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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• 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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As the deadline for submissions approaches for the News Challenge on Open Government, John Bracken, the Knight Foundation’s Director of Media Innovation shares his observations on the journey so far and provides some insights for making project submissions, as well as how everyone can contribute to this timely Challenge to accelerate better ways that government and citizens can interact.

By putting a focus on and valuing the conversation and engagement around the ideas, our hope and expectation is that… even if you aren’t among the winners… even if you’re coming in and sketching out on a cocktail napkin a tool you would hope to see – the spotlight that we can help to put on the community that we’ve brought together around this contest… will leave your idea better off even if it’s not funded.

About John Bracken

John Bracken is director of media innovation for the Knight Foundation. He oversees the Knight News Challenge, Knight’s prototype fund, its journalism and technology investments. Bracken has over 10 years experience as a philanthropic investor in digital media, media policy, innovation and global internet freedom, having previously worked at the Ford Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation.

Bracken is a frequent presenter at media and technology conferences and serves as an adviser to 1871, a co-working resource for digital startups in Chicago.  A 2009 fellow of Leadership Greater Chicago, Bracken has a masters degree from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and a BA from Pitzer College in Claremont, California. He writes @jsb, johnbracken.net and at the Knight Foundation blog.

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Episode links and resources

• Knight Foundation News Challenge site and FAQs
• Knight Foundation website
• Challenge Blog posts
  • What you need to know as #newschallenge deadline nears
  • Answers to the 7 most common News Challenge questions

60-second snapshots

On sparking conversations about Open Government:

On how Open Government fits the Knight Foundation’s communication focus:

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Ahead of taking formal applications, an “inspiration phase” has been launched for the 2013 Knight News Challenge. Some $5 million of Knight Foundation funding will be announced in June for innovative projects around Open Government. Amid much talk (and much tech) focused on more open, transparent, connected governments – as well as the emergence of the 58-nation Open Government Partnership – this Challenge program aims to enable projects that in the broadest sense foster better communication in support of the Open Gov movement.

We hear from Chris Sopher, Project Manager for the 2013 Knight News Challenge, about the Challenge goals and how the inspiration phase will help potential participants to shape their submission ideas through a new online space developed with OpenIDEO.

What are the ideas in Open Government that can help build the field, can help explore new ideas, new approaches to trying to engage people in Government or inform them about what’s happening in their community in a new way?

The Knight News Challenge is international and open to submissions from governments and public sector agencies as well as civic innovators, private sector and non-profit organisations. If you’re considering a pitch, don’t miss this episode!

About Chris Sopher

Chris Sopher is project manager on Knight Foundation’s Journalism and Media Innovation team. He has written and spoken around the world about young people’s engagement with news and civic life through his project Younger Thinking.

Prior to Knight, Chris researched digital media and public policy at the Emerging Media Research Council and helped found the national college mentoring nonprofit Strive for College. He earned a bachelor’s in public policy analysis from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is a Morehead-Cain and Truman Scholar.

Feature image courtesy Joichi Ito

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Episode links and resources

• Knight Foundation News Challenge site and FAQs
• Knight Foundation website
• Blog post about why Knight is doing the Open Government challenge
• Blog post: An opportunity for massive reinvention
• News Challenge winners from each of the three rounds in 2012: Networks, Data, Mobile

60-second snapshots

On framing Open Government:

On what the Knight Foundation is hoping to achieve from the Challenge:

On making public information useful as a key focus area:

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Torbjörn Fredriksson, UNCTAD’s Chief of ICT Analysis, explains the how good macro- and micro-level data and insight leads to adopting good policies, and highlights how a healthy e-business sector can make a significant contribution to more sustainable communities and economies.

In the area of ICT, what we really need a lot of is impact assessments – to understand what is working, what is not working and why… if government officials don’t have good data it’s very difficult to adopt good policies.

Torbjörn also discusses the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) 10-year review, and highlights how collaborations between agencies and disciplines is critical to achieving the objectives of development agendas.

About Torbjörn Fredriksson

Torbjörn Fredriksson is Chief of the ICT Analysis Section of the Division on Technology and Logistics at the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). He is among other things the lead author of the annual Information Economy Report, responsible for UNCTAD’s work on measuring the information economy and lead facilitator of the WSIS Action Line on e-Business.

Torbjörn joined UNCTAD in 2000 and was for eight years one of the principal authors of the World Investment Report. Before joining UNCTAD, he held positions at the Invest in Sweden Agency, the Swedish Ministry of Industry and Commerce the Industrial Institute for Economic and Social Research in Stockholm. He is the author of several books and has published articles related to international trade and investment in such publications as the Journal of International Business Studies, International Journal of Industrial Organization and the Journal of World Investment.

