Group items tagged While - opensociety

Guest Post Arrested in Los Angeles - A Terrifying Ordeal in a Police State | Mitchel Cohen - 0 views

www.mitchelcohen.com/?p=1775

Guest Post Arrested in Los Angeles - Terrifying Ordeal a Police State | Mitchel Cohen

shared by thinkahol * on 08 Dec 11 - No Cached

thinkahol * on 08 Dec 11

My name is Patrick Meighan, and I'm a husband, a father, a writer on the Fox animated sitcom "Family Guy", and a member of the Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Santa Monica. I was arrested at about 1 a.m. Wednesday morning with 291 other people at Occupy LA. I was sitting in City Hall Park with a pillow, a blanket, and a copy of Thich Nhat Hanh's "Being Peace" when 1,400 heavily-armed LAPD officers in paramilitary SWAT gear streamed in. I was in a group of about 50 peaceful protesters who sat Indian-style, arms interlocked, around a tent (the symbolic image of the Occupy movement). The LAPD officers encircled us, weapons drawn, while we chanted "We Are Peaceful" and "We Are Nonviolent" and "Join Us." As we sat there, encircled, a separate team of LAPD officers used knives to slice open every personal tent in the park. They forcibly removed anyone sleeping inside, and then yanked out and destroyed any personal property inside those tents, scattering the contents across the park. They then did the same with the communal property of the Occupy LA movement. For example, I watched as the LAPD destroyed a pop-up canopy tent that, until that moment, had been serving as Occupy LA's First Aid and Wellness tent, in which volunteer health professionals gave free medical care to absolutely anyone who requested it. As it happens, my family had personally contributed that exact canopy tent to Occupy LA, at a cost of several hundred of my family's dollars. As I watched, the LAPD sliced that canopy tent to shreds, broke the telescoping poles into pieces and scattered the detritus across the park. Note that these were the objects described in subsequent mainstream press reports as "30 tons of garbage" that was "abandoned" by Occupy LA: personal property forcibly stolen from us, destroyed in front of our eyes and then left for maintenance workers to dispose of while we were sent to prison.

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">My name is Patrick Meighan, and I'm a husband, a father, a writer on the Fox animated sitcom "Family Guy", and a member of the Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Santa Monica. I was arrested at about 1 a.m. Wednesday morning with 291 other people at Occupy LA. I was sitting in City Hall Park with a pillow, a blanket, and a copy of Thich Nhat Hanh's "Being Peace" when 1,400 heavily-armed LAPD officers in paramilitary SWAT gear streamed in. I was in a group of about 50 peaceful protesters who sat Indian-style, arms interlocked, around a tent (the symbolic image of the Occupy movement). The LAPD officers encircled us, weapons drawn, while we chanted "We Are Peaceful" and "We Are Nonviolent" and "Join Us." As we sat there, encircled, a separate team of LAPD officers used knives to slice open every personal tent in the park. They forcibly removed anyone sleeping inside, and then yanked out and destroyed any personal property inside those tents, scattering the contents across the park. They then did the same with the communal property of the Occupy LA movement. For example, I watched as the LAPD destroyed a pop-up canopy tent that, until that moment, had been serving as Occupy LA's First Aid and Wellness tent, in which volunteer health professionals gave free medical care to absolutely anyone who requested it. As it happens, my family had personally contributed that exact canopy tent to Occupy LA, at a cost of several hundred of my family's dollars. As I watched, the LAPD sliced that canopy tent to shreds, broke the telescoping poles into pieces and scattered the detritus across the park. Note that these were the objects described in subsequent mainstream press reports as "30 tons of garbage" that was "abandoned" by Occupy LA: personal property forcibly stolen from us, destroyed in front of our eyes and then left for maintenance workers to dispose of while we were sent to prison. </div>

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Campaign | Access | G8: Protect the Net - 0 views

www.accessnow.org/...G8-Protect-the-Net

Campaign | Access G8: Protect the Net

shared by thinkahol * on 25 May 11 - No Cached

thinkahol * on 25 May 11

For the first time, the leaders of the G8 developed countries are going to discuss internet policy. Instead of promoting net neutrality and user privacy and combating online censorship, the French government has locked civil society out of these conversations, while inviting CEOs -- some of whom paid $100,000 for their seat at the table -- who are pushing policies like strict intellectual property enforcement, which will line corporate pockets while curtailing our digital rights. Unless we speak out now, decisions about internet policy are going to be made at the highest levels without our voices represented. Please sign this urgent petition calling on the G8 to adopt citizen-centered internet policies, which we'll deliver at a press conference to the world media on Monday in Paris.

