They admit that ” while commissioners themselves don’t have the power to implement in government, they do have the power to persuade and influence government in these types of matters.” The Privacy Commissioner for Ontario said
“What we are trying to do is change it to a push model where the government pushes out information that it has available….But one of the biggest challenges for governments and organizations is translating the conceptual framework of open government into concrete steps, she said.

Governments seeking guidance on how to implement open government ideals can turn to Access by Design (AbD), a pragmatic model on accessible and accountable government developed by Cavoukian’s office that outlines seven fundamental principals.

Please find the full article here http://www.itworldcanada.com/news/canadian-commissioners-call-for-open-government/141435?sub=1516111&utm_source=1516111&utm_medium=dailyitwire&utm_campaign=enews

The new website provides front-page links to the State Department’s official YouTube channel, Twitter feed, Facebook page and Flickr photo account. The State Department said in a statement that the revamped State.gov incorporates improved “functionality and an updated design” and aims to “present the Department of State more transparently.” It is intended to “engage audiences in an ongoing dialogue with Secretary Clinton and others in the department on the foreign policy issues facing the country,” it said.”

http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/us-state-department-revamps-website-in-web-20-push — US State Department revamps website in Web 2.0 push

http://www.itworldcanada.com/news/why-cabinet-shake-up-isnt-bad-news-for-it-industry/139797-pg1

1. Government employees are being asked to work with one half of their brain behind their back (due to their lack of access to social media sites)

2. The resistance of the DG level because they are concerned about giving power to the “people”

There is also a reference to our favourite Government of Canada site GCPedia  (Please insert applause here….) ;-]

http://www.itworldcanada.com/news/why-canada-should-open-source-government/139761

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/01/14/cashmore.haiti.earthquake.relief.technology/index.html

“Citizens: GovLuv connects you instantly with your government representatives through the magical power of Twitter. Based on your address, you can see who your representatives are, what they’re saying, and what people are saying to them! Sign in with Twitter.”

For government officials, the site suggests…

“Government: You’re probably already in here! Sign in with Twitterto take control of your account. If your account isn’t there, tweet @govluv and we’ll get it fixed ASAP.”

What an innovative way of incouraging better communication between governments and their citizens.

http://govluv.org/offices/547-barack-obama

“More people than ever will be living large parts of their lives online in 2010. Yet, those same people will also mingle, meet up, and congregate more often with other ‘warm bodies’ in the offline world.
In fact, social media and mobile communications are fueling a MASS MINGLING that defies virtually every cliché about diminished human interaction in our ‘online era’.

So, forget (for now) a future in which the majority of consumers lose themselves in virtual worlds. Ironically the same technology that was once seen to be—and condemned for—turning entire generations into homebound gaming zombies and avatars, is now deployed to get people out of their homes.

Basically, the more people can get their hands on the right info, at home and on the go; the more they date and network and twitter and socialize online, the more likely they are to eventually meet up with friends and followers in the real world. Why? Because people actually enjoy interacting with other warm bodies, and will do so forever. A list of MASS MINGLING facts and drivers:

• Social media is all about other people to begin with.
  From a recent Pew report: “When we examine people’s full personal network – their strong ties and weak ties – internet use in general and use of social networking services such as Facebook in particular are associated with having a more diverse social network. Again, this flies against the notion that technology pulls people away from social engagement.”
• The most popular and/or hyped online services, from Foursquare to Google Latitude to Loopt to FireEagle, are currently all about following, finding, tracking, connecting to, and ultimately (spontaneously) meeting up with interesting people (friends and strangers). For some users of these services, ‘life-streaming’ is now a reality, especially when combined with their blogs, tweets, and Facebook updates pages.
  
• Terabytes of online (local) content is about informing and alerting people to make the most of their time with others in the real world.
• Last but not least: The mobile web has bridged the gap between either being offline in the real world, or being online but in one location (mostly living rooms and offices). Thanks to a dozen years of predicting an imminent, mass-breakthrough of mobile internet, no one gets really excited about the prospect of no longer being stuck when online. However, it will dominate 2010, and it will fuel MASS MINGLING like there’s no tomorrow, as online will be offline by default, and vice versa.

Next for MASS MINGLING will be even more impromptu, temporary meet-ups of strangers, mobs and crowds with similar interests, hobbies, political preferences, causes and grievances. Many of these (temporary) meet-ups will revolve around generating public attention, or getting something done. And here too, Twitter will lead the way (tweetmobs, anyone?).

The opportunity is obvious: Anyone involved with anything that helps people get and stay in touch, that gets people from A-Z, or that accommodates those people before, during or after meeting-up with others, should not only rejoice in MASS MINGLING, but make it even easier for customers to meet up in any possible way, too.

Now, there are thousands of MASS MINGLING examples as it is, so we’ll stick with just one fun one that is still in ‘concept’:

• UK network Channel 4 announced the ongoing development of a Facebook app for the hit show ‘Come Dine With Me‘. The app will give fans of the show, in which amateur chefs hold competing dinner parties for one another, the tools to host their own parties with their Facebook friends.”

Students will be communicated with through a number of social mediums including Facebook, MySpace, LinkeIn, YouTube and Twitter.  The goal is to create a viral effect where by students will refer other students to the survey using social networking sites.  The company’s ROI is anticipated to be impressive because this approach lowers their communication costs while attracting a larger number of respondents.

If you know someone in this age group, you can refer them to the survey through this link.

http://pierrebelvedere.webdrive.ca

Here are the presentations that we gave.  If anyone needs any further information, please let me know.

ali-conf-sept30-Jen - Jennifer Savage of WebDrive Canada 

ALI-conference-sept30-chantal – Chantal Wolfe of DFAIT