This document provides a summary of a presentation on how open data and social media are changing citizen communication with government. The presentation covers topics such as the differences between e-government and Gov 2.0, the rise of social media, APIs and open data, location-based services like Open311, and getting started with open data initiatives. The presentation concludes by discussing next steps, including citizens engaging with government through app development and mobile devices becoming primary channels for citizen-government interaction.

1. <agency name> Presentation
Friending the Statehouse
How the Open Data Movement and Social
Media are Changing Citizen Communication
With Government
Mark J. Headd
mheadd@voiceingov.org
voiceingov.org/blog
@mheadd / facebook.com/mheadd

2. Who am I?
• Maxwell Grad – MPA, 1994.
• 12 years in state government – NY & DE.
• Executive and Legislative branch experience.
• IT Policy advisor and IT agency manager.
• Past 7 years – private sector.
• Software developer with focus on phone / mobile technology.
• Open government enthusiast / speaker.
• Open source contributor.
• Blogger (voiceingov.org).

3. Agenda
• Show me the Data!
• eGov vs. Gov 2.0
• What’s different?
• The Rise of Social Media
• Towards a Government Platform – defining APIs.
• APIs in the wild.
• Open311: What is it, Why is it Important?
• Location, Location, Location!
• Getting Started with Open Data.
• Conclusions. What Comes Next?

4. Show me the Data!
• Governments across the country and around the world are
publishing open data sets.
• National governments in the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand.
• Local governments from Seattle and San Francisco, to New York City
and Washington DC.
• Open government data is one drive of “Gov 2.0.”

5. What is Gov 2.0?
• Rebranding of eGov, begun more than a decade before.
• Take off of Web 2.0
• Real differences between eGov and Gov 2.0.
eGov:
• Government centric (portal).
• Blur the lines between agencies, branches of government.
• Push to put government services online.
Gov 2.0:
• Citizen centric (developer centric).
• Enhance the transparency of government operations.
• Push to put government data online in “raw” formats.

6. What’s Different?
• The idea of releasing government data to outsider users is not new.
• The Open Data movement that is part of Gov 2.0 is different from
past actions to release government data in at least 3 ways:
– Publishing open data is becoming a measure of government
transparency and performance.
– Published data is in formats specifically
designed to be consumed by downstream apps and developers.
– Governments are actively engaging citizens and developers to consume
open data. Developer Contests = Cha Ching!

7. OMG, #OpenGov is BFD!
• Fundamental change in how we
communicate with each other.
• More channels in use.
• Uptake of “non-traditional” channels.
• Twitter and Facebook share a unique
role in this change.
• They are both a “channel” that is
used for communication, information
gathering.
• They are also “platforms,” that let
people build on their foundations.
• Democratization of Data +
Democratization of App Development.

8. Where is Gov 2.0?
October 23, 2010
Open
Government
Data
Social
Networking
Platforms
Enhanced
Developer Tools
Gov
2.0

9. Towards a Government Platform
• What is an API?
• Application Programming Interface.
• A set of rules that govern how developers can use a platform or
service.
• Typically built on underlying web technologies.
• Documented list of “functions” that can be invoked in the service.
• What are the requirements to invoke a function?
• Guarantee of a response from the service.
– Success! I get what I asked for (list of all tweets within 1 mile of
Maxwell Hall, Syracuse NY).
– Failure. I won’t get what I asked for, with an details of failure.
• The format of the response will be fixed and consistent.
• A contract.

10. APIs in the Wild
• Trailblazing governments are moving beyond
static data sets.
• City of Seattle uses a open source API that sits
in front of it’s data, allowing developers to
programmatically query multiple data sets.
• MassDOT and BART publish real time transit
information feeds.
• NY State Senate has deployed an API for
searching their Legislative Information System.
• San Francisco and Washington DC have
deployed APIs for their 311 systems.
• Moving from static data to real-time feeds and
transaction-based APIs.
• From individual efforts to standard
implementations.

11. 311 and Open311
• Abbreviated dialing designation set up for use by municipal governments in
both the U.S. and Canada.
• Non-emergency requests and questions.
• “Burning building? Call 911. Burning question? Call 311.”
• First: Baltimore (1996). Biggest: NYC (just passed 100 million calls).
• Pew Charitable Trust report on Philly 311.
• Most 311 operations include a web component with lists of FAQs and
information frequently requested by callers.
• Several 311 operations (including NYC and San Francisco) have worked to
incorporate Twitter and other social media tools into their services.
• San Francisco and Washington DC have deployed 311 APIs.
• Open311 Initiative. Effort to standardize 311 APIs across governments.
• Applications built for one municipality will work in others that support the
standard.

12. Location, Location, Location!
• Why are Twitter and Facebook
important in the context of
311?
• Both services allow users to add
location information to content
like pictures.
• Both also allow developers to
query location-based data.
• Provides opportunities to allow
citizens to report information
to government.
• How much gov information
location-based?
October 23, 2010

13. TweetMy311
• TweetMy311 – “Better cities, one
tweet at a time…”
• Allows citizens to create a non-
emergency service request using
Twitter.
• Citizens can create new
requests, and query the status of
existing requests.
• Uses the Open311 API currently
live in San Francisco.
• Will be enable in DC in next
several weeks.

14. Getting Started with Open Data
• Where can governments begin with open data?
• What are people asking for?
• Look at customer engagements (phone / e-mail / web) for
opportunities to release open data.
• Is there anything available already?
• Look at high value / high impact data.
– Crime location data
– Other types of location data (polling places, libraries, health facilities).
– Transit data (Delaware General Assembly: SB 242)
– Restaurant inspection data
– Licensure data
• Compact data lends itself most easily to multiple channels.
• Make a plan. Set a goal. Publish the goal. Measure progress.

15. What’s Next?
• More data! And more apps!
• Geekery as citizenship. Code for America (USA), Rewired State (UK).
• Less app building by governments – dramatic changes to existing
procurement processes.
• Governments become data stewards / data providers.
• Uneven distribution of connectivity (both traditional and mobile)
will continue as an issue governments must address.
• Citizen communication with government may first require a trip to
the app store. San Francisco App Showcase, DC App Store.
• More multitenant applications, and apps shared between different
governments. SeeClickFix.
• Mobile devices and cell phones become the primary instruments for
communicating with government.

16. La Fin
Questions?