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Steven Clift's Notes - Democracies Online (10 unread)

August 21, 2008
11:39
E-Democracy.Org UK Meeting in the UK on Oct. 2 , local e-democracy
» ‎ Steven Clift's Notes - Democracies Online

Let me know if you’d like to help advise E-Democracy.Org local Issues Forums
efforts in the UK. We hope to gather representatives from our four local
communities - Oxford, Bristol, Brighton, and Newham in Oxford on October 2 along
with supporters of our volunteer-driven, citizen-based approach.

RSVP to: team@e-democracy.org

We need to plot out the long-term path for E-Democracy.Org in the UK, work to
connect local efforts for knowledge and experience sharing, brainstorm ideas for
securing a UK coordinator (volunteer, funded, etc. … want to volunteer now to
jump start efforts?), figure out how to get “community empowerment” folks to
think digitally and discover our highly cost-effective model, explore ideas for
sharing the model with more communities (in the U.S. we are successfully focused
on funded start-ups be they council, university, or foundation funded) in the UK
and beyond in Europe.

If you can’t make it, but would like to advise E-Democracy.Org in the UK or get
involved in some way, drop me a note. We are forming an online advisory team of
those willing to help us build local democracy and neighbourhood participation
online in the UK.

Also, from the UKIE group, folks expressed interest in discussing general
“what’s next” opportunities in local e-democracy in the UK now that ICELE -
www.icele.org has been closed -
groups.dowire.org/r/topic/6AYanoQaGcIpwtS62soT7w - if interest remains, I
am open to someone else leading such a discussion. Anyone here willing to
step, up and chair such a discussion?

Steven Clift
E-Democracy.Org

P.S. I’ll arrive at Heathrow the afternoon of Oct 1st from the EDem2008
conference in Krebs, Austria: www.donau-uni.ac.at/edem
I leave for home in Minneapolis on Oct 3.
11:38
Updated Issues Forum Presentation, Rural Voices in Native American
» ‎ Steven Clift's Notes - Democracies Online

Last week, Steve Kranz and I had a great time up in northern Minnesota spreading
the word about Issues Forum as part of our Blandin Foundation funded Rural
Voices effort. I’ve blogged about it on E-Democracy.Org and shared my updated
slides (which have evolved from a training on Issues Forums in Estonia!) and a
short video clip:

blog.e-democracy.org/posts/166

I often take about how our forums have spread to three countries, now I can add
a “sovereign nation” with the Cass Lake Leech Lake forum covering the Leech Lake
Indian Reservation and other jurisdictions including the town of Cass Lake, a
few counties, and even federal government national forest lands. I look forward
to sharing lessons as this project and neighborhood forums in high immigrant
area projects move along.

Steven Clift
E-Democracy.Org
August 07, 2008
20:06
US oGosh! IRC (chat) Meeting Sat Aug 16 4pm EDT
» ‎ Steven Clift's Notes - Democracies Online

More cross-posting. Steven Clift

Subject: oGosh! IRC Meeting Aug 16 4pm EDT
Date: Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:55:15 -0400
From: Josh Tauberer
Reply-To: open-government@googlegroups.com
To: openhouseproject@googlegroups.com, poliparse@googlegroups.com, open-government@googlegroups.com, “Open(Data).Open[Govt]”

(Apologies for four-way cross-posting!)

Hi all,

A current interest of mine is now how to build a larger, coherent
developer community around U.S. civic-technology projects of the types
we all work on. Something like channeling the developer power that is
out there that probably would want to work on these projects, in an
open-source project style, if only they knew about what interesting
things there are to do. There are a bunch of people thinking about a
developer community, each of us perhaps taking a stab at this in
different ways, so here’s a stab from me.

I’m holding a meeting on IRC to talk about civic-technology projects,
on Saturday, August 16 at 4pm Eastern time. The agenda will be a mix
between seeing what various civic technology projects are up to
(GovTrack, OpenCongress, and any others run by people who show up), and
getting new people involved in ongoing projects. So, for instance, even
if no newcomers show up, the meeting will be useful for the old-timers
like us just to catch up with each other’s recent work. But if we get
some newcomers, we can talk about how to get them on-board helping an
existing project.

