David Hume – BC as Citizen Engagement Lab: Designing Citizen Engagement with the Province

(06/20/2009)

  

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11:17

joshaughnessy:  Checking out @dbhume’s talk on the #BCPublicService engaging BC’s citizens. #engagement #vanchangecamp

11:17

simonehudson:  Excited for @kevangilbert to lead next session at #vcc09!

11:18

ni_kol:  How can we increase the level of informed engagement and advocacy for social housing in the #DTES? @ me your input! #vcc09

11:18

dbhume:  Crisis averted! Thankyou for saving my a** @markhaines! #vcc09

11:19

lennyford:  now starting a discussion about the DTES and low income housing #vcc09

11:19

chicken_scratch:  1RT @joshaughnessy Checking out @dbhume’s talk on the #BCPublicService engaging BC’s citizens. #engagement #vanchangecamp – me too!

11:19

simonehudson:  How to change old mindsets? Build relationship, stimulate imagination, communicate from a non-judgemental place. #vcc09

11:20

Raul:  David Hume’s talk is on British Columbia and how the BC Public Service is engaging BC’s citizens. A brand new slate, David is showing a picture of “the internet” – where is the public space in that? Where does government fit? Where does public policy fit?

11:21

Raul:  If you think about things like climate change, health, wellness, all this interconnectedness makes public policy challenging, exciting and incredibly creative. We must weave these things together.

11:21

cambel:  http://twitpic.com/7×5jc – Self organized chaos as groups form for next slot. #vcc09

11:21

Raul:  This thing called the web is super powerful – David is showing a photo of the Inauguration of Barack Obama.

11:24

Raul:  No longer about why do we need to do public policy differently? – more like how do we do it? how do we use the internet to create public policy? Our public policy process needs to go beyond public consultation. Sometimes this stuff can work and some of the stuff that we do in this kind of mode – there are limits. We need to begin to explore what those limits are. When we do collaboration we see .1. people sharing views 2. people deliberating about those views 3. people talking about how to make it happen The process is opening itself more. But the responsibility for action still is on the government. Sometimes stuff comes up that you can’t do anything about. How do we start doing things?

11:24

cambel:  http://twitpic.com/7×5yj – David Hume rocking out on engagment with government and civic involvement. #vcc09

11:25

Raul:  One of the things that David Hume’s boss said – how the BC public service workforce is shrinking.

11:25

Raul:  In 10 years we could have 10 more million BC people and less public service people to serve them.

11:26

vanchangecamp:  @gbbrain good question! @dfdumaresq is my favorite ruby hacker and Dave’s here!

11:26

iheartcities:  Consultation involves ppl sharing views, deliberating what to do, & how to take action. how can we open the deliberation process? #vcc09

11:27

jeremymcmullin:  Was hoping to make it to #vcc09 but have to work. Boo!

11:27

Raul:  The nature of public service (Christine Wood, @chicken_scratch) – people get trained in the public service but then move on.

11:28

Raul:  A participant just made the point that we could use this reduction in government size is an opportunity for citizen engagement.

11:28

david_a_eaves:  Tweeting at #vcc09 with @jacobglick

11:29

Raul:  What can we do - Policy judgement - Co-creation, crodsourcing - Social innovation We can involve users of services in engaging citizens in the production and delivery of the service. - Needs will better match resources - We can leverage productivity beyond government’s walls - Communities

11:30

hummingbird604:  @jeremymcmullin You can follow along the hashtags #vcc09 or #vanchangecamp

11:30

joshaughnessy:  How can passionate users help to design, and potentially help deliver, government services? #engagement #BCPublicService #vanchangecamp

11:30

cambel:  David Hume: BC pop. grows over next 10 years and public service shrinks. What do we do and what is right for the future we want? #vcc09

11:30

chicken_scratch:  What can BC govt do? Policy judgment, co-creation, crowd-sourcing & social innovation. #vanchangecamp @dbhume

11:31

Raul:  Jim de la Hunt (@jdlh) – is it just people with government of BC IDs and people who are not in the government who collectively make the decision? Dave Hume – it’s hard to deal with some issues. As a public servant, he needs to continually build the trust of the government. There are limits to how much engagement can we get .

