As you can tell from the video, Edmonton is a vibrant and dynamic City with a lot to see and do We are proud of our history and diversity We are equally proud of our community I’m here today to share with you Edmonton’s journey into Open Government Without our community none of this would have been possible

We are a national leader Culture – Art Gallery of Alberta Sciences – Manzankowski Hearth Institute Waste facility – we currently turn 60% our garbage into waste and now the rest will be turned into bio-fuels Great Neighborhoods – taking a holistic approach to community And now we are leveraging technology to be even more innovative Waste facility Research and Development Healthcare

The City of Edmonton is committed to openness and transparency in all aspects of city operations Public Meetings Council on the Web City Clerks Office

Initiating Open Government has been a natural extension of our residents’ commitment to our city From year round festivals to public consultations our residents are actively involved in our city By establishing an open government ecosystem, we are developing a way for residents to participate regularly and directly with their government

O School Police Park Open 311 reports and track non-emergency issues in public spaces Using a mobile device or computer anyone can enter information about a problem at a given location

the work that we are doing is truly an interconnected ecosystem Social Media is an important component of Open Government A majority of the images that you’ll see today come from our online photo gallery All of the images in the gallery are creative commons It has become an integral component of all of our communications efforts This has changed the way we interact with residents The two-way dialogue allows us to gain more insight about residents needs

Because having conversations 140 characters at a time doesn’t always work… In September 2009, local organizers gathered to re-imagine government and citizenship in the age of participation Change Camp is an unconference At this session, the need for Open Data emerged

To meet the needs of the people, we decided to pursue an Open Data Catalogue As a result, in November we hosted an Open Data unconference Goal: Determine our principles for open data

These words capture the feedback we received at the workshop standards, collaborative accessibility, transparency and open were some of the main themes

Then we looked to other cities and organizations around the world who had mapped out what Open Gov means to them City of Vancouver – Terms of Reference for Open Data Catalogue San Francisco – Open 311 pledge Washington DC New York Vancouver Toronto Sunlight Foundation Open 311

we currently have 38 data sets used OGDI platform

Once the Open Data catalogue was underway, it was time for us to reach out to the community again We had a very successful event – Open City Workshop It was important for us to connect with academic institutions, all levels of government and active residents to explore what their interest was

In the afternoon we had unconference/ camp style discussions Everyone was asked to contribute ideas and we got everything from “what is the role of journalism in Open data/ open gov” to discussions about the digital divide Democracy advocates seek more input in decisions Government critics seek transparency to keep elected officials honest and bureaucracy open Citizen advocates seek info about them, for them Entrepreneurs seek data to build tools that support consumers with useful info/data Academics seek information about populations for policy development…

It’s important for us to reach beyond our borders and connect with others interested in Open Gov This is why we streamed the day in both English and French

What the App competition is Why we chose to have it Great way to provide residents with tangible benefits

We wanted to make our open data catalogue a platform for more than City of Edmonton Data This year we collaborated with a major festival – the Edmonton Fringe As a result, one of our community member built an app for the Fringe

32 apps and 86 ideas were submitted

G4 explain what the G4 is in order to move forward it’s important that we work together

The need for national and international standards When apps are created, they will benefit more than just Edmontonians