MEDIA ADVISORY: Realizing Government Transparency and Openness ThroughStandard Web Technologies

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W3C eGovernment Stakeholder Meeting Welcomes IT and Policy Representativesfrom Government and Industry to Washington, DC March 12-13, 2009

Contact Americas, Australia--

Ian Jacobs, <ian@w3.org>, +1.718.260.9447

Contact Europe, Africa and the Middle East--

Marie-Claire Forgue, <mcf@w3.org>, +33.492.38.75.94

http://www.w3.org/-- 25 February 2009 --The World Wide Web Consortium's

main_page="Main_Page">eGovernment InterestGroup

will hold aspecial stakeholder meeting

hosted by theAmerican Institute ofArchitectson 12-13 March in Washington, DC to address the goals, benefitsand limitations of implementing electronic government. The two-day meetingprovides a global forum for IT and policy representatives from government andindustry to address the political, legal, financial, and social factors thatimpact the successful implementation of open government initiatives. The goalof the forum is to document progressive solutions for electronic government aswell as to develop a road map for developing Web standards to realize open andinteroperable solutions.

Representatives from global government organizations and private industrywill hear presentations from Ellen Miller, co-founder and executive director ofthe Sunlight Foundation; John Sheridan, Head of e-Services and Strategy for TheNational Archives of the United Kingdom; Kevin Novak, Vice President,Integrated Web Strategy and Technology, The American Institute of Architects,and Jose M. Alonso, W3C eGovernment Activity Lead and CTIC Fellow based inSpain.

In addition to presentations, the meeting will focus discussions on usecases and potential road maps related to the following topics:

• Government transparency, openness and interoperability of data;
• Citizen participation and engagement with government information;
• Use of social media among governments and citizenry; and
• Incorporation of standard technologies to reduce costs and increase productivity of information technologies.

These subjects are particularly timely for many government representativesin the United States, who are tasked with the Obama Administration's newpolicies towards openness and transparency in government.

Since its creation in June 2008, theW3C eGovernment Activity

fills adistinct gap in the Web and technology standards space. The group focuses onthe unique and diverse needs of governments throughout the developed anddeveloping World in enabling electronic service and information delivery, aswell as providing opportunities for discovery, interaction and participation.

Advance registration for the W3C eGov open meeting is required and seatingis limited. For more information, please contactJose M. Alonso

, W3C eGovernmentActivity Lead.

Briefings for the news mediaare available. Please sendinquiries to the W3C press requests list atw3t-pr@w3.org

.

About the World Wide Web Consortium [W3C]

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium whereMember organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together todevelop technical standards for the Web to ensure its openness, accessibility,and interoperability. W3C primarily pursues its mission through the creation ofWeb standards and guidelines designed to ensure long-term growth for the Web.Over 400 organizations are

list="List">Members

of the Consortium.W3C is jointly run by theMIT ComputerScience and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory(MIT CSAIL) in the USA, theEuropean Research Consortium for Informaticsand Mathematics(ERCIM) headquartered in France andKeio University

in Japan, and has additionalOffices worldwide. For moreinformation seehttp://www.w3.org/

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