COA – Update on Site Process Requested – City Staff Responds

city-of-austinHi Doug,

Any update on the website progress? I saw the Whurley article in the statesman and noticed you mentioned the possibility of approving the contract with Cignex. I hope that is not seriously still under consideration.

Where is the process at this point?

Have there been further meetings with Gary Chapman at UT? Are there further RFP review sessions planned?

It appears the information on the AustinGo website has been stalled since April.

I’d appreciate being given an update on where the process stands. Or better yet, you could update the AustinGO site and I will point folks there for further details.

I think the OpenAustin.org is interesting, but not a viable process for something as large as the city’s website. If Whurley can come up with ONE example of a successful Open Sourced civic site that met deadlines and budgets I’d like to see it. Other than that, I think the site and further open sourcing discussions are a distraction from the business at hand.

Thank you for your time.

Respectfully,

JMac

@jmacofearth
permalink: http://bit.ly/COA-update
 twitter tags: #coawebsite and #openaustin

First Response from Douglass Mathews

Hi, John. CTM actually did hold a forum involving Dr. Chapman over the weekend. I’m off to a meeting, but can provide you with more details upon my return to the office. Thanks for your continued interest.

Doug.

2nd Response from Gail Roper

Gary Chapman helped us with the forum. I’ve had one other at UT and plan to have additional forums to gain input. We need some diversity in attendance.

Sent from my iPhone please forgive any typos

My initial response to Mrs. Roper.

On May 19, 2009, at 2:13 PM, “John McElhenney” wrote:

Hi Mrs Roper,

Thank you for the update. I am very interested in being involved in the “process” but at the same time to not want to disqualify my application as a vendor for the contract so I did not apply to join Dr. Chapman at the last talk. I did not see it promoted anywhere, however, and I am curious how we, the citizens, are supposed to keep up with the process.

The AustinGo site looks like the place, but it has not been updated since April. I think the attention derived from Whurley’s American Statesman article was interesting but not really a viable solution for the site.

Again, I am excited about the process, and would like to find a way to stay updated with the progress while not disqualifying myself an the 3 vendors from pitching as a unified team. Not open source, but using the Open Source collaboration model with a real world financial accountability and global launch experience.

I look forward to hearing how I could provide input or be part of any resource team you need to make the best decision for the city.

Respectfully,

JMac

Mrs. Roper’s 2nd reply:

We are trying to be very careful with outside participation to protect the purchasing process. As you know, the government sector has many guidelines that hold public servants accountable for their responsibility to purchasing and vendor relationships. Whatever is divulged to one vendor must be shared with all. We want to protect ourselves and our vendors from scrutiny. We have a personal goal to be inclusive both from the vendor perspective and as it relates to public input.

The AustinGo site will be updated after dialogue and direction from the City Manager, Mayor and Council has been accomplished.

Whurley’s ideas require process, governance, and structure. The Washington DC model is a model of public collaboration (Web 2.0) which Vivek Kundra spoke about in his presentation last year at the ERepublic conference in Arizona and the Open and Free Government Conference last Friday at UT. We are reaching out to the DC folks to better understand the business strategy to determine the value of best practice for Austin.

Doug and I are completely open to ideas and concepts. We appreciate your interest in the project and want to have as many trusted advisers at the table as possible.

I look forward to speaking with you.

Regards,

Gail Roper

Sent from my iPhone please forgive any typos

And my final wrap and request to be kept in the loop. A little funny that the AustinGO (government online) site is not being updated. Perhaps that could be Whurley’s first win to get the city staff to use the web 2.0 technologies we’ve all heard about (RSS, Twitter, blogs) to keep the swarm of Austinites now interested in this project.

Ms. Roper,

I completely understand.

Again thank you for keeping me in the loop.

Perhaps an RSS feed or something would help you get the word out and keep people like me from buggin ya. And then I will do my part to get the info broadcast even further.

I look forward to our first meeting in the future sometime.

Thanks,

JMac

  • http://whurley.com whurley

    Hi JMac,

    There was a meeting on Saturday, and the video should be available thought the city and in reruns on channel 6.

    As far as the update. The city is in a transition on several levels and could not (to no fault of their own) provide an update with any specifics or dates; only that the were looking at every option. I would expect something out of them within the next few weeks.

    Respectfully,
    whurley

  • admin

    Thanks Whurley. Were you at the meeting?

  • http://www.fg2.com Steve Golab

    Jmac, thanks for keeping this issue on the front burner, baby! COA Web should stay in ATX.