On December 3-6, g0v Summit 2020 is taking place in Tainan, Taiwan. Under a global pandemic, people in Taiwan can wear masks and participate on-site in 4 days of community-hosted hackathon, talks, panel discussions, workshops, and a traditional Taiwanese-style dinner banquet. For those outside of Taiwan, remote participation is enabled via an array of tech tools such as HackMD shared documents and Webex video conferencing for simultaneous interpretation between English and the different languages used in Taiwan.

g0v (pronounced “gov-zero”) is a Taiwanese “civic hacking” (or “civic tech”) community founded in 2012. g0v is also an open-source movement for open data, freedom of speech, civic engagement in politics, and the public good. g0v comprises many projects and task forces, operating in a poly-centric manner, in accordance to its Manifesto, with “no single center or representative,” which is how this article is written.

g0v projects such as Government Budget Visualization, Moedict, Voters’ Guide, and Political Contribution Open Data make government data more accessible and collaborative; Hackfoldr with shared documents enable crowd-sourced emergency response; Cofacts and 0archive tackle the challenges of disinformation.

Furthermore, Civic Tech Prototype Grants and Sch001 hosted by g0v’s “jothon” task force both fund a diverse range of projects for their development and sustainability.

It is impossible to summarize g0v in one or two paragraphs. One can only try.

“g0v Summit” is one way the g0v community summarizes itself. It is a biennial event where g0v contributors, or “g0vers,” come together to host guests around the world to share what we have achieved, and to formulate where we are going next. In the last edition in 2018, more than 900 people from 23 countries gathered in Academia Sinica. Just like in 2016 and 2014, technologists, educators, activists, and public servants gathered in Taipei, showcasing their successes and failures in open data, open government, and much more.

This year’s g0v Summit takes place in Tainan, the first one outside Taipei. This significant change has brought g0vers, veterans and new-comer alike, as well as members of distinct and vibrant Tainan communities together, such as Good Ideas Studio, Tainan Sprout, makers in Tainan area including Fablab Tainan and Fablab STMC, A Break Cafe, Tainan Community University, and Tainan With Hongkong. This gives g0v Summit 2020 its unique character, as well as its unique challenges.

Members of g0v Summit 2018 Working Group on the main stage at the closing of the last g0v Summit in Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, October 7th, 2018. License: CC BY 2.0.

“g0v is like a vast field of grass,” a g0ver once said. Ever since its founding, g0v has always been an open, collaborative space where new connections and possibilities emerge, just like the first g0v hackathon, which kicked off this movement back in December 2012, and all the hackathons following that. For years, good food, WiFi, and people – whether it is 100 people or 5 – have created and developed hundreds of projects at these communal events, contributed countless lines of code and ideas to the knowledge commons shared by all.

Then in 2019, the “Facing the Ocean” network “forked” the format of g0v hackathons to create “Facing the Ocean Meet & Hack.”  The first two Meet & Hack events in Okinawa and Tainan have brought civic hackers from Taiwan, Hongkong, Japan, and South Korea together. From strangers meeting over the Internet, to having beers with one another at a local brewery, these events have enabled us to share our stories with each other, and to make things for and with each other.

Participants of the first Facing the Ocean Meet & Hack working together in Koza, Okinawa, Japan, June 8, 2019. License: CC BY-SA 2.0. 

Both inspired and intrigued, g0v Summit 2020 is taking a leap of faith by “forking” its previous self and relocating to Tainan. What would happen when the open collaborations of g0v meets the deeply interpersonal traditions of the Tainan communities? What conversations are to be had when national politics of the north meets daily lives of the south? What is the relevance of g0v, its philosophies and values, outside of Taipei? How much polycentric, in terms of geography, can this community be? These are some of the questions one can only hope to answer *after* the leap.

When working in a community, optimism is often an unsaid requirement. It is this optimism which propelled the relocation of this year’s summit. It is the same optimism which affords the belief that when new connections are made, though disagreements and conflicts may arise, compromises could arrive, and new possibilities will arise. It is the same process of continued engagement with those who are different, and that we listen and learn from one another, and that it makes our community, and in turn, our collectiveness better.

Participants from Taiwan working with participants from Japan, South Korea, and France at the last (physical gathering) Facing the Ocean Meet & Hack, a joint hackathon with g0v hackath37n in the Former Tainan Assembly Hall, Wu Garden, Tainan, Taiwan, December 21st, 2019. License: CC BY-SA 4.0 by chihao at FtO.

“Localities connected.” That is the theme of this year’s g0v Summit. It speaks to g0v itself as a (metaphoric) federation of islands (of projects and tasks forces), and to the connected network of civic communities in Taiwan and abroad. While projects and communities are distinctive and diverse in their membership and agenda, we find commonalities in our shared experience and values. When communities are connected, localities are connected, and from there, we can connect cultures, and perhaps nations.

2020 has been a deeply challenging year for most of us. In many places around the world, civil liberties are diminished and democratic rights taken away. To safeguard sometimes the most fundamental human rights, civic communities are vitally important as they are places of debate, organization, and action. Taking g0v Summit 2020 to Tainan respectfully highlights the diversity of Taiwan’s civic communities and the depth of their work. Through the formation of an inter-community working group, the co-organization of the programming and various activities of this summit, we have put our values into action, and to test – openness, collaboration, inclusion, and trust. Hopefully, this summit can be a working demonstration that communities *can* strengthen democracy, in Taiwan and across the world.

Have you read?

♦ Why Is Taiwan’s Major Civic Hacking Conference Moving South?
♦ How Can Taiwanese Be Engaged to Develop Policies for the Future?
♦ Taiwan Digital Minister Audrey Tang: Citizen Hackers Save the World

License: CC BY 4.0 International by Chihhao Yu, a g0v.tw contributor
Uploaded by Penny Chiang