eGovernment at W3C
Better Government Through Better Use of the Web.

Earlier this month, the W3C staff proposed that the eGovernment Interest Group be re-chartered and a new Working Group be formed to create W3C Recommendations for Government Linked Data (GLD).
For more details, see the Activity Proposal. Members of the W3C Advisory Committee are encouraged to provide feedback before 29 April using WBS.

Two weeks ago, we held a series of discussions of eGovernment topics at the W3C Technical Plenary and Advisory Committee meeting (TPAC) in Lyon, France.

The first day consisted of a broad ranging discussion across eGovernment issues, lent some shape by presentations from W3C staff members. Some of the topics provoking the most discussion were licensing, privacy, open government data, identity, and eGov outreach.

The second day was focused on Government Linked Data (GLD). In the morning, thanks to the presence of key participants in these efforts, we had presentations on GLD efforts in the UK, Spain, France, and Germany. In the afternoon, we worked through a list of possible work items for a proposed W3C Working Group in this area. That work should emerge as a draft charter in the coming weeks.

One of the highlight’s of this year’s ICT 2010 event in Brussels was a Government Linked Data session: The European Commission’s Stefano Bertolo counted about 140 people in the room.

For more information about the session and its outcomes, take a look at the presentations, or contact W3C’s Ivan Herman.

For additional coverage, see: EPSIplatform, Euroalert

On Wednesday, 28 April, 9am Boston / 2pm London (see in other time zones), the W3C eGov Interest Group will host a presentation of draft legislation in New York State which would require “state agencies to make all public records, with certain exceptions, available on a single … web portal, without any fees or license or registration requirements.” [1]
Our presenter will be Paul Curtis, from the office of Assembley Member Micah Kellner, who introduced the legislation. Following the discussion, we’ll have an open discussion of this and related topics.

IG member, feel free to edit this wiki page to fill in related links,
question, etc: http://www.w3.org/egov/wiki/Open_Government_Laws.

To join for audio: +1.617.761.6200, +33.4.89.06.34.99 or +44.117.370.6152

• Conference Code: 3468 (“EGOV”), more instructions
• Please press “61#” to mute your line, “60#” to unmute.

To join for text chat:

• IRC: irc.w3.org:6665 channel #egov
• irc at W3C
• connect with mibbit

This is one of our new seminar-style Interest Group meetings: it will be
open the public, and we’ll start with the presentation, for up to an
hour. Afterword, we’ll switch to more of a business-meeting mode, with
our usual discussions about projects, planning, etc. Members of the
public are welcome to stay and listen for that part.

This week (9am ET Wed; see in your local time), the W3C eGov IG will host a presentation on the Linked Data API, a new approach to making Linked Data available for use by mainstream web developers. This development effort has been supported and motivated by the data.gov.uk project. We’re happy to have two of the developers, Dave Reynolds and Jeni Tennison, joining us to present.

To join for audio:

+1.617.761.6200, +33.4.89.06.34.99 or +44.117.370.6152
Conference Code: 3468 ("EGOV")
More instructions: http://www.w3.org/2002/01/UsingZakim

To join for text chat:

IRC: irc.w3.org:6665 channel #egov
http://www.mibbit.com/chat/#egov@irc.w3.org:6665

This will be the first of a new style of IG meeting: it will be open the
public, and we’ll start with the presentation, for up to an hour.
Afterword, we’ll switch to more of a business-meeting mode, with our
usual discussions about projects, planning, etc. Members of the public
are welcome to stay and listen for that part.

Tomorrow afternoon, several members of the Interest Group will be at FOSE presenting Putting Government Data on the Web: It sounds like a great idea. Now, how do we do it?.

If you’re in town, by all means come by. It’s free to many, and only $60 to the rest. I hear it’s a grand event (this will be my first time going), and it’s a good chance to connect with like-minded folks.

Meetings this week:

All meeting are on the usual teleconference bridge (+1.617.761.6200) with the conference code 3468(“EGOV”). For more details see teleconferences.

A few weeks ago, the IG started a set of parallel task force project groups. Here’s what’s on the calendar for this week:

These groups are just getting started, so if you want some say in their direction (and possibly eternal glory), now is a good time to get involved.

The W3C’s eGovernment Interest Group has published a Meeting Summary from its 12-13 March eGovernment stakeholder meeting in Washington, D.C. The purpose of the meeting was to obtain feedback on the First Public Working Draft of the group’s Improving Access to Government through Better Use of the Web, published on 1 March 2009. Featured speakers at the meeting included Beth Noveck, US Office of Science and Technology Policy, Ellen Miller, Sunlight Foundation, and Steve Ressler, GovLoop, as well as meeting co-chairs Kevin Novak, American Institute of Architects, John Sheridan, UK National Archives, and W3C Team contact Jose Alonso. Key subject areas addressed by participants were: Openness and Transparency in Government; Social Networking; Data Interoperability and Semantic Web in Government; and Multi-Channel Deliver and Information Access via Mobile Platforms. The term “eGovernment” refers to the use of the Web or other information technologies by governing bodies (local, state, federal, multi-national) to interact with the citizenry, other stakeholders, and between governments themselves. Learn more about the W3C’s eGovernment Activity. (Permalink)

On 12-13 March, W3C’s eGovernment Interest Group will hold a special stakeholder meeting in Washington, DC
to address a number of issues of high interest to government policy makers, elected officials, and managers of government information technology. Participants will document progressive solutions for electronic government and develop a road map for developing Web standards related to topics such as participation and citizen engagement, open government data, identification and authentication, and long-term data management. The meeting is open to the public, but advance registration for the W3C eGov open meeting is required and seating is limited.
W3C thanks the American Institute of Architects for hosting this meeting. Read the media advisory.