As part of a six month project to assist the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) in their pursuit of a more open government and vibrant economy, Theresa Pardo will be presenting project results and recommendations to senior level ministers, ICT staff, civil society representatives, and industry leaders. With funding from The World Bank and the Korean Partnership Trust, CTG, as lead partner in the Open Government Alliance, is assisting the FGN to be more transparent, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance as a way to move towards a more open government. As part of this work, Theresa Pardo and Meghan Cook, program manager at CTG, travelled to Abuja, Nigeria to conduct a series of working meetings and workshops in late 2012 and early 2013.

The Governance Lab @ NYU is organizing a new kind of event that will bring together activists and researchers, industry designers and technologists, as well as academic, government, civil society and business leaders to design concrete methods through which institutions can reinvent themselves and citizens can organize themselves and engage response. Theresa Pardo has been invited to collaborate as part of this group of leaders who are willing to implement ground-breaking interventions and interested in engaging citizens in the process of governance. This event, Building a Research and Design Infrastructure: A Technology for Engagement Summit is supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
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The IT Leadership Academy is a Government Technology event designed by and for government senior technology executives, and senior managers being groomed for leadership. The two day program features state leaders, well-known experts in leadership and technology, and topics of current interest. The Academy provides New York state and local government technology leaders a chance to sharpen their business skills and network with each other and industry leaders. At the 2013 Academy, Meghan Cook will moderate a panel session on Building Transparency though Citizen Engagement, Social Media, and Open Data. This session will leverage knowledge and expertise from public, private, nonprofit, and education institutions already engaged in open government initiatives and open your eyes, as an IT Leader, to what is possible. Showcasing a collection of expertise and real examples (including Super Storm Sandy and New York State's Open Data initiatives), experts will detail efforts in opening government, opening government data, engaging citizens, and leveraging social media - all with the goal of increasing transparency.
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The ICT Solutions Day is a day-long session where client countries and internal and external experts will come together to get hands-on experience on developing Smart Solutions using information and communications technologies (ICT) to tackle development challenges. This event will be centered around leveraging the best global thinking to explore the power of collective intelligence and the latest technology enablers to co-create smart solutions across the sectors. Theresa Pardo and Meghan Cook will participate as expert discussants to engage participating countries in design thinking – a client-driven, open, collaborative process of building up meaningful ICT-enabled solutions that will address the challenges in a new way.
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Meghan Cook is joining other leading international experts to help the Russia government develop an open government strategy. In April of 2012, Russia announced its intention to join the Open Government Partnership (OGP), an international organization aimed at increasing the transparency and accountability of countries. In order to become an OGP member country, Russia must submit a National Action Plan that elaborates concrete commitments on open government. As part of this process, Russia is holding a conference with Russian and international experts and representatives of government, business, and civil society. During the two day event, Meghan will be leading two workshops and taking part in brainstorming sessions. The event is organized by the federal minister on Open Government, Moscow city government and Government expert council, with the support of the World Bank, Russian State Academy of Civil Services, and SAP.
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To be one of the most competitive cities in the world is a complex and constant challenge. It’s not enough for cities to be “smart;” cities must act on that intelligence to truly improve the lives of their citizens. Thought leaders from SAP, the Center for Technology in Government, and The Brookings Institution will discuss what it means to be a “best run city.” The panel will also feature representatives from progressive cities in North America who will answer questions about the pioneering approaches they are taking to spark innovation in policy-making, sustainability, government finance, and citizen interaction. This event is only for media and analysts; RSVP is required, please contact Evan Welsh at evan.welsh@sap.com.
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The New York State Office of Information Technology Services and the New York State Senate, in collaboration with CTG, are pleased to announce Capitol Camp 2012, November 15-16, in Albany. The third annual “Unconference” and “Hackathon” brings together government technology stakeholders together from the public and private sectors to discuss how technology can foster a more transparent, efficient, and participatory government for all New York State citizens. Capitol Camp 2012 spans two days and includes a Hackathon targeted toward computer programmers on Thursday, November 15th; and an Unconference targeting a wider audience of both technical and non-technical participants on Friday, November 16th.
