{"id":2581,"date":"2010-01-08T12:00:30","date_gmt":"2010-01-08T16:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingatlantic.ca\/?p=2581"},"modified":"2013-01-21T04:28:41","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T08:28:41","slug":"government-2-0-open-source-accountability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2010\/01\/08\/government-2-0-open-source-accountability\/","title":{"rendered":"Government 2.0: Open Source Accountability"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"Victoria Park Door, Charlottetown, PEI\" src=\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3199\/2836866248_8a09cccc78.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>CHARLOTTETOWN &#8211; <\/strong>When the Charlottetown folks involved with SpacingAtlantic got together late last year, we decided to engage in some good old fashioned brain-storming to get the creative juices flowing.\u00a0 What transpired was a wonderful, engaging session full of optimism and pride in the city most of us called home.\u00a0 At the end of our two hour session, it was clear to many of us that if Charlottetown was going to change, a new climate of openness and transparency would have to emerge.<\/p>\n<p>There are two keys to an open and transparent democracy &#8212; information and accountability.\u00a0 One of the greatest criticisms of our democratically elected government is the premise that we can only hold them accountable once every four years.\u00a0 The inability to sway the direction of political policy, without the benefit of money, either promised or proven, has disenfranchised the younger electorate.\u00a0 Without accountability nobody can fail, but, more importantly, nobody can succeed.\u00a0 Building accountability is essential, but letting governments hold themselves accountable is a recipe for disaster.<\/p>\n<p>In order to hold elected officials accountable, we have to know what they are doing, and whom they are doing it with.\u00a0 If politics are conducted in the back rooms of historic restaurants, in hushed whispers, or in the case of PEI, in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.pe.ca\/index.cfm?sid=309422&amp;sc=98\">clandestine meetings in Victoria Park<\/a>, the perception continues that politicians are above, or perhaps better positioned, below the law.\u00a0 The problem extends beyond simple political negotiations or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/canada\/prince-edward-island\/story\/2009\/01\/08\/pe-cobb-pnp.html\">funding scandals<\/a>.\u00a0 The root of the issue is access to information, sans the redacted documents so common to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.infocom.gc.ca\/acts\/default-e.asp\">Access to Information Act<\/a>.\u00a0 Enter the <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Open_Data\">open data<\/a> movement. (Yes, I linked to Wikipedia &#8212; get over it!)<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mysociety.org\/projects\/\">MySociety.org<\/a> is the UK&#8217;s answer to political accountability.\u00a0 With projects <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mysociety.org\/projects\/theyworkforyou\/\">tracking politician voting records<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.whatdotheyknow.com\/\">government spending<\/a>, MySociety has become the defacto standard for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mysociety.org\/projects\/\">political accountability tools<\/a>.\u00a0 However, my personal favourite is the direct feedback loop offered by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fixmystreet.com\/\">FixMyStreet.com<\/a>.\u00a0 FixMyStreet allows citizens to document street repairs including potholes, damaged civic property, malfunctioning lights or even uncollected refuse.\u00a0 Leveraging <a href=\"http:\/\/maps.google.com\">Google Maps<\/a>, UK Ordnance Survey Data and a little <a href=\"https:\/\/secure.mysociety.org\/cvstrac\/dir?d=mysociety\/bci\">open source magic<\/a>, FixMyStreet lets citizens log complaints, email them to the appropriate department, and then track that issue through to resolution.\u00a0 Want to log issues while on the go?\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/WebObjects\/MZStore.woa\/wa\/viewSoftware?id=297456545&amp;mt=8\">There&#8217;s an app for that.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>While our friends across the pond are often more progressive and open than we are here in Canada, the idea of a tool to engage and empower citizens to demand services from their cities intrigued the folks over at <a href=\"http:\/\/visiblegovernment.ca\">VisibleGovernment.ca<\/a>, &#8220;a Canadian non-profit that promotes online tools for government transparency&#8221;, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fixmystreet.ca\/\">FixMyStreet.ca<\/a> was born.\u00a0 Mimicking the tools available in the UK, FixMyStreet.ca gives the same functionality and opportunities for engagement as its &#8216;.com&#8217; cousin, with a catch.\u00a0 While the Brits gave open access to the survey data for this project, not to mention some much deserved funding, Canadians are reliant on regional representatives to contact local governments for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fixmystreet.ca\/about\/map_formats\">mapping information<\/a> and the email addresses of the associated elected and appointed officials.