In Europe, the culture is not so much a start-up culture, but more like a co-creation culture with different parts of society – cities, developers, organisations and civil society in general.  And things may look… and maybe are!… a little bit slower as a result of this approach, but it’s a different way.”

About Esteve Almirall

Esteve Almirall serves as Associate Professor in Esade Business Schoool and UPF (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) focusing his research on Innovation and Innovation Management where he has more than 30 publications on the field. His work has been referenced in HBR and he is a frequent speaker in conferences around Innovation, Smart Cities, Living Labs and Open Data/Gov.

His background is a mix of Management Science (PhD) and Computer Science (MSc, MRes). Esteve is also highly involved in European Projects and EU organizations being Council Member of the ENoLL (European Network of Living Labs) and coordinating/participating in some EU projects on Innovation and Smart Cities, such as Open Cities and Commons for Europe.

About Carles Ferreiro

Carles is the CEO of dotopen, a digital enterprise focused on open innovation particularly within cities.

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Episode links and resources

• Commons4EU website
• ESADE
• dotopen

60-second snapshots

On a co-creation approach:

On the entrepreneur as a change agent for civic innovation:

Commons4EU – explaining Code for Europe and BuB for Europe initiatives through their fellows

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Jake Dunagan, IFTF’s Research Director talks about the Connected Citizens program, and why this is an important theme to explore.

This idea of civic technologies and Government 2.0 and new models of citizen engagement using networked technologies filters through a lot of the work we’ve done at the Institute, because it’s such an important thing that’s happening – this moment of change when a new level of citizen and government relations is happening.

Given the range of ways that citizens can now participate to shape the public sphere – hackathons, city camps, policy camps, etc – Jake sees gamification as being part of this “ecology of invention” and that the idea of using a game-based approach is becoming less of an inhibitor for governments.

I think that minds are changing on that – I think the word ‘game’ doesn’t scare as many people as it once did… game is really just a proxy word for engagement.

About Jake Dunagan

Jake Dunagan is the Research Director for the Institute For the Future, with a particular focus on the accelerating transformations of individuals, culture, and governance. In his research, Jake explores how societies are adapting to the Neurocentric age, a time of unprecedented ability to view and modify the mind. Recently, he has written and lectured on comprehensive cognitive design, judicial foresight, kids’ technologies, neuroscience and the ocean, alternative energy futures, social media, and the future of work.

Jake also designs artifacts, games, immersive experiences of future worlds, and produces guerilla public engagement projects that inject the future into the mental ecology of the present.

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• Institute For The Future
• Connected Citizens game

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Damian Thorman, National Program Director, shares some insights from the KF Tech for Engagement initiative so far, and highlights some of the key focus areas for collaboration in the future.

In the beginning…there was a sense of experimenting – throw anything out there and see what sticks.  I think today we’re facing a different question.  We’ve got a lot of tools…the question today is how do you take these tools and get them adopted, and how do we articulate the value?

About Damian Thorman

Damian Thorman joined Knight Foundation in 2007 as National Program Director. The National Program supports innovative ideas and leadership with the potential to drive transformative change nationally and in Knight’s resident communities. He helps develop new grant opportunities at a national level that target systemic change within the framework of informed, engaged communities.

Thorman most recently served as assistant prosecuting attorney of the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office in Kansas City, Mo. He founded and ran the Thorman Strategy Group, a consulting practice that assisted foundations, nonprofits and for-profit organizations from 2002 to 2005. He served as adjunct political science professor at Avila College in Kansas City, Mo. Thorman was the director of public affairs and policy at the Ewing Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City from 1994 to 2002. In Washington, D.C., he served as assistant director at the American Academy of Pediatrics, professional staff member of the House Education and Labor Committee, and congressional aide to then-U.S. Rep. Bill Richardson. He also served a brief stint as a reporter for the National Catholic Reporter in Los Angeles.

He has a law degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and a MBA from Rockhurst University.

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Episode links and resources

• Knight Foundation
• Tech for Engagement initiative
• Tech for Engagement summit
• Report: Digital Citizenship: Exploring the Field of Tech for Engagement
• Technology for Engagement Manifesto
• Code for America
• Change by us

Accelerating Democracy: Tech for Engagement from Knight Foundation on Vimeo.

