Open Government NYC meetup gaining steam
This past Monday marked the second meeting of the Open Government NYC meetup group. I started the meetup because I saw a lot of overlapping work happening in the space, and also a need to to define and cohere the open government movement. The Independence Year Foundation has sponsored my time, knowing that the meetup could only benefit the work we’re already doing.
Lots of ideas were shared at Monday’s meeting, but the one that sparked the most interest was the “policy sprint”. Techies will be familiar with the idea of a coding sprint, at which coders will choose a particular project on a particular day and code like hell until it’s done. We want to do the same thing with policy, so that by the end of the day we’ll have something that we can present to Albany or City Hall. Policy ideas included improved transparency of the Freedom of Informarion Law (FOIL) process, a general open government data policy, and a repeal of the publishing requirement imposed on new LLC’s.
While coding sprints have a long history, policy sprints are something new. Help us work out the details of this unique event by joining our google group and contributing your voice. Hope to see you at the next meetup!