11:31

vanchangecamp:  RT @joshaughnessy: How can passionate users help to design, & potentially help deliver, government services? #BCPublicService #vcc09

11:32

Raul:  Interest in social innovation – self-organizing, resilient communities that are willing to solve problems themselves.

11:33

garthfrizzell:  #vcc09 with serious looming skills shortages in civil service, can citizen engagement pick up where staff cannot be found? implications?

11:33

garthfrizzell:  RT @chicken_scratch: What can BC govt do? Policy judgment, co-creation, crowd-sourcing & social innovation. #vanchangecamp @dbhume

11:33

matthewlaird:  I can’t believe in such a new building, specializing in technology, there aren’t more plugs in the classrooms. #vcc09

11:33

chicken_scratch:  RT @cambel: BC pop. grows over next 10 years & public service shrinks. What do we do & what is right for the future? #vcc09 (via @twazzup)

11:34

vanchangecamp:  @hummingbird604 is live-blogging David Hume’s session on citizen engagement – Check it out! http://is.gd/17yxv #vanchangecamp #vcc09

11:35

Raul:  If we are doing policy better we can do less of the wrong things and more of the better things.

11:35

dale42:  @matthewlaird Plugs are in floor plates #vcc09

11:35

iheartcities:  @matthewlarid open the panel in the floor. there are bunch in there. #vcc09

11:35

simonehudson:  Turning ideas into action. Remember HYPE KILLS. You rock @kevangilbert! #vcc09 http://yfrog.com/5ftmjj

11:36

dale42:  @matthewlaird And building isn’t as new as you might think #vcc09

11:36

cambel:  Hey, I’m not happy with ramblers of questions. I like to hear myself talk, but it can’t be all day. #vcc09

11:36

ni_kol:  @#vcc09 If you have an idea, tell everyone. Eventually it will find the people it needs.

11:36

Raul:  Why does technology matter? - Extend our reach – time and space - Tthe audience is there, and people are talking - We can tell stories that spread - We can aggregate, sort and search input and information like never beore - We can build community

11:37

chicken_scratch:  RT @vanchangecamp @hummingbird604 is live-blogging David Hume’s session on citizen engagement – http://is.gd/17yxv #vanchangecamp #vcc09

11:37

Raul:  OPPORTUNITIES All of the above has been in the range of the hypothetical. - What if we could open up the process of curriculum development? - What about approving learning resources for classrooms? - What about really complex areas, regions, for environmental perspectives?

11:38

vanchangecamp:  RT @ni_kol: If you have an idea, tell everyone. Eventually it will find the people it needs. #vanchangecamp #vcc09

11:38

dfdumaresq:  #vcc09 how does a crowd support the ‘cruel timekeeper?’

11:38

chicken_scratch:  One idea: Via @dbhume What if we open up the process of curriculum development process in education? #vanchangecamp

11:39

jdlh:  Making BC Govt more open: @DBHume has well-distilled thoughts at #vanchangecamp. i’ll come back & reread it. Thanx David!

11:40

vanchangecamp:  RT @govwiki Open311 API http://bit.ly/RS2L1 that cities and vendors should help improve http://tinyurl.com/lgfgac — @seeclickfix is here!

11:40

Raul:  - We need to understand the context, design the services that can support their role. INSPIRATION Q.- In a broader context – is there a way in which public policy can take a longer term trajectory? – David Hume – the difficulties of a 4 year mandate. Need for long term planning and have things move forward.

11:41

vanchangecamp:  RT @chicken_scratch: One idea: Via @dbhume What if we open up the process of curriculum development process in education? #vanchangecamp

11:42

Raul:  Jim de la Hunt Q.- As you make thoughtful questions your ability to make contributions rises. How do you mediate with ltitle knowledge on the domain and someone who has a less of an interest in engaging but a lot of knowledge in the domain.

