#SluggerSpeaks: What would Open Government in Northern Ireland look like?

You can post questions directly into the DigitalLunch panel from the Google Plus Event page here or into the YouTube Video here.

Ahead of the publication of a draft action plan for the Open Government Network in Northern Ireland in the next weeks and tonight’s event is an open opportunity to feed ideas into that process, whilst hope creating a wider splash to help grow the network further.

For those unfamiliar with the format, a #DigitalLunch is a video chat convened through Google’s Skype like ‘Hangout’ service broadcast via YouTube. It enables us to have a real time conversation between people in different places.

You will also be able to view it here when the hangout goes live at about 7.30pm. It would great if you can join us live. We put it in the evening so that you can join and participate regardless of whether you work in the public, private or voluntary sector.

As well as a panel of three guest speakers chaired by Yours Truly: Politicians and Open Gov  – John Barry, Councillor North Down; Open Policy Making – Matilda Murday, Democratic Society; Open Government overview – Tim Hughes, Involve

We also have an interrogative ‘counter-panel’ of Northern Ireland network members. None of these will be in any official capacity, but will act as an interrogative role of the experts, and bring some questions of their own.

We’d to hear your questions and issues for those inside the Hangout to discuss, tease out and otherwise consider. These can be shared before and during the event by leaving them here or tagging your ‘Tweets’ with #OpenGovNI.

Once the event goes live this evening, you can watch live and listen by going to my own YouTube page (youtube.com/mickfealty), sluggerotoole.com or the event page at Google Plus (http://goo.gl/m5FNGW).

There you will be able to use the Q&A app on the live YouTube page to share your responses directly with the panel inside the Hangout. This is a particularly effective tool for helping to broaden the discussion, so we really do encourage you to try it out.

So please give us your questions…?