Rialtas.net - Government 2.0

Interesting article on RedOrbit by By Maryann Lawlor, discussing the adoption of Web 2.0 by businesses . Some excerpts below, read the full article here..

Common interests bring professionals together online, then lead them to corporate collaboration. Social networking and other Web 2.0 capabilities are creating new avenues for commerce by facilitating communication inside the corporate structure and extending collaboration beyond company walls. Key to making the most out of new technology, however, is determining corporate goals before throwing a new tool into the mix. When chosen and applied judiciously, nearly every Web 2.0 weapon-from del.icio.us to wikis- can play meaningful and profitable roles within any company…

 

…If, for example, an organization has a strict chain of command and only executives have certain information that they want to keep under tight control, the tool its leaders choose must have an authority- and approval-chain capability built in, she explains. “If that’s not the case, and you are trying to get the information out regardless of where it is in the ranks so you don’t need as much approval, you can start looking at social networking tools and really start to open it up a little bit more,” she adds.

The variety of tools now available to corporations for both knowledge sharing and collaboration is growing considerably because more of them are now easier to use. One example Walser cites is del.icio.us, a Web 2.0 capability that can be installed with a plug- in to a computer browser. It allows the user to bookmark and tag Web articles immediately with keywords that resonate specifically with the user or with the user’s coworkers and friends. As a result, rather than sending a link to an interesting article in e-mail, colleagues can access del.icio.us and can see the stories others have tagged. “It gets things out of e-mail-where people are so buried-and moves them to a tool where users can start to see the common interests of other people,” she explains. Common interests in one area-even if they are not work-related-open conversations that often lead to professional relationships, she adds.

SRA noticed this trend developing within its own corporate walls. Staff members already were using tools such as del.icio.us and social networking sites such as Facebook and Linkedln, which enable them to stay connected both within and beyond the organization. As a result, the company decided to adopt similar capabilities to improve knowledge sharing within the organization.

…Web 2.0 tools can also help break down geographic, temporal and physical barriers, facilitating collaboration. For example, SRA has a presence in Second Life, one of the most mature and well-known virtual worlds, and has found people who either specifically look for the company there or have stumbled upon it “in-world.” In addition, Walser relates that the Second Life island dedicated to accessibility for people with disabilities enables her to meet new colleagues with similar interests. “Now we have a whole new network of people that we didn’t know before. They are nowhere close to us in the United States, but it doesn’t matter. You start to transcend geography,” she points out…

…For all the benefits that Web 2.0 tools offer industry, the capabilities also pose challenges to traditional corporate structure. Walser notes that because people are accustomed to using the tools at home, the line between personal and professional usage blurs. While organizations should want to provide their employees with an open environment that promotes collaboration, they must recognize the responsibility to ensure that the technology is being used appropriately and professionalism is maintained…

 

…The Web 2.0 balancing act for corporations must extend even further than their employees maintaining a professional presence on the Web and ensuring mutual respect among its personnel. Although these tools are ideal for promoting collaboration in many ways, Walser warns that companies must make sure that they offer opportunities for real-life interaction among their employees. This helps nurture the e-collaboration that takes place online, she maintains.

 

Read the full article here

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.

Very interesting article by Florence Olsen (FCW) on the District of Columbia’s adoption of Web 2.o technologies. I have excerpted some highlights here but please read the full article

Link to the original article

The District of Columbia’s 33-year-old chief technology officer, Vivek Kundra, wants to bring government procurement into the world of wikis and YouTube videos

The test case is fairly straightforward. The city needs a vendor to build a 100,000- square-foot evidence warehouse for the police department, so as always, it issued a request for bids. But then it gets more interesting.

The city also created a wiki to host the solicitation documents. Along with the request for bids, the wiki has an interactive question-and-answer section and a link to complete video coverage of a presolicitation conference for potential bidders. The video link takes bidders to social-networking Web site YouTube…

..Kundra belongs to an emerging generation of government leaders who want to make government more transparent and are comfortable with a collaborative management style. Policy experts say that solutions to major national and global challenges cannot be found without collaboration among federal, state, local, nonprofit and private organizations…

…Should other CTOs and chief information officers worry about Web 2.0 and the increasing irrelevance of traditional government bureaucracies? The answer depends on how leaders respond to those trends, said Frank DiGiammarino, vice president of strategic initiatives at the National Academy of Public Administration.

“I cannot conceive of a single traditional government function that won’t be affected,” said Lena Trudeau,NAPA’s program area director for strategic initiatives.

