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We live through important times in the short history of public services. Traditional e-government policies have not delivered the promised benefits in terms of a more efficient, effective and user-oriented public administration. Web2.0 proved to be more than yet another hype, and it is having a disruptive impact on the service sector. Public services are a particularly active field, where a huge amount of bottom-up initiatives have been launched.

Public services 2.0 is NOT:

-a purely technological issue

-another priority to be added on top of existing e-government priorities

-relevant only for participation activities

Instead, public services 2.0 is a radical cultural change in the way public services are delivered across sectors and levels of government.

We call for government to fully embrace the principles of web2.0 in delivering public services:

- Transparency: government data and services should be by default open and reusable, in machine readable format. This includes internal monitoring systems and workflow management systems. This will allow third parties to monitor government and to provide value-added services, more in line with users needs. Non-disclosure of data is allowed on the ground of privacy and sensitivity of data, provided public explanation is given. E-government projects in particular should provide the example of transparency.

- Standard. the Open Source software must be able to use all the data and to access all the public sites. Althought if the administration make software, it must be open source and, of course multiplattform.

All the data and software provided must be non plattform dependent, that minds every citizen can use it from any kind of Operating System or device with Internet access. Non propietary solution must be allowed to buy from administration if there are any other open source solution that works. Because taxes are better used in open source software and operating systems, propietary solutions must be only allowed if there are no alternative. paying for waht is free with tax money should become forbidden.

-collective intelligence: all individuals have specific knowledge which can help solve public issues. Government should systematically and actively seek open advice when dealing with complex matters, through crowdsourcing and similar approaches. Furthermore, government should host connections between users of public services, in order to let users help each other.

-public feedback: in an often non-competitive market such as public services, users voice has to be openly collected and published for all public services, in order to better understand users needs and to publicly expose government performance. Government should proactively seek public feedback, possibly through independent third parties, and allowing anonymous contributions.

-new innovation model: experimentation and failure have to be accepted as organic part of the innovation process. Bottom-up initiatives should be proactively stimulated through procurement and prizes.

-Subsidiarity: government are not the only providers of public services. Citizens-led self-help groups have a greater role to play, thanks to the dramatic reduction in costs. Government should proactively encourage peer-to-peer production of public services, and act only when the impact is sub-optimal.

The benefits can be huge, in terms of better quality of services and citizens engagement. But there are challenges which need to be addressed:

-skills and divide: public services 2.0 require edicated citizenship, in terms of basic media literacy and advanced programming skills. Government should ensure that such skills are widely available to individuals and organisations, by promoting training or access to advanced IT skills for all social groups

-upscaling: current bottom up initiative require organisational and technological innovation in order to become mainstream. Research and innovation programmes should be promoted to accompany the upscaling of such initiative.

These are important times. Opportunities are huge, but proactive action is needed! Change will take time, institutional settings have to be adjusted, but a clear radical change has to be visible now.

Finally, we dont simply ask government to do this. We are ready to make our part in innovating public services, and we will hold government accountable in implementing the principles presented here, by launching a crowdsourced mo

We live through important times in the short history of public services. Traditional e-government policies have not delivered the promised benefits in terms of a more efficient, effective and user-oriented public administration. Web2.0 proved to be more than yet another hype, and it is having a disruptive impact on the service sector. Public services are a particularly active field, where a huge amount of bottom-up initiatives have been launched.

Public services 2.0 is NOT:

-a purely technological issue

-another priority to be added on top of existing e-government priorities

-relevant only for participation activities

Instead, public services 2.0 is a radical cultural change in the way public services are delivered across sectors and levels of government.

We call for government to fully embrace the principles of web2.0 in delivering public services:

- Transparency: government data and services should be by default open and reusable, in machine readable format. This includes internal monitoring systems and workflow management systems. This will allow third parties to monitor government and to provide value-added services, more in line with users needs. Non-disclosure of data is allowed on the ground of privacy and sensitivity of data, provided public explanation is given. E-government projects in particular should provide the example of transparency.

-collective intelligence: all individuals have specific knowledge which can help solve public issues. Government should systematically and actively seek open advice when dealing with complex matters, through crowdsourcing and similar approaches. Furthermore, government should host connections between users of public services, in order to let users help each other.

-public feedback: in an often non-competitive market such as public services, users voice has to be openly collected and published for all public services, in order to better understand users needs and to publicly expose government performance. Government should proactively seek public feedback, possibly through independent third parties, and allowing anonymous contributions.

-new innovation model: experimentation and failure have to be accepted as organic part of the innovation process. Bottom-up initiatives should be proactively stimulated through procurement and prizes.

-Subsidiarity: government are not the only providers of public services. Citizens-led self-help groups have a greater role to play, thanks to the dramatic reduction in costs. Government should proactively encourage peer-to-peer production of public services, and act only when the impact is sub-optimal.