11:42

david_a_eaves:  At a great session with @sarahschacht on open standards for city data. City of Nanaimo guys are big contributors #vcc09

11:43

chicken_scratch:  via @dbhume: Columbia River Basin example – intersection of environment, engineering, use & public need. BC Govt engagement. #vanchangecamp

11:43

vanchangecamp:  RT @david_a_eaves: At a great session with @sarahschacht on open standards for city data. City of Nanaimo guys are big contributors #vcc09

11:44

vanchangecamp:  ”The question I’m constantly asking why should I write a white paper when I can make a documentary” -@dbhume #vcc09

11:44

Raul:  Do you have the mandate out or in as well? Governments are not sometimes willing to let public participation happen. DH- There’s a big driver to encourage participation now.

11:45

cambel:  How is government going to be open to civic participation? Citizens are active, but is gov’t willing to act on it? #vcc09

11:46

iheartcities:  @dbhume “Why write a white paper when you can make a documentary?” good point about media used for info sharing. #vcc09

11:46

reillyreads:  #vanchangecamp – bccla needs a digital communications strategy, and a way to get the organization on-side.

11:46

twitcouver:  #vanchangecamp If you haven’t yet, please do take a minute to add yourself to this participants list of who’s here – http://bit.ly/12BSDa

11:46

vanchangecamp:  RT @cambel: How is government going to be open to civic participation? Citizens are active, but is gov’t willing to act on it? #vcc09

11:47

twitcouver:  #vanchangecamp Or send to me and I’ll put your blurb/info on the page

11:47

nlamontagne:  At David Hume session @vanchangecamp – he’s bring great stuff to the floor but weird energy in the room. Dialogue just isn’t taking off.

11:48

Raul:  Raul Pacheco-Vega – I make a point that we need to encourage learning on the part of bureaucrats and public Spark! Igniting ideas in the BC Public Service 35,000 people strong – voicing ideas.

11:48

vanchangecamp:  RT @twitcouver If you haven’t yet, please do take a min 2 add yourself 2 this participants list of who’s here – http://bit.ly/12BSDa #vcc09

11:48

reillyreads:  #vanchangecamp fact sheet that VPD is handing out to DTES residents for olympics http://is.gd/17zpU

11:49

Raul:  Wiki Policy Full view of 200 trusted stakeholders. With social media we go through these personal transformations and we finally figure out why Twitter matters and why Facebook is so relevant. I can write a policy paper or a white paper, and invite the direct engagement of stakeholders who can give input to the document.

11:49

cambel:  Gov’t engagement relies on gov’t relinquishing power. Oooh debate! Sabres a rattlin’ #vcc09

11:50

Raul:  “I didn’t use Word once in the whole process” I didn’t have to be the aggregator – I could say – well, you got a problem – change it!

11:50

mogusmoves:  Forgot tag #vcc09 BC Gov has internal open ideas for improvement portal called Spark. Suggest, vote, share. Supposedly works well!

11:50

dfdumaresq:  #vcc09 sabres silenced by agenda

11:50

chicken_scratch:  Inspiration: New Zealand wiki policy on online citizen engagement. Transformative moment. @dbhume #vanchangecamp

11:51

Raul:  Data.gov It’s a small percentage of people who get involved (John Dumbrille) – very few people participate. Community support Patients Like You – find people with similar illnesses. Helping people help each other.

11:51

simonehudson:  Ideas from concept to implementation with @kevangilbert. Step 1 – Know your destination. Set your vision. Be specific. #vcc09

11:51

cambel:  David Hume on the power of wiki in drafting policy. Group responsibility and no MS Word. How great is that? #vcc09

11:51

iheartcities:  I wonder if you could use a wiki to develop an Official Community Plan for a local government? #vcc09

11:52

Raul:  Listening – David Hume (@dbhume) – Twitter.

11:52

jdlh:  Great job wrangling participants, @DBHume! Rambling Q’s, debates, loaded comments, etc. At #vanchangecamp.

11:52

bella_b:  RT @ni_kol: If you have an idea, tell everyone. Eventually it will find the people it needs. #vanchangecamp #vcc09 (via @vanchangecamp)

11:52

garthfrizzell:  via @dbhume: Spark! how to encourage and aggregate staff ideas http://tinyurl.com/kvbzqg #vanchangecamp #vcc09

11:53

Raul:  CHALLENGES - Digital divide is real – skills as well as access. - Technology helps build buzz – but its true deliberative power is limited - Online engagement has to carefully positioned — it has to make sense as a channel - Data and records management

11:53

simonehudson:  Idea—>Action with @kevangilbert. Step 2 – Set a goal. Be accountable to it. #vcc09

11:54

Raul:  Please and come talk to us Lisa Mighton – Paper bag – people who want to work on it. Put it on a paper bag. Think about open sessions at the end of the day so that can be discussed.

