Can Twitter reimagine democracy?

Twitter’s plan to hire a government liaison (its first DC employee) has set off a a tweetstorm from the U.S. Capitol to London to Tokyo, and likely a flood of resumes into the Web 2.0 firm’s SoMa offices. Some of the Gov 2.0 community’s brightest have already offered great suggestions for how this new Twitter position can serve official government social media, and, with Facebook’s recent stumbles, the lighter social network may have a real opening here.I look forward to commenting and continuing the discussion on Twitter and on friend’s blogs (check out the hashtag #twitgov), but here I wanted to offer a few thoughts on the political side of the equation

A ‘glass half full’ view of government app contests

An increasing number of people are starting to suggest that the concept of the “app contest” (where governments challenge developers to build civic applications) is getting a bit long in the tooth.

There have been lots of musings lately about the payoff for governments that hold such contests and the long term viability of individual entries developed for these contests. Even Washington DC – the birthplace of the current government app contest craze – seems the be moving beyond the framework it has employed not once, but twice to engage local developers

Building an Open311 application

Earlier this year, I had an idea to build a Twitter application that would allow a citizen to start a 311 service request with their city.

At the time, there was no way to build such an application as no municipality had yet adopted a 311 API that would support it (although the District of Columbia did have a 311 API in place, it did not – at the time – support the type of application I envisioned).

That changed recently, when San Francisco announced the deployment of their Open311 API. I quickly requested an API key and began trying to turn my idea into reality

OpenGov APIs: Interfacing with Open Government

There has been lots of good talk (and a good deal of action) lately around open government APIs (Application Programming Interface) at events like Transparency Camp, Where 2.0 and on the Twitters.

So, as a prelude to a talk I’ll be giving at eComm next month, I wanted to write a post surveying the landscape of recent government API developments, and also to describe evolving efforts to construct standards for government APIs

SF launches PolicySF to help governments share ideas

The City of San Francisco has launched PolicySF, a Website to ‘help communities share good ideas with one another.’ The site provides ‘policy toolkits’ with FAQs, processes, sample policy documents and ordinances on SF-specific initiatives. Other governments can also share their ideas

SF selects Brightidea to power employee ideas campaign

San Francisco has selected Brightidea to power its new idea platform aimed to foster ideas from the city’s 26,000 employees. The site is located at ImproveSF.org.

The top idea will be selected for implementation with 10 other high ranking ideas recognized in an event with Mayor Gavin Newsom and get featured on SFGov.org as well as the city’s Facebook page

SF Mayor Newsom: Open source ‘more reliable’

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom addressed the city’s new open source evaluation policy and views on open source during his weekly YouTube address (forward to 10:12)

San Francisco releases new software evaluation policy

The City and County of San Francisco’s Committee on Information Technology released its new software evaluation policy. Here’s the full text or you can access at the COIT Website

17 open data apps for San Francisco

Last year, San Francisco opened up its data stream to the general public, encouraging developers to integrate the data into applications, sites, and bits of information the public could use. Since then, there’s been more than a dozen applications to utilize the data and turn it in to apps that make residents’ lives easier in a number of ways ~ from finding the best public transit options, to figuring out how to dispose of that old camera. You’ll find all this info and much more within these apps

Gov 2.0 guide to San Francisco

San Francisco is one of a few major U.S. cities leading the way in the open government, Gov 2.0 movement. SF has opened up data, issued an agency-wide open government directive and continues to pursue innovative opportunities around this effort. (See all SF news at sf.govfresh.com)

Here’s an overview

San Francisco’s app showcase highlights civic innovation

San Francisco residents can take full advantage of the city’s open data via Web and mobile applications featured at DataSF App Showcase. Apps offer crime updates, recycling locations, restaurant health inspection scores, BART/MUNI schedules and more. Developers can also submit apps for submission.

According to the site, DataSF App Showcase “celebrates the innovators and innovations who are championing the Mayor’s vision of a more collaborative and open government.”

InformationWeek video features SF’s open government efforts

InformationWeek features San Francisco’s open data initiative and DataSF.org. Executive editor Fritz Nelson interviews SF mayor Gavin Newsom, SF CTO Blair Adams, SF Director of Innovation Jay Nath and developers building applications from this newly-open data

SF mayor Newsom addresses open government plan to department heads

San Francisco public officials, including Mayor Gavin Newsom, discuss the launch of launch of DataSF.org and the city’s open government initiative at a meeting with city department heads. Highlights include Newsom’s overview of why the effort is important and Tim O’Reilly’s talk on government as a platform

San Francisco’s open data directive

Full text or pdf of San Francisco’s Open Data Executive Directive

San Francisco’s 311 call center takes serving constituents seriously

Great case study video highlighting San Francisco’s 311 customer service center. Overview of operations, infrastructure, 911 integration and processes. Must-watch for any local government looking to implement a more sophisticated citizen support call center

Chris Vein: ‘What does Gov 2.0 mean to you?’

San Francisco’s CIO Chris Vein answers the question ‘What does Gov 2.0 mean to you?’

Gov 2.0 Radio: The Promise of Open Data

We talk with City of San Francisco CTO Blair Adams, SF innovations manager Jay Nath, and Web developer Tom Croucher about the open access to government data