As for the name “oGosh!”– A couple of months ago I created the Facebook
group oGosh: Open Government Open Source Hacking. (For the ODOG list
members, it’s a hat tip to that conference and a joke Micah made at the
beginning if the acronym had been OGOD.) The theme of the group is to be
a wide net for any technology project aimed at civics, in the U.S., like
the usual legislative transparency to, if I can eventually contact the
people, things like election transparency.

Despite the name, I don’t mean to specifically exclude closed source
projects. Especially for this IRC meeting. It’s just a name. It was
tricky finding something catchy aimed at the developer side of things.

Also as for the time- I’m doing this on a Saturday in the hopes of
making it more accessible to newcomers. We’ll see how that works out.

The chat will be in the #transparency channel on Freenode. For more
information on the meeting (and on how to get to the chat), see:

wiki.opengovdata.org/index.php/OGosh
www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=45606565313

Suggestions for agenda topics are most welcome either to me directly
(off-list) or by revising the wiki page above.

Hope to see you there.

–
- Josh Tauberer
- GovTrack.us

razor.occams.info

“Yields falsehood when preceded by its quotation! Yields
falsehood when preceded by its quotation!” Achilles to
Tortoise (in “Godel, Escher, Bach” by Douglas Hofstadter)
August 05, 2008
11:13
Webcast-Report - Web 2.0: The Future of Collaborative Government
» ‎ Steven Clift's Notes - Democracies Online

Subject: Web 2.0: The Future of Collaborative Government [Real Player, pdf]
Date: Fri, 1 Aug 2008 11:06:34 -0700 (PDT)
From: Dan Knauss

Web 2.0: The Future of Collaborative Government [Real Player, pdf]
www.deloitte.com/dtt/article/0,1002,cid%253D208669,00.html?WT.mc_id=USRSS

Many units of government have their own websites, though their quality
varies widely. With that state of affairs in mind, the Deloitte
Consulting Group and the National Academy of Public Administration
teamed up in June 2008 as part of a group conference in order to take
a critical look at developing a “road map to help the next
administration navigate the work force and organization changes that
need to occur to move to a more collaborative model of government.”
During their group meeting, the participants (which included the
global director of public sector at Deloitte Research and the
assistant director of the Office of the Director of National
Intelligence) engaged in a discussion about this timely topic, and
some of their thoughts and ideas can be found on this site. Visitors
can read profiles of those invited to the meeting and then scroll down
the homepage to view webcasts from the event and also take a look at
several documents which chart the potential future of collaborative
government and how this plan might be implemented. [KMG]

From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008.
scout.wisc.edu/
10:51
Article - E-Constituent Relationship Management for State Legislators
» ‎ Steven Clift's Notes - Democracies Online

Also check out the good work of Washington State-based:
knowledgeaspower.org

See:
www.ipdi.org/uploadedfiles/CRM_June17.pdf

Subject: New IPDI White Paper – eCRM for State Legislators
Date: Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:03:38 +0000
From: Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet

The Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet (www.ipdi.org)
is pleased to announce the release of its latest white paper,
/e-Constituent Relationship Management for State Legislators/, which it
authored with the Council of State Governments-WEST (www.csgwest.org).
The white paper looks at adopting corporate “customer relationship
management” principles and practices on a state level, to help
legislators better manage constituent email, phone calls, and requests.

e-Constituent Relationship Management is available for download online
.
It includes practical sections on

* What to consider before you begin to implement any CMR tactics.
* Principles of constituent relationship management for state
legislators.
* Case studies on building better programs, managing constituent
email, developing a data strategy, and proactively using
communications.
* What to look for in a technology system.
* Data privacy.
* Transitioning from elected office to the campaign trail.
* Managing constituent casework.
* Sorting through from third party organizations.