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">For the first time, the leaders of the G8 developed countries are going to discuss internet policy. Instead of promoting net neutrality and user privacy and combating online censorship, the French government has locked civil society out of these conversations, while inviting CEOs -- some of whom paid $100,000 for their seat at the table -- who are pushing policies like strict intellectual property enforcement, which will line corporate pockets while curtailing our digital rights. Unless we speak out now, decisions about internet policy are going to be made at the highest levels without our voices represented. Please sign this urgent petition calling on the G8 to adopt citizen-centered internet policies, which we'll deliver at a press conference to the world media on Monday in Paris.</div>

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Commentary: Since 9/11, the government might know you're reading this | McClatchy - 0 views

www.mcclatchydc.com/...-since-911-the-government.html

Commentary: Since 9_11 the government might know you're reading this | McClatchy

shared by thinkahol * on 13 Sep 11 - No Cached

thinkahol * on 13 Sep 11

"If you're not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about." Many Americans have said this, or heard it, when discussing the expanded surveillance capabilities the government has claimed since 9/11. But, it turns out you should be concerned. Just ask peace activists in Pittsburgh, anti-death penalty activists in Maryland, Ron Paul supporters in Missouri, an anarchist in Texas, groups on both sides of the abortion debate in Wisconsin, Muslim-Americans and many others who pose no threat to their communities. Some of them were labeled as terrorists in state and federal databases or placed on terror watch-lists, impeding their travel, misleading investigators and putting these innocent Americans at risk. The Fourth Amendment requirement that you must be suspected of wrongdoing before the government searches your private records risks becoming a quaint notion. Congress weakened the laws designed to protect our privacy, while the executive branch secretly re-interprets or simply ignores the law with no consequence. While your privacy is being sacrificed, there's little evidence the new spying programs are catching terrorists. The question should be, "If you're not doing anything wrong, why is the government snooping on you?"

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">"If you're not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about." Many Americans have said this, or heard it, when discussing the expanded surveillance capabilities the government has claimed since 9/11. But, it turns out you should be concerned. Just ask peace activists in Pittsburgh, anti-death penalty activists in Maryland, Ron Paul supporters in Missouri, an anarchist in Texas, groups on both sides of the abortion debate in Wisconsin, Muslim-Americans and many others who pose no threat to their communities. Some of them were labeled as terrorists in state and federal databases or placed on terror watch-lists, impeding their travel, misleading investigators and putting these innocent Americans at risk. The Fourth Amendment requirement that you must be suspected of wrongdoing before the government searches your private records risks becoming a quaint notion. Congress weakened the laws designed to protect our privacy, while the executive branch secretly re-interprets or simply ignores the law with no consequence. While your privacy is being sacrificed, there's little evidence the new spying programs are catching terrorists. The question should be, "If you're not doing anything wrong, why is the government snooping on you?" </div>

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CAFR: US agencies have billions, trillions in investments while crying budget deficits ... - 0 views

shared by thinkahol * on 31 Jul 11 - No Cached

thinkahol * on 31 Jul 11

What CAFRs reveal is a communist-style policy whereby the US taxpayers surrender enormous assets to the state, who then "invest" these collective trillions that swell in these accounts. Concurrently, taxpayers are informed of budget deficits to either squeeze more taxes from them and/or cut public services. To add insult to injury, the state lies in omission by never reminding Americans of their hard-earned and withheld trillions as they eliminate jobs, reduce education, and attack the quality of our lives.