…NAPA’s initiative will create a community of government leaders at all levels to share new collaborative approaches to governing.

The Environmental Protection Agency is a founding member; the Office of Management and Budget and CIO Council are also involved.

…Public policy experts at NAPA and Government Futures view Web 2.0 technologies as necessary, though not sufficient, for solving some of those national and international problems. And they agree that CIOs should not be afraid of the interactive Web, which includes technologies such as wikis, blogs and social-networking sites such as YouTube.

“There’s no controlling it, and if you’re spending all your time and energy trying to control it and centralize it, you’ve already lost,” Trudeau said.

NAPA officials want the Collaboration Project to be a proving ground for using the interactive W eb for innovative approaches to governing. The project will try to answer questions that government leaders should be asking, DiGiammarino said….

…By bringing together leaders who are experimenting with the interactive Web, NAPA can accelerate its adoption among other government leaders, DiGiammarino said. “We think that leaders who aren’t looking at this are missing out and are not leading.” …

New Paradigm’s (a Toronto think tank) leaders see four converging trends with the potential to transform government as we know it.

• The availability of Web 2.0 technologies as a platform for institutional collaboration.
• The coming of age of the Net generation, the first generation to grow up using digital technology.
• The nearly universal use of social-networking sites by college-age students.
• An organizational revolution based on collaboration that extends beyond traditional organization boundaries…

…Washington’s chief technology officer said CTOs and CIOs should play a leading role in the transformation of government. “Part of a leader’s job is to find an innovative path,” Kundra said.

Traditional CIOs will think they must establish a new security policy and a new governance body to oversee their agency’s use of interactive Web technologies. “We did the opposite,” Kundra said. “We asked, ‘Which policies need to be changed to enable this?’”

Link to the original article

‘EUtube’, the European Commission’s new channel on YouTube, was officially launched on 29 June 2007. By offering an additional way of communicating Europe to its citizens, EUtube indicates that some of the European Institutions are starting to keep pace with some of the newer developments on the web. EUtube is another example of the use of the ‘Web 2.0’ communication technologies at EU policy level.

YouTube is a popular video-sharing website where users can upload, view, share, and rate video clips. Both the average ratings and the number of viewings are made public. As such, YouTube is a typical ‘Web 2.0’ communication IT tool, allowing viewers not only to receive information but also to publicly comment it, react and confront points of view. About 50 % of YouTube users are under 20 years old.

Following the conclusion of a non-exclusive arrangement between the EU Commission and YouTube, the EUtube channel now offers approximately 50 video clips on a wide range of topics that explain EU workings on main issues from across the 27 Member States. Topics covered by EUtube stretch from the EU’s first post-war historical steps to current environment concerns or even the EU’s ‘Help!’ campaign against smoking.

As for the regular YouTube contents, EUtube users can post comments and rate the video clips. At present, there is content in English, French and German with plans to add more languages wherever possible.

In presenting the main reasons for setting-up the channel, Commission spokesman Mikolaj Dowgielewicz stated: “We have audiovisual material on our own website…but people don’t know it exists… It’s part of our strategy to use the tools that people use,” he added.

This is not the first of the EU’s moves towards ‘Web 2.0’ communication technologies. Already implemented is the practice of blogging, which was adopted by several EU Commissioners.

http://www.youtube.com/eutube 

Oxford Internet Institute : Webcast, University of Oxford.

For over a decade UK government has been busy moving online. This has made some progress, for example in driver and vehicle licensing, but is yet to take off in terms of usage in the way of some spectacular contemporary Internet examples like Facebook and iTunes.

Is this inevitable? Are there good reasons why government and public services do not engage people in the way music, shopping and social networking do? Or is government not yet going about this in the right way, and does the success of the contemporary Internet have important lessons for the design of public services and public engagement? How can we improve value for money, and achieve higher returns on investment, better services and improved operational efficiency? How can the government build public trust and protect privacy?

Over 10 hours of video presentations and panel discussions are available for viewing or download here:

http://webcast.oii.ox.ac.uk/?view=Webcast&ID=20080125_209

Speakers:

* Dr Ian Brown (Oxford Internet Institute)
* Professor David Cope (Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, POST)
* Professor Jim Norton (Institute of Directors)
* Martyn Thomas (Visiting Professor, Oxford University Computing Laboratory)
* Professor Ross Anderson (Cambridge University Computer Laboratory)
* Alun Michael, MP
* Jerry Fishenden (Microsoft)
* William Heath (Ideal Government)
* Tom Steinberg (mySociety)
* Simon Davies (LSE)
* The Earl of Erroll (House of Lords)

http://webcast.oii.ox.ac.uk/?view=Webcast&ID=20080125_209

Interesting post by Jason Ryan on PSnetwork.org on the need for Public sector organisations (in New Zealand) to increase the rate at which they are adapting to changing cultural and technological conditions.

