Rialtas.net - Government 2.0

From Federaltimes.com article By Elise Castelli

 This Federal Times Article describes how the US EPA, in trying to better share information with the public, industry, the media and its own employees, took an ‘unusual’ tack: It set up a Web site and asked for ideas from those who rely on EPA’s data in their work and lives.

“A lot of issues we deal with are global in nature and require collaboration,” EPA’s chief information officer, Molly O’Neill, said in an interview. “We need to figure out how to use these [Web] tools to be more transparent and collaborative.”

 

With the public demanding more and faster access to government information, “we need to change that model a little bit and get back to rebooting the public square,” said DiGiammarino, who spoke at a Web 2.0 conference June 3. This is a challenge for leaders because “when you think of government, you don’t necessarily think of speed, agility, reach and efficiency,” which is what the Web 2.0 world demands, he said.

Using discussion boards and e-mails, EPA’s new social Web site, called National Dialogue on Access to Environmental Information, has pulled comments from across government and the country to help O’Neill as she fashions a new information-sharing policy.

Since O’Neill came on board last year, EPA has embarked on four such projects that integrate blogs, wikis, discussion boards and other social networking Web tools, which are collectively referred to as Web 2.0, into EPA’s business.

“The technology is not complicated, it’s just a different way of doing business. And getting people to do business in a different way is culture change and that’s a challenge,” O’Neill said.

Read Full article

From Iain Thomson at Vnunet.com

A survey of 1,000 office staff has found that nearly a third of younger employees would consider quitting their job if Facebook was banned in the workplace.

The survey by IT services firm Telindus found that 39 per cent of 18 to 24 year-olds would consider leaving if they were not allowed to access applications like Facebook and YouTube.

A further 21 per cent indicated that they would feel ‘annoyed’ by such a ban.

The problem is less acute with 25 to 65 year-olds, of whom just 16 per cent would consider leaving and 13 per cent would be annoyed.

Mark Hutchinson, managing director of Telindus, said: “An outright ban on personal internet usage is clearly not the right approach.

“However, the challenge is to achieve the right balance between allowing employees personal internet time without jeopardising the bandwidth required for business applications.

“It is commercially unwise to have a bandwidth free-for-all, especially when you consider that downloading a single half-hour TV show consumes more bandwidth than receiving 200 emails a day for a year.”

Companies are increasingly looking to ban sites like Facebook because they clog up corporate networks and take up employees’ time.

Interestingly, the survey revealed that employees would be supportive of a ban if it made other network functions faster.

Increasingly young net users are using social networking sites and tools to stay connected with their peers and also to manage their ‘knowledge network’, given the nature of today’s highly mobile workforce, where staff move frequently between jobs and between organisations, use of these tools can assist individuals to manage their individual networks and also to manage their ‘personal knowledge’. Some examples of this would be the use of LinkedIn or Facebook to keep in touch with a growing number of personal and professional contacts, or perhaps the use of Del.icio.us to store bookmarks instead of storing bookmarks  within a corporate browser installation. The use of Web 2.o tools helps to ensure that when an individual moves between jobs or between organisations, that they can bring many of their knowledge resources with them.

Preventing access to these tools hampers knowledge workers in their work and increasingly access to these tools will no doubt prove the deciding factor for many net-genners in choosing what kind of organisation they would like to work for. Many smart organisations have already recognised the benefits both in increased morale and increased productivity facilitated by the  availability of various Web 2.0 tools.

From the Sunday Business Post 22nd June 2008

Responsibility for E-Government has moved from the Department of the Taoiseach to the Department of Finance.

From the Sunday Business Post:

Brian Lenihan, the Minister for Finance, will bring proposals to cabinet in the coming weeks aimed at modernising and improving e-government services in Ireland.

The Department of Finance assumed responsibility for e-government in recent months, and Lenihan intends to make detailed proposals for the area before the summer recess. Officials in the department are reviewing progress made in the area, and deciding what areas of e-government need to be given priority.