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• UNCTAD website
• World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)
• WSIS e-business action line

60-second snapshots

On the importance of measuring the information economy for governments:

On managing expectations about ICT as a tool for development:

On why e-business is important to community development and sustainability:

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Jean-François Gauthier and Mario Asselin from Démocratie Ouverte discuss how they have been working with the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) as well as their colleagues across the French speaking world to support Governments to broaden and deepen the opengov and open democracy movement.

About Jean-François Gauthier

Government relations expert, Jean-François Gauthier has worked in the strategic ICT support field since 2004. Passionate about public affairs and technology, Jean-François is an advocate of leveraging of technology for more efficient public service.

Until recently a strategic advisor to the Office of the Chief of Information, he is now working on initiatives to support innovation in the public service. Jean-François has also worked in several political offices and in public administration

About Mario Asselin

Strategic Advisor at le Groupe Loran, Mario Asselin started out one of the most successful experimentations in integrated computer-assisted training at school: Cyberportfolio at Institut St-Joseph in Quebec City. At that time, after teaching Elementary and High School level and leading activities, he was appointed Head of School, a position which he held for 15 years at Elementary and High School level. He advises institutions, business, Canadian Government departments and Ministries of French Government in order to support best practices and initiate the emergence of vast learning and open organizations. Member of Démocratie Ouverte, he also teaches organisational communication at Université de Montréal.

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Episode links and resources

• Kinshasa Summit announcement
• Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF)
• Démocratie Ouverte

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The electronic government landscape is increasingly pointing towards a diffusion of power, and an increased role and voice for citizens in public decision-making.

Tomasz Janowski from the UNU-IIST Center for Electronic Governance discusses some of the global trends that he is observing: participatory democracy, the increased regulation of new service delivery channels and the need for leadership in ICT services, challenging the notion of what “whole of government” really means in practice.

With positions of CTO, Chief Knowledge Officer, Chief Innovation Officer emerging, we also see the Government CIO as a consolidating role speaking on behalf of government information technology to other functions of government, and also to the public.

Tomasz also shares some of the recent discussions and shared experiences emerging from the W3C e-Government interest group around the use of social media in Government.

About Dr Tomasz Janowski

Tomasz Janowski is a Senior Research Fellow at the United Nations University International Institute for Software Technology in Macao, where he founded and heads the Center for Electronic Governance. Previously, he was a Research Fellow at the University of Warwick, UK, where he obtained PhD in Computer Science and Assistant Professor at the University of Gdansk, Poland, where he obtained MSc in Applied Mathematics. He also worked for software companies in Poland and the U.S.

Tomasz’s research focuses on Electronic Governance (EGOV) policy and practice including foundations, education, development frameworks, models and design, measurement, etc. He directs EGOV research, transfers research results into practical instruments, and applies such instruments in government policy and practice. Under his leadership, the EGOV center developed a capacity-based EGOV development framework EGOV.*; built instruments to support the use of this framework; applied the framework in Afghanistan (EGOV.AF), Cameroon (EGOV.CM) and Macao SAR (e-Macao); and contributed to EGOV awareness- and capacity-building in Argentina, Bahrain, China, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, Ghana, India, Jordan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, Nigeria, Palestine, Philippines, Tunisia, Uganda, Vietnam and other countries.

Tomasz is the co-founder and an international speaker at the  ICEGOV 2012 conference – hear his sneak preview (5 mins) of the conference here.

Feature image courtesy UNU

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• United Nations University International Institute for Software Technology and the Center for Electronic Governance
• The Cluetrain Manifesto
• W3C eGov interest group
• W3C eGov LinkedIn group

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With the emergence of new trends like open government and open data, there is a perception by many that eGovernment is yesterday’s news, and has largely been completed.

In a candid conversation, Barbara-Chiara Ubaldi, head of the OECD’s eGovernment unit, explains that there is much work still to be done to bring eGovernment into the daily work of the public sector.

In the real world, policymakers responsible for individual areas still don’t talk to each other, don’t work together – so, we still haven’t reached that level of interoperability, integration and coordination which is indeed essential for the implementation of larger interests like open government, for instance.

Barbara also highlights the ways in which the OECD is starting to connect the dots between national eGovernment policymaking and practical implementation by both the public sector and civil society.

About Barbara-Chiara Ubaldi

Since October 2010, Barbara-Chiara Ubaldi has led the OECD E-Government Project within the Division for Public Sector Reform at the Public Governance and Territorial Development Directorate.

Ms. Ubaldi has been serving the OECD as Policy Analyst since February 2009. In this capacity, she managed a number of thematic reviews on e-government and participated in several Public Governance Reviews, which include Denmark, Greece, Mexico, Italy, Estonia, Egypt, Spain and France. Ms. Ubaldi has been co-ordinating for the past three years the OECD work on e-government indicators and the analysis on the use of new technologies – such as cloud computing and mobile technology – to enhance public sector’s agility and mobility, as well as open government.

Prior to joining the OECD she worked for more than seven years as Programme Officer at the United Nations’ Department of Economic and Social Affairs in New York where she was responsible for the full scale management of technical cooperation programmes targeting e-government and ICT use in the public sector, and for developing the content of online self-assessment and capacity building tools in the area of e-government and knowledge management.