“The problem, as such, is not that public sector organizations are not adapting to the change; the fact that there is so much interest in understanding social media is a good indication they are. The problem is the rate at which they are adapting, and the consequences of that lag.

Change management

Public sector managers should all be conversant and comfortable with change. To narrow the strategy gap, what needs to happen is for senior managers to recognize that social media are a symptom of a wider cultural change, and to begin revising their strategies accordingly. Agencies should begin to consult, communicate and involve staff in the process now, because if the gap widens too much, our people will —literally— leave us behind.

As I noted at the outset, this doesn’t require any specialized management knowledge or technical skill; it is just another expression of the (hopefully commonplace) need to constantly manage change. What it does require, however, is a sense of urgency, a willingness to engage and a focus that is on people, rather than technology.

Read the full post here:
http://www.psnetwork.org.nz/blog/2008/02/24/early-adopters/

Stigmergic Collaboration

I have just finished reading Mark Elliot’s PHD dissertation entitled “Stigmergic Collaboration- A Theoretical Framework for Mass Collaboration” and I found it to be inspiring and profound.

This is one of the most scientific and rigorous examinations of mass collaboration and social networking technologies and their interactions that I have come across, and I highly recommend reading it. In fact reading this paper has reinforced my interest in 2.0 technologies and my view that they are just the beginning of a new mode of working and of communicating. In fact I am now totally fascinated by research in the area of stigmergy and emergence, thank you Mark.

One element covered by Elliot (and I hope he will correct me if I am misinterpreting him) is that the whole web 2.0 collaborative technology framework is an human emergent (stigmergic) structure, emerging spontaneously through the simple actions and interactions of many individuals self-organising and evolving more complex structures as the social and technological conditions necessary for these types of structure to emerge become more prevalent (just as termite mounds and ant hills arise out of the simple behaviour of individual insects). This is essential reading for anyone interested in the future of the web and collaborative work (and of course collaborative art, and entertainment, and play…)

Here is a summary of the dissertation from Elliott’s own Blog:

The core insight of the thesis is that mass collaboration (Wikipedia, open source software, Second Life etc) enables a shift from social to cultural negotiation, shattering the traditional glass ceiling of collaborative participation from approximately 25 members maximum, towards hundreds of thousands and beyond.

Social negotiation is the means by which all traditional collaboration takes place and is characterised by turn-taking communication. In the case of mass collaboration, a digital workspace mediates participant interaction, providing stigmergic cues to negotiate contributions via the various literacies associated with digital technologies and the particular workspace’s norms, languages and ‘netiquette’. While this does not preclude turn-taking communication, it places the interactive focus on cultural information which serves as the first point of engagement.

In other words, the workspace acts as a boundary object that removes social barriers to participation in online contexts (establishing, negotiating and maintaining social relations with thousands of people) and streamlines the creative process through providing a single site of work to a theoretically infinite number of participants.

Many other themes and sub-frameworks contribute to the overall work such as

• an in depth review of the state of stigmergy research and applications;
• a original, general theory of collective activity;
• an etymologically researched, cross-disciplinary, collaboratively informed definition of collaboration and the beginnings of a general theory of collaboration;
• a framework for understanding indirect, mediated communication;
• the documentation of a number of real-world projects which apply and test the findings of the thesis;
• and of course, a framework for mass collaboration which integrates the above as well as preexisting frameworks and theories.

Elliott is also involved in the creation of an Australian ‘Government 2.0′ wiki site

The Australian Bill of Rights Initiative

The Australian Bill of Rights Initiative (ABRI) is a web-based organisation dedicated to the creation of an Australian bill of rights, written collaboratively by volunteers. Currently (in the first stage of this project) anyone can view this site, however contributions are restricted via password. If you are interested in taking part, or would like more information, please email: m.elliott AT vca.unimelb.edu.au

By means of online collaboration, ABRI aims to:

* stimulate a dialogue on the creation of an Australian bill of rights;
* facilitate broad participation in the collaborative process of drafting a bill of rights;
* raise public awareness of the value of preserving and protecting fundamental human rights; and
* provide a forum for determining an ongoing course of action for the adoption of an Australian bill of rights.

http://abri.org.au/bin/view/ABRI/

Lots of organisations are starting to clamp down on Internet usage within the organisation. It should be remembered however, that heavy handed IT security policies can demoralise and demotivate staff. The old adage, ‘treat people like children and they will behave like children’ comes to mind.

