We were so thrilled to have Jennifer Bell from Visible Government speak to our group this past January and deliver a very thorough presentation relating to how online tools can be used to encourage transparency within government.
Jennifer had taken us through the current state of information as it is available to citizens and discussed how difficult it is to find any data within the current systems that exist. The limitations for searching, sharing and collaborating with these materials do little to encourage citizen participation in our current system. With a view towards how Web 2.0 has empowered society, Jennifer presented the principles of Government 2.0, the reasons for its effectiveness and demonstrated examples of successes achieved by embracing this new model of participation.
Visible Government is an amazing initiative and is looking for folks who wish to help out in any way possible. Areas where you can lend a hand include promoting Visible Government in the community, engaging in fundraising activities, starting a campus chapter in the school environment, hosting coding weekends for open government projects and helping to organize a Change Camp in your town.
Feel free to check out Jennifer's slides via this link and if you'd like to review a paper that Jennifer had written on the subject, please visit this link to The Open Source Business Resource.
Many thanks to Caffe Della Posta for the smashing Italian food. The geeks were well-fed!
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