SOAPBOX – GovCampConnect is back, bringing its unconference user-generated agenda to the beautiful mock gothic Narrow Water Castle near Warrenpoint on 2 September. Head along to discuss open data, citizen engagement, public sector use of social media, smart cities, and government as a platform.
David McBurney and Jonathan Bell (NI Open Government Network) argue that the growing gap between citizens and government can be bridged by a more open, generative approach to involvement in government monitoring and participation in policy making. There is a growing distance between people and their representatives and a general disaffection with politics. We are faced with a number of serious socio-economic problems – departmental budget cuts, the impact of welfare reform, pressure on the health service, the lack of a poverty …
DEMOS RETURNS: The Athenians and the Romans shared many things, but they had radically different ideas on government. In Rome, most State power was reserved to the winners of elections. Athens focused instead on intensive citizen debate, frequent direct votes, and lottery-appointed officials to handle the bureaucracy.
‘Well-Being’ is an odd term. It offends my grasp of the English language, in that I was never taught a verb: ‘to wellbe – I wellbe, you wellbe, he, she, it wellbes…’, nor even the slightly less gauche hyphenated ‘well-be’. Nevertheless, it has entered the policy lexicon, and is surely preferable to the simplistic concept of ‘happiness’, much beloved of tabloid editors, as they print interminable lists of towns, cities and regions making their citizens more or less happy / …
So as David has noted, we got a nice mention from Noel Whelan, a long term reader of Slugger, in his OpEd in the Irish Times. He’d been ruminating on an unsettling trend in southern politics for direct protest, and in the case of Fine Gael Michelle Mulherin in Sligo something a great deal more Northern Irish in flavour. That, much more than the vocal protests against the President, is particularly worrying aspect of a more general trend towards vocal …
This is something that Mick Fealty “encouraged” me to do, and I think it’s a great concept so I’ve picked it up and ran with it. I hope for it to become a regular event but for now, let’s just get the first one out of the way Wednesday 4th February 7.30pm Hudson Bar – Gresham Street, Belfast. (In the “Heel Bar” which is out the back to the beer garden then a door on the right) Open Government Network …
Chris makes an important point regarding Natalie Bennett’s apparent inability to explain the Green Party’s basic national income policy (which has been policy for almost a generation) in her interview with Andrew Neil… He’s clearly disturbed by Bennett’s lack of clarity (as the Greens emerge blinking into the light of Westminster scrutiny after many years of being studiously ignored), but also by Neil’s reliance on Westminster shibboleths about what’s possible/desirable in government: Mr Neil’s implication that a BI of £71pw …
Brian Eno in interview. However cynical views of the increasingly visible shortcomings of our democratic systems, people remain passionate as ever about the ‘wetware’ of politics itself, even if the democratic institutions struggle to retain a respectful place in their public affections. And we are not just talking about Stormont. Steven McCaffrey’s profile of the launch of the Open Government Network takes a realistic view of prospective of Stormont opening up to its citizens in a meaningful way. He cites their …
In the wake of last week’s seminar held by the Building Change Trust, project lead Paul Braithwaite discusses the potential implementation of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) in Northern Ireland. It wouldn’t be controversial to say that there is the perception that open, participative government isn’t being practiced in Northern Ireland. Any number of issues could be raised when discussing this key problem, from delays in Freedom of Information requests to the transparency of political party financing. Such is the …
After Tuesday’s #DigitalLunch on Open Government Partnership and ahead of Friday’s event in Belfast, for those of you thinking of how you might roll up your sleeves and get involved in making government smarter and more open, here’s your Survival Guide to OGP in Six Memos: Paul Braithwaite sets the scene on where we are… Fred Logue on what OGP is and what it isn’t… Davy Sims on the critical importance of participation… John Kellden on collaborative sense-making… Matilda Murday on how to do it… If you are keen …
There’s been a certain buzz around this Open Government conference (live streaming here), I’ll admit that I didn’t expect to find. There have been tensions. Largely over the gap between intention (to be open) and the disappointing actuality. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin, for instance, has been in some steady criticism from the ‘home team’ here in Dublin Castle. For instance, Ireland’s Freedom of information Act was amended under the previous government such that the Republic is only …
So, I’m in Dublin tomorrow for the OGP Europe Regional conference in Dublin in advance of next week’s Digital Lunch asking if Northern Ireland is ready for an open government partnership? If you are interesting in the subject, do keep an eye on Twitter throughout the day, and I’ll update with a blog report on Friday morning before I leave again. Thinking in practical terms regarding Northern Ireland it strikes me that one area which could be wide open for new and innovative engagement …
Tom Watson (not the politician) has a very perceptive piece on Julian Assange, and how hacking into government systems to free information has, in the short term at least, has created a fear factor that’s made the system less open: Slapping up stolen emails in partnership with hackers was supposed to be the early life Assange left behind when he got religion for government reform; providing a mechanism for legitimate whistleblowers to get their stories to journalists and the public …
I had intended writing another instalment on the ongoing crisis within journalism, but time’s short for original thought these days, especially when there are folk like Jay Rosen (et al) to do the thinking for you. Here’s the Guardian’s excellent précis of his presentation to SXSW. It’s refreshing to say the least: Mainstream journalists’ antagonism towards bloggers, he suggested, was sustained by the huge stress they find themselves under, which stems from five developments: 1. The collapsing economic model of …
I experienced a sense of déjà vu when I browsed across to the minutes section of Castlereagh Borough Council’s website. It was only in the aftermath of the Iris Robinson / Lock Keeper’s Inn cafe revelations this time last year that Castlereagh reversed its previous policy and started to publish its minutes online. I’ve blogged over on Alan in Belfast about Castlereagh’s online presence quite a few times over the past years. The council put out a press release on …
There’s a very sharply observed piece by Denis Bradley in today’s Irish News, which aside from lauding the work of John Dallat and others on the PAC, an intelligent whistle-blower and some fine words about Slugger, he also let’s slip a few fundamental truths about where the blame lies. And it is not with the politicians: “…it has caught the two governing parties on the hop. They didn’t see it coming. But anyone who has spent a few nights in the …
