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Sun Dec 12 18:29:16 UTC 2010
to understand what is open data and value actual transparency. I think that
they avoid such topics since they don't understand them and I think that
they use "transparency" only as a word for speeches and not as something
important to implement.
So it's not so much diffrent in comparison with Russian officials.
--
Best Regards,
Ivan Begtin
email: ibegtin at gmail.com
twitter: ibegtin <http://twitter.com/ibegtin>
facebook: facebook.com/ibegtin
personal website: ivan.begtin.name
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Hi everyone.<div><br></div><div>Not a long time ago Justin Arenstein shared=
a story about Tech Camp in Vilnus and understanding of open data by it'=
;s participants. As you may remember I was sceptical about DepOfState and U=
SAID ability to engage technical people.</div>
<div><br></div><div>So now I have a story to share on same topic.</div><div=
><br></div><div>Here in Russia USAID is going to lauch Code-a-thon. It'=
s something like 2-days hackaton for transparency, civil engagement and so =
on. It was announced on behalf of Medvedev - Obama comission, officially kn=
own as U.S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Comission. =A0</div>
<div><br></div><div>Before launching this Code-a-thon in Russia they decide=
d to initiate teleconference between russian and US experts to discuss most=
important topics and ideas related to Russian transparency. So happened th=
at they invited me too since I already created too many open government pro=
jects here in Russia.=A0</div>
<div><br></div><div>And my impressions about that:</div><div>1. Lot's o=
f US officials and no one Russian official. I've seen at least one pers=
on from Department of State and 4 persons from USAID, but no one Russian of=
ficial presented.=A0</div>
<div>2. Likely they invited at least 2 persons from Russian Yandex IT compa=
ny, but all others russian experts were just civil activists from Transpare=
ncy International and similar organizations who just don't really under=
stand tech topics, open data and so on.</div>
<div>3. At the same time open data was one of key topics of discussion and =
I actively explained them that it's nearly impossible to get any good r=
esults from contest or hackaton without having open government data and bei=
ng focused on problem solving.</div>
<div>4. One guy from USAID had a long speech using words "transparency=
" and "accountability" too much. About 20 mentions of each w=
ord.=A0</div><div><div>5. Some of US experts were actually impressive. Espe=
cially Tom Lee from Sunlight Foundation.</div>
<div>6. During teleconference of of organizers from SecondMuse created mind=
map with all topics that were discussed. It was about :</div><div>- Open Da=
ta</div><div>- Voting transparency</div><div>- Education</div><div>- Citize=
n Reporting / Engagement</div>
<div>- Urban planning</div><div>- Public Financial Transparency</div><div>-=
Corruption Awareness</div><div><br></div><div>And about final results</div=
><div>1. Since no one Russian official was during this meeting actual statu=
s of Codeathon and this discussion is unknown.</div>
<div>2. Actually event it's not transparent. Nothing appeared on public=
, except of what I wrote in this text. No video, no meeting minutes and so =
on. I don't really undestand such type of transparency.</div><div>
3. Discussion was 14 jule and 19 jule they sent all persons who was invited=
a mind map with topics that were discussed. Mind map was made using Mindme=
ister service that keeps all history of changes. And it was easy to find th=
at topics - "Open Data" and "Corruption Awareness" were=
removed by guy from SecondMuse who initially created this mindmap. Two day=
s ago I asked persons from USAID who organized this event from Russian side=
about "is it technical mistake or where is a reason for USAID to avoi=
d such topics?" and haven't got any answer.</div>
<div><br></div><div>From my personal opinion, nor USAID, nor Department of =
State personell ready to understand what is open data and value actual tran=
sparency. I think that they avoid such topics since they don't understa=
nd them and I think that they use "transparency" only as a word f=
or speeches and not as something important to implement.</div>
<div>So it's not so much diffrent in comparison with Russian officials.=
</div><div><br></div><div>-- <br><span style=3D"border-collapse:collapse;fo=
nt-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px"><div style=3D"border-collapse:c=
ollapse;font-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;color:rgb(136, 136, 13=
6)">
<div><br>Best Regards,<br>=A0 Ivan Begtin<br><br></div></div><div style=3D"=
border-collapse:collapse;font-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;color=
:rgb(136, 136, 136)">email:=A0<a href=3D"mailto:ibegtin at gmail.com" style=3D=
"color:rgb(51, 51, 204)" target=3D"_blank">ibegtin at gmail.com</a></div>
</span><span style=3D"border-collapse:collapse;color:rgb(136, 136, 136);fon=
t-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px">twitter:=A0<a href=3D"http://twi=
tter.com/ibegtin" style=3D"color:rgb(51, 51, 204)" target=3D"_blank">ibegti=
n</a></span><span style=3D"border-collapse:collapse;font-family:arial, sans=
-serif;font-size:13px"><div style=3D"border-collapse:collapse;font-family:a=
rial, sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<font color=3D"#888888">facebook:=A0</font><a href=3D"http://facebook.com/i=
begtin" style=3D"color:rgb(51, 51, 204)" target=3D"_blank">facebook.com/ibe=
gtin</a></div></span><span style=3D"border-collapse:collapse;color:rgb(136,=
136, 136);font-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px">personal website:=
=A0<a href=3D"http://ivan.begtin.name/" target=3D"_blank">ivan.begtin.name<=
/a></span><span style=3D"border-collapse:collapse;font-family:arial, sans-s=
erif;font-size:13px"><div>
<br></div></span><span style=3D"border-collapse:collapse;color:rgb(136, 136=
, 136);font-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px"></span><br>
</div></div>
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