Lenihan said e-government was ‘‘one of the key tasks’’ for his department. The department is also working on new proposals for implementing Reach, the so-called ‘public service broker’ established by the government to integrate specific e-government services.

More..

A recent CWD Corporation (US) Survey has found that over 40% of corporate IT decision makers across both government and corporate sectors have rolled out some Web 2.0 tools in their organisations,it also reveals that more than half of them may be hesitant to use such applications, with 31% worrying that Web 2.0 will be used for personal instead of work use and 28% concerned about information security and 27% worried about potential time-wasting.

“Organizations are recognizing the clear advantages of Web 2.0, even though there has been some hesitation among IT decision makers to adopt these tools,” said CDW Vice President Mark Gambill, the company’s executive responsible for market insights. “With the increased use of Web 2.0 functions like social networking and blogging as business tools, corporations are starting to re-evaluate tried and true ways of communicating.”

According to CDW, Web 2.0 has gained momentum in some places. Fifty-three percent of IT decision makers across all sectors believe that Web 2.0 applications will substantially improve employee performance in the next five years. Web 2.0 is also seen as important in attracting and retaining the next generation of workers, with 68 percent and 61 percent of corporate and government IT decision makers, respectively, agreeing with that sentiment.

Additionally, the adoption curve for Web 2.0 applications currently has a trickle-down pattern. While 67 percent of large businesses have already implemented some form of Web 2.0 applications or tools, IT decision makers in medium-sized businesses fall slightly behind with 53 percent currently using Web 2.0. Only 27 percent of small businesses and 30 percent of government organizations have adopted Web 2.0.

More…

Post by Jeffrey Roy, CIO Government Review on InterGovWorld.com

recounting how he recently attended a meeting of four graduate students and four executives from a provincial Crown corporation. The topic was e-government and how Web 2.0 can improve customer and employee engagement and thus improve performance. The discussion was lively…

Students left impressed with the executives’ knowledge and usage of such terms as wikis, RSS feeds, and other buzzwords of the day; the managers, in turn, appreciated the insight and enthusiasm of the students, eagerly awaiting their analysis and eventual recommendations.

Such is the ideal scenario of e-government and public sector renewal - senior managers open to change, willing to listen, and prepared to empower younger workers within their organizations to lead renewal efforts aimed at the nexus between digital and organizational innovation. Such is a key to both government relevance and renewal in the coming decade.

Conversely, a more ominous scenario may be taking shape, one driven by widening concerns about a massive exodus of the senior management cadre across the federal and most provincial governments. Such departures, according to some, can only mean a critical loss of talent, knowledge and organizational memory at a time when the public sector confronts increasingly complex and managerial challenges…

Governments are thus beginning to at least consider the prospect of incentive packages for people to stay (a dramatic reversal of the mid-1990s program review era). New mechanisms, such as external audit committees (called for by the Federal Accountability Act) will also provide venues for many retired senior officials to exercise influence…

…Web 2.0 is a mystery for most senior officials in government today, a necessary evil for a smaller group of architects responsible for e-government generally and service delivery especially. No doubt, there are even a few techno-champions in the midst of this latter segment, social innovators determined to swim upstream since the public sector mindset toward embracing new technologies is mainly incremental: study, pilot and carefully roll out modest changes while doing what one can to minimize risk.

Although there are good reasons to emphasize stability and caution in a public sector realm involving partisan politics and critically important services and programs, the dilemma faced by governments is how to balance such continuity with an intensifying need for more radical innovation.

Web 2.0 personifies the latter, and especially the spreading culture of personalization, instant communication and speed. Witness Robert Reich’s new book entitled Supercapitalism, or Michael Hirschorn’s observation in a recent issue of The Atlantic that his six-year-old son cannot understand why a song heard on the radio cannot be instantly replayed.

Read the full post here..

The Connected Rebublic is a community website, developed by Cisco’s Internet Business Solutions Group. The aim is to create a space where people with ideas can meet, share their thinking and link up with each other. The site is open to anyone who wants to get involved.

There are a number of very interesting presentations on Government 2.0 available for download from the site.

