The 3 Phases of Government 2.0

Something like a history of the movement, as early as it still is...

Mark Drapeau

I've seen three phases in what most people would agree is "Government 2.0" -- a phase of surprise, a phase of experimentation, and a phase of solutions.

New Study on Open Government Data

This one from Italy, interesting because it highlights the publication of government project information - costs and goals:

Several problems impelled Fioretti to propose this study:

• Government claims are hard to verify. When the cost of the huge Strait of Messina Bridge project is announced, for instance, how can the public determine whether it's reasonable? (And why, I might add, do most projects experience cost overruns but none ever come in under budget?)

  Marco Fioretti to study open government data in the EU

Gov 2.0 Hero Day !

I missed it !

Gov 2.0 Hero Day is held annually on June 15 to celebrate citizens inside and outside government who go above and beyond the call of duty and creatively leverage technology to build a more open, transparent and collaborative democracy. These dedicated citizens are commonly referred to as Gov 2.0 Heroes.

June 15th -> From Luke Fretwell

Value proposition of open data : a framework for measuring success

Laura Wesley gives a simple but convincing argument for open government in her blog.

This is part of govloop:

What's the story with GovLoop?

GovLoop was created in 2008 by one awesome fed with an idea. He thought there was a need for a social network for the government community to connect and share information. And thus, he created this website to foster this communication.(**Update**) Fast forward 18 months and what started out as a passion has grown to over 30,000 government innovators across the world. Steve moves full-time on GovLoop as President of GovLoop, a subsidiary of GovDelivery, a small company out of Minnesota.

Patriotism

"Patriotism is the last refuge of advertising agency creative directors with American car industry clients"

Let's call It Government 1.9

Those of you who know me know that I have dedicated much of my political blogging to the examination of how current technology (i.e. the web) continues to affect our politics. I have blogged about political divisiveness as a symptom of the technical landscape that we use for communications today. That landscape has, in the past generation or so, grown to include opinionated and biased mass-media pundits, supported by an immature and fractious political internet. Unfortunately the web has only become TV that yells back at you.

The natural uses for the web with politics have only just started to emerge, and they are starting to stir the political world very slightly: online fundraising, political blogs and videos are the leading edge of this change. The higher-order uses of the web for political discussion that I can envision, though, support productive and responsible political discussion on a personal level as well as for larger groups. A political web such as that more closely matches the media mix in place during the 18th century, when philosophers and pamphleteers published ideas and debates happened person to person.

Luckily for us, that immature and fractious web is constantly evolving, mellowing, refining itself, and blending into mainstream media At some point in our lifetimes, it will grow roots - real political institutions that will supplant television as the medium of choice for political communication. That will be a joyous day but although I can get a glimpse of that future of politics I haven't been able to see any way for us to get there until now.

Today - Shawn Micallef writes in Eye magazine about the start of the TTC Riders Union: http://www.eyeweekly.com/blog/post/82013

The TTC Riders Union is a brilliant idea because it contains all the touchstones of old media organization and could have existed as a protest group at any point in the last generation. But it is also a Facebook group that reaches across the technological divide to the larger citizenry. This model could mobilize groups that respond to old world and new world (or no world) technologies.

Better yet, the new-media aspects of this group will be able to provide a designated intellectual forum where principles, priorities and ideas can be executed efficiently. As such, it has the potential to solve problems not just for the TTC, but to serve as a model for other such action/discussion groups. As Mr. Micallef points out, the group itself needs to be
designed to be non-partisan and non-ideological, purposed towards promoting the general interests of TTC riders only.

So this is not Democracy 2.0, but perhaps Democracy 1.9. A little less technology based, and a little more people based. As such, we hope that this initiative gains hold of the public imagination.

Likes and Dislikes about the 2000s

Things I liked about the 2000s: 1. Internet 2. New Foods & Drinks 3. TV Got Good 4. Music Great 5. Globalization - the better things about it 6. Environmental thinking went mainstream 7. Social Change continued - congrats to all engaged and married queers out there 8. Video Games - don't get them but something strange and wonderful is happeing there 9. Design & Art - guys, guys, you keep popping my eyes

Things not Liked about: 2000s 1. Movies sucked 2. Hard drug use pervaded society 3. Health and healthcare went downhill 4. Politics didn't get better 5. Spirituality has apparently left the public consciousness 6. Environmental damage continues