Government 2.0 Summit

How can cloud email and calendaring not only save $5 million but improve communication between staff? The City of Los Angeles CTO, Randi Levin, has embraced the next generation of IT services simultaneously cutting costs and enabling staff to access emails and calendars via web, mobile and desktop. Joined by Dave Girouard, President of Google Enterprise, Levin and Girouard answer questions posed by Tim O'Reilly about the unique challenges and opportunities of using 'the cloud' in government organisations.

From rebuilding communities in Detroit around technological and artistic innovation to improving legal services, each of these speakers share their experiences and insights as to why groups succeed - and sometimes fail - in their attempts to adopt the latest information technology developments and apply them to the greater public good.

In these two Gov 2.0 presentations, Jeffrey A. Sorenson and Clay Johnson, respectively, showcase the inventive winning entries and motivations behind "Apps for the Army" and The Sunlight Foundation's "Design for America" competitions. Through utilizing the potential and input of the wider community, both initiatives aim to encourage new ideas, and ultimately better practices, for government.

Technology-fueled bottom up change is coming to 21st century diplomacy and statecraft. In this Gov 2.0 presentation, Alec Ross speaks about the State Department's commitment to a revamped technology initiative that makes diplomacy more citizen-centered. The new initiative seeks to empower everyone through Internet freedom, innovative ideas and a policy framework that does not replace diplomacy but prioritizes using technology to facilitate exchange and understanding.

In this Gov 2.0 presentation, Sonal Shah, head of Social Innovation and Civic Participation for the United States Government, discusses the role of technology in improving the country. From education to healthcare, Shah highlights opportunities for social innovation, and references current and future projects that both have, and will, improve communities across the nation.

The government is not a vending machine for services. In this Gov 2.0 presentation Tim O'Reilly discusses how the government can be a development platform for greatness by taking advantage of web 2.0 features ranging from cloud computing and social media to mobile platforms.

Kathy Sierra examines how to create passionate citizens by inviting people to understand the dynamics of passion. Drawing on an interest in the brain and artificial intelligence, developed during her days as a game developer (Virgin, Amblin', MGM), Sierra explains what is necessary to instill and excite passion. From the perspective of an engineer she applies the formula and provides a solution to develop not only the product of passion but a passionate end user as well.

Data transparency is not enough; danah boyd powerfully argues that the character of data depends on its interpretation and states her case for data literacy. If people are ignorant about how data is generated, selected and interpreted, power accrues to those who can 'spin' the data to support their opinions and biases. Using the example of publicly available sex offender data, released under Megan's Law, boyd shows that understanding the complexity of data is just as important as making it transparent.

Open government data is being used to increase civic participation in a variety of ways. This series of Rapid Fire talks from the Gov 2.0 Summit shows how companies can transform government data for customers, how online tools can help citizens organize themselves, and how openness in software can provide huge returns on investment.

Dean Halstead of the Microsoft SharePoint Product Design Team talks about social networking within government organizations in this Gov 2.0 presentation. He describes how SharePoint's out-of-the-box Gov 2.0 kit meets many social networking objectives within the operational constraints of government organizations. Halstead provides several examples of successful government social networking solutions, and a view of future SharePoint capabilities.