With all the noise from the people campaigning to govern it is easy to forget that there is still governing going on. So, in the spirit of "policy, not (much) politics," here's a summary of some interesting non-campaign activities of note.

Publications

• Building Democracy Through Online Citizen Deliberation: A Framework for Action [pdf] - though based on a conference held in 2005 (my how time flies) this 51 page report provides still-useful insights into creating, sustaining, and profiting from online citizen engagement.
• Leveraging Web 2.0 in Government - from IBM's Center for the Business of Government this 41 page report defines "web 2.0" for government managers, summarizes opportunities, and identifies barriers. It warns that "governments may become increasingly remote to the citizens of tomorrow" and that government needs to "move away from portals to citizen-centric Web 2.0 applications such as 'mashups' to deliver products and services to users’ devices."

Events

• Democracy 2.0 Grant Summit - Money in Politics (Sept. 18-21, Washington DC) - Hosted by Mobilize.org, the summit "presents members of the Millennial Generation with the opportunity to identify a need in the local, state, or national political arena, develop an idea or solution that would address that need, and present a proposal for funding."
• Here Come the Millennials, Politics Beware (Sept. 18, Washington DC) - The Internet Advocacy Roundtable hosts a talk by Morley Winograd and Michael Hais, authors of the book Millennial Makeover: MySpace, YouTube, and the Future of American Politics.

Blogs
If you haven't yet, check out Craig Colgan's Municipalist blog which claims it is "Fearlessly investigating the dark and mysterious world of public sector blogging." And indeed it is, with over two-dozen profiles of public sector bloggers. I didn't even know there were that many!

Okay, back to the campaign now.