<\/p>\n<p>FixMyStreet currently covers only 8 municipalities but, <a href=\"http:\/\/ward3brighton.ca\/blog\/2010\/01\/07\/390\/trackback\">thanks to Charlottetown city councilor<\/a>, Rob Lantz, the Island communities of Charlottetown, Stratford, Cornwall, and Summerside are all represented.\u00a0 Charlottetown residents have already <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fixmystreet.ca\/cities\/2\">begun to log incidents<\/a>, automatically notifying our city councilors of our observations.\u00a0 While this may not qualify as a true open and accountable government, (for a glimpse of the future check out the city of San Francisco and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.datasf.org\/\">DataSF.org<\/a>), it is a step in the right direction.\u00a0 Citizens are engaged, politicians will be held accountable, and maybe, just maybe, a new climate of open, transparent and accountable government is on the horizon for Canadians.<\/p>\n<p><em>photo by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/suckamc\/\">Martin Cathrae<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CHARLOTTETOWN &#8211; When the Charlottetown folks involved with SpacingAtlantic got together late last year, we decided to engage in some good old fashioned brain-storming to get the creative juices flowing.\u00a0 What transpired was a wonderful, engaging session full of optimism and pride in the city most of us called home.\u00a0 At the end of our<a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2010\/01\/08\/government-2-0-open-source-accountability\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;Government 2.0: Open Source Accountability&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8015,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5858,344],"tags":[406,355,345,408,409,407,5923],"class_list":["post-2581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-civic-engagement","category-politics","tag-accountability","tag-charlottetown","tag-civics","tag-gis","tag-mashups","tag-open-source","tag-politics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Government 2.0: Open Source Accountability - Spacing Atlantic<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2010\/01\/08\/government-2-0-open-source-accountability\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Government 2.0: Open Source Accountability - Spacing Atlantic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"CHARLOTTETOWN &#8211; When the Charlottetown folks involved with SpacingAtlantic got together late last year, we decided to engage in some good old fashioned brain-storming to get the creative juices flowing.\u00a0 What transpired was a wonderful, engaging session full of optimism and pride in the city most of us called home.\u00a0 At the end of ourContinue reading &quot;Government 2.0: Open Source Accountability&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2010\/01\/08\/government-2-0-open-source-accountability\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Atlantic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-01-08T16:00:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-21T08:28:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3199\/2836866248_8a09cccc78.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joshua Biggley\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joshua Biggley\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2010\/01\/08\/government-2-0-open-source-accountability\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2010\/01\/08\/government-2-0-open-source-accountability\/\",\"name\":\"Government 2.0: Open Source Accountability - Spacing Atlantic\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2010\/01\/08\/government-2-0-open-source-accountability\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2010\/01\/08\/government-2-0-open-source-accountability\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3199\/2836866248_8a09cccc78.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-01-08T16:00:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-21T08:28:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/#\/schema\/person\/5fd5642578fdf31ef3459d458bd2447a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2010\/01\/08\/government-2-0-open-source-accountability\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2010\/01\/08\/government-2-0-open-source-accountability\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2010\/01\/08\/government-2-0-open-source-accountability\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3199\/2836866248_8a09cccc78.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3199\/2836866248_8a09cccc78.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2010\/01\/08\/government-2-0-open-source-accountability\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Government 2.0: Open Source Accountability\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Atlantic\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered  |  Halifax, St. John&#039;s, Charlottetown, Fredericton, Saint John, Moncton, Sydney, Miramichi, Truro, Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/#\/schema\/person\/5fd5642578fdf31ef3459d458bd2447a\",\"name\":\"Joshua Biggley\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b26103da6443ed0c4fd88ea8d635d32?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b26103da6443ed0c4fd88ea8d635d32?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Joshua Biggley\"},\"description\":\"Joshua Biggley is an IT consultant by day and freelance writer by night. 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