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">What CAFRs reveal is a communist-style policy whereby the US taxpayers surrender enormous assets to the state, who then "invest" these collective trillions that swell in these accounts. Concurrently, taxpayers are informed of budget deficits to either squeeze more taxes from them and/or cut public services. To add insult to injury, the state lies in omission by never reminding Americans of their hard-earned and withheld trillions as they eliminate jobs, reduce education, and attack the quality of our lives.</div>

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TED2010: Ten fascinating people you've never heard of - CNN.com - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

video ted cnn onlinegaming

shared by Parycek on 20 Mar 10 - Cached

Parycek on 20 Mar 10

Jane McGonigal is one of the most interesting inventors you've never heard of.The bubbly game designer -- whose optimism seems to flow out of her wild blond hair -- is trying to get the world to play a lot more online video games, and not just for the sake of fun.The cooperative skills and hopefulness that people learn while pecking away at online games like World of Warcraft will help our society address real-world problems like climate change and nuclear arms proliferation, she says. To get people to use less oil and mentor entrepreneurs in Africa, she also is developing games that merge the digital and real worlds.

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">Jane McGonigal is one of the most interesting inventors you've never heard of.The bubbly game designer -- whose optimism seems to flow out of her wild blond hair -- is trying to get the world to play a lot more online video games, and not just for the sake of fun.The cooperative skills and hopefulness that people learn while pecking away at online games like World of Warcraft will help our society address real-world problems like climate change and nuclear arms proliferation, she says. To get people to use less oil and mentor entrepreneurs in Africa, she also is developing games that merge the digital and real worlds.</div>

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Report: Ex-WikiLeakers to launch new Openleaks site | Privacy Inc. - CNET News - 0 views

news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20025254-281.html

Report: Ex-WikiLeakers to launch new Openleaks site | Privacy Inc. - CNET News

shared by thinkahol * on 12 Dec 10 - No Cached

thinkahol * on 12 Dec 10

WikiLeaks will soon have some competition on the whistle-blowing front. Several people who resigned from the WikiLeaks project amid conflicts with organizer Julian Assange are planning to launch a new site called Openleaks on Monday, Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter reported today. "Our long term goal is to build a strong, transparent platform to support whistle-blowers--both in terms of technology and politics--while at the same time encouraging others to start similar projects," an Openleaks organizer, who wished to remain anonymous, told the newspaper. "As a short-term goal, this is about completing the technical infrastructure and ensuring that the organization continues to be democratically governed by all its members, rather than limited to one group or individual."

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">WikiLeaks will soon have some competition on the whistle-blowing front. Several people who resigned from the WikiLeaks project amid conflicts with organizer Julian Assange are planning to launch a new site called Openleaks on Monday, Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter reported today. "Our long term goal is to build a strong, transparent platform to support whistle-blowers--both in terms of technology and politics--while at the same time encouraging others to start similar projects," an Openleaks organizer, who wished to remain anonymous, told the newspaper. "As a short-term goal, this is about completing the technical infrastructure and ensuring that the organization continues to be democratically governed by all its members, rather than limited to one group or individual."</div>

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WikiLeaks - 0 views

213.251.145.96

WikiLeaks

shared by thinkahol * on 05 Jan 11 - No Cached

thinkahol * on 05 Jan 11

WikiLeaks is a non-profit media organization dedicated to bringing important news and information to the public. We provide an innovative, secure and anonymous way for independent sources around the world to leak information to our journalists. We publish material of ethical, political and historical significance while keeping the identity of our sources anonymous, thus providing a universal way for the revealing of suppressed and censored injustices.

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">WikiLeaks is a non-profit media organization dedicated to bringing important news and information to the public. We provide an innovative, secure and anonymous way for independent sources around the world to leak information to our journalists. We publish material of ethical, political and historical significance while keeping the identity of our sources anonymous, thus providing a universal way for the revealing of suppressed and censored injustices.</div>

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America's treatment of detainees - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com - 0 views

www.salon.com/...index.html

America's treatment of detainees - Glenn Greenwald Salon.com

shared by thinkahol * on 25 Jan 11 - No Cached

thinkahol * on 25 Jan 11

Amnesty denounces the conditions of Bradley Manning's detention, while new documents shed light on detainee deaths

