[open-government] Webcast Now - Beyond the Tools: Connecting Citizens and their Governments - Aspen FOCAS 2013 #focas13

[Steven Clift]

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About

The 2013 Forum on Communications and Society (FOCAS) follows on the
work of the Aspen Institute and the Knight Foundation in encouraging
an informed citizenry engaged in self-governance at all levels of
government. Much attention has focused on the creation of tools to
encourage and ease this process. Indeed, through Knight News
Challenges and other activities, makers are creating innovative
approaches to citizen engagement tools and measurements. The FOCAS
will bring together representatives of the maker community with public
officials, citizen leaders and others who will be implementing the new
tools and apps for citizen engagement. The aim is to enhance the
relationships among localities and their publics in advancing
participatory governance. The Forum will also look for ways to
institutionalize the innovative techniques and talents for open
governance in the future, looking specifically at how the advances
such as the Open Data Institute in the United Kingdom can find an
analogue in the U.S.

Agenda - MOUNTAIN TIME - http://www.onlineconversion.com/timezone.php


Beyond the Tools:
Connecting Citizens
and their Governments
Aspen, Colorado • July 10-13, 2013
Tentative Agenda
(as of July 1, 2013)

The 2013 Forum on Communications and Society (FOCAS) follows on the
work of the Aspen Institute and the Knight Foundation in encouraging
an informed citizenry engaged in self-governance at all levels of
government. Much attention has focused on the creation of tools to
encourage and ease this process. Indeed, through Knight News
Challenges and other activities, makers are creating innovative
approaches to citizen engagement tools and measurements. The FOCAS
will bring together representatives of the maker community with public
officials, citizen leaders and others who will be implementing the new
tools and apps for citizen engagement. The aim is to enhance the
relationships among localities and their publics in advancing
participatory governance. The Forum will also look for ways to
institutionalize the innovative techniques and talents for open
governance in the future, looking specifically at how the advances
such as the Open Data Institute in the United Kingdom can find an
analogue in the U.S.

Thursday, July 11, 2013
8:45 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. Welcome and Opening Remarks: Goals of the Forum

9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Session I. Problems of Governance: A Status
Report The Forum begins with an analysis and discussion of
developments in open governance. We begin with a mapping of what open
governance services are occurring in the U.S. and how they relate to
each other.
Participants will then consider where federal, state and local
governments, private enterprises and civic entities are in meeting the
goals of open governance as they relate to an informed and engaged
citizenry. What tools are being created that improve
citizen-government interaction? What tools are needed? What are open
governance needs beyond those tools? The session will then look at how
the U.K. addresses these problems and issues, particularly with its
Open Data Institute (ODI).

11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Session II. Cultural and Institutional
Barriers to Open Governance
Participants will then turn to the cultural constraints to innovations
in open governance. How do the different levels of government in the
U.S. differ in this regard? And how can the Federal Government, in
addition to gaining advances in this field, encourage states and
localities to advance – or is the question better posed in reverse?
How can localities promote reforms they are seeing at their level to
be adopted at the state and federal levels? What is the role of
non-governmental groups?

2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Working Groups: Moving from Tools to Institutions

After lunch, participants break into working groups with the aim of
diving deeper into ways to encourage innovation in the open governance
field and fostering demand and effective use of those tools.
The Working Groups are divided by general functionality. Each will
refine what are the needs they are addressing, i.e., what problem they
are solving, and what needs to happen to bring about the desired
outcome? In each case the group should consider how to nurture
start-up solutions, how to stimulate citizen demand for the product or
service, and how government will react. Each group should then explore
ways to institutionalize their answers. That is, what structure(s),
funded by whom, can foster ongoing innovation in this field?
The three Working Groups are:
A. Services: Citizen-Government Interaction for Performing Governmental Services
(e.g., policing, taxation, social services)
B. Interaction: Citizen-Government Interaction for Legislative or
Regulatory Activities
(e.g., virtual hearings, petitions, rulemaking) use of government info
for other pro-social purposes)
C. Data: Citizen-Government Cooperation to Improve Citizens’ Lives
(e.g., public-private platforms that enhance lifestyle based on
government generated information.

Friday, July 12, 2013

8:45 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. Session III. Road Testing the New Solutions:
Working Groups Progress Reports
In this session, the Working Groups will present progress reports on
what they are suggesting and how they are going about it.
Specifically, each report will address how the group’s recommendation
will bring about transparency, innovation or governmental
effectiveness. Who would need to do what to make it happen? What
institutions, current or proposed, could make it happen?

10:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. Session IV. Institutions to Foster Innovation:
A Closer Look at ODI
What institutions can foster ongoing innovation and spur citizen
demand in the open government space? This session will take a closer
look at the Open Data Institute in the United Kingdom for encouraging
innovation and spurring demand for participatory governance. Given the
initial reports from the Working Groups thus far, what are specific
issues for institutionalizing these practices in the United States?
Specifically, what are the advantages and constraints posed by
American-type funding models, governmental attitudes and citizen
cultures? What can we learn from other countries?

2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Working Groups (continued)
Each Working Group will refine its proposals and prepare a bulleted
report on the best one or two recommendations.
Saturday, July 13, 2013

8:45 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. Session V. Reports of the Working Groups
Each group will present its single most important recommendation or
two and how to bring them to fruition. What next steps are necessary
to make the tools in their class successful?

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Session VI. Policy Options Ahead
Proposals from the Working Groups and other discussion at the meeting
should result in recommendations for new tools and institutions (or
institutional functions) that will foster greater transparency,
innovation and accountability of governments at the federal, state and
local levels. How will they increase innovations and stimulate demand
for open data and open governance? What investments or policies will
bring about these recommendations?

Steven Clift - http://stevenclift.com
  Executive Director - http://E-Democracy.org
  Twitter: http://twitter.com/democracy
  Tel/Text: +1.612.234.7072