I was in Portland last week, soaking up back-to-back conferences in JSConf and NodeConf. JavaScript (or just JS) is experiencing a bit of a renaissance. Not only are the modern browser wars a boon to client-side JS performance and functionality, but JS is being used on the server side via Node.js. The speakers and attendees are on the cutting edge of software development. It was an inspiring, mind-expanding week.

Reflecting on these two conferences, another important observation comes to mind about my fellow attendees: Many of them are active in the open government and open data community. Our community!

I was also happy to talk open government with those not yet familiar with the movement. I may have convinced a citizen of Yellowknife, Canada (population 19,000) to build a web app for his city’s bus schedule. The city has 4 bus routes. Striking up conversation with other attendees, I was surprised to learn that so many knew about the budget cuts to the Electronic Government Fund, and all who did agreed strongly with Sunlight’s position. All in all, it was a pleasant surprise to see our community so well-represented at JSConf and NodeConf.