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">Amnesty denounces the conditions of Bradley Manning's detention, while new documents shed light on detainee deaths</div>

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The two-tiered justice system: an illustration - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com - 0 views

www.salon.com/...justice

The two-tiered justice system: an illustration - Glenn Greenwald Salon.com

shared by thinkahol * on 21 May 11 - No Cached

thinkahol * on 21 May 11

Of all the topics on which I've focused, I've likely written most about America's two-tiered justice system -- the way in which political and financial elites now enjoy virtually full-scale legal immunity for even the most egregious lawbreaking, while ordinary Americans, especially the poor and racial and ethnic minorities, are subjected to exactly the opposite treatment: the world's largest prison state and most merciless justice system. That full-scale destruction of the rule of law is also the topic of my forthcoming book. But The New York Times this morning has a long article so perfectly illustrating what I mean by "two-tiered justice system" -- and the way in which it obliterates the core covenant of the American Founding: equality before the law -- that it's impossible for me not to highlight it.

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">Of all the topics on which I've focused, I've likely written most about America's two-tiered justice system -- the way in which political and financial elites now enjoy virtually full-scale legal immunity for even the most egregious lawbreaking, while ordinary Americans, especially the poor and racial and ethnic minorities, are subjected to exactly the opposite treatment: the world's largest prison state and most merciless justice system. That full-scale destruction of the rule of law is also the topic of my forthcoming book. But The New York Times this morning has a long article so perfectly illustrating what I mean by "two-tiered justice system" -- and the way in which it obliterates the core covenant of the American Founding: equality before the law -- that it's impossible for me not to highlight it.</div>

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SWAT team launch dawn raid on family home to collect woman's unpaid student loans | Mai... - 0 views

www.dailymail.co.uk/...mans-unpaid-student-loans.html

SWAT team launch dawn raid on family home to collect woman's unpaid student loans | Mail Online

shared by thinkahol * on 09 Jun 11 - No Cached

thinkahol * on 09 Jun 11

A father was dragged from his home and handcuffed in front of his children by a SWAT team looking for his estranged wife - to collect her unpaid student loans. A stunned Kenneth Wright had his front door kicked in by the raiding party at 6 am yesterday before being dragged onto his front porch, handcuffed and led to a police car with his three children. He says he was then detained for six hours while officers looked for his wife - who no longer lives at the house. Scroll down for video

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">A father was dragged from his home and handcuffed in front of his children by a SWAT team looking for his estranged wife - to collect her unpaid student loans. A stunned Kenneth Wright had his front door kicked in by the raiding party at 6 am yesterday before being dragged onto his front porch, handcuffed and led to a police car with his three children. He says he was then detained for six hours while officers looked for his wife - who no longer lives at the house. Scroll down for video</div>

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Lowering America's War Ceiling? | Truthout - 0 views

www.truth-out.org/...1312293573

Lowering America's War Ceiling? | Truthout

shared by thinkahol * on 03 Aug 11 - No Cached

thinkahol * on 03 Aug 11

On July 25th, for instance, while John Boehner raced around the Capitol desperately pressing Republican House members for votes on a debt-ceiling bill that Harry Reid was calling dead-on-arrival in the Senate, America's new ambassador to Afghanistan, Ryan Crocker, took his oath of office in distant Kabul. According to the New York Times, he then gave a short speech "warning" that "Western powers needed to 'proceed carefully'" and emphasized that when it came to the war, there would "be no rush for the exits." If, in Washington, people were rushing for those exits, no chance of that in Kabul almost a decade into America's second Afghan War. There, the air strikes, night raids, assassinations, roadside bombs, and soldier and civilian deaths, we are assured, will continue to 2014 and beyond. In a war in which every gallon of gas used by a fuel-guzzling US military costs $400 to $800 to import, time is no object and -- despite the panic in Washington over debt payments -- neither evidently is cost.

