Davidson Building, 5 Southampton Street
London, WC2E 7HA, England

// THE OPENGOV IMPERATIVE:
Much has been made of the ability for internet technologies to herald a new era of participatory democracy. However, current structures of governance and representative democracy have evolved for many reasons: deliberative analysis, recognising resource constraints, balancing competing demands, and taking a long-term perspective.

Social technologies have massive potential to involve the public across the policy lifecycle - from identifying issues to identifying alternative solutions, from designing public interventions to their delivery. It is certainly possible that, properly administered, the “Wisdom of the Crowds” can extend and improve the way we consider and develop policy.

But equal to the opportunities of these technologies are the inherent challenges of mass deliberation. How do we efficiently “take onboard” hundreds or thousands of different comments? How do we avoid the vocal minority from hijacking debate from the quiet majority? How do we ensure meaningful deliberation?

// WHAT IS OPENGOV:
OpenGov is a a one-day conference (morning to mid-afternoon) to explore the challenges and opportunities of applying social technologies for engagement and collaboration in policy development and delivery. Details can be found at www.opengovevent.com.

The bulk of the programme will be devoted to a few panels discussing the implications of social technologies on the following themes:
• constituent engagement and participation
• collaboration throughout the policy lifecycle
• mobilisation and delivery

We will discuss practical strategies and approaches, and highlight examples of OpenGov occurring in the UK and around the globe.

// WHO IS IT FOR:
* Policy-makers
* Special Advisors
* Ministers & Agency Executives
* Local Authority Executives
* Communications and Engagement

Official Website: http://www.opengovevent.com/

Added by addingvalue on April 7, 2009

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