The benefits can be huge, in terms of better quality of services and citizens engagement. But there are challenges which need to be addressed:

-skills and divide: public services 2.0 require edicated citizenship, in terms of basic media literacy and advanced programming skills. Government should ensure that such skills are widely available to individuals and organisations, by promoting training or access to advanced IT skills for all social groups

-upscaling: current bottom up initiative require organisational and technological innovation in order to become mainstream. Research and innovation programmes should be promoted to accompany the upscaling of such initiative.

These are important times. Opportunities are huge, but proactive action is needed! Change will take time, institutional settings have to be adjusted, but a clear radical change has to be visible now.

Finally, we dont simply ask government to do this. We are ready to make our part in innovating public services, and we will hold government accountable in implementing the principles presented here, by launching a crowdsourced mo

As citizens empowered by information technology and new media call more and more into question what their governments do, the time has come to acknowledge that a new deal of mutual trust must be established between them. This new deal should make more room for citizens to be the driving force behind public policy. We have the people, the technology, the value system; we have the tools and the examples to inspire us and guide our path. We can and should make Europe the region with the most open public institutions on the planet.

Yet this does not mean to substitute government with spontaneous, private, bottom-up initiatives: we need government more than ever to ensure stability, growth and equal opportunities for all. It is not a zero-sum game of public versus private action, nor a matter of large versus small government.

We, the signatories of this declaration, want to help e-government policies improve public service through web-based collaboration. We therefore advance a set of priority action points for the next 3 years:

1) We expect to be able to reuse public data in order to make them more meaningful and useful. The whole spectrum of government information, from discussed legislation to budget data, should be made simple for citizens to find, access, understand, reuse and remix. This means releasing them swiftly, in open standard- and machine-readable format, thereby allowing third parties to monitor government and provide services more in line with users needs. Obviously, this should noy apply personal and sensitive data: we are concerned about privacy and security of our own data. We want government to lead the way by example in ensuring that the minimum amount of personal information is used in providing services to citizens.

2) We want to be able to give input and monitor government activities while they are desisgned and implemented. This applies to all types of activity, from legislation, where law proposals have to be published at an early stage, to government spending where each spending decision have to be published. E-government projects in particular should provide the example of transparent data on investment, implementation and results.

3) We expect respect: government should recognize that each citizen has specific knowledge, and should try to get knowledgeable, smart and dedicated citizens on board not simply out of a need to be accountable, but because their involvement will actually make the policy better. In the same spirit, we want government not to set up parallel services when there are already similar citizens-led initiatives.

4) We expect to be able to share feedback and insight on public services publicly with other fellow citizens, and to help each other in using them, just as we do for market services. We want government to facilitate this peer-to-peer conversation and mutual help between citizens, by supporting user-driven initiatives and/or by implementing such facilities on all government websites. We want government to allow civil servants to engage in direct open conversations with citizens through blogs and social networks.

5) We want to be empowered. All citizens have the right to help themselves solve their problems by collaborating with other citizens: we need government to ensure the universal availability of skills and resources to citiz

We believe that the European Union has a tremendous opportunity to rebuild the relationship between citizens and the state by opening up public institutions and by empowering citizens to take a more active role in public services and in public decision-making.

We expect to be able to share feedback and insight on public services publicly with other fellow citizens, and to help each other in using them, just as we do for market services.

We want government to facilitate this peer-to-peer conversation and mutual help between citizens, by supporting user-driven initiatives and/or by implementing such facilities on all government websites. We want government to allow civil servants to engage in direct open conversations with citizens through blogs and social networks.

We expect respect: government should recognize that each citizen has specific knowledge, and should try to get knowledgeable, smart and dedicated citizens on board not simply out of a need to be accountable, but because their involvement will actually make the policy better. In the same spirit, we want government not to set up parallel services when there are already similar citizens-led initiatives.

We want to be able to give input and monitor government activities while they are desisgned and implemented. This applies to all types of activity, from legislation, where law proposals have to be published at an early stage, to government spending where each spending decision have to be published.

We expect to be able to reuse public data in order to make them more meaningful and useful. The whole spectrum of government information, from discussed legislation to budget data, should be made simple for citizens to find, access, understand, reuse and remix. This means releasing them swiftly, in open standard- and machine-readable format, thereby allowing third parties to monitor government and provide services more in line with users needs. Obviously, this should not apply personal and sensitive data: we are concerned about privacy and security of our own data. We want government to lead the way by example in ensuring that the minimum amount of personal information is used in providing services to citizens.

Respect. Whoever you are, most of the smartest people don’t work for your institution. Governments and public agencies should try to get knowledgeable, smart and dedicated citizens on board not simply out of a need to be accountable, but because their involvement will actually make the policy better.

Participation. Public institutions should consistently seek out the contribution of citizens not only to provide feedback, but to help out in deliberating, delivering, monitoring and accessing policy.

As citizens empowered by information technology and new media call more and more into question what their governments do, the time has come to acknowledge that a new deal of mutual trust must be established between them. This new deal should make more room for citizens to be the driving force behind public policy. We have the people, the technology, the value system; we have the tools and the examples to inspire us and guide our path. We can and should make Europe the region with the most open public institutions on the planet.

