Hello all, I am at the Web Manager at the Scottish Parliament and will be attending this event.  The Parliament has been considering ways of exploiting Web 2.0 technologies for both its external and internal sites.  We are dipping our toes in the water at the moment, trying to see what works and what doesn't, both for us and for other organisations.  From this event I am hoping to get a better feel for this and would find it really useful to hear other people's experiences, as well as an idea for what others might expect from the Parliament in this arena.  Please use this wiki to give me an indication of what attendees are interested in hearing about, and also what you would expect the Parliament (and indeed the Government) to be exploiting.  

Thanks, Emma Armstrong.  

Can attendees list what they would like to discuss here ?

Emma - thanks for starting this thread

1)    I think there are examples of where people are already helping others to see what is happening at the Parliament. Presumably, you have enabled this access by allowing open access to your web pages, so that others can "mash" the content.

theyworkforyou is a great example

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/scotland/

2)    It would also be really helpful in the future to be able to find a handful of elected representatives who are prepared to engage with this debate. Tom Watson MP down in England has made a virtue of connecting with the web

http://www.tom-watson.co.uk/

He is also a Cabinet Office Minister so this has really helped raise the profile of how the web can engage with citizens

3)    I am hoping that the Scottish Parliament will " free our data " and enable volunteers, and civic society, to then use this data for their purposes to help each other keep informed about e.g. schools, hospitals, life in general

In these uncertain economic times, making more data available for free, so that others can use it, might lead to positive outcomes. Until the people at the Parliament are prepared to take the risk, we are not making best use of our potential talents.