16
<agency name> Presentation Friending the Statehouse How the Open Data Movement and Social Media are Changing Citizen Communication With Government Mark J. Headd [email protected] voiceingov.org/blog @mheadd / facebook.com/mheadd

Friending The Statehouse

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: Friending The Statehouse

<agency name> Presentation

Friending the Statehouse

How the Open Data Movement and Social Media are Changing Citizen Communication With Government

Mark J. [email protected]

voiceingov.org/blog@mheadd / facebook.com/mheadd

Page 2: Friending The Statehouse

Who am I?• Maxwell Grad – MPA, 1994.• 12 years in state government – NY & DE.• Executive and Legislative branch experience.• IT Policy advisor and IT agency manager.• Past 7 years – private sector.• Software developer with focus on phone / mobile

technology.• Open government enthusiast / speaker.• Open source contributor.• Blogger (voiceingov.org).

Page 3: Friending The Statehouse

Agenda• Show me the Data!• eGov vs. Gov 2.0• What’s different?• The Rise of Social Media• Towards a Government Platform – defining APIs.• APIs in the wild.• Open311: What is it, Why is it Important?• Location, Location, Location!• Getting Started with Open Data.• Conclusions. What Comes Next?

Page 4: Friending The Statehouse

Show me the Data!• Governments across the country and around the world are

publishing open data sets.

• National governments in the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand.• Local governments from Seattle and San Francisco, to New York

City and Washington DC. • Open government data is one drive of “Gov 2.0.”

Page 5: Friending The Statehouse

What is Gov 2.0?• Rebranding of eGov, begun more than a decade before.• Take off of Web 2.0• Real differences between eGov and Gov 2.0.

eGov: • Government centric (portal).• Blur the lines between agencies, branches of government.• Push to put government services online.

Gov 2.0:• Citizen centric (developer centric).• Enhance the transparency of government operations.• Push to put government data online in “raw” formats.

Page 6: Friending The Statehouse

What’s Different?• The idea of releasing government data to outsider users is not

new.• The Open Data movement that is part of Gov 2.0 is different

from past actions to release government data in at least 3 ways:– Publishing open data is becoming a measure of government

transparency and performance.– Published data is in formats specifically

designed to be consumed by downstream apps and developers.

– Governments are actively engaging citizens and developers to consume open data. Developer Contests = Cha Ching!

Page 7: Friending The Statehouse

OMG, #OpenGov is BFD!• Fundamental change in how we

communicate with each other.• More channels in use.• Uptake of “non-traditional” channels.• Twitter and Facebook share a unique

role in this change.• They are both a “channel” that is

used for communication, information gathering.

• They are also “platforms,” that let people build on their foundations.

• Democratization of Data + Democratization of App Development.

Page 8: Friending The Statehouse

Where is Gov 2.0?

October 23, 2010

Open Government Data

Social Networking

Platforms

Enhanced Developer

Tools

Gov 2.0

Page 9: Friending The Statehouse

Towards a Government Platform

• What is an API? • Application Programming Interface.• A set of rules that govern how developers can use a platform or

service.• Typically built on underlying web technologies.• Documented list of “functions” that can be invoked in the

service.• What are the requirements to invoke a function?• Guarantee of a response from the service.

– Success! I get what I asked for (list of all tweets within 1 mile of Maxwell Hall, Syracuse NY).

– Failure. I won’t get what I asked for, with an details of failure.• The format of the response will be fixed and consistent.• A contract.

Page 10: Friending The Statehouse

APIs in the Wild• Trailblazing governments are moving beyond

static data sets.• City of Seattle uses a open source API that

sits in front of it’s data, allowing developers to programmatically query multiple data sets.

• MassDOT and BART publish real time transit information feeds.

• NY State Senate has deployed an API for searching their Legislative Information System.

• San Francisco and Washington DC have deployed APIs for their 311 systems.

• Moving from static data to real-time feeds and transaction-based APIs.

• From individual efforts to standard implementations.

Page 11: Friending The Statehouse

311 and Open311• Abbreviated dialing designation set up for use by municipal

governments in both the U.S. and Canada.• Non-emergency requests and questions.• “Burning building? Call 911. Burning question? Call 311.”• First: Baltimore (1996). Biggest: NYC (just passed 100 million calls).• Pew Charitable Trust report on Philly 311.• Most 311 operations include a web component with lists of FAQs and

information frequently requested by callers. • Several 311 operations (including NYC and San Francisco) have worked

to incorporate Twitter and other social media tools into their services.• San Francisco and Washington DC have deployed 311 APIs.• Open311 Initiative. Effort to standardize 311 APIs across governments.• Applications built for one municipality will work in others that support

the standard.

Page 12: Friending The Statehouse

Location, Location, Location! • Why are Twitter and

Facebook important in the context of 311?

• Both services allow users to add location information to content like pictures.

• Both also allow developers to query location-based data.

• Provides opportunities to allow citizens to report information to government.

• How much gov information location-based?

October 23, 2010

Page 13: Friending The Statehouse

TweetMy311• TweetMy311 – “Better cities,

one tweet at a time…”• Allows citizens to create a

non-emergency service request using Twitter.

• Citizens can create new requests, and query the status of existing requests.

• Uses the Open311 API currently live in San Francisco.

• Will be enable in DC in next several weeks.

Page 14: Friending The Statehouse

Getting Started with Open Data

• Where can governments begin with open data?• What are people asking for?• Look at customer engagements (phone / e-mail / web) for

opportunities to release open data.• Is there anything available already?• Look at high value / high impact data.

– Crime location data– Other types of location data (polling places, libraries, health

facilities).– Transit data (Delaware General Assembly: SB 242)– Restaurant inspection data– Licensure data

• Compact data lends itself most easily to multiple channels.• Make a plan. Set a goal. Publish the goal. Measure progress.

Page 15: Friending The Statehouse

What’s Next?• More data! And more apps!• Geekery as citizenship. Code for America (USA), Rewired State

(UK). • Less app building by governments – dramatic changes to

existing procurement processes.• Governments become data stewards / data providers.• Uneven distribution of connectivity (both traditional and mobile)

will continue as an issue governments must address.• Citizen communication with government may first require a trip

to the app store. San Francisco App Showcase, DC App Store.• More multitenant applications, and apps shared between

different governments. SeeClickFix.• Mobile devices and cell phones become the primary instruments

for communicating with government.

Page 16: Friending The Statehouse

La Fin

Questions?