[CivicAccess-discuss] maybe OT - values of CivicAccess

[Christopher D. Ritter]

Michael had mentioned some concerns regarding the difference between:

1. 'Open Access' which allows citizens to freely access their government
data.
2. 'Open Governance' which allows citizens to interact with their government
data.

Personally, I'm subscribed to two different email lists. Apart from
CivicAccess, the Metagovernment Mailling list focuses on the second point by
developing numerous open source 'open governance' applications.

While I remain a huge supporter of open governance -- as I believe that we
should not only have access to our data, but also have access to tools which
allow us to manage our goverment data (including our votes) -- California
Issue 8 brought about the same concerns Michael had originally mentioned.

Specifically, non-gay (aka Straight) voters had the option to approve or
deny the rights of gay couples to legally marry and adopt children. I
believe this is an excellent example of the majority determining the rights
of a minority, and I wonder if this might be further amplified in an open
governance scenario?

On Fri, Nov 21, 2008 at 4:44 PM, Jennifer Bell <jenniferlianne at yahoo.ca>wrote:

>
> I see.  And you feel that this multiplicity of backgrounds was being
> ignored before?
>
> I'm curious what the specific trigger was for this thread...
>
> Jennifer
> visiblegovernment.ca
>
> --- On Fri, 11/21/08, Hugh McGuire <hugh at hughmcguire.net> wrote:
>
> > From: Hugh McGuire <hugh at hughmcguire.net>
> > Subject: Re: [CivicAccess-discuss] maybe OT - values of CivicAccess
> > To: jenniferlianne at yahoo.ca, "civicaccess discuss" <
> civicaccess-discuss at civicaccess.ca>
> > Received: Friday, November 21, 2008, 3:35 PM
> > > I'm curious: what makes you think the values of
> > Civic Access are being shanghied?
> > not speaking for michael, but i don't think there is a
> > concern that values of of CivicAccess are being shanghied.
> > rather a desire to recognize that the collection of people
> > her come from different philosophical and practical angles.
> >
> > strangely, though I know michael well, i never really
> > understood why my particular concern about open data -- that
> > is, "better decision-making" -- was not
> > michael's interest in the issue. I never quite got what
> > his interest was ... answered in his last post: a question
> > of justice: ie, all citizens should have access to the same
> > benefits from the government, not just corporates who can
> > afford to pay high feeds for government data.
> >
> > that makes for a very different take on things, as does a
> > desire for more efficiency, better tax/spending
> > accountability etc.
> >
> > they are all different reasons for being interested in
> > civic access issues ...
> >
> > so not to put words in michael's mouth, i'll
> > instead say what I think about all this: the issue of civic
> > access is important enough that a broad coalition of
> > people/groups can support it, without having to agree on the
> > reason for *why* they want civic access to happen...but we
> > should also remember that the group here spans the political
> > and philosophical spectrum.
>
>
>       __________________________________________________________________
> Yahoo! Canada Toolbar: Search from anywhere on the web, and bookmark your
> favourite sites. Download it now at
> http://ca.toolbar.yahoo.com.
> _______________________________________________
> CivicAccess-discuss mailing list
> CivicAccess-discuss at civicaccess.ca
> http://lists.pwd.ca/mailman/listinfo/civicaccess-discuss
>



-- 
Christopher D. Ritter
User Experience Designer
christopherritter at gmail.com

Visit Critteropolis Today!
critteropolis.myminicity.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.pwd.ca/pipermail/civicaccess-discuss/attachments/20081122/a7bf9aaf/attachment.html>