Posted by
Jennifer Bell on
Jul 07, 2008; 8:11pm
URL: http://civicaccess.416.s1.nabble.com/capitol-words-tp1130p1133.html
Hello all,
I've been thinking the last while about the best approach for promoting the creation of online tools for government transparency. The Sunlight Foundation in the US and mySociety in the UK are showing that the government can be changed by example, from the outside. It just takes people to push to make it happen.
What will it take to get a similar movement going here in Canada? As I know there are several people here with experience in similar groups, I'd like to get your opinions.
The ingredients, as I see them, are:
1) Money.
The Sunlight Foundation initially had a single large donor, who put up a seed of 3.5M.
2) A Community.
barcamps are a great example of people coming together to learn and share. E-gov sessions can be tagged on to existing barcamps, and dedicated events held once there's some interest.
Possibly, these could be supplemented with invitation-only events for a more 'elite' crowd of government and high-tech representatives.
3) A Tool.
There ought to be a website to formally capture ideas for tools and allow them to be developed by the community. There's a rough plan for one here, which I'd like feedback on:
http://groups.google.com/group/visiblegovernment-discuss/browse_thread/thread/9b0211b0b51965df?hl=en....
I would appreciate any input.
At a recent conference, the moderator started out by saying 'I believe in the wisdom of crowds, and I believe we have a very wise crowd here today'.
Jennifer
visiblegovernment.ca
__________________________________________________________________
Yahoo! Canada Toolbar: Search from anywhere on the web, and bookmark your favourite sites. Download it now at
http://ca.toolbar.yahoo.com.