Tell me where to go

There are almost 20 countries eligible in our Call For Proposals, and if this project is going to be as much of a success as it could be, we need to spread the word about it as widely as possible amongst the people who should want to participate. Lots of you have been blogging and twittering about this, which has been very helpful — thank you for that (and please continue!)

But I’m also hoping to meet with people “on the ground” in as many of the countries as possible over the next few months. This will happen in two main ways: the first is by attending lots of events — BarCamps, MediaCamps, BridgeCamps, Free Software Groups, OpenCoffee mornings, etc. etc, and presenting the work of mySociety and similar organisations and encouraging others to do likewise (whether through this project or not). The other is meeting individuals, organisations, or smaller groups along the way in the places I pass through. For both of these things, my schedule is largely in your hands!

Do you want me to come and talk to people where you live about this project, or mySociety, or transparency and accountability websites in general? Then please invite me! If you’re in one of the eligible countries, then I’ll do my best to visit. (We’re a small charity, so if you can contribute to travel costs or put me up somewhere overnight then that would be appreciated, but if you can’t afford it it’s not necessary.) I can give presentations of any length from about 20 minutes to several hours, or I can just chat informally over coffee — it’s up to you.

I currently have three main trips planned:

Firstly, I’ll be attending MediaCamp Kyiv on November 7th. Currently I’m probably going to fly, but if there were people to meet on the way I could happily go by land and stop off in Lativa, Lithuania, or Eastern Poland. Afterwards I’ll probably be staying in Ukraine for a couple of days, then travelling down to Chişinău and București.

Then, on November 21st I’ll be in Bratislava and could travel from there down in Hungary or up into the Czech Republic or Poland.

Thirdly, at the start of December I’ll be attending e-Society.MK, which, if I can arrange it, could be part of a several-week-long Sofia-Skopje-Priština-Tirana-Podgorica-Sarajevo-Beograd-Zagreb-Ljubljana trip.

Want to meet up along the way? Or know people I should talk to? Please contact me: tony@mysociety.org