What responsibilities and challenges come with open government?

Liveblog and livestream from the Open Government Partnership conference in Brazil.

A historic Open Government Partnership launched in New York City last September with 8 founding countries. Months later representatives from 73 countries and 55 governments have come together to present their open government action plans and formally endorse the principles in the Open Government Partnership. Yesterday, hundreds of attendees from government, civil society, media and the private sector watched in person and online as Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff spoke about her country’s efforts to root out corruption and engage the Brazilian people in governance and more active citizenship. United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton preceded her, defining an open or closed society as a key dividing line of the 21st century.

Today’s agenda included more regional breakouts and an opening plenary session on the “Responsibility and Challenges that Come with Openness,” video of which is embedded below:

Watch live streaming video from ogp2012 at livestream.com

The plenary featured short speeches and then several questions with the following panelists:

  • Omar Abdelkarim, Deputy Prime Minister, Libya
  • Francis Maude, Minister for the Cabinet, United Kingdom
  • Walid al-Saqaf, journalist and open government activist, YemenPortal.net & Alkasir
  • Ben Abbes, Secretary of State, Tunisia
  • Fernando Rodrigues, investigative journalist from Folha de São Paulo in Brazil.

The liveblog of the entire proceedings is embedded below.

Over the course of the conference, I interviewed many other notable attendees. Videos of the interviews are embedded below

Nika Gilauri, the Prime Minister of Georgia

Watch live streaming video from ogp2012 at livestream.com

Chris Vein and Warren Krafchik on the OGP and civil society

Watch live streaming video from ogp2012 at livestream.com

Francis Maude with a view on open government from the UK

Watch live streaming video from ogp2012 at livestream.com

Rakesh Rajani on the importance of civil society

Watch live streaming video from ogp2012 at livestream.com

Ginny Hunt from Google Public Sector on open standards

Watch live streaming video from ogp2012 at livestream.com
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