Weekly newsletter on research and best practices that will help us create a more open government

Research Reports
New PEW Report – Fate of the Semantic Web (5/4/2010) Pew Internet & American Life
Project and Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center pulled
together 895 experts to predict the likelihood that Berners-Lee and his
allies will realize their vision of Web 3.0 by 2020.
http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Semantic-Web.aspx

Understanding participation: A literature
review – (01/13/2010)
Summary of literature on participation, community development,
volunteering, public participation, social movements, including an
emerging “participation framework”. http://pathwaysthroughparticipation.org.uk/2010/01/understanding-participation-a-literature-review/

News
Social Media Directory for Government (4/29/2010) See how state and local governments
use Gov2Social to connect with each other, navigate the social
media environment, and highlight their work in social media. Also helps
citizens to track activities and announcements. Do the Feds need one?
http://gcn.com/articles/2010/04/29/social-media-directory-for-government-debuts.aspx

Doing What Works for the Future: Government
Needs a Strategy for Innovation (5/3/2010)
Center for American Progress recommends federal agencies 10 develop a
list of the most significant technological and societal changes; 20
ensure those changes help “govern policy decisions of each agency” and
3) develop a process to constantly take account of new trends and
innovations.
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/05/dww_for_the_future.html

Citizens contribute real-time data to “The Louisiana
Bucket Brigade” (5/2010)
Citizens in Louisiana are
inputting real-time data via text, web and email to create a web-based
Gulf Coast map showing the effects of the recent oil spill.
http://www.labucketbrigade.org/

Open data saved Canada $3.2 billion (4/14/2010) Open government data helped reveal one of the largest tax evasion
scandals in the country’s history.
http://eaves.ca/2010/04/14/case-study-open-data-and-the-public-purse/

The Death of Distance (5/6/2010) – Virtual Worlds are getting a
Second Life by making geographic distances less of an obstacle.
http://thenextweb.com/uk/2010/05/06/virtual-worlds/

Florida
Supreme Court Now Using Twitter (4/5/2010) Florida’s highest court using Twitter to notify
people more quickly when court documents are available. http://floridacapitalnews.com/article/20100405/CAPITOLNEWS06/100405003/1067/RSS15

Airmen
to Live Out Their Careers in Cyberspace (5/2010) Air Force officials anticipate a world in which
every recruit receives an avatar upon joining the service.
that
follows them through their entire careers, earning promotions and
educational credits and even moving with them to new offices and bases.
http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/archive/2010/May/Pages/AirmentoLiveOutTheirCareersInCyberspace.aspx

Citizens
participate in Chile’s legislative process Chile’s groundbreaking work allows citizens to
tell their legislative representatives how they want them to vote on
issues. In Spanish but great visual. http://bit.ly/73jElC