Events
Resources for Edmonton
Best Practices for Edmonton
- The three characteristics to a successful open data/government transparency initiative are political sponsorship, administrative leadership, and community engagement. The priority is to align strategy between political and administrative support to ensure there is a goal. This coalition can go a long way and probably build a stronger relationship than a strong legislative policy. CIO Chris Moore, ultimately, believes that need to be open by default, so policy shouldn’t be necessary.
- The open data policy received very little resistance from agencies, as most of the data was already online. It was matter of compiling them into one location for accessibility. While the formats might be different, Moore stressed the importance of information and how it helps with application development.
- From Chris Moore: “At this meeting [a series of organizational meetings for IT staff members in Edmonton] we wanted to draw together all of the discussions in the Town Hall meetings and chart a way forward. You will notice that we did not stop and write a project charter, assign a project manager and do a project plan. This change effort had grown from an organic process and organic it would stay. Now we did have plans an structure, but none so rigid that would not allow for a course correction. Prior to the meeting we pulled the extended leadership team together, so this was all IT Directors ad their managers to talk about what we were embarking on. We reflected on the past and all the great “World Class” successes that Edmonton IT had. We talked about engaging the managers and staff further in the upcoming changes. We also spoke of our plans to pursue outsourcing for IT at the City of Edmonton. Outsourcing had be hanging around like a dark cloud over the heads of the IT staff for somewhere between 5 and 10 years. We had to study it, we had experts consult on it and analyze it, but we had never decided to pursue it or to stop pursuing it. We decided to move forward with it, and if it made business sense to implement it.”
- CIO Chris Moore desires to build a open government that sets the standard for the provinces in Canada.
- Moore’s plans for Edmonton aren’t limited to open data. “It’s more about an open ecosystem, which includes open data, open standards, open source and open networks.”
Apps4Edmonton Contest
- Prizes for Apps4Edmonton - Set for Fall 2010
- Overall: 1st Place - $12,500 ; 2nd Place - $5,000 ; 3rd Place - $2,500
- City Goal Prizes - $5,000
- Preserve and Sustain Edmonton’s Environment
- Improve Edmonton’s Livability
- Transform Edmonton’s Urban Form
- Shift Edmonton’s Transportation Modes
- Ensure Edmonton’s Financial Sustainability
- Diversify Edmonton’s Economy