities- http://www.beyond-2010.com

• Open 311 initiative- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-QQ7kCjIGE

• Public=Online campaign- http://publicequalsonline.com/

• Government as a Platform - http://www.slideshare.net/timoreilly/government-as-platform

• City of Edmonton Open Data Catalogue - http://data.edmonton.ca/

• Apps4Edmonton- http://www.edmonton.ca/city_government/open_data/apps4edmonton.aspx

• Apps for ETS - http://www.edmonton.ca/transportation/ets/apps-for-ets.aspx

• Apps for Democracy - http://www.appsfordemocracy.org/

• Code for America - http://codeforamerica.org/

• Sunlight Foundation - http://sunlightfoundation.com/