IAP2 notified me this week that an abstract I submitted for their annual conference was up on Survey Monkey and I should vote for my preferences in a chosen stream … and because I had an abstract in of course I had to take a look! But once my voting was over I wondered how many people had the time, and the interest and actually got involved.
‘Open’ processes and government seek to engage participants or citizens and get organisations and governments to enact relevant programs. So, IAP2 has taken a step to be more accountable to its members, and its members may now be highly informed and engaged with the conference. Panthea Lea, has a good blog looking into the impacts of such initiatives.
Too often, says Lea, defining and evaluating progress in open government confuses means with ends, with practitioners focusing more on the ‘open’ and less on the ‘government’. She proposes asking questions about the impact of open government, starting with Who Gains from Open Government? The participatory budgeting experiences of Rome and New York show that, like with IAP2’s conference, you can’t have much idea until you measure. Read more at Backchannel.
And here’s your last chance to vote!