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CTG is leading the development of a set of products for the Nigeria's Open Government efforts. As the leader of the Open Government Alliance, a group of organizations dedicated to helping governments throughout the world, CTG is drafting Nigeria's Open Government Plan for their entry into the international Open Government Partnership. Also, as part of this work, CTG is conducting a quick open government readiness assessment with recommendations for capability development.
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Theresa Pardo will participate as part of a multidisciplinary group of thinkers and doers in London for a two-day planning meeting supported by the MacArthur Foundation and hosted by NYU Wagner to develop a strategy for using technology to create more collaborative ways of governing to tackle the world’s hardest problems. The group will talk through their shared understanding of open and peer progressive governance; focus on how the techniques and technologies of open and participatory governance can help us tackle hard, real world problems; and examine these questions from the perspective of specific disciplines – with a focus on the potential of data science. Working groups will develop specific high impact projects that can help us refine our understanding of this new and evolving political theory for the digital age.
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Sharon Dawes participated in an international roundtable on Semantic Web and Linked Data for E-Governance and Industry as part of the 3rd Russian Conference on Knowledge Engineering and the Semantic Web in St. Petersburg, Russia. The roundtable was organized by the National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics (ITMO) and hosted at the St. Petersburg Higher School of Management. Presentations and discussions addressed the context and progress of open data initiatives in government, news agencies, civil society organizations, and other settings. Dawes also met with the leaders of ITMO's eGovernment Center to discuss ways to implement a recently signed cooperation agreement between CTG and ITMO to share research interests in open data strategies and technologies.

Theresa Pardo will give the keynote at the Government Innovation Forum 2012 (GIF) on Opening Government: Managing Complexity and Producing Public Value. Pardo’s keynote will focus on the current open government landscape and the role research and practice innovations are playing in managing the complexity of opening government and facilitating the creation of public value. GIF integrates local and international experts in the public sector and officials from all levels of government to discuss the opportunities in the Mexican technology agenda. The forum will provide an overview of the initiatives that are improving the way governments provide services to the community, and explore the use and benefits of social networks and mobility in collaboration with the community.
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Join an expert session on Open Government: Modeling the Informational Relationships between Government and Society on the July 18th radio broadcast of Coffee Break with Game Changers. “Coffee Break” is a live, one-hour weekly Internet radio show on Voice America Business, produced in conjunction with SAP Radio. The Open Government panel will be featured live from 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. ET. The radio show will feature four distinguished panelists including: David Nero, Director of Technology for the City of Boston; Jeanne Holm, Data.gov Chief Evangelist and NASA Chief Knowledge Architect; Natalie Helbig, Senior Program Associate, Center for Technology in Government; and Russ LeFevre, Vice President, Industry Solutions Marketing, SAP.
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Data.gov and the World Bank are sponsoring the second International Open Government Data Conference (IOGDC), which will bring together the world's foremost experts on open government data around the theme "Putting Data to Work." The conference will gather policymakers, developers, and others with a keen interest in open government data to share lessons learned, stimulate new ideas, and demonstrate the power of democratizing data. From policy to technology, IOGDC promises to be filled with thoughtful, dynamic discussion around the historic opportunity presented by open government data to foster collaboration, transparency, and interactive public participation.
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The objective of the W3C Using Open Data Workshop is to provide a joint discussion forum for developers of applications that make use of open data, and the end users of those applications such as policy makers, journalists and citizens.This workshop asks a simple question: what is all the 'new' government open data being used for? The primary outcome expected from the workshop is a greater understanding of what can be done with open data on the Web, how it can be used for the benefit of a variety of audiences and what the roadblocks are to greater exploitation of data. Sharon Dawes will present on A Realistic Look at Open Data.
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In this webinar (A Public Value Analysis Tool for Open Government Planning), Meghan Cook, program manager at CTG, and Kristen Baldwin, Senior Accountable Official for Open Government, US Department of Transportation will present the basic ideas of public value and how the U.S. Department of Transportation (US DOT) used CTG's Open Government Portfolio Public Value Assessment Tool (PVAT) to assess their own OG efforts for the purpose of updating the agency’s open government plan. The webinar will be hosted by GSA's HowTo.gov at 11 am EST. More details to come.