Hear about day-to-day tactics and tools from state legislators and IT
staff:

* Representative Janice E. Arnold-Jones - New Mexico State House
* Ric Cantrell - Chief Deputy, Utah State Senate
* Representative Mike Doogan - Alaska State House
* Lee Harris - Legislative Data Center, California State Legislature
* Kevin Hayes - Session Information Office, Montana Sate Legislature
* Paul Mouritsen - Constituent Services, Nevada State Legislature
* Bud Richmond - IT Analyst, Oregon State Legislature

Learn from the advice and recommendations of CRM experts and
inside-the-Beltway strategists:

* Daniel Bennett - Practitioner-in-Residence, IPDI
* Peter Churchill - Center for American Progress
* Paul Greenberg - The 56 Group
* Jeff Mascott - Adfero Group
* Chris Massicotte - NGP
* Nick Schaper - Office of House Republican Leader John Boehner
* Thomas VanderWal - Infocloud Solutions
* Ken Ward - Adfero Group

Download a copy of e-Constituent Relationship Management online
.

————————————————————————
Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet
805 21st Street NW, Suite 401
Washington, District of Columbia 20052
July 30, 2008
10:38
Idea Generator: US Election Stories - From American Public Media
» ‎ Steven Clift's Notes - Democracies Online

See:
www.americanpublicmedia.org/engage08/electionstories/

Subject: Idea Generator: Election Stories
Date: Wed, 30 Jul 2008 09:02:23 -0500
From: Robideau, Brad

Greetings from American Public Media, producer and distributor of public
radio programs, including */Marketplace/*.

I thought you might be interested to learn about the Idea Generator:
Election Stories produced by American Public Media. The Idea Generator:
Election Stories is an online activity that allows the public to help
shape election coverage.

There is no shortage of election coverage this year. But is the media
pursuing the stories that matter to voters? Using the Idea Generator
forum, users can identify the stories or issues they would like to see
covered. They can weigh in with the issues most important to them and
let the news media know what angles on the election are missing.

In addition to informing the public radio election coverage, users can
also discuss and expand the ideas of others. Ideas can be sorted in a
variety of ways�by keyword, geography, or list�to provide a range of
entry points into the discussion.

The Idea Generator: Election Stories can be accessed at
www.americanpublicmedia.org/engage08/electionstories/. You�ll
also find instructions on how you can embed the widget on your Web site.

The Idea Generator: Election Stories is part of Engage 08, American
Public Media’s collection of 2008 election coverage resources. These
resources include interactive tools that provide unique ways in which to
educate, inform and entertain a motivated electorate.

Please feel free to share the Idea Generator: Election Stories with your
friends, colleagues and other interested individuals and organizations.

If you have any questions, please let me know. I hope you and your
readers find the Idea Generator: Election Stories a useful and
informative tool.

Thanks for your time and consideration.

Warm regards,

Brad Robideau

National Public Relations Manager

American Public Media
651-290-1113
brobideau@americanpublicmedia.org

American Public Media is the largest owner and operator of public radio
stations, producing and distributing premier programming, including A
Prairie Home Companion^� and Marketplace,^� and reaching more than 15
million listeners weekly.
July 29, 2008
14:06
Help Redesign Democracy - Join E-Democracy.Org Design Sprint
» ‎ Steven Clift's Notes - Democracies Online

Over the coming months I hope to engage designers in an effort to vastly improve the look and feel of E-Democracy.Org starting with our forums.

E-Democracy.Org has a small grant that we using to support new features on GroupServer, the awesome GPL open source platform we use for our Issues Forums. Some of that budget will be used to implement a new look and feel that will then spread across our site. However, the more we engage our supporters and volunteers to articulate a design vision, create some story boards and actual art/design templates the more we can do with our limited resources (like make it easy to embed YouTube videos in GroupServer!).

To this end, we propose a design sprint (in-person in Minneapolis and virtual) sometime in the next few months to see what kind of talent we can bring to bear. Indicate you interest, RSVP via our wiki and drop us an e-mail: team@e-democracy.org

pages.e-democracy.org/design_sprint

We won’t consider a meeting until at least five people agree to get involved.

