Staff memo.
To follow up my May 6 presentation to Governance Committee, I have attached a document which provides information to help further explain the concept of open government. I believe that this will clarify some of your outstanding questions, however, it will not answer all of them. The reason for this is because we are still developing the action plan which will clearly demonstrate what open government can mean for the City of Guelph.
In partnership with community stakeholders the City has already successfully demonstrated the potential of open government by way of hosting an open data hackathon and a Health Jam. These events were developed by embracing a ‘test and learn’ approach to innovation – a central proponent of the City’s Open Government Framework. The skill and creativity demonstrated by participants at these events was clearly evident through the prototypes they built. The passion behind these inspired solutions was revealed by many of the teams taking direct ownership of their plans in an effort to move them forward for the benefit of the community. This is exactly what this work is all about. Although the City will be an active partner in open government, ultimate success is directly tied to the participation from the community.
For the past 4-5 months, we have been working with the community through a variety of different channels to co-generate proposed open government initiatives. Effectively, this ideation process has allowed citizens to assist in designing their own government based on the principles of participation, innovation, transparency and accountability. The list of big ideas currently consists of 100 proposed initiatives. These are tangible ideas representing what the community believes that open government can look like. You can access these ideas through the City’s MindMixer tool and please, feel free to add your own!
It is now time to iterate, validate and prioritize these initiatives at our Open Guelph Change Camp. This event will bring in City leaders, area experts and passionate citizens to continue to work collaboratively to develop the open government action plan. I would strongly encourage Members of Council to directly participate in this workshop if time permits. if you cannot commit to the full day, I think a quick drop in would be a fantastic opportunity for you to see open government in action. To begin the day, we have a panel of open government experts who will each present their own perspective on work they have done in the open government space. The remainder of the day will be a workshop designed around open space technology which puts the participants in control of setting the agenda and working on the ideas which are important to them.
The details for the Open Guelph Change Camp are below. I hope to see you all there!
When: Friday, May 30
9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Lunch and refreshments will be servedWhere: Best Western Plus Royal Brock Hotel & Conference Centre
716 Gordon StreetWho: Blair Labelle, General Manager of Technology and Innovation, City of Guelph
Luigi Ferrara, Dean of the Centre for Arts & Design, George Brown College
Amanda Clarke, D. Phil. Information, Communication and the Social Sciences, University of Oxford
Richard Pietro, CitizenBridge.orgChiara Camponeschi, Enabling City
Cost: Free of charge, just bring your ideas and open mind – come in, we’re open!
Register: http://www.eventbrite.ca/e/openguelph-change-camp-tickets-11528912287