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">On July 25th, for instance, while John Boehner raced around the Capitol desperately pressing Republican House members for votes on a debt-ceiling bill that Harry Reid was calling dead-on-arrival in the Senate, America's new ambassador to Afghanistan, Ryan Crocker, took his oath of office in distant Kabul. According to the New York Times, he then gave a short speech "warning" that "Western powers needed to 'proceed carefully'" and emphasized that when it came to the war, there would "be no rush for the exits." If, in Washington, people were rushing for those exits, no chance of that in Kabul almost a decade into America's second Afghan War. There, the air strikes, night raids, assassinations, roadside bombs, and soldier and civilian deaths, we are assured, will continue to 2014 and beyond. In a war in which every gallon of gas used by a fuel-guzzling US military costs $400 to $800 to import, time is no object and -- despite the panic in Washington over debt payments -- neither evidently is cost.</div>

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Debt Political Theater Diverts Attention While Americans' Wealth Is Stolen | Common Dreams - 0 views

www.commondreams.org/...15

Debt Political Theater Diverts Attention While Americans' Wealth Is Stolen | Common Dreams

shared by thinkahol * on 16 Jul 11 - No Cached

thinkahol * on 16 Jul 11

The rancorous debate over the debt belies a fundamental truth of our economy -- that it is run for the few at the expense of the many, that our entire government has been turned into a machine which takes the wealth of a mass of Americans and accelerates it into the hands of the few. Let me give you some examples.

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">The rancorous debate over the debt belies a fundamental truth of our economy -- that it is run for the few at the expense of the many, that our entire government has been turned into a machine which takes the wealth of a mass of Americans and accelerates it into the hands of the few. Let me give you some examples.</div>

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The real danger from classified leaks - Salon.com - 0 views

politics.salon.com/...singleton

The real danger from classified leaks - Salon.com

shared by thinkahol * on 11 Oct 11 - No Cached

thinkahol * on 11 Oct 11

The administration manipulates secrecy to disseminate beneficial information while supressing what's embarrassing

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">The administration manipulates secrecy to disseminate beneficial information while supressing what's embarrassing</div>

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World | David Graeber: The Shock of Victory - 0 views

www.indymedia.org.uk/...383687.html

World | David Graeber: The Shock of Victory

shared by thinkahol * on 21 Oct 11 - No Cached

thinkahol * on 21 Oct 11

The biggest problem facing direct action movements is that we don't know how to handle victory. This might seem an odd thing to say because of a lot of us haven't been feeling particularly victorious of late. Most anarchists today feel the global justice movement was kind of a blip: inspiring, certainly, while it lasted, but not a movement that succeeded either in putting down lasting organizational roots or transforming the contours of power in the world. The anti-war movement was even more frustrating, since anarchists and anarchist tactics were largely marginalized. The war will end, of course, but that's just because wars always do. No one is feeling they contributed much to it.

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">The biggest problem facing direct action movements is that we don't know how to handle victory. This might seem an odd thing to say because of a lot of us haven't been feeling particularly victorious of late. Most anarchists today feel the global justice movement was kind of a blip: inspiring, certainly, while it lasted, but not a movement that succeeded either in putting down lasting organizational roots or transforming the contours of power in the world. The anti-war movement was even more frustrating, since anarchists and anarchist tactics were largely marginalized. The war will end, of course, but that's just because wars always do. No one is feeling they contributed much to it.</div>

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Book release: With Liberty and Justice for Some - Salon.com - 0 views

www.salon.com/...singleton

Book release: With Liberty and Justice for Some - Salon.com

shared by thinkahol * on 26 Oct 11 - No Cached

thinkahol * on 26 Oct 11

I'm genuinely excited today to announce the release of my new book, With Liberty and Justice for Some: How the Law is Used to Destroy Equality and Protect the Powerful. As of this morning, it is available in bookstores as well as for shipping online. The book focuses on what I began realizing several years ago is the crucial theme tying together most of the topics I write about: America's two-tiered justice system - specifically, the way political and financial elites are now vested with virtually absolute immunity from the rule of law even when they are caught committing egregious crimes, while ordinary Americans are subjected to the world's largest and one of its harshest and most merciless penal states even for trivial offenses. As a result, law has been completely perverted from what it was intended to be - the guarantor of an equal playing field which would legitimize outcome inequalities - into its precise antithesis: a weapon used by the most powerful to protect their ill-gotten gains, strengthen their unearned prerogatives, and ensure ever-expanding opportunity inequality. This is how I described that development in the book:

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">I'm genuinely excited today to announce the release of my new book, With Liberty and Justice for Some: How the Law is Used to Destroy Equality and Protect the Powerful. As of this morning, it is available in bookstores as well as for shipping online. The book focuses on what I began realizing several years ago is the crucial theme tying together most of the topics I write about: America's two-tiered justice system - specifically, the way political and financial elites are now vested with virtually absolute immunity from the rule of law even when they are caught committing egregious crimes, while ordinary Americans are subjected to the world's largest and one of its harshest and most merciless penal states even for trivial offenses. As a result, law has been completely perverted from what it was intended to be - the guarantor of an equal playing field which would legitimize outcome inequalities - into its precise antithesis: a weapon used by the most powerful to protect their ill-gotten gains, strengthen their unearned prerogatives, and ensure ever-expanding opportunity inequality. This is how I described that development in the book:</div>

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THE OPEN DECLARATION « Co-creating an open declaration on public services 2.0 - 0 views

eups20.wordpress.com/the-open-declaration

declaration public services bottom-up osimo

shared by Johann Höchtl on 09 Jul 10 - Cached

An Open Declaration on European Public Services
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The needs of today’s society are too complex to be met by government alone. While traditional government policies sought to automate public services and encourage self-service, the biggest impact of the web will be in improving services through collaboration, transparency and knowledge-sharing.
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The Government 2.0 Forecast For 2010: 7 Predictions | SocialComputingJournal.com - 0 views

socialcomputingjournal.com/viewcolumn.cfm

dion Hinchcliffe forecast 2010 gov20 gov2.0

shared by Johann Höchtl on 25 Aug 10 - Cached

Social computing will continue to grow in government, but won't hit critical mass in 2010.
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Don't forget that there was some clamping down on social media in government during 2009 including the Marines restricting access to services such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter. Progress in 2010 will be better in state and to a lesser extent local government. The federal government will also struggle with a consistent policy and approach for internal and external social computing, which probably won't emerge next year.
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Open data goes back to the drawing board. I've been bullish on open data and APIs for years and the government got religion in 2009 with data.gov. But the usage is down as government workers and businesses realize that the data is often far out-of-date and not in forms that can be used operationally.
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...2 more annotations...
Cloud computing will go big. While many agencies will just use the technologies internally for now in order to have public options later, there is tremendous interest in the cloud
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Government portals (rightly) continue to incorporate social media, but deep engagement will be elusive for now. I've seen many overhauls of government portals this year, including Utah.gov and the Department of Defense, prominently incorporate social media right on their home pages. To be clear, these are major advances for the government to make on the internal/external boundary and I encourage them.
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It's time for a new version of government - Fortune Tech - 0 views

tech.fortune.cnn.com/...or-a-new-version-of-government

fortune gov2.0 citizen government new version of

shared by Johann Höchtl on 07 Oct 10 - No Cached

Create a management framework that accepts and rewards internal entrepreneurs.
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Government 2.0 is a citizen-centric philosophy and strategy that believes the best results are usually driven by partnerships between citizens and government, at all levels.  It is focused entirely on achieving goals through increased efficiency, better management, information transparency, and citizen engagement and most often leverages newer technologies to achieve the desired outcomes.
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Government employees are traditionally risk-averse, a good thing when the pace of change is relatively slow.  However, in today's fast-paced world the pace of government change, the pace of government execution is often too slow.
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...5 more annotations...
1) Focus on success at the local level.
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2) Force competitive solutions for non-core services.
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3) Engage citizens in creating value and saving money. True results are being delivered in the private and public sector when customers/citizens are engaged in the process.  Platforms like BubbleIdeas, UserVoice, IdeaScale, and others, are being used to give citizens a voice in the daily execution of government. I
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4) Become agile, delivering on 100 day plans. While politicians often make promises for their first 100 days in office we rarely see clearly defined goals combined with execution plans and measurable outcomes publicly displayed. 
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Government entities should select an easy to define project to complete every 100 days.  The projects goals, plans, and metrics for success should be published and updated weekly. 
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How do we get government to share data? - O'Reilly Radar - 1 views