To assist, or perhaps confuse the process, I’ve created two video screencasts that share some of my hopes and dreams for the new site. One of my main goals is to ensure that our forums remain competitive in the “minds eye” with citizen media and blog sites in terms of first impressions without losing the barebone usability that people really need. The screencasts are available from:

pages.e-democracy.org/design_sprint

As a “virtual” participant, you can feel free to see what you can whip up anytime or ask us questions now to guide your contribution.

Feel free to leave comments on the blog about the site redesign.

Steven Clift
E-Democracy.Org
12:04
Study on Helping Visitors Find Information
» ‎ Steven Clift's Notes - Democracies Online

This looks pretty interesting:
www.idea.org/find-information.html

Steven Clift

Subject: Study on “Helping Visitors Find Information” - for Dowire.org
Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2008 14:05:55 -0400
From: Michael Douma
To: Steven Clift

Dear Steven,

The Internet has transformed how we communicate with the public, but there are still many challenges in making information easy to find. I saw you recently wrote a post — Report - Pew Internet releases Election 2008 Report on 18-Jun — related to the Pew Internet study. You might be interested in a study that my nonprofit recently published about how people find information online. The study covers three groups: non-profit organizations and cities; web designers and firms; and the general public.

The study was fascinating on a number of levels, and I invite you to read the executive summary or download a PDF of the findings at www.idea.org/find-information.html

The survey results sparked ideas about tools we could provide that might make finding information online easier. In a couple of months, I?ll drop you a note about a new navigational tool that IDEA will be beta testing this fall.

Thank you!

Sincerely,
Michael Douma
Executive Director
IDEA - www.idea.org
July 25, 2008
10:31
UK Online Event - Have Your Say on the National Framework for Greater Citizen Involvement
» ‎ Steven Clift's Notes - Democracies Online

Subject: Have Your Say on the National Framework for Greater Citizen Involvement
Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2008 16:05:27 +0100
From: Elspeth Rainbow

You will have received an email announcing the launch of ‘A National
Framework for Greater Public Engagement’ on 9 July. As part of the
engagement we have set up an online discussion for those who would like
to participate online. We are currently focusing on the use of
deliberative engagement more generally, and will then move on to talk
about the specific proposals.

The paper represents some initial ideas, so we are really keen to get
the views of others on this. You can find the debate at

governance.justice.gov.uk/2008/07/08/the-process-continues-a-discussion-forum/

…

From Steven Clift:

P.S. Join the UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange for ongoing discussion of related issues:
dowire.org/uk
July 23, 2008
23:23
Madrid, Speaking Requests for Late 2008
» ‎ Steven Clift's Notes - Democracies Online

In addition to the EDem08 conference in Austria Sept 29-30 - www.donau-uni.ac.at/edem - and an E-Democracy.Org UK meeting in Oxford on October 2 - groups.dowire.org/r/post/3CIcASMpMYo5FwhwRLi4CG , it looks like I may have an opportunity to participate in the Council of Europe’s Forum for the Future of Democracy conference October 15-17 in Madrid - www.coe.int/T/E/Integrated_Projects/Democracy/ .

With two kids (very cute, I might add) in diapers and my full-time focus on E-Democracy.Org, this will pretty much lock up my speaking availability through the end of the year unless others planning to send along an invitation do so very soon. (I remain open to Internet video presentations.)

Also, due to the schedule of the (invite-only) Madrid conference, I may be available to speak publicly elsewhere in Madrid, perhaps even elsewhere in Spain/Portugal through midday on the 15th or later on the 17th. I would also consider a possible sponsored quick speech/presentation/etc. on October 14 elsewhere in Europe as well.

Anyway, if you would like to explore possibilities, contact me at: clift@publicus.net OR send possible sponsors to stevenclift.com

Thanks,
Steven Clift
stevenclift.com
Democracies Online Newswire

P.S. The video of my stump-style speech to the Personal Democracy Forum is online: blip.tv/file/1051161 (leave some comments!)
It builds on my new Sidewalks for Democracy Online article that has generated more buzz than I’ve experienced in years: rebooting.personaldemocracy.com/node/52