11:54

vanchangecamp:  RT @garthfrizzell: via @dbhume: Spark! how to encourage and aggregate staff ideas http://tinyurl.com/kvbzqg #vanchangecamp #vcc09

11:54

matthewlaird:  Grr, BCIT network wasn’t working. FINALLY got eduroam working. #vcc09

11:54

cambel:  David Hume on the power of twitter and efficiency of initial connections. But who uses Twitter?? #vcc09

11:55

simonehudson:  Idea—>Action Step 3 – look in your pockets. What tools do you have? Who can you collaborate with? #vcc09

11:55

aldenhabacon:  What role does great leadership play is making change happen? Can we use technology to raise and develop better leaderhip? #vcc09

11:55

bekadel:  Had a great session talking about overcoming fear to accomplish goals. #vcc09

11:55

bella_b:  http://twitpic.com/7×2wd – Aha moments at #vcc09. Beth rocking out. (via @cambel)

11:55

bella_b:  Gov’t engagement relies on gov’t relinquishing power. Oooh debate! Sabres a rattlin’ #vcc09 (via @cambel)

11:56

nlamontagne:  @iheartcities – can you use a wiki approach to developing official community plans? Any interest in this issue at vanchangecamp? #vcc09

11:56

atehena:  Oh I’m hip to this! RT @dbhume: Policy is going to become like punk rock. People can get the tools, so they can form their own bands. #vcc09

11:56

joshaughnessy:  @eddypiasentin get’s profiled: RT @garthfrizzell: via @dbhume: Spark! staff ideas http://tinyurl.com/kvbzqg #vanchangecamp #vcc09

11:56

rainzine:  @simonehudson my pockets are full of awesome people #vcc09

11:56

vanchangecamp:  @nlamontagne Could be the large # of ppl ->Paper bags + exercise after lunch + more opn sessions will help opn up convo & connect ppl #vcc09

11:57

hummingbird604:  .@dbhume’s recommendation for Wiki Policy – http://bit.ly/12szz1 #vcc09

11:57

dfdumaresq:  #vcc09 wiki.participation.e.govt.nz

11:58

simonehudson:  Idea—>Action Step 4 Think about your end user. Remember it’s never about you. #vcc09

11:58

cambel:  want to be plugged in on cool wiki/gov’t engagement: wiki.participation.e.govt.nz #vcc09

11:58

vanchangecamp:  RT @hummingbird604 @dbhume’s recommendation for Wiki Policy – http://bit.ly/12szz1 #vcc09 #vanchangecamp

11:58

Raul:  http://wiki.participation.e.govt.nz Water policy and social media – Raul MUST talk to them. Great session Dave Hume.

11:59

Related posts:

1. Vancouver ChangeCamp (VanChangeCamp) placeholder and idea bouncer
2. Open Internet Town Hall – Digital Strategy for Canada #VanChangeCamp (liveblog)
3. My upcoming (to-be-pitched) talk at @VanChangeCamp

Harnessing Social Media Tools to Mobilize and Engage Citizens in Climate Change Adaptive Strategies

Description of the session:

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) use a variety of strategies to galvanize public opinion and increase pressure on governments and industry to minimize pollution. My scholarly research has shown that NGOs have more effectively engaged citizens when (a) the issue is related to environment and public health and (b) there is ample room for information dissemination and a strong public awareness campaign. Climate change has become one of the most relevant environmental issues of the past few years. However, it appears as though BC residents are more concerned with mitigative measures rather than adaptive strategies. I am puzzled by why this would happen. I am wondering if one of the elements that is missing is a strong social media campaign on the part of the BC government to raise awareness and educate citizens about potential strategies to adapt to climate change.

The goal of the session is to:

Showcase a number of social media tools, as well as educate governments (and academics) on how to harness the power of social networking sites to disseminate rigorous research findings on adaptation to climate change in British Columbia. The session would be also intended as a brainstorming discussion on best practices on the use of social media to raise awareness in climate change policy.