Ms. Ubaldi is also a speaker at the ICEGOV 2012 conference – hear her sneak preview (5 mins) of the conference here.

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Episode links and resources

• OECD eGovernment Unit
• OECD report on M-Government
• OECD Observatory of Public Sector Innovation

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For instance, the decision by the Danish Government to open up their address register so anyone could use it had a ROI over its first 4 years of 2200% – that’s 22 times as much in benefits as in cost.

Andrew also highlights some of the key themes emerging from open government practitioners at the Open Knowledge Festival recently held in Helsinki, Finland.

About Andrew Stott

Andrew Stott was the UK’s first Director for Transparency and Digital Engagement and a former Deputy CIO for the UK Government.  He led the work to create “data.gov.uk” and the implementation of the UK Government’s commitments on Transparency of central and local government.  Following his retirement in December 2010 he was appointed to the UK Transparency Board to continue to advise UK Ministers on open data and e-government policy.  He also advises other governments on Open Data both bilaterally and through the World Bank and the World Wide Web Foundation, and he continues to contribute to the international development of the Open Data and Open Government agendas.

Episode feature background image courtesy FloApps

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• Manchester Open Data project
• Danish addressing data return on investment study
• EU POPSIS study (PDF)
• Open Government Partnership
• Open Knowledge Foundation
• Open Knowledge Festival

Andrew Stott – Implementing an Open Data programme within government at the Open Knowledge Foundation

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In 2001 Professor Jim Hendler jointly conceptualised the semantic web along with Tim Berners-Lee and Ora Lassila. When he invented the World Wide Web, Berners-Lee always envisaged it as highly linked, and the idea of the semantic web – a web of linked data with meaning – is now emerging as a reality.

Data is most interesting when you add it to other data.

Jim Hendler takes us on a journey into this semantic web, unpacking related terms such as Web 3.0, and exploring its potential for government. He emphasises the importance of linked open government data, and points to some useful tools and demos of how linked data can be used to create new insights.

The excitement of the data web is better understanding of the world we live in through what’s being collected about it in the information space.

About Professor Jim Hendler

Jim Hendler is the Tetherless World Professor of Computer and Cognitive Science, and the Head of the Computer Science Deparment at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). He is also a faculty affiliate of the Experimental Multimedia Performing Arts Center serves as a Director and Trustee of the UK charity Web Science Trust and is a visiting Professor at DeMontfort University in Leicester, UK. Hendler has authored over 200 technical papers in the areas of Semantic Web, artificial intelligence, agent-based computing and high performance processing.

One of the inventors of the Semantic web, Hendler was the recipient of a 1995 Fulbright Foundation Fellowship, is a former member of the US Air Force Science Advisory Board, and is a Fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence, the British Computer Society, the IEEE and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He is also the former Chief Scientist of the Information Systems Office at the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and was awarded a US Air Force Exceptional Civilian Service Medal in 2002. He is the Editor-in-Chief emeritus of IEEE Intelligent Systems and is the first computer scientist to serve on the Board of Reviewing Editors for Science, and also serves as an “Internet Web Expert” for the U.S. government, providing guidance to the Data.gov project.

Prof. Hendler is also a speaker at the ICEGOV 2012 conference – hear his sneak preview (5 mins) of the conference here.

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Episode links and resources

• Linked Open Government Data project
• Linked Open Government Data project demos and datasets
• Jim Hendler’s blog and articles on SciLogs
• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 
• Semantic Web on Wikipedia

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Digital public sector recordkeeping is one of the unsung cornerstones in the open government and open data discussion.

Dr Anne Thurston talks about past and current challenges of digital recordkeeping and preservation for government – particularly in developing countries.  She also highlights how the open government movement holds opportunities for the public sector recordkeeping profession.

About Dr Anne Thurston

Anne Thurston has pioneered international solutions for managing public sector records that can be shared with developing nations. Between 1970 and 1980 she lived in Kenya where she conducted research before joining the staff of the Kenya National Archives. In 1980 she became a lecturer, later a Reader in International Records Studies at the School of Library, Archive and Information Studies, University College London. She established the International Records Management Trust in 1989 and continues to be its Director. In 1996 she left University College London to concentrate fully on the work of the Trust. In the 1990s, recognising the impact of the rapid changes in the use of information technology on the management of public sector records, she structured the Trust to define means of addressing the impact of these changes.

Dr Thurston was a member of the UK Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Council on Public Records from 1994 to 2000. She was awarded an OBE for services to public administration in Africa in 2000 and a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Records Management Society of the UK in 2007. She was awarded the Emmett Leahy Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Information and Records Management Profession in 2007.

Dr Thurston is also a speaker at the ICEGOV 2012 conference – hear her sneak preview (5 mins) of the conference here.

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• International Records Management Trust website

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