[CivicAccess-discuss] inviations? + tranlated letter + plans?

[Michael Lenczner]

I moved some stuff around.  And I'm just showing the english because I
couldn't keep the flow when I was going back and forth from english to
french.

Mostly i just rearranged and tried to tighten things up.  The only
thing I added was the bit about being humble and sincerely inviting
people as "real" co-founders - because I think if we didnt' say that
we might be viewed a bit as "who the hell are these guys and who do
they think they are?".  And I think it's an important part to
recognize that there are people who have put a lot more thought and
sweat into this goal than me.


-----------------------------------
Hi There,

Stéphane, Patrick, Michael and Tracey would like to invite you to
become co-founders of a new civic engagement space - Citizens for Open
Access to Civic Information and Data (COACID).  We are contacting you
because we know that you have been thinking and talking about these
issues, have been actively engaged in related activities, and also
because each or you has unique expertise, knowledge and experience to
contribute to this type of activity (i.e. policy work, open source,
social planning, data access, technology development, mapping, etc.).

The motivation for this project is the belief that the combination of
stronger open access to civic information and data along with new
information and communication tools can encourage and support a more
informed and engaged citizenship.

As concerned citizens of our neighborhoods, cities, provinces and
country we are trying to contribute to the development of a larger
community of practice around open civic data in Canada.  Besides
helping us make better informed choices as voters and keeping
government more transparent and therefore accountable, civic
information and data are the essential bits and bytes required to
re-imagine, re-envision, visualize and critically analyze the
communities we live in.

A discussion list and a wiki with some draft content have been
created.  A wiki is a collaborative tool that will host content and
resources discussed on the list.  This mailing list and wiki exist to
help people with these beliefs and interests share their skills,
information, and resources and to support each other in relevant
activities and projects.

Please join the list and introduce yourselves, check out the wiki,
share your ideas and interests, add content and discuss issues you
think are important from your unique and diverse perspectives.  We
also think it would be beneficial and productive to temporarily
discuss in a smaller group context. We are asking for your help to
collaborate in the formation of what COACID should be before we open
it up to the larger public.

We're serious about inviting you to collaboratively create this space
with us – so please feel free to make suggestions and modifications
you feel would be beneficial.  We recognize that many of you already
have a large involvement in this area and it would be a waste to
launch this project without your input and support.  Unfortunately we
can't identify and invite every person who works in this area across
Canada, but we have gone out of our way to request the involvement of
as many practitioners as possible.

We look forward to developing this community with all of you.  See you
on the mailing list!

Cheers
Stephane, Patrick, Michael and Tracey