You know what would be great? Three things:

1) If you could please tweet, re-tweet and/or about VanChangeCamp.
2) If you could forward the registration information (on EventBrite) – http://vanchangecamp.eventbrite.com to your social networks.
3) If you could encourage non-social-networked folks to come and attend the event.

Also, if you’d want to hear me speak about this topic (or other topics associated to citizen participation in public policy or environmental policy) at VanChangeCamp, feel free to leave a comment here.

Related posts:

1. VanChangeCamp – June 20th, 2009
2. Vancouver ChangeCamp (VanChangeCamp) placeholder and idea bouncer
3. Notes from the first #VanChangeCamp meeting

VanChangeCamp flyer

However, as you can imagine, there’s only so much time I can volunteer and there’s only one Raul. And there’s about a gazillion things I have to do, amongst research, teaching, consulting and finding more work. Plus, if you need a reminder, I co-organized Mental Health Camp with the amazing Isabella Mori. So quite obviously, my participation in the VanChangeCamp organizing committee has declined substantially (for various reasons in adition to my being busy, but those reasons are only known to a couple of people in the organizing committee and a couple of close friends of mine).

Nevertheless, I recently saw a call for help from Reilly (one of the main organizers) asking to spread the word, and since I’m still participating with some tasks in VanChangeCamp, I figured it would be a good idea for me to blog about the fact that VanChangeCamp is actually happening. There is a number of amazing folks who are involved in some way or another (all of them in a volunteer, non-paid manner) to bring this event to fruition, and they should be commended. Having co-organized a full Camp on my own, and contributed to the organization of BarCamp 2008, I full well know how tough it is on everyone who is involved (just ask Isabella or myself – we were absolutely exhausted by the time MHC was over).

So, this post is just a reminder that Vancouver’s first ever ChangeCamp is coming to you on June 20th, 2009. After VanChangeCamp, there will be a party organized by the folks behind the Media Democracy Day and Save Our Net campaigns. You can register for VanChangeCamp through EventBrite, and learn more on their blog.

I had pitched a session for the structured, conference-type portion of VanChangeCamp, but it didn’t get chosen as part of the ’spine’ of the conference, and I’m not 100% sure I want to pitch it in the unstructured portion (BarCamp style). If there’s enough interest (i.e. if enough of my readers who will be participating in VanChangeCamp drop a comment here saying they’d be interested in hearing me speak about the topic) I might actually end up pitching my talk.

For those of you interested in what I was planning to present at VanChangeCamp, here is the abstract:

Session Title: Harnessing Social Media Tools to Mobilize and Engage Citizens in Climate Change Adaptive Strategies

Description of the session:
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) use a variety of strategies to galvanize public opinion and increase pressure on governments and industry to minimize pollution. My scholarly research has shown that NGOs have more effectively engaged citizens when (a) the issue is related to environment and public health and (b) there is ample room for information dissemination and a strong public awareness campaign. Climate change has become one of the most relevant environmental issues of the past few years. However, it appears as though BC residents are more concerned with mitigative measures rather than adaptive strategies. I am puzzled by why this would happen. I am wondering if one of the elements that is missing is a strong social media campaign on the part of the BC government to raise awareness and educate citizens about potential strategies to adapt to climate change.

The goal of the session is to:
Showcase a number of social media tools, as well as educate governments (and academics) on how to harness the power of social networking sites to disseminate rigorous research findings on adaptation to climate change in British Columbia. The session would be also intended as a brainstorming discussion on best practices on the use of social media to raise awareness in climate change policy.

Related posts:

1. My upcoming (to-be-pitched) talk at @VanChangeCamp
2. Vancouver ChangeCamp (VanChangeCamp) placeholder and idea bouncer
3. Chip’s Not Dead Yet Memorial Mile (Saturday, June 20th, 2009)

I’ll be creating a PBWiki and will insert all of this information there too.

