UKGovcamp is the movement of self-organised unconferences for government types with an interest in how the public sector uses technology. UKGovcamp is an ‘unconference’, or a free-to-attend event without a predefined agenda, where the sessions are proposed and agreed at the start of the day. The 2012 event – the fifth in the series – will be the biggest yet, with around 250 participants over two days.
The conference is aiming to bring together SME suppliers, open source specialists and government digital teams to share practical experience and make connections. In the January 2011 edition of UKGovcamp, participants heard a presentation from Defra, which had recently replaced a static 20,000 page corporate website with an open-source platform based on WordPress. Since then, a trend has emerged with the Departments of Health and Transport joining them. DfT alone recently calculated savings of GBP 150,000 per year on CMS licences and a 70% reduction in hosting costs.
SME suppliers, open source specialists and government digital teams