links for 2010-06-21

A great opportunity now presents for a truly open form of governance. Working together as central, regional, local with the creative input of the agile software developer community we can begin to shape what a transparent state might look like for the benefit of citizens.

So here are a couple of do's and don't's for councils starting out on this road.

Former journalist Retha Hill was one of the 12 winners of this year's Knight News Challenge. Her winning concept, which was awarded £90,000, is CitySeed: an online platform where local people can propose topics for local news media attention.

The project will include a widget that news websites can put on their community pages to direct readers to suggestions for neighbourhood improvements.

"We have raised over £2,500 from donations and merchandise but not enough to publish – we believe that with millions of public £ going into 'giving the community a voice' and 'empowering' people a tiny % should go to real community magazines whether us or anyone else."

Gannett Broadcasting is launching community-focused websites in 10 of its TV markets that will be integrated within its existing websites in those markets.

Everybody’s piling on. The latest to join the fray?

Google. Via YouTube.

SF Weekly has the story here about Google very quietly contacting local bloggers and journalists in San Francisco with news of a video-based citizen journalism project that’s happening in July and August.

Open data is not a magic recipe for righting wrongs. What will move things on is the stories that communities tell about their situations and their possible futures. If open data has a part to play in this it will be through the bootstrap empowerment of projects like savvy chavvy, social startup labs and transition towns.