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• Twitter hashtag: #tech4engage

Building a culture of collaboration and participation is a key ingredient to making innovative programs work in cities.

Mark Headd talks about his time with Code for America as their Head of Government Relations, and shares some of the emergent learnings from the intersection between the various elements of CfA’s program – the cities, the fellows, the brigade, the commons and now the start-ups.

“The most important thing that cities can do to keep pushing innovation in their cities is to bring in those people closest to them that are products of their own innovation.”

About Mark Headd

Mark has been the Director of Government Relations for Code for America since April 2012, as well as being a writer, speaker and thought leader on communication technologies and open government. He is a civic hacking veteran and a keen builder of civic software.

Mark has also just been appointed the City of Philadelphia’s first Chief Data Officer.

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Episode links and resources

• • Code for America
    • Brigade
    • Commons
    • Engagement Commons
    • Accelerator
    • Fellows
    • Cities
  • Young Rewired State
  • Sheltr

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• Tags: #cfa #civic #innovation

In advance of the Open-Data Cities Conference in Brighton, UK, convenor Greg Hadfield talks about the ways in which all elements of a city – leaders, government, local institutions and businesses as well as citizens – have a role to play in creating open and sustainable cities of the future.

Data and the openness of that data, openly published, freely available, available for re-use without strings attached in non-proprietary formats – all that 5-star openness  will be embedded in the DNA of our cities

About Greg Hadfield

Greg Hadfield is a former Fleet Street journalist, founder of Soccernet and Schoolsnet and most recently, he was head of digital development and Telegraph Media Group and director of strategic projects at Cogapp, a leading digital agency.

Greg is also the founder of Open-data Brighton and Hove Group, and is organising the Open-data Cities Conference in Brighton and Hove on April 20, 2012.

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Episode links and resources

• The Open-data Cities Conference website
• Open Data Brighton and Hove

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• Tags: #ODCC #opendata #opengov

A successful participatory budgeting program is one that delivers what has been decided… It is very fashionable right now to use technology to engage with citizens, but you’re not able or willing to respond to citizens, then don’t engage with them.

Tiago also emphasises the escalating impact of mobile technologies to enable a more inclusive participatory budgeting program:

One of the things that you see is… the power of using mobile phones for citizen participation…We’ve been in areas where citizens walk further to charge their mobile phones than they walk to get water!

About Tiago Peixoto

Tiago Peixoto is an Open Government specialist in the ICT4Gov program of the World Bank Institute.  Having worked for 10 years as a practitioner and researcher in the field of ICT and participatory governance, Tiago is currently an open government specialist at the ICT4Gov program of WBI’s Open Government cluster. Prior to joining the Bank, Tiago has managed projects and worked as an advisor and consultant for various organizations in the field of participation and technology, such as the European Commission, OECD, the United Nations, and the Brazilian and UK governments. He is also research coordinator of the Electronic Democracy Centre, a joint venture of the European University Institute, the University of Zurich and the Oxford Internet Institute of the University of Oxford.

About the World Bank Institute

The World Bank Institute (WBI) is a global connector of knowledge, learning and innovation for poverty reduction. It is part of the World Bank Group, and connects practitioners, networks and institutions to help them find solutions to their development challenges.

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Episode links and resources

• World Bank Institute
• Project overview of Participatory budgeting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Recent Participatory Budgeting conference in New York
• Participatory Budgeting Facebook Group
• Non-exhaustive map of Participatory Budgeting Cases Around the World. Markers in red indicate cases of e-participatory budgeting (ICT facilitated)
• Article on mobile phones and Participatory Budgeting
• Mobile Participatory Budgeting in South-Kivu
• La Plata Multi-Channel Participatory Budgeting including PDF Case study
• Belo Horizonte’s (Brazil) e-Participatory Budgeting (PDF)
• ICT facilitated Participatory Budgeting in the DR Congo
• Brief report of NYC Participatory Budgeting Process, prepared by the Community Development Project at the Urban Justice Center (PDF)
• World Bank / Open Government Partnership webinar on “ICT for Citizen Engagement”

Videos

Participatory budgeting project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Participatory Budgeting and CrossVoice

Mobile Participatory Budgeting in South Kivu

La Plata (Argentina) Multi-Channel Participatory Budgeting

Belo Horizonte Participatory Budgeting

Recife Participatory Budgeting

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• Tags: #opengov #edem #demopart #pbconf

Nick Grossman joins Gov20 Radio for a conversation about civic innovation, including the latest from Civic Commons and how to communicate the benefits of tech-enabled civic transformation to leaders as well as the tech community.

