[open-civil-society] Introducing open-civil-society

[David Kane]

Hello - if you're receiving this email, it's because you've signed up to
the open-civil-society email discussion list.
 
A little background to the list - it came about as the result of a
conversation between myself and Jonathan from the Open Knowledge
Foundation. We talked about how there seemed to be a growing community
of people coming together who were interested in open data/open
knowledge and charities/civil society/social enterprise. 
 
Jonathan very kindly offered OKFN's services in terms of hosting an
email discussion list - and so open-civil-society was born, as an
attempt to connect those people. But with no greater masterplan than
that.
 
What the list is specifically for is up to the list members. I think I'm
particularly interested in a few things:
 
 - how do open data and civil society work together? - what happens when
the practical collides with the technical? I'd be really interested in
case studies that people have of open data working for charities-
whether that's helping them become more accountable or improve their
services, or how they use open data to hold others to account.
 
 - sharing any events, reports, websites or data sets that are released
- it's always useful to be kept up to date with *relevant* material.

 - 'theoretical' discussion - what does open data mean for civil
society? Does civil society have an obligation to be more open? Where
are the boundaries between being a private organisation and being
accountable? Do the arguments for government becoming more open apply to
civil society or are there different ones? Are the benefits the same?
What are the downsides?

That's my starter for 10 - but I'm sure there are lots of other ideas.
Interested in thoughts that you have.

I'd also encourage you all to promote the list to others who might be
interested. It's been very informal and twitter-based so far (and the
list has actually been set up for a long time without any promotion!)
I'm the only moderator on the list so far - so any other volunteers for
that are welcome!

Thanks

David


David Kane
Research Officer
National Council for Voluntary Organisations
david.kane at ncvo-vol.org.uk | 020 7520 2579
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/almanac | @kanedr