E-Democracy – the Revolution Starts Here

Posted by Kayla on Friday, August 21, 2009

iBurgh has gotten a lot of attention for Pittsburgh, and the potential of creating an E-Democracy movement right here. The principle of E-Democracy  is based on the belief that technology like mobile applications, web-based social media, and electronic two-way communication, can be utilized to empower people to have more say in their government.  

pa-pittsburgh-13434The benefits for Pittsburgh are two-fold.  First, greater public participation means greater transparency and accountability as people take a greater role in their government.  Second, the technology produced can be exported from anywhere – Pittsburgh has the talent to build the industry here.  Unlike cable tv or phone complaint centers, the initial iBurgh application will be updated to become a two-way mobile communication between government and it’s citizens.  With the addition in the next few months of web-based data resources, embedded webcast council meetings, and initiatives to include both community organizations and the city’s tech firms, Pittsburgh will take a worldwide leadership role in this emerging industry.
 

Within the first four days after the launch of iBurgh the application was downloaded 3000 times.  Also, the cities of Charlotte, Minneapolis, and San Jose have contacted us to get an iPhone app created in their cities.

The launch of iBurgh this week has received a lot of attention, and reports from all across the country and world are putting Pittsburgh in the spotlight.  Some of the articles from outside Pittsburgh include:
 

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