In Eugene, Oregon, the Co-Intelligence Institute is engineering a community-focused process to increase local capacity for healthy, creative group dialogue. By combining trainings and workshops with a series of dialogues around a substantive issue — in this case, the economy — we plan to demonstrate the generative power of group process even as we stimulateRead… Read more »
One positive effect of transparency in the public sector is that it gives city and county government an opportunity to assess current practices and make needed changes. Given the increase in public records requests and the scrutiny from the White House on down to the local level, there is no doubt constituents want more accessRead… Read more »
Weston Florida is an affluent suburb 25 miles northwest of Miami. When Weston was incorporated in 1996, its residents approved a charter that states the city must use contractors as opposed to city employees to perform traditional government services, unless four out of five councilmembers vote to make an exception. As a Governing article reportsRead… Read more »
I remember learning two things from video games in the classroom: how to sell lemonade and make it through the Oregon Trail. Today, students are learning about civics with a new game called Counties Work, designed to increase knowledge of county government. In the game, players act as an elected county decision maker, choosing howRead… Read more »
In the year’s following Hurricane Katrina, federal and state disaster response programs were subjected to a major overhaul in practices to produce a more effective and efficient structure in combating the possibility of devastation. A major consideration in these changes was the role that could [and should] be played by the private sector during aRead… Read more »
Jennifer Pahlka of Code for America has a brilliant TED discussion. Can government be run like the Internet, permissionless and open? Coder and activist Jennifer Pahlka believes it can — and that apps, built quickly and cheaply, are a powerful new way to connect citizens to their governments — and their neighbors. Filed under: Bureaucracy,Read… Read more »
On today’s program for Thursday May 10th, 2012 How to succeed in government leadership — and yes, that includes political leadership. We’ll talk to Paul Lawrence, one of the authors of the new book, Paths to Making a Difference: Leading in Government. Big data — it’s the latest buzz word floating around government. ButRead… Read more »
The City of Philadelphia through an Executive Order issued by Mayor Nutter, recently adopted an Open Data Policy, which can serve as a template for other communities. The Philadelphia Open Data Policy includes the following items: – A commitment to openness and transparency in government; – Establishment of an Open Data Working Group consisting ofRead… Read more »
**This post and guide is brought to you by CivicPlus – which has designed more than 1,100 local government websites serving 42 million citizens throughout North America*** Two weeks ago, I was in Joplin, MO for a hackathon hosted by CivicPlus and City of Joplin where 9 teams competed over the weekend to help create theRead… Read more »
My hometown City of Tampa just re-launched their website today so thought I’d write a little review. Pros -Love the new big focus on search and key terms up top -Love how we’ve moved from just a series of links to highlighting the top key areas -Love the background image showing the beauty of tampaRead… Read more »