Tipping my open government hat

[caption id=”attachment_16041” align=”alignnone” width=”640”] Alex Howard[/caption]

I first met Alex Howard in Los Angeles at Gov20LA a few years ago. This was shortly before he joined O’Reilly Media as its Washington correspondent covering the open government/Gov 2.0 beat.

Since then, he has covered every inch of open government, from open source to open data and everything in between, in a way that has been key to maintaining its relevance over the past three years.

Alex is passionate about his craft and his prolificness is its byproduct.

Yesterday, as I stepped off the plane in SFO, I saw this tweet from him that caused me to reflect on not only his work but the open government movement as it’s progressed since we first met:

https://twitter.com/digiphile/status/330055898296881152

When I saw it, I was happy for him for moving on to what I assume is a great opportunity to continue his rise to journalistic stardom. Seeing it also reminded me of the great work he’s done and the important role he’s played in fostering open government’s adoption.

For those paying attention to this space three years ago, we would have never imagined the progress that’s been made since, and Alex has been a tremendous part of facilitating that.

I don’t know what his future plans are, but I’m sure he’ll play an active role in continuing to share the work of civic technologists everywhere. Like many in this community, it’s not just a job for Alex. It’s the way he sees the world.

I just wanted to take a moment and this space to thank him for all his work. Despite living on opposite coasts, I’ve had the pleasure of spending many hours talking with him about this stuff, and I hope to continue that conversation as we watch him rise to the top in his next endeavor.