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# Citizens doing it for themselves
- URL: https://katecarruthers.com/citizens-doing-it-for-themselves/
- Published: 2009-11-28T21:36:08.000Z
- Updated: 2009-11-28T21:36:08.000Z
- Author: Kate Carruthers
- Tags: ideas, collaboration, community, technology, #Migrated-1775015344493, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-04-01 14:49

Recently, in the UK city of Birmingham, some people were unhappy with their local [Council's](http://birmingham.gov.uk/?ref=katecarruthers.com) new [£2.8 million](http://www.birminghampost.net/news/politics-news/2009/08/04/cost-of-new-birmingham-city-council-website-spirals-to-2-8m-65233-24307674/?ref=katecarruthers.com) website. Citizens took matters into their own hands and created [their own version](http://bccdiy.com/?ref=katecarruthers.com) of the Birmingham city website using an open source collaborative platform.

We can expect to see more of this kind of thing. Ordinary people choosing not to participate in an official channel and then creating their own channel instead. No longer are we constrained to use only corporate or official versions.

[#opengov](http://twitter.com/search?q=%23opengov&ref=katecarruthers.com) [#egov](http://twitter.com/search?q=%23egov&ref=katecarruthers.com)