India Govcamp shows the Global Growth of Gov 2.0 and Open Government
http://gov2.in/
Governments and the people they serve around the world are struggling to adapt to a new reality of real time information, demands for openness and transparency and more efficient service delivery. There is tremendous enthusiasm and interest in the utilization of social media, mobile and open data tools to remake the term "Government" as we know it.
Until recently, the majority of Government 2.0 initiatives were undertaken in places like the United States, Britain, Australia, Germany and Japan to name the leaders. The continued blossoming of this movement is taking hold in many other countries too.
Government 2.0 requires the input, participation of many parties -- obviously governments, also the big and small companies that service them, and of course the people. As a result there have been many conferences and "camps" that have sprung up to address the educational and collaborative needs of this emerging industry.
Microsoft sponsored Govcamp India this past March 11, 2011 with the idea of creating an open learning environment for anyone interested in Gov 2.0 in India. While the event required registration, it was open to all, whether Microsoft devotees or open source advocates. In fact, Microsoft actively sought the participation of as broad a group as possible to facilitate a collaborative dialog and create a new level of understanding. This represents a major part of Gov 2.0 - openness.
The live twitter search for Govcamp India can be found here.
Alex Howard wrote this companion piece in the Huffington Post and illustrates some of the background and larger context of the Gov 2.0 and Open Government and participatory movement in India.
Rodrigo Becerra of Microsoft provided this insight:
"We believe that local communities have the passion, skills and insight to drive Gov 2.0 and OpenGov efforts on their own and we simply want to be able to provide a platform upon which they can dig deep into these issues. This is a space for creating connections to happen between citizens, organizations, groups and governments that may otherwise not exist. We have done them in Berlin, Mexico City, Colombia, Toronto, Sydney, Wellington, Boston, Lisbon and will sponsor the India event in the coming week. We specifically have local organizing committees run each event. We conduct them all in local language and invite social media, competitors and partners to revel in the discourse to help drive the progress of the Gov 2.0 movement."
As the founder of Gov20LA in Los Angeles, California, I am thrilled to see how far and fast the Gov 2.0 movement is growing around the World. It is really encouraging to see this transformative change happening in places not often thought of for progressive thinking with regard to Government. In full disclosure: I am an adviser to the India Govcamp and am very excited to see the level of enthusiasm and innovation in this first ever Gov 2.0 Camp in India.