May 2011 Local OpenGov Innovation Summits

[Lucas Cioffi]

(Note: This is an open call for co-planners. Sign up here and shape how this event is implemented in your city!) About the Local OpenGov Innovation Summits

This is an exciting time as city, state, and municipal governments are looking to solve increasingly complex problems on tight budgets. The purpose of this national summit series is to empower local officials with opengov principles, practices, and tools to drive innovation at the local level. These summits will explore the following questions: • How can public engagement improve the quality and efficiency of government decisions? • What are effective practices in breaking down silos and fostering inter-agency collaboration to maximize available resources? • How can open data be harnessed to further agency missions? • How does transparency actually benefit government? The target is 50+ local summits across the US and internationally during a single week in May 2011. Summits will be affordable and organized by local teams on the ground. Given the very large number of distributed events, we must mobilize ourselves-- the open government community-- to make this event a success. The planning and organizing of this public-private collaboration will itself be a case study in opengov transparency and participation.

Background In 2010, there were eight successful OpenGov Community Summits in Washington, DC to support the Open Government Directive at the federal level (co-hosted by the US Department of Transportation, NASA, USDA, GSA, EPA, and Treasury). There were 750 participants from over 90 federal agencies and bureaus and from the private sector. In 2011, the frontier is local. Building on the lessons learned in organizing the federal summits, the key will be creating a vibrant network of local organizers to share knowledge and support each other every step of the way. This is just the first step in what will be an open planning process; updates will be posted on the wiki at http://www.opengovplaybook.org. If you have any questions, please contact Lucas Cioffi at lu...@onlinetownhalls.com or 917-528-1831. If you have any colleagues that are emerging leaders in the fields of transparency, participation, or collaboration, please be sure to invite them so they can join the organizing team.  Organizers can expect an average of 2-3 hours of work per week between February and May. Monetary compensation will depend on local and national sponsors.