This from Micah L. Sifry of Techpresident blogging from the Politics Web 2.0 conference at the University of London, Royal Hollaway, here below are some excerpts from Micah’s notes on one of the first keynotes:

Helen Margetts, of the Oxford Internet Institute, is presenting on “Digital-era Governance: Peer production, Co-creation and the Future of Government.”

Her key argument: We are seeing a shift in government management reform. For many years, the benchmark was “new public management,” but this trend is dead or dying, she argues. For the next twenty years, the dominant theme will be around digital technologies.

New Public Management was focused on disaggregation (breaking up large bureacracies into smaller units), competition (more use of markets, outsourcing, deregulation) and incentivization (privatization, public-private partnerships, performance related pay).

Digital Era Governance has three flourishing themes: reintegration (joining up bits of govt, sharing central processes, simplification at the same time), needs-based holism (redesigning processes around the citizen, coproduction, agile govt, client-focused structures), digitalization (open book governance, electronic service delivery, disintermediation, and web 2.0 for govt).

She notes that “we found it very hard to find examples of web 2.0 government” while working on the “Government on the Internet” report for the OII last year. It’s not there yet, but she is pointing towards where things are going. E-govt in the UK lags behind e-commerce: half as many people interacting with govt online compared to commerce sites (about 45% compared to 90%, if I saw the slide right)….

….What kind of management culture is needed for DEG to succeed? She argues that it requires really using transactional information to inform policy making, decoupling information analysis from control, being more oriented around customers, and getting more pro-active and experimental. These all seem like good principles, but I wish she’d give some practical examples to illustrate these points.

The citizen culture DEG implies includes the idea of “isocratic” government–helping citizens do for themselves; co-production, where the public sector provides a frame and citizens help deliver (like eBay enabling a cottage industry of sellers); co-creation of information as well. (Isocratic=personal democracy? I wonder.)

This new model can have positive incomes for social problem solving, she concludes.

Examples of Web 2.0 for government are difficult to find. People in govt have very 1.0 notions, like government shouldn’t be cool, it should be boring. “Our site is not aimed at young people,” she was told while working on the OII report. Only old-fashioned web uses make sense. Also, they were uncomfortable with the notion of partly-authenticated involvement, or para-state involvement–no integrating with society’s networks. Govt is also very text based.

What might it mean, if we overcome these issues?
-rich information, not just text
-deep search to allow people to learn more about their own conditions
-playing back information to users, about what they do and feel
-creating part-finished products

Please read the full post here.

The New Zealand Government have just released their Draft Digital Strategy 2.0 the consultation period runs from April 14 to May 12 2008 at www.digitalstrategy.govt.nz There is also a wiki at this site which invites public collaboration on the strategy. http://wiki.digitalstrategy.govt.nz

Here are some excerpts from the draft:

“In the few years since the 2005 Digital Strategy, we have seen changes in the ways people communicate, interact, do business and experience their histories and cultures,” the draft strategy says.

“Today’s digital technologies are enabling new expressions of New Zealanders’ sense of identity and community on screen and online. New business models are emerging, disrupting the old. Citizen-centred transactions have the potential to transform government. Smart digital technologies are enabling us to do things faster but with fewer resources.”

The Strategy focuses on issues such as the emerging net-generation, the read-write web, digital broadcasting, digital culture,and legal issues.

(I note also that the public consulation wiki is using Screw Turn wiki which is the wiki solution we have decided to use here in Ireland for our own public consultation wiki- coming soon.)

Here is an outline of the NZ Digital strategy from the strategy website:

Vision
Creating Our Digital Future

New Zealand will be a world leader in using information and technology to realise its economic, social, environmental, and cultural goals, to the benefit of all its people.

The Digital Strategy is about how we will create a digital future for all New Zealanders, using the power of information and communications technology (ICT).

The Digital Strategy was launched on 16 May 2005 and is made up of three key enablers.