Vancouver ChangeCamp Organizational Meeting
January 26th, 2009

Attending…
Joe Solomon (engagejoe) social media strategist – citizen-based engagement
Raul Pacheco (hummingbird604) environmental policy wonk/consultant – citizen participation
Paul Czene (pcz) youth worker with Van Park Board – engaging youth into participating
Heath Johns (urbantastic) micro-volunteering site – small chunks – social media amongst volunteering people
Beth Breines (bella_b) writer/editor/MBA Bainbridge
Justin Johnson – learned through Steve and ThinkCity
Ben Johnson (urbantastic) – micro-volunteering

What is a Camp
- An un-conference – no schedule – everyone arrives, describe the topics of what we’re going to do
- Open source organization
- Emerges from the BarCamp thingie

ChangeCamp, GreenCamp, GovCamp?
A discussion seems to emerge on whether we should focus on government or on sustainability. There are two or three tracks sort of emerging – government / sustainability / third sector? (although there is concern that it might be dangerous to categorize in this way) – the government doesn’t want to get compartmentalized – what are the ideas from outside – we know the hoops that people need to jump through. The feeling seems that the camp should be more “umbrella” – we are sort of starting square one – it’s an empty box and we can’t put an empty box and we can’t put anything already because we’re opening it.

We need still a bit of a focus – while you want diversity you want it specific enough that there is an audience. Invite people in a non-official capacity so that they don’t have to feel as though they’ll be held to anything.
Citizen-participation is a good umbrella term – to foster citizen-engagement. Government people should be able to join in without worrying about what they say.

Date of the Camp
Think about dates and the provincial election. – we decided on March 28th, 2009

Focus and directions of the Change Camp
Are we going to run into the problem of having too tight boundaries? How wide a focus? How narrow a focus?

Format of the Camp
Some people would like to have the Camp in the same format as “Marketers for a Change” at BarCamp — You got problems – we can crowd-source the problems. NetImpact – at the end of the night you basically solve a problem. There is another suggestion – that we do half and half. Two days sounds like a good idea. Theory in the morning / applications (solutions to problems) in the afternoon – maybe do two days — Most people want “concrete” but you also keep space for the more abstract. We’ve been talking government, we’ve been talking sustainability – ok, those are there, but there will be space for a new track.
Groundswell –
Part I (conference) – Part II (unconference)

Relationship w/government
Come in with some resources/plan on hand, they’re going to jump on the bandwagon. “here is what we can do and what we need?”
What’s the risk? Are we setting a new precedent? (for the government) – squeaky wheel works in Vancouver.

Two problems
1.- How do we structure the unconference?
2.- How do we market the unconference?

Theme – tools for change – you can come to a participatory event where you walk to wherever you want that change to happen

Government
Citizen engagement
Sustainability

Keep it unconference but make the marketing as “we are going to talk about sustainability AND other topics”

One person – one keynote – this is what the solution is going to look like – to avoid separating sustainability – you could say “this room is themed sustainability” or “this room is themed poverty”…

Choose your change – open platform – if you created an environment where the audience could show up and that audience design the event that is the unconference we are trying to represent those ideas its sort of an empowering tool that we are going to have a change camp and the people decide – how best we can facilitate that – wouldn’t it be in our best interest that the audience has the power to decide what gets changed – “I’m hosting a discussion ion poverty “ how can we best facilitate it in such a way that we empower the people to choose what changes they want to make.

Maybe just divide session by session – know information or collaborate – it’s a good mix (knowledge-sharing or action)
If you’re going to pitch a session it is a “learning session” or a “doing session”
1997 book – Open Space Technology – A User’s Guide
We kind of explored tracks.

Results from the meeting – agreement on two points

Choose Your Change – whether we go with the tracks or not, you’re still making a choice

Question
I want to explore what “choose your change looks like” – and what does “learning and doing” look like
Want to change but not necessarily know how to effect the change.
It allows people to be complete amateurs and STILL engaging. The big challenge is that there is a lot of people who want to contribute but it’s all jargon, all acronyms. Opening this up beyond “the usual suspects”
A lot of people want to sit back and digest – a two-tiered process. You can allow the introverts to still participate in the discussions – quietly contribute – they don’t necessarily want to be upfront.

