CityCamp Ульяновск

Приветственное видео основателя CityCamp участникам неконференции “CityCamp Ульяновск”:

Privet Ulyanovsk. It is my great pleasure to welcome you to CityCamp. My name is Kevin Curry. I started CityCamp together with Jennifer Pahlka from Code for America and the support of many volunteers, sponsors and our host, The Rockefeller Foundation. I’m speaking to you today from my home in Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA. I was glad to hear about CityCamp Ulyanovsk. This is the third Russian CityCamp! There have been 14 CityCamps in 4 different countries since the inaugural CityCamp in January 2010.

CityCamp is an international un-conference series and online community dedicated to innovation for municipal governments and community organizations.

Each City Camp has four main goals:

1. Bring together local government officials, municipal employees, experts, programmers, designers, citizens and journalists to share perspectives and insights about the cities in which they live.
2. Create and maintain patterns for using the Web to facilitate local government transparency and effective local governance.
3. Foster communities of practice and advocacy on the role of the Web, mobile communication, online information, and open data in cities.
4. Create outcomes that participants will act upon after the event is over.

These goals are our means for taking responsibility for improving our cities and local communities. How these goals are implemented is up to you. Help make our cities smarter by implementing open data strategies. Serve cities and communities through crowdsourcing and organizing volunteers via the Web. Support public officials who are enacting open government initiatives. But we have much more to do. Core functions of government such as attending public meetings, responding to proposed changes in government, and maintaining transparency in government can and should be online. Too many technologies that government relies on are outdated and outmoded, while low cost, better solutions thrive everywhere. There are opportunities for innovation in cities and communities that will only be realized if we respond to these needs.

This is where you come in. Take this opportunity to do something amazing for Ulyanovsk. Decide what is important and what realizable and look for their intersection. Transportation? Planning? Public Participation? The environment? Seize this moment to connect with others who want to improve cities and communities in Russia. When you leave CityCamp find ways to pursue and implement your ideas.

In fact, during this event some of you will be competing in a hackathon. Winning a prize can help you gain the resources to move forward. It is my pleasure to invite the winner to CityCamp Congress next year, in Chicago. It will be our first global gathering for CityCamp since the first CityCamp in 2010. There you will meet like-minded individuals from over, exchange ideas and carry home what you will learn.

In conclusion, I commend you all for your participation in CityCamp. I wish Ulyanovsk and people from throughout Russia who are with you for this event.

Kevin Curry, Co-Founder of CityCamp