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The American Bar Association's Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice's 2012 Spring Conference is focused on The Administrative Agency in the Electronic Age. The conference is co-sponsored by the Program in Law and Public Affairs and Center for Information Technology Policy at Princeton University. Sessions will include panels on: Effective Public Engagement in eRulemaking and Beyond; Maximizing the Value of Agency Websites; and, Ubiquitous Monitoring, Information Flows and Privacy.
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The White House and the National Archives and Records Administration is hosting a Summit on Smart Disclosure. This Summit is the first government-wide event to discuss current work and best practices, bringing together key stakeholders representing philanthropy, academia, consumer groups, and the nonprofit sector. The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Task Force on Smart Disclosure has been working to promote better disclosure policies and aid in the timely release of complex information in standardized, machine-readable formats that enable consumers to make informed decisions in numerous domains.
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As part of President Obama’s Open Government Initiative, all federal agencies are required to submit an updated version of their Open Government Plan to the White House by April 2012. In meeting this requirement, the U.S. Department of Transportation (US DOT) is using CTG's Open Government Portfolio Public Value Assessment Tool (PVAT) to maximize the impact of their open government portfolio. Meghan Cook analyzed the public value assessments of 11 proposed USDOT initiatives to be included in their updated plan and presented findings to the Agency’s Open Government Executive Steering Committee (OGESG). The committee will use this information for decision making about their Flagship Initiative and will incorporate the public value findings in their updated Open Government Plan.
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CTG is part of an international research team that has received a grant to build the capacity of graduate students as international researchers and to develop a framework for smart cities service integration. Theresa Pardo and Taewoo Nam, a CTG graduate assistant and doctoral candidate in Public Administration at the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, will be attending the third working group meeting, held at the Information School, University of Washington, Seattle. The whole team will be jointly refining a scheme to categorize the qualitative data from semi-structured interviews in each city and discussing the issues of inter-rater reliability in coding the interview data. Also, Theresa and Taewoo will be presenting preliminary findings from interviews with the City of Philadelphia government's executives and managers of its core programs (Philly311, PhillyRising, and PhillyStat) to improve city services, government operation, and communities.
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To meet the requirement of having an updated version of their Open Government Plan, the US DOT is using CTG's Open Government Portfolio Public Value Assessment Tool (PVAT) to conduct a value analysis on their proposed initiatives. Over the course of two days, Cook is leading agency teams in workshops so that they can conduct a public value analysis on their initiatives. CTG will analyze results of all the public value assessments and present findings to the agency's Open Government Executive Steering Committee.
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The 2012 Winter ESIP Federation Meeting will focus on the theme: Connections Through Collaboration: Engaging Community Throughout the Data Life Cycle. With increasing attention being paid to data systems interoperability both within and across science disciplines, the Federation of Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) plays an important role in bringing together organizations and individuals who make the connections - both human and technical - necessary to achieve integrated science. Brian Burke, along with Dan Ferguson, University of Arizona will lead the hands-on Evaluation Workshop: A Framework for Project Evaluation, which will focus on 1) why one evaluates data and their associated enabling technologies for discovery and distribution and 2) some basic methods for getting started with evaluating the impact of your own research or products. Burke will introduce CTG's Public Value Framework and how it uses the concept of public value to help government and those that work with government understand the tangible and intangible values that information can provide to multiple and often diverse stakeholders.
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The World Bank Institute is holding a virtual dialogue onOpening Up Development:How Can Countries Start and Run Open Data Ecosystems? The event will feature personal reflections from leaders in Kenya and Moldova-two countries that have successfully embarked upon an Open Data agenda. Following these reflections, Theresa Pardo will join in a panel discussion on the importance of developing Open Government Data Ecosystems for the success of Open Government initiatives. Participants worldwide can join the discussion via video conference, live webcast and Twitter: #opendta.
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Meghan Cook will participate at the European Commission-sponsored event on Transparency and Openness. This ePractice workshop will aim to address the subject of transparency and openness of governments relating to their interaction with citizens. Meghan will give a presentation on A Public Value Approach to Open Government Planning - How to Plan and Measure When Traditional ROI Isn't Enough and then participate in a round table discussion.