With regards to t-shirts

You could have an “iron your own t-shirt” – transfer thingie – b/c environmental concerns

Related posts:

1. Vancouver ChangeCamp (VanChangeCamp) placeholder and idea bouncer
2. VanChangeCamp – June 20th, 2009
3. My upcoming (to-be-pitched) talk at @VanChangeCamp

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[UPDATE 2:20pm] Here is my email blast explaining the surge of VanChangeCamp – hope this makes it more coherent!

Hi all,

Rumor has it that the Vancouver Twittersphere is interested in a ChangeCamp Vancouver. We had talked previously about organizing an unconference (camp) about web 2.0 and effecting social change. You all have an interest in changing the world in one way or another. Some of you have been involved in sustainable farming, or empowering the disenfranchised and marginalized through non-profit work, etc. I have been always interested in enabling citizen participation in government policy making, particularly environmental policy. And well, I teach public policy and environmental policy, so …

My understanding of ChangeCamp (from the ChangeCamp Toronto site and a Summize search I did) is that the conference looked at citizen participation and the relationship of government with society in a web-enabled era. I might be wrong, of course, but this is what seems to transpire from it.

http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23changecamp

http://changecamp.ca/

HOWEVER

I also know that some of us had been wanting to speak about sustainability, web 2.0, etc. Furthermore, many of us do work on stuff that while not sustainability related is focused on effecting social change. So I think we can embed both aspects. Certainly, sustainability DOES require citizen participation.

I created a placeholder blog post that will definitely have to morph into a wiki.

http://hummingbird604.com/2009/01/26/vancouver-changecamp-vanchangecamp-placeholder-and-idea-bouncer/

All ideas obviously welcome. Feel free to forward my email to whomever might be interested.

Twitter is an amazing tool to bring people together. As I recently wrote, Twitter has enabled me to build new friendships and create networks that make things happen. Several of my Tweeps have been involved in using Web 2.0 tools to empower people (particularly the disenfranchised) and effect change. So, this post will serve as a placeholder to bounce ideas off about an upcoming ChangeCamp in Vancouver.

What is ChangeCamp? From the Toronto ChangeCamp website:

ChangeCamp is a free participatory web-enabled face-to-face event that brings together citizens, technologists, designers, academics, policy wonks, political players, change-makers and government employees to answer one question:

How do we re-imagine government and citizenship in the age of participation?

ChangeCamp addresses the demand for a renewed relationship among citizens and government. We seek to create connections, knowledge, tools and policies that drive transparency, civic engagement and democratic empowerment.

People that I have noticed talking about a local, Vancouver ChangeCamp (please don’t be upset if I didn’t mention you yet – I am more than happy to add you – remember, this post is a placeholder).

Karen Quinn Fung (@counti8) – social media, transportation – Karen attended ChangeCamp Toronto!
Joe Solomon (@engagejoe) – social media strategy, nonprofits
Lorraine Murphy (@raincoaster) – social media strategy, nonprofits
Ben and Heath (@urbantastic) – social media, nonprofits
Tom Williams (@tomwilliams) – GiveMeaning.com – nonprofits
Tamera (@tamera) –

Sustainability Tweeps -

I’m particularly interested in having people who work at the intersection of social media and sustainability, because citizen participation is key in creating environmental policy.

Government Tweeps -

Um, this is perhaps where I should place government officials on Twitter?

FIRST QUESTIONS

1.- Purpose of Vancouver ChangeCamp (I assume we’re still going with the same vision of ChangeCamp on the web-enabled relationship between government and civil society?)

2.- Scales of government who should be involved (I assume Federal, the Province of British Columbia and the various municipalities in Metro Vancouver)

3.- Logistics (we’ll have to talk about location, sponsors, speakers, etc.)

Feel free to add stuff in the comments and I will be reshaping this perhaps as a wiki.

[UPDATE - Paul from Mojave and Make Good also asked to get involved - feel free to drop me a comment or email me and I'll add you to the distribution list]

[UPDATE – I will add the folks who have asked me to be included to the list by the end of the day – please keep the comments coming – Lisa, Beth, Jason Mogus and David Eaves and everyone, no I haven’t forgotten you either!)

Related posts:

1. VanChangeCamp – June 20th, 2009
2. My upcoming (to-be-pitched) talk at @VanChangeCamp
3. Notes from the first #VanChangeCamp meeting