Bob Dylan once wrote: The times they are a-changin’.
The famous line has never rung truer than today, especially in the way people communicate and exchange ideas using technology, a local group says.
Because of this change, a grassroots collective dubbed ChangeCamp is hosting a one-day participatory and web-enabled event intended to bring together citizens, policymakers, technologists, design-thinkers, change agents and media creators.
The hope is to enable a discussion on how to re-imagine government and citizenship in the age of participation.
“A group of people in Canada has started thinking about the question whether our civic institutions still meet our needs as Canadians, as voters and as citizens, particularly with web-enabled society,” said Justin Archer, ChangeCamp organizer.
“The ChangeCamp movement is to push the web-enabled potential to change the way our citizens are involved in government.”
Discussions will take place on Oct. 17 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the University of Alberta’s Lister Hall.
“We feel that it might be time to re-think our government institutions in light of the changes that have happened in society,” Archer said.
So far, 118 people have registered for the event, including senators, MLAs, school-board officials and concerned citizens.
“The only thing we’re driving for right now is participation,” said Walter Schwabe, CEO of Fusedlogic, social-media strategists sponsoring the event. “From our perspective, if people participate, we’ve been successful.”
Archer said the goal for the one-day open discussion is to ignite a new conversation about what it means to be in government today, what it means to be a Canadian, Albertan and Edmontonian when new technologies and processes enable discussion, exchange of ideas, and debate.
For more information about ChangeCamp Edmonton, or to register for the discussion, visit changecampedmonton.ca
