IT in the Community

We recognize that people want to talk to each other, to make City Government work brilliantly, to seek challenges, to grow, and to share ideas that build and improve Edmonton. We are using technology as a platform to have discussions, identify challenges and develop solutions with the community.

The City of Edmonton recognizes that actively collaborating with City employees, citizens, municipalities, as well as private and not for profit institutions, will help transform Edmonton into one of the best mid-sized cities in the world. A creative and innovative city; the kind of city articulated in the City’s vision “The Way Ahead”. The initiatives listed below are just some of the ways that the City is encouraging and expanding Edmonton’s virtual public square;  the ‘Edmonton of ideas’.

Festivals

IT at the Metropolis Winter Festival
The City of Edmonton’s Information Technology Branch was invited to host a full weekend of programming at Edmonton’s inaugural Metropolis winter festival. From January 13-15, 2012 in the Community Centre Pavilion, the Information Technology Branch showcased the increasingly important role that technology plays in Edmonton and other great Northern Cities.

Workshops and Conferences

CityCamp Edmonton
CityCamp is an unconference focused on innovation for municipal governments and community organizations. As an unconference, content for CityCamp is not programmed for a passive audience.  Instead, content is created and organized by participants and coordinated by facilitators. Participants are expected to play active roles in sessions. This provides an excellent format for creative, open exchange geared toward action.

DemoCamp Edmonton
DemoCamp is an event that brings together developers, entrepreneurs and investors to share what they’ve been working on and to find others in the community interested in similar topics. For presenters, it’s a great way to get feedback on what you’re building from peers and the community, all in an informal setting. Launched in 2008, DemoCamp Edmonton has steadily grown into one of the largest in the country, with 200-300 people attending each new event.
 
Open City Workshop
On March 6, 2010, the City of Edmonton hosted the Open City Workshop to bring together community leaders, academics, students, technology enthusiasts and public sector employees to explore and advance the role of Open Information in Alberta's capital region. They discussed current and planned activities in Edmonton and other Canadian and international jurisdictions as well as possibilities for government, community, academic and private organisations. 
 
Technocon
Technocon is a professional development conference jointly hosted by the IT Departments of the University of Alberta and the City of Edmonton. Held at the UofA campus, the conference is attended by IT professionals from across the City, the UofA and various other government and private sector organizations. 

Contests

Apps4Edmonton
Together with community partners, the City of Edmonton proudly launched Apps4Edmonton in 2010 - a contest which encouraged residents to develop applications that would benefit Edmontonians.  Every Edmontonian had an opportunity to actively participate in re-shaping our city.  Using data sets from Edmonton’s Open Data Catalogue, participants were challenged to develop an app for either a smart phone, mobile device, or PC web browser.    

Partner Organizations

FutureGov
FutureGov is Asia’s only government, education and healthcare modernisation title. Serving the largest and longest established network of senior public sector officials in Asia and the Middle East, FutureGov works closely with its readers to identify the opportunities for improving the governance, efficiency and citizen engagement of public sector organizations.

MISA (Municipal Information Systems Association) Prairies
MISA is an established Canadian association of municipal government representatives and others interested in the effective use of information technology to provide better and more cost-effective services to municipal taxpayers and clients.

For more information:

Ashley Casovan

Title	Strategic Coordinator, Office of the CIO
Telephone	780-423-4733
Email	ashley.casovan@edmonton.ca