With this goal in mind, we call on European governments and the European Commission to embrace the following principles:

1. Transparency - the information age version. The whole spectrum of government information, from discussed legislation to budget data, should be made simple for citizens to find, access, understand, reuse and remix. This means releasing them swiftly, in open standard- and machine-readable format, thereby allowing third parties to monitor government and provide services more in line with users needs.

2. Participation. Public institutions should consistently seek out the contribution of citizens not only to provide feedback, but to help out in deliberating, delivering, monitoring and accessing policy.

3. Respect. Whoever you are, most of the smartest people don’t work for your institution. Governments and public agencies should try to get knowledgeable, smart and dedicated citizens on board not simply out of a need to be accountable, but because their involvement will actually make the policy better.

4. Innovation bias. However well it is done, chances are it could be done better. Public institutions should actively encourage attempts at innovating in policy and provide sandboxes where experiments can be carried out at little or no risk. E-government policies should take the lead in embracing all of these principles right from the early design stage.We encourage Ministers to take immediate action in this direction, so as to ensure that Europe's citizens enjoy the benefits of more open and transparent government as soon as possible.

For the first time in modern industrial society, governments have the chance to realise the potential embodied in Bill Joy's observation that there will always be more smart people outside government than within it. And, in view of the scale and complexity of the challenges faced in the early 21st century, there has never been a more urgent time to realise this latent, distributed potential. The openness to iterative and collaborative experimentation and improvement that is characteristic of many Web 2.0 initiatives is one of the web’s deep lessons and, potentially, contains the means to transform our understanding and experience of governance. We believe that the European Union has a tremendous opportunity to rebuild the relationship between citizens and the state by opening up public institutions and by empowering citizens to take a more active role in public services and in public decision-making.

We want to be able to give input on and monitor government activities as they being designed, deliberated upon, implemented, and reviewed; for all types of activity, from legislation, where law proposals should be published at an early stage, to government spending where each spending decision should be published with clear and open rationale.

Public institutions should seek out the contribution of citizens not only to provide feedback and accountability, but to assist in deliberating, delivering, monitoring and accessing policy, because harnessing the salient knowledge and experience of individuals dispersed through the community will strengthen policy outcomes.

Also each deliberation should automatically produce a poll that asks the citizens how much do they agree on this activity of the government. We now have the tools to produce polls that are both produced automatically and statistically representatives. This will produce a constant feedback that will show to everybody the distance between the representatives and the represented.

Against this background, we commend, and ask Member States and the Commission to adopt, the principles of Transparency, Openness, Collaborativness, Pivacy and Responsability:

Transparency Principle: all public sector organisations should be required to make a commitment to transparency and should provide the public with a live stream of information on all aspects of their operations and decision-making processes. This should include a robust mechanism for citizens to highlight areas where they would like to see further transparency.

Openness Principle: We expect that the whole spectrum of government information, from draft legislation to budget data, should be made simple for citizens to discover, access, understand, reuse, and remix; releasing data swiftly, in open standard- and machine-readable format, thereby allowing third parties to monitor government and provide services more in line with users needs, and ensuring that the data is continuously available and continuously up to date.

Collaborative Principle: As citizens we expect to be able to share feedback and insight on public services publicly with other fellow citizens, civil servants, and governors in fluid peer-to-peer conversations, and to help each other in making the most of these services. All public sector organisations should have open and clearly-defined feedback mechanisms, so citizens can submit feedback and ideas and can see, comment and rate the feedback and suggestions of others.

Privacy Principle: Although Privacy and Openness superficially seem to be in contrast with each other we recognise that the honesty of feedback is sometiems only possible if the citizen are sure their input cannot be tracked back. As such we want government to ensure that the minimum amount of personal information is used and retained in providing those services to citizens.

Responsability Principle: Every person should have the tools to trackback every decision taken by members of the government.

And we expect and demand those principles to be applied to the following data

1) Government data: All information created by public institutions, must be public and easily accessible by citizenship. All information released by public sector organisations should be released in machine searchable ways to ensure maximum public value is gained from it.

2) Government legislation: all legislation and all planned legislation should be released electronically in web-accessible formats that make it easy for citizens to refer to, comment on, and link to particular paragraphs within proposals.

3) Government Spending: All government spending, at every level of the Government should be available for monitor and discussion in a paragraph based format.

4) Publicly-held data sets: except where there are genuine and insurmountable privacy issues, governments should look to share publicly-held data sets wherever possible and there should be a robust mechanism for citizens to request that additional data sets be made available.

From a technical point of view the way this is done is strongly correlated with the success os such initiative.

All the data and software provided must be non plattform dependent, that means every citizen can use it from any Operating System or device with Internet access. Governments must deploy Free/Open Source Software solutions unless there aren't any other open source solution that works. Because taxes are better used in software whose license is open, proprietary solutions should be allowed only if there's no alternative. Paying for equivalent solutions that are free should be considered unfair with citizens.

Feedback and commenting from citizens should be done in a tree commenting structure to permit focusing of the conversation to particular elements. And there shoud be ways for citizens that car commenting to be able to contact each other to permit the structuring of groups of citizens working on an issue.