First things first - Happy New Year to you all! Hope you’ve had a great break and are as keen to get going with 2010 as we are.

My first blog of 2010 is to let you know about what is bound to be one of the big events of the year in the digital government world. I’ve been fortunate enough to be asked to be a part of the Programme Committee for the second installment of Gov 2.0 Expo in Washington DC, a much expanded, more diverse and more global committee compared to the 2009 edition. You can read more over on the event website itself, but fundamentally the big idea behind Gov 2.0 Expo is all about:

showcasing the people whose ideas and projects have taken them from problem to experiment to solution. It’s about showcasing the innovative companies whose technologies are helping to make this possible. And it’s also about showcasing the many political and technological challenges and difficulties in this process.

The topics are as varied as the people involved. Government 2.0 is an umbrella, with lawyers thinking about government intellectual property, citizen advocates worried about a digital divide, and security experts concerned about protecting our cyber assets. Meanwhile, geeks are thinking about diverse issues that include cloud computing services, open data platforms, and mobile social media.

For my part, I hope to be able to bring a European perspective to the event, showcasing some of the many great projects we’ve seen in our work both in the UK but also the rest of Europe including at events such as Public Services 2.0 and Personal Democracy Forum Europe more recently. I have also been spending an increasing amount of time in the US talking to friends and colleagues working in the Gov20/digital engagement space out there and hope to continue to help share experiences across the Atlantic and beyond, which Gov 2.0 Expo is one key part of.

How to get involved

Unfortunately Christmas got in the way a little and I am pushing the event at you a little last minute, but if you are interested in sharing your Gov20/digital engagement story (read more about the event tracks here) the deadline for submissions is 6th January (ie THIS Wednesday - I know, sorry!).

Given the extremely short deadline, if you are interested but don’t have time to do the full submission in that time period, just email me at dominic [at] futuregovconsultancy [dot] com or message me on Twitter (or any other route you prefer) and I’ll see what we can do to make it work. The general rule of thumb is if it’s interesting, we’re interested…

Aside from the more general hints and tips provided by the organisers of the Expo, some of the kinds of - mostly UK based - examples that spring to mind (although clearly these are just the ones I know of and we’re very keen to find new and equally interesting little gems that haven’t been shouted about yet) might include projects/learning coming out of:

• 4iP
• Improvement and Development Agency
• Smarter Government
• Data.gov.uk and local government data
• Mash the state and OpenlyLocal
• Hyperlocalism
• Social Innovation Camp
• MySociety and related organisations
• Personal Democracy Forum Europe panelists
• Public Services 2.0 event

Or you may even have a project that addresses certain themes, for instance making Gov20 accessible to people with disabilities, or has had success in widening participation in digital government to the digitally excluded.

As I say, I’m certain there are plenty of other examples out there that I haven’t stumbled across on my journeys around the web just yet and we’re dying to hear from you too. What local councils out there doing interesting things? What has the NHS or its European counterparts been up to? Have the police been getting in on the act as well - I hear good things?

Now’s your chance to shout about what you’ve been up to. We’d love to hear from you and share with the rest of the world what is going on in the world of Gov20 digital engagement in the UK, Europe and beyond!