Top 7 Videos about Open Government Software and Technology

The Open Government movement is an effort towards making government information transparent and accessible in order to encourage civic participation and promote efficiency. A recent development of this concept is the theory of open source governance, which encourages the development of software to allow citizens to participate more directly in the legislative process. Check out the videos below to learn more about basic terms, key players and events.

	David Eaves: Open Government. Open Government activist David Eaves explains the basics of Open Government, Government 2.0 and open data. See also Open Data, Baseball and Government, explaining the importance of the availability of government data and how people can use this information to make improvements.
	Civic Hacking in Pursuit of Democracy. A Sunlight Foundation effort to brainstorm and identify solutions for problems around the country. These “civic hackers” create apps and software to benefit their communities. Their National Day of Civic Hacking on May 31 – June 1, 2014 just passed.
	President Obama at the Open Government Partnership Event. A panel announcing an Open Government Declaration rooted in several core principles. See also the White House’s Open Government Initiative website.
	Sunlight Foundation. A short video introducing the Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit organization striving to increase transparency and accountability in the United States Congress, the executive branch, and in state and local governments.
	Lawrence Lessig: Only You Can Get This, So Where Are You? Lessig gave this presentation as the keynote address of February’s Scale12x, the twelfth annual Southern California Linux Expo. The political activist points out inefficiencies in government and how people can use technology and open government to create positive change.
	Open Government Partnership. A video introducing the Open Government Partnership, an organization pursuing commitments from partnership organization to promote transparency, fight corruption, foster civic participation and harness new technology to make government more open, effective and accountable.
	*Gavin Newsom: Citizenville, Talks at Google.* Lieutenant Governor of California Gavin Newsom discusses his inspiration for his book, Citizenville, which outlines how citizens can use technology to improve their governments.