At Collabforge, we believe that the future of policy is connected, collaborative and community-driven. Many of our projects, starting with the groundbreaking Future Melbourne ‘City Plan that Anyone Can Edit’ all the way up to the Speak.Share.Thrive platform hosted by Alberta Canada’s Department of Human Services, exemplify this spirit. Collabforge’s role is to support government departments through the process of building a culture of collaboration as well as implementing technology strategically, in order to take a participatory approach to policy.

A big part of this equation is open source software: free tools that make it easy for organisations of any size to get on board with innovative new approaches. Acquia is a company that supports organisations in adopting and maintaining open source software, and they have begun hosting a series of conferences and webinars to promote this exciting new way of doing business.

In their next webinar on September 25th (register here), they’ll be featuring two topics close to our heart:

Alberta Government: Speak. Share. Thrive. – Policy 2.0 Platform

The Alberta Department of Human Services has been tasked with developing the province’s first ever Social Policy Framework. In order to make the process as inclusive and collaborative as possible, they sought Collabforge’s help in developing a platform for online participation in the consultation process. The use of open source tools, driven by effective engagement strategy, has allowed them to build a robust and user-friendly platform. The underlying Drupal software gives them full control and a wide range of options as they continue to build new features and improve the user experience.

Pia Waugh: The role of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in Government

Pia Waugh is a community leader for open government. Having formerly worked in Australia for Senator Kate Lundy, Pia spearheaded the growth of the Australian ‘open government’ community by organising events such as GovHack, GovCamp and other events that bring together a diverse range of citizens who want to see government data made open for reuse.  Pia will be talking about why governments around the world are seriously considering widespread adoption of open source software, and why this is a real and valid option for Australia.

 

Acquia have also arranged three in-person viewing locations, for those who want to take the opportunity to meet others interested in these topics. Collabforge will be attending at the Melbourne location, and we hope to see you there!

Here are the details:

Register here: http://www.domorewithdrupal.com.au/webinar-registration

(Why register? So that we can track attendees to the locations below and forewarn the hosts!)

When?  Tuesday 25th September, 12pm to 1pm

What?  We’ve got two great presentations for you that we’ll keep to around 30 minutes.  We’ll take some questions at the end, and then give you some time to network and talk about the presentations with those around you.

Where? In order to allow you the opportunity to network with your peers, we’ve arranged for several locations for you to meet and watch the presentations together:

  • Canberra: FaHCSIA, Tuggeranong Office Park, Soward Way (cnr Athllon Drive), Greenway
  • Sydney: NHCCN, Level 19, 133 Castlereagh Street
  • Melbourne: Department of Business and Innovation, Level 20, 80 Collins Street

If your city doesn’t yet have a location, and you are open to hosting your peers for this lunchtime webinar/networking, please contact christopher.harrop@acquia.com

Or, on the web

Alternatively, you can join from any PC or laptop.  We’ll be using Webex that unfortunately does require a browser plug-in.  You can test the plug-in ahead of time here: http://www.webex.com/test-meeting.html

Once you’ve got it working, join the webinar here:

https://acquiameetings.webex.com/acquiameetings/j.php?ED=198410662&UID=1111870652&RT=MTgjNTU%3D

If you prefer to use your telephone for audio, call 1800 804 786 with participant code: 803 643 9854

Q&A: In the interests of time, please send you questions to christopher.harrop@acquia.com.  Questions that arise during the webinar will be answered after the event.