Find out more about the sections of the Digital Strategy
Content

Information made available through digital networks. “Information” is a broad concept that encompasses national heritage collections, government information, Māori language resources, research databases, traditional cultural products such as literature and history and new cultural products from the creative industries and entertainment, as well as relationships that can be conducted through online facilities (e.g. e-learning, online GST returns or Internet banking). The term also includes the information generated by government, businesses and community organisations.
Confidence

Developing the necessary skills at all ages, in all parts of society, to use and participate in ICT effectively. Such skills include functional and digital literacy and the ability to take part in an interactive electronic environment. Confidence also encompasses the dimension of trust in using ICT and addressing the challenges that may slow ICT uptake such as spam and electronic crime.
Connection

Affordable access to viable ICT infrastructure such as telecommunications networks, computers, mobile phones and other devices.

The Digital Strategy is about considering these three components together. Content provides the reason, confidence provides the skills and trust, and being connected provides the means. The Digital Strategy also recognises that businesses will have different drivers and needs from those of Government and wider Community groups. Our evolving Action Plan takes these differences into account.

More on New Zealand and Government 2.0

www.digitalstrategy.govt.nz

The Global Information Technology Report is the world’s most respected assessment of the impact of information and communication technology (ICT) on the development process and the competitiveness across the planet. This year, after covering 127 economies across Earth, Denmark came out on top.

The report notes the importance and benefits of strong government leadership and vision in identifying the importance of ICT for government and governance in Denmark.

“Denmark, in particular, has benefited from very effective government e-leadership, reflected in early liberalization of the telecommunications sector, a first-rate regulatory framework and large availability of e-government services.”

The Report features four thematic parts.

Part 1 includes the findings of the Networked Readiness Index (NRI) 2007–2008, together with a number of insightful essays on selected issues of networked readiness, with a specific focus on how it can foster innovation.Topics covered stretch from the link between innovation and ICT to recent trends in innovation (such as Unified Communications) and e-skills and telecommunications regulation in emerging markets.

Part 2 focuses on country/regional case studies showcasing best policies and practices in fostering networked readiness.This year, Singapore, Qatar, and EU cases are analyzed in depth.

Part 3 provides detailed profiles for each of the 127 economies covered in the Report, presenting a comprehensive snapshot of each economy’s current networked readiness status and allowing for international and historical comparison on specific variables or components of the NRI.

Lastly, Part 4 provides detailed data tables for each of the 68 variables composing the NRI this year, with global rankings.

The NRI rankings for 2007–2008 confirm Denmark as the most networked economy in the world for the second year consecutively, as a culmination of an upward trend observed since 2003.The other Nordic countries also continue to show their prowess in leveraging ICT for increased competitiveness, with Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and Norway at 2nd, 6th, 8th, and 10th position, respectively. Among the top 20, Switzerland is up two places, at 3rd position, continuing last year’s notable upward trend, while the United States improves three ranks to 4th place. Korea, at 9th, realizes one of the most impressive improvements (10 places) from last year among the 127 economies covered by the Report.

The Networked Readiness Index
2007-2008 rankings (top 50 of 127) download full ranking.

Click here to view and download the report

Harry McGee Reports in the Irish Times today that John Gormley, the Minister for the Environment, last night unveiled some of the key components of the Green Party Paper on local government which will be published in 10 days’ time.

Speaking at the opening of the Green Party’s annual convention in Dundalk, Co Louth, Mr Gormley said it would deliver the biggest reform of local administration since 1898.

Some excerpts..

Mr Gormley said the new measures, when implemented, would allow citizens to be centrally-involved in decisions taken at local level. “I want to see citizens given a say in budgetary decisions. There is no reason why the people should not decide what the spending priorities should be in their communities. I will be examining the increased use of plebiscites which would allow people shape major decisions to be taken by town, city and county councils.”

Turning to his plans for a petition system, he said it would allow people gather signatures on pressing local issues and present them to the local council. The council would then be compelled to debate and decide the issue.

 Link to Irish Times Article

(Requires paid subscription)

See also some of my earlier posts:

E-Democracy , E-Petitioning and Local Government

MySociety.org E-Petitioning System

Communities of Practice Website for Local Government Employees.