About Nick Grossman

Nick is the most recent Executive Director of Civic Commons, a visiting scholar at the MIT Media Lab in the Center for Civic Media, and an advisor to Code for America.  He’s also been involved with OpenPlans building open technologies for cities and advancing urban and technical policy issues.

Projects that Nick has worked on include Open311, MTA Bus Time, OpenBlock, OpenTripPlanner, TransportationCamp,  Streetsblog, Streetfilms and GothamSchools.

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Episode links and resources

• The Civic Commons organisation
• Open Plans agency
• Code for America website

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• Tags: #civic #innovation

In this episode, we chat with Maurits van der Vlugt, one of the co-founders of Australia’s Bushfire Connect service on the power of the crowd in an emergency. Maurits talks candidly about the opportunities and challenges of establishing and sustaining a voluntary initiative using social tools, and the importance of these initiatives engaging with the ‘command and control’ culture of the formal emergency management agencies and structures.

Bushfire Connect allows anyone in the country to submit local updates, which are then mapped and combined with official warnings and then alerts are sent out to people who are signed up for that particular region – all that’s done in real time.

About Maurits van der Vlugt

Maurits is recognised as one of Australia’s leading authorities in the design and implementation of (interoperable) spatial data infrastructures, and web delivery of spatial data. Maurits has a long career in consulting government and the private sector on developing location-intelligence strategies, along with the enabling technology frameworks, business cases and implementation planning. Having worked for over 20 years in the spatial information industry in Europe, the USA and Australia, he has developed an extensive international network.

Maurits also volunteers his time to not-for-profit crisis management initiatives such as BushfireConnect and Random Hacks of Kindness.

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Episode links and resources

• Bushfire Connect website
• Ushahidi open source software that powers Bushfire Connect as well as other similar initiatives around the world
• Emergency Management 2.0 research project for the Australian Government’s 2.0 Taskforce

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We’re joined by Julio Gonzalez Altamirano from Open Austin and Matt Esquibel from the City of Austin to talk about open government, open data, and civic application development in the city.

A lot of credit goes to the Austin community – the technical expertise and the energy helps the City develop that kind of mindframe as we’re going forward.

About Julio Gonzalez Altamirano and Matt Esquibel

• Julio Gonzalez Altamirano is the founder and a key leader in the Open Austin network, working closely with the City to support greater open govenrment outcomes and mobilizing local citizens to participate in Open Austin activities.
• Matt Esquibel is Programmer Analyst Supervisor for Internet/Intranet Web Design in the Office of Communications & Technology Management at the City of Austin in Texas. Matt has been leading the open government initiatives for the City of Austin, and is the key liaison point with the Open Austin community.

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Episode links and resources

• Interview with Matt Esquibel on GovFresh
• Open Austin website for civic activists and participants
• The new City of Austin website and Open Data Portal

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Civic innovator and hackfest vetern Mark Headd joins Gov20 Radio for an in-depth conversation about mobilizing and sustaining civic innovation: hacking, start-ups and what Governments can do to encourage local action.

In 2011, you really started to see independently-organized events taking place, where there were groups of civic-ly-minded hackers in these cities saying ‘We want to do something to give back to our cities.’

About Mark Headd

Mark is a writer, speaker and thought leader on communication technologies and open government. He currently works as a Developer Evangelist for Voxeo Labs. He holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, and is a former adjunct instructor at the University of Delaware teaching a course in electronic government.

He served for three years as the chief policy and budget advisor for the State of Delaware’s Department of Technology and Information. He has also served as Director of the Delaware Government Information Center and as Technology Adviser to former Delaware Governor Thomas Carper.

Mark has built open government applications for the District of Columbia, the Sunlight Foundation, the New York State Senate, and the cities of New York, San Francisco, Toronto, Baltimore and Philadelphia.

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Episode links and resources

• Civic hacking events in Baltimore and Philadelphia
• Mark’s Civic Innovations blog

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• Tags: #civic #innovation