radar.oreilly.com/...toppers-in-local-governme.html

opendata crime value force

shared by Johann Höchtl on 19 Nov 10 - No Cached

How, then, does the public get access to data, and ideally, to raw data streams?
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Using force, by changing the laws or creating new regulations
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Using intimidation, by enlisting the news media to pressure the agency
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...2 more annotations...
By creating value for agencies to entice them to share the data.
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So what, exactly, is public data? Is crime data actually public data, and do agencies have to provide it? If so, why don’t they provide it as a raw data feed? The answer is this: while crime data concerns the general public, it is not exactly public data per se
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Johann Höchtl on 19 Nov 10

Drivers for open data

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">Drivers for open data</div>

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Crowd-sourcing is not empowering enough - 0 views

www.deliberations.com.au/...-is-not-empowering-enough.html

deliberation Crowd-sourcing edem

shared by Parycek on 08 Mar 10 - Cached

- Parycek on 20 Mar 10
  
  It invites individuals to foist and endorse (or not) ideas with no pressure to consider the full public consequences of them, including whether they can be sustained across ideological or partisan lines, or how practical they are, or how insulting of public officers. There is the published intention to attract a full range of public perspectives, but instead it tends to attract enclaves of people with committed strategies (eg. embarrass public officials) or perspectives (eg. technology is the answer). While national initiatives attract noise, in more local applications of such ideation, participation is often too thin to be meaningful. This all comes down the question of representativeness. If a governing body is going to legitimately use these ideas, and be compelled to do so, then there has to be good evidence that the contributors do actually form a descriptive representation of the public being governed. I think if you have a technical problem that requires particular expertise, then such ideation processes can find the needle in the haystack. Those of us who subscribe to technical forums know how well that works. I think some people feel that public policy ideation works the same way, but it doesn't because in a contested political environment, what "should be done" is claimed on normative rather than technical grounds. Another metaphor for the ranking in ideation is consumer selection, which many in political science would model as rational choice, privileging private over public interests. Should that be the motor for the selection of public policy? I write all this knowing full well that I risk throwing the baby out with the bathwater. I just think we can do better. Some ideation processes should invite people randomly, to ensure full demographic spread on relevant dimensions (eg. age, education, political leaning). Let's have multi-stage processes, where contributors do more than just introduce and rank ideas--to their credit, thi
  
  <div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">It invites individuals to foist and endorse (or not) ideas with no pressure to consider the full public consequences of them, including whether they can be sustained across ideological or partisan lines, or how practical they are, or how insulting of public officers. There is the published intention to attract a full range of public perspectives, but instead it tends to attract enclaves of people with committed strategies (eg. embarrass public officials) or perspectives (eg. technology is the answer). While national initiatives attract noise, in more local applications of such ideation, participation is often too thin to be meaningful. This all comes down the question of representativeness. If a governing body is going to legitimately use these ideas, and be compelled to do so, then there has to be good evidence that the contributors do actually form a descriptive representation of the public being governed. I think if you have a technical problem that requires particular expertise, then such ideation processes can find the needle in the haystack. Those of us who subscribe to technical forums know how well that works. I think some people feel that public policy ideation works the same way, but it doesn't because in a contested political environment, what "should be done" is claimed on normative rather than technical grounds. Another metaphor for the ranking in ideation is consumer selection, which many in political science would model as rational choice, privileging private over public interests. Should that be the motor for the selection of public policy? I write all this knowing full well that I risk throwing the baby out with the bathwater. I just think we can do better. Some ideation processes should invite people randomly, to ensure full demographic spread on relevant dimensions (eg. age, education, political leaning). Let's have multi-stage processes, where contributors do more than just introduce and rank ideas--to their credit, thi</div>
  
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Parycek on 20 Mar 10

I fear that ultimately crowd-sourcing is damaging the enterprise of dialogue and deliberation (D&D).

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">I fear that ultimately crowd-sourcing is damaging the enterprise of dialogue and deliberation (D&D).</div>

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