Now that we've had a chance to catch our breath from the launch of Expert Labs, it's a good time to take a quick look at how this new initiative has been received. Here are a few early reports on our effort from across the web:
Dash said the goal of the Expert Labs incubator is not create a new social network, but to “us[e] open web technologies [to] make it easy for policy makers and scientists to connect with one another using the web sites and programs they’re already familiar with” such as Facebook and Twitter. Further inspirations for the program include the innovative digital arts program Eyebeam and Peer-to-Patent, which allows citizens to help find relevant information for assessing patent applications.
- Fast Company: "Expert Labs: Tech Incubator for the .Gov"
The name Expert Labs comes from the idea of cloud computing or "crowd expertise." Dash referenced a blog post he wrote last summer, "The Most Interesting New Tech Startup of 2009," about how the government was the most exciting place for the "crowd experts" of the tech community to make a difference. "How can we connect experts that we already know and have them work on something really meaningful?" he asked. ...
Tapping Dash to lead Expert Labs not only brings his elite circle of Silicon Valley collaborators face-to-face with politicos, it provides a direct conduit to policy-making for smart start-ups (and even bigger tech companies) who want to help the government, but don't know how.
- The New York Observer: "Tech Guru Will Head Gov't Incubator, Digitize Democracy"
With support from a $500,000 grant from the MacArthur Foundation, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and their Policy Innovation Network has launched Expert Labs as a nonpartisan, independent project that aims to improve the policy-making process by engaging experts and technologists.
“The government is already using technology to talk to citizens,” Mr. Dash told The Observer. “But we’re going to make technology that helps government listen to them.”
“If people are skeptical about the ability of government to execute, then by all means, support our little entrepreneurial effort to do so,” Mr. Dash said.
- CNET News: "Dot-com thinking for D.C.: Expert Labs debuts"
Former Six Apart executive and well-read blogger Anil Dash has a new gig: he announced at the Web 2.0 Expo here on Wednesday that he will be the director of Expert Labs, a new nonprofit that will take the dot-com incubator model and apply it to new digital tools for the federal government.
"No matter how smart the policymakers are in our government...there's always going to be more experts outside the Beltway," Dash said. "The tactics thus far have been a closed-door meeting with a half dozen people for an hour."
He asserted, "The Web has changed the way that works."
Expert Labs will be dedicated to connecting technology innovators ready to build tools with government officials who can put those tools to use in the public interest. It's a vision that differs from what some other technologists are focused on with regards to the government.
We're thankful and excited that there's been so much attention to the launch of Expert Labs. Frankly, the idea behind the labs is a little new, so we can use all the help we can get to explain the concept. But of course, what matters is what we do, and we're eager to use this initial burst of attention as a platform for our upcoming announcements about what you can do to help with the mission.
In the meantime, if you have questions or comments, email us at contact@expertlabs.org or simply leave a comment here or send a message to @expertlabs on Twitter and we'll be happy to reply.
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