Transparency Camp 2009: The Videos
We came. We saw. We fought for parking spaces…and bagels.
Ten days after having had the opportunity to participate in Transparency Camp 2009 in Washington DC, videos of this remarkable event are now online.
Here’s the trailer, produced by the Sunlight Foundation, which should give you a taste of the excitement and enthusiasm that accompanied this first-of-its-kind unconference or barcamp that brought together a diverse and remarkable collection of government employees, technologists, policy wonks and just-plain-regular folks —all passionately committed to accountable, open and, yes, transparent government that responds to citizens, and provides open access to its vast stores of data.
You can watch the rest of the videos, featuring Craig Newmark, Tim O’Reilly, Micah Sifry and many more big-brained, big-hearted folks here.
More to come…
Over on Mashable, there’s an engaging article by Mark Drapeau (and a lively comment stream) on possible alternatives to the rapidly-aging “2.0″ cliché, and some thoughts about what will – or at least might – succeed it.
It’s important to realize that the particular exchange over at Mashable is specifically about language and what we should call things, rather that the specifics of those things themselves.
Personally, I’m all for a new, cliché-free naming convention for all of this 2.0 business. Or, at the very least, a new set of clichés to replace the ones we’re using now.
Besides, if we continue with the Web/Gov/Health/Socks/Goldfish x.0 metaphor, (one that’s been borrowed from software development), there will be those who will be unable to resist the temptation to take the metaphor to its logical conclusion, i.e., incremental upgrades…with predictably illogical – or at least impractical results. After all, if we’re continually improving it, shouldn’t government 2.0 naturally become 2.1, 2.2 and beyond? This, in turn, begs some further questions:
Since this morning, I’ve been especially partial to this gentlemen’s coinage: WeGov.
Other ideas abound: Activist Kevin Bondelli (possibly the Gen-Y/millenial’s successor to Joe Trippi), prefers User-Generated Government.
While my inner geek might pine for Quantum Government, NanoGov or similar such fanciful stuff, my inner communicator wins out: If we’re going to create meaningful slogans and coinages for everyone’s use that represent at least an earnest effort to really listen and really collaborate, then let’s keep ‘em short, sweet and simple.
Ultimately, the particular terminology that ultimately gains traction to describe citizen-centric, responsive government at every level pales in importance, compared to the people and policies – and, yes, the social technologies necessary to undergird it. We’ve only just begun.
More to come…