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Anthony Cresswell will be participating on the plenary panel Open Government: Challenges and Opportunities at the 6th European Ministerial eGovernment Conference and Exhibition (egov2011PL). The panel will be focusing on the evolving openness of governments - from open data to open services. The session will facilitate sharing experiences from early adopters and identifying challenges, limits, and benefits arising from increased transparency, participation, and collaboration. It will be moderated by Prof. M. Muraszkiewicz from the Warsaw University of Technology, and also include Nigel Shadbolt, University of Southampton, UK; Haiyan Qian, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs; and John Higgins, Digital Europe.
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Meghan Cook has been invited to give the keynote at the 4th Annual Government Innovation Forum (GIF). Cook's presentation will focus on the key challenges and opportunities governments are facing with pressures to use new technologies to build the government of the future, one that is open, transparent, and collaborative. GIF brings together top public sector IT professionals from the federal, state and local levels throughout Mexico. The event is an opportunity to share experiences and hear how other governments, colleagues or experts are using IT tools in ways that can empower citizens or improve transparency and governments operations.
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Sharon Dawes is traveling to Taiwan as a member of the U.S. Delegation to the 45th Annual ICA Conference, Innovative Government – Learning from the Past, Looking to the Future. Dawes is the chair and one of the facilitators for the session Looking to the Future, in which discussions will be focused on how learning from the past and emerging technologies can create open government (transparent, participatory and collaborative), transform service delivery to the citizens, and create operational efficiencies.
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CTG is a co-organizer of the 5th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (ICEGOV2011), which will focus on the use of technology to transform relationships between government and citizens, businesses, civil society and other arms of government (Electronic Governance). In addition, Theresa Pardo is Co-Chair of the conference, Sharon Dawes is on the Steering Committee, and both are on the Program Committee. CTG will be leading a tutorial on Social Media, Pardo is moderator of a keynote panel on Open Government, and Dawes is Chair of the Doctoral Colloquium. Papers will also be presented, which were authored by Dawes, Pardo, Meghan Cook, Natalie Helbig, Jana Hrdinova, Taewoo Nam, and Djoko Sigit Sayogo.
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Anthony Cresswell, along with Professor Tero Päivärinta, University of Adger, Norway and Professor Reima Suomi, University of Turku are presenting at an e-Government Seminar given by INFORTE. Throughout the two-days, Tony will give several presentations on The concept of public value, Assessing public value of eGovernment, Assessing public value of eGovernment, along with one on eGovernment development in US government and research. INFORTE offers networking and education events to professionals working in Finnish companies, polytechnics and public administration with invited speakers from some of the top international researchers or industry representatives in their field.
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CTG has been invited to participate at The Power of Open: A Global Discussion, a high-level conversation to highlight the transformative nature of open governance and celebrate the formal launch of the Open Government Partnership. The day-long event will bring together governments, civil society, industry leaders, academics and media for a series of panels and networking events focused on the role of openness in improving responsiveness, fostering accountability, creating efficiencies, promoting innovation and growth, fighting corruption, improving performance, and capturing dispersed knowledge in support of smarter policies. Theresa Pardo will participate in the How-To Alleysession on open source and open data sharing to increase government productivity and improve services, which will be kicked off by UK Cabinet Minister Frances Maude and Head of the Special Presidential Work Unit for Development Monitoring and Control for Indonesia, Kuntoro Mangkusubroto.
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The Civic Platforms Summit was a working meeting convened by Civic Commons, which focused on coordinating the architecture and interoperability of customer interaction tools for government. Participants spent the afternoon sharing experiences and assembling a road map for building interoperable tools for government-resident and resident-resident information sharing and interaction. This included a general discussion of models of interaction as well as more technical discussion of web services and data standards. City 311 services and the Open311 standard are one example of the technologies that fit into this topic, as are interconnecting issues like identity management. Expected outcomes include the beginnings of a high-level framework for interoperable systems and a sense of a process to follow moving forward to accommodate the development of standards and continued coordination.
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Theresa Pardo and Meghan Cook are invited to attend a meeting with White House officials and eight other key stakeholder organizations to share thoughts on a proposed U.S. National Plan to meet the four core open government principles as laid out by the Open Government Partnership (OGP): transparency, citizen participation, accountability, and technology and innovation. The OGP is a new multilateral initiative that aims to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance.
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