Rewired state – hack the government day

WRITTEN ON January 26th, 2009 BY Paul Smith AND STORED IN Uncategorized

As momentum continues to build for more and more centralised IT (check out the start of Contact Point), another significant move in the other direction appears on the horizon.

A gathering of geeks is set to work out how to get data out of government and make it useful! It’s on March 7 in London and so far 62 people have said they are interested. Should be revealing to see what a squad of geeks and wonks can achieve in a day. All at no cost to HMG.

A small declaration of interest, Kable, the original supporter of Ideal Government, is now owned by Guardian News and Media Ltd.

6 Responses to “Rewired state – hack the government day”

 
Ideal Gov administrator wrote on January 27th, 2009 3:59 am :

Yup – I was wondering if all parents should mark the introduction of ContactPoint by doing Subject Access Requests on behalf of their children. Any idea how to go about that?

Also, can we request to be opted out on the basis we’re too famous and important? I was on TV 335 times last week (CCTV, that is, but it all counts!)

Ideal Gov administrator wrote on January 27th, 2009 4:06 am :

PS the “declaration of interest” isnt down there with House of Lords type behaviour. It just means:

– Kable was very enlightened to start IdealGov
– GNM has been very enlightened to put up with its continuation
– and it’s jolly decent of GNM to accommodate this ragamuffin posse of hackers in its smart new offices.

Signed up; looking forward to it!

James Darling wrote on January 27th, 2009 6:27 am :

Two quick clarifications:

1. 62 upcoming users have expressed interest. I can assure you it’s more that that overall (not that this is a penis size competition)
2. It’s not a squad of geeks and wonks. Geeks only.

Government and Geeks work in very different ways, quite rightfully. But with the growing need for Government to figure out this internet lark, then figuring out how to make these two systems work together is key.

Rob Knight wrote on January 27th, 2009 6:28 pm :

Provisionally hoping to make it to the event – following on from the Convention on Modern Liberty the previous weekend will mean lots of travel to London. Fortunately I’ve got plenty of other reasons to be down there!

Ideal Gov administrator wrote on January 28th, 2009 12:27 am :

Hhmmmmmm. I suspect when the world is divided into geeks and wonks i end up in the wonk pen. Perhaps I’d better not go after all…

Paul Smith wrote on January 28th, 2009 2:05 pm :

Geeks and wonks – all welcome.

First, this is how (partly) how the registration forms asks you to describe yourself.

Second, my dictionaries describe a wonk as a “nerd” or “an expert” or “a student who studies excessively”.

Now, if we can get some “policy wonks” interested in the out-turn – that’s progress.