Tomorrow marks the end of Sunshine week, highlighting the importance of transparency, open government and freedom of information. The week has seen the launch of a wide range of initiatives focused on the themes of transparency and accountability.

Broadly speaking, the open government movement in Ireland has not penetrated government, or the political agenda, in any similar way as countries such as the United States or United Kingdom. There is a lack of political leadership around this issue both at a central and local government level.

In addition, the resources for advocacy in Ireland are more limited than in the U.S. or the U.K. Organizations such as the Sunlight Foundation or OMB Watch, which use technology to show how the government can be more transparent, and take non-machine-readable data and make it more accessible do not exist in Ireland. There is fewer foundations and donors who can sponsor such projects.

Nevertheless, sites such as KildareStreet and theStory do exist to make government data more transparent and accessible. The government, itself, however has not engaged in any widespread engagement strategies in a similar manner to the US Open ...

As companies step up their spending on green marketing, the confusion about what’s truly green is getting worse.

For consumers, it’s a challenge to cut through the clutter and decide whether to buy green products or support green companies.

Here’s a guideline that is easy to follow:

We should absolutely not support green products from companies that use them to distract us from their larger negative environmental and social impacts...

Inspired by the excellent Joanne Jacobs at the recent Likeminds event in Exeter to think more about the role of games and game play in solving problems and creating solutions.

I started to think about how Government in general could be seen as a game so that we could not only engage people in the problems and challenges we all face but actually inspire them to be part of the solution and help make changes happen.  In the lunchtime session that Joanne facilitated she spoke very passionately about the role of games and how we all play games all the time but just don’t realise it...

I recently stumbled across a simply fantastic presentation that David Cameron, the leader of Britain’s Conservative Party, gave last month at TED.  Cameron argues that we’re entering a new era — a time where ordinary citizens are increasingly empowered by new technologies while government’s power (and monies) are decreasing.

“If we combine the right political thinking with the incredible information revolution that’s taken place…there’s an incredible opportunity to actually remake politics, remake government, remake public services and achieve…a big increase in our well being,” Cameron said in describing his overarching thesis.

The short, but compelling, 15 minute video of his presentation is below…

Next week the Liberals will be hosting a "Thinkers Conference" in Montreal. In preparation for the event the party has been hosting articles outlining ideas for Canada's 150th anniversary. Because of my work around open government and open data they asked if I would pen a piece on the subject for them.

I agreed.

The odds of getting open data increase dramatically if politicians get behind the initiative...

The Recovery Act is quietly influencing federal-state-local relations.  Not only is the money being used to save jobs as states and localities cut back their budgets, but the ways states and localities are choosing to use and report on the funds are creating different ways for getting “the business of government” done.

In an essay for the IBM Center, George Mason University professor Paul Posner describes this as “an accountability test” for the federal system.  He talks about new governance models in addition to the new reporting requirements imposed by the Recovery Act...

As many of you know, the parliamentary elections in Iraq are underway.  Some of our folks over in Iraq took photos of these billboards, which we’ve dutifully translated and posted below.  Pay particular attention to the iconography on the posters; which is significantly less subtle than the images used in today’s American political campaigns.  As always, we welcome any comments.

United Iraqi Coalition

List #348 Sequence 2

“Your future is in our hands”

Dr. Mahmoud Mashadani (Former Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament)

Moderation, Clarity, Honesty, Courage

The Iraqi Party for the Victory of Independent Disadvantaged People

We will compromise on the salary of the parliament…

List #313

Mohammed Shirhan al-Rubaie

COA-Iraqi Unity-LITION

List #348

Our god is one
Iraq is one
Our destiny is one

Dr. Sabad Abd al-Rasul al-Tamimi
Professor of International Economics at the College of Political Science
at al-Nahrain University.

I see with your eyes
And speak with your voice
List 333/133
Iraqiya

List 333
For the courageous
Iraqiya

(The picture is of former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, the head of the Iraqiya list)

Your independence is ... read more >>

I recently stumbled across a simply fantastic presentation that David Cameron, the leader of Britain’s Conservative Party, gave last month at TED.  Cameron argues that we’re entering a new era — a time where ordinary citizens are increasingly empowered by new technologies while government’s power (and monies) are decreasing.

“If we combine the right political thinking with the incredible information revolution that’s taken place…there’s an incredible opportunity to actually remake politics, remake government, remake public services and achieve…a big increase in our well being,” Cameron said in describing his overarching thesis.

The short, but compelling, 15 minute video of his presentation is below…