I know some people whom have had experience working in organisations where very strict internet access policies were implemented and where staff that would have formerly chosen to work late or perhaps whom would have worked through lunch if they could have just checked their personal email or priced a holiday or booked a ticket on ticketmaster etc.. instead went home. And not only went home in order to book their ticket or check their mail, but now also went home because their loyalty to the organisation was diminished and their motivation to work harder reduced.

Many young internet users are growing up using social networking sites such as MySpace, Bebo and Facebook, they are messaging each other with messenger or Gmail chat, they are talking and video conferencing with Skype or perhaps even ‘meeting’ in Second Life. Very soon many of these young ‘net-genners’ will be in the work force and will expect to be able to communicate with Government and with business using the tools with which they grew up. If these tools and technologies are not available to government employees they will not be able to communicate effectively with their customers, the public. Similarly as ‘net-genners’ have grown up communicating through these ‘Web 2.0′ tools they are not likely to find working for a government organisation appealing if that organisation prohibits all of the technologies that constitute the infrastructure of ‘net-genners’ social and professional communications.

In addition to this many employees now already have broadband Internet access on their mobile phones and as laptops get cheaper (a brand new laptop in Ireland can be purchased for about 330 Euro at the moment) many employees will soon have an always-on internet enabled device available to them. An organisation today trying to restrict access to the internet is akin to King Canute commanding the tide not to come in. Rather than restrict, it would be wiser for organisations to create practical and realistic policies that enhance people’s working lives and make their jobs and communications easier and better.

For a practical starting point see the Irish Data Commissioners website:

Use of the Computer Network, E-Mail and Internet.

Private use of the Internet in the workplace and the monitoring of private emails pose certain challenges. A workplace policy should be in place in an open and transparent manner to provide that:

• A balance is required between the legitimate rights of employers and the personal privacy rights of employees
• Any monitoring activity should be transparent to workers
• Employers should consider whether they would obtain the same results with traditional measures of supervision
• Monitoring should be fair and proportionate with prevention being more important than detection.

The Data Commissioner’s Website lists their own policy in addition to providing guidelines on data protection and privacy on an organisations network.

I Just came across this document on the Data Protection Commissioners website. Its a projected vision of public surveillance in the near future, a dsytopian one as far as individual privacy is concerned. Thought provoking and worth a read.
A Report on the Surveillance SocietyFor the Information Commissioner, by the Surveillance Studies Network
Public Discussion Document September 2006

The essence of the paper is that we are ’sleepwalking into a surveillance society’

The surveillance society has come about almost without us realising..

It is the sum total of many different technological changes, many policy decisions, and many social developments. Some of it is essential for providing the services we need: health, benefits, education. Some of it is more questionable. Some of it may be unjustified, intrusive and oppressive. People may have many different opinions. But in fact most people know very little about the surveillance society: it is seen as the stuff of science fiction, not everyday life. So there has been very little public debate about surveillance. The surveillance industry is already massive and (especially since 9/11) is growing much faster than other industries : the global industry is estimated to be worth almost $1 trillion US dollars, covering a massive range of goods and services from military equipment through high street CCTV to smart cards. The surveillance society has come about often slowly, subtly and imperceptibly and by the unforeseen combination of many small paths into one bigger road. It is a road whose direction we urgently need to discuss and debate. Read on

The Data Commissioner’s website is an extremely valuable resource for data controllers, perhaps you are one?

Don Tapscott (one of the authors of Wikinomics) was invited by the Davos management to organise an impromptu meeting of business and government leaders and some leading academics and thinkers on the topic of rethinking democracy. The topic he chose was government 2.0 – how the new Web 2.0 might lead to new models of citizen engagement.

During the discussion Nine themes emerged:

1. Self organisation
2. Youth
3. What should governments do?
4. The Body Politique
5. Open APIs for Government
6. Levels of Government.
7. Past technological paradigms
8. What does geo-spatiality mean to government?
9. If there really is a new paradigm in government emerging – a government 2.0 – how can such a change occur?

Don blogs about the discussion in Canada’s Globe and Mail Newspaper (last Saturday 26th January 2008)

Read the full blog entry