Community Matters Gov 20 Conf Call Notes 11.3.10

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www.communitymatters.org Gov 2.0 Conference Call Notes 11/3/10

Gov 2.0Conference Call Notes

Wednesday, November 3, 2010, 4-5pm EST

We used a live version of this document to collaboratively add questions, collectthoughts, transcribe important talking points, before, during and after the Gov 2.0

conference call. You can access this document via this link:

http://tinyurl.com/gov20confcall

AttendingMany thanks to the > 35 people who were listening in and participating on the call. Your

insight and feedback was invaluable.

Moderating Bonnie Shaw, Partner, BYO consulting

Yasmin Fodil, Partner, BYO consulting

Jared Duval, Demos Fellow and Author: Next Generation Democracy

Agenda

15 mins Introduction to Gov2.0 ecosystem and success stories.

35 mins Open for questions/discussion.

10 mins How can CommunityMatters continue to support this conversation?

Questions:Can you define Gov 2.0? Heres a general definition: gov20 refers to the practice of increasing

transparency, citizen participation, and collaboration in government. Technology

enables gov20 practices.

Whats the best way to suggest/introduce Gov 2.0 to a town with relatively

older, conservative leaders for whom this would be completely new? Start with a conversation that doesnt involve technology. Start with a

conversation about what the problem is that you are trying to solve for

stakeholders. Try to identify a shared challenge - then it will be easier to discuss how

increasing openness and participation might help to address that problem, and

selecting a technology will be easier.


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What types of tools are proving to be more effective for larger areas (i.e.,

100,000+)? Again, the type of tools you select will depend on the type of problems you are

trying to solve. Some good tools for large (ie. 100,000+) groups include:o IdeaScale http://ideascale.com/: is a platform that lets you collect ideas

from your community, give them a platform to vote, and see the most

voted ideas rise to the top. This has been used in very large communitiesto source ideas.

o SeeClickFix http://www.seeclickfix.com/citizens: is a platform that lets

your community identify neighborhood maintenance issues and reportthem for fixing. This is used in lots of cities - large and small - across

America.o Twitterhttp://twitter.com/: Is a great way to broadcast information to a

wide audience. There are many many more free and off the shelf tools available to you. As you

can see, all of these tools solve very different problems. So its very important tounderstand what you are trying to achieve before you start looking at the

technology.

Do you have suggestions for increasing participation after the Gov2.0 tool is

built? Increasing participation is a tough job so it is important to have an idea of your

plan for participation before selecting the tool. If you already have the tool its important to design an engagement project that

meets some kind of need or interest of your community. It is important to develop a clear understanding with your community about what

their participation will deliver. Most people wont participate just for the sake of it -they need to know that their involvement will have a real and beneficial outcome,

even if its just to know that their participation is leading to something that will

have impact.

With limited resources, what is the best way to engage people to participate? Pose curious problems (art, technology, water, experiential) , not just

planning/policy problemso Eg. Acton OpenNeighborhood planning project in MA. See

http://openneighborhood.blogspot.com

Look forpartners in new places - arts organizations, etc

Be artistic and scientific and people will give you money! Find out what drives the people you want to engage, and design engagement

that makes them curious and speaks to their interests

Be intentional with your feedback Be iterative Want your work to have impact and promote change - build political legitimacy

and trust

Build partnershipso Manchester, VT Youth Commission: 2 high school students on every

school board, come to the meetings and participate. See

http://www.orton.org/projects/manchester

o Q: Is this example of Gov 2.0?


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Yes, definitely! Technology enables the participation, but its a

means, not an end in itself. Good work! Orton was instrumental in

helping us launch this initiative!

Examples Case Study from Puerto Allegro, Brazil: This is an interesting story that

highlights process: they dont use technology as a primary tool, but its very deepparticipation!

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CCMQFjAB&url=http

%3A%2F%2Fsiteresources.worldbank.org%2FINTEMPOWERMENT%2FResour

ces%2F14657_Partic-Budg-Brazil-

web.pdf&rct=j&q=case%20study%20participatory%20budgeting%20brazil&ei=fczRTPSVDYL7lweQ7pSsDA&usg=AFQjCNHKV_t4KcWmah2fLxVe_pt2gZkhbg&sig2=QqhVowYEQdStxg93crCV5g&cad=rja

Participedia: growing list of case studies around citizen participation -

http://www.participedia.net/wiki/Welcome_to_Participedia Planning Tools Exchange: The Orton Family Foundationhas developed a

database that aims to offer descriptions of tools, resources, projects, etc. in thisfield (and beyond) - please see www.planningtoolsexchange.org and we invite

you to create an account and add your own entries

How can CommunityMatters continue to support this conversation? Conference call was good start (thank you), but this is a big topic and perhaps

following up with more specific, narrower topics may be helpful. The references that were in Blog were a good way to get pointed to some good

resources, but I was disappointed that they are either very general or just a flood

of not necessarily pertinent material. (By the way, the OMB White House did not

work. Not sure how relevant it is to small communities.)

I would be interested to learn more from smaller communities and how they gotstarted with Gov 2.0. What if one of us were challenged to offer either an example, or a problem that

needs help, before each subsequent conference call to help stimulate thought,

insight, and conversation? This is all intriguing and important, if challenging... a classic example otherwise of

if you always do what youve always done, then youll always get what youve

always got. We can do better! Help us find success stories - and make sure they are specific, describe plans for

implementation, and include the logistics of delivery. Lets show were somebody

has tried and succeeded and/or failed.

Community members present case studies around particular themes

Notes from Yasmins discussion:

Benefits of Gov20

o creating public value in the form of better public decisions

o capture local knowledgeo increasing capacity of society to understand decision making process

o helping to solve wicked problems


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o increasing legitimacy of government in the eyes of the citizen &

increasing trust in govt

o spurring public innovation Methods

transparencyo releasing data that helps people understand their society and also

allows for innovationo classic example is weather data that is released freely and innovators

turn that data into information

Participation

o Involving citizens in the government

o Sharing information

o Receiving feedback on policies

o Soliciting ideas

o Making decisions

Collaboration

o About with citizens but also between govt agencieso So if you have an education and health and housing all working

together to solve challenges within a locality What do you need to make this happen?

o there are tools that help enable this kind of stuffbut govt is special and different than other companies or organizations

Systemic Considerationso legal, cybersecurity, and political concerns - are there any barriers in

these realms?

o are there executive level directives that support you? do you have a

supportive leader?o Are there cross-agency coordinatng groups that you can go to for

support?

Organization

o does your org support leaders and trailblazers within the organizationo do individuals have personal access to technology? do they need

training? how can you give them room to experiment?o can you create cross-functional teams public affairs, legal, comms,

policy, etc - to help you get this off the ground?

Notes from Jareds discussionNext Generation Democracy: What the Open Source Revolution Means for Power,Politics and Change by Jared Duval.

For more see: http://www.facebook.com/NextGenerationDemocracy

You can pre-order the book here: http://tiny.cc/nextgendem Follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter/@NGDem

Tweet us your support using #NextGenDem Also - if you are in DC, please join us at the launch party on Monday 8th of

November at BusBoys and poets in Washington DC (Bus Boys and Poets, w/Carolyn Lukensmeyer, AmericaSpeaks, November 8th, 2010, 6:30 8:00p) For

other tour events see -

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=104286779638681&topic=10 or

http://www.nextgendemocracy.com/

Documents

Community Matters Gov 20 Conf Call Notes 11.3.10