FOSE 2009 – Government 2.0: Evolution or Revolution

March 11th, 2009 by Julia Lim

The government wants to know what we think.

Well, maybe.

That was the topic of discussion today at a FOSE 2009 panel today, entitled Gov 2.0: Evolution or Revolution.   Moderated by Chris Dorobek, a radio host on Federal News Radio and a prolific blogger on DorobekInsider.com.   The title was actually picked by the readers of Dorobek’s blog…is there a more fitting way to showcase the interactivity of Web 2.0?

Chris says…

The concept of the government using Web 2.0 tools is hot, evidenced by the introduction of the Government 2.0 panel this year. The election of Barack Obama as President (and his well-known use of Web 2.0 on the campaign trail) and the user-friendly nature of the tools are two of the many contributing issues driving organizations to reconsider their stance (or non-stance) on Web 2.0.

Web 2.0 folks are pushing users, both public and private, to move quickly on collaboration tools and government agencies are to hot to jump on the bus…but are slowed down due to the need to meet security and archiving requirements. So how do we speed up the adoption process of Web 2.0 in government?

He then turned it over to the panelists…

Chris Rasmussen, US Intelligence Community, sees the big problem facing Web 2.0 tools in government as the encyclopedic view that organizations are having of the tools they currently use. Right now, wikis are the place to think out loud, and then the information is vertically vetted and turned into a report for presentation. He suggests that we cannot conceptualize the world in paper anymore. Instead, he’d like to see agencies move towards a school of thought where the review process takes place in the same place as the collaboration, changing what the report looks like.

Today, it seems as if the heart of an agency is the report – if collaboration tools don’t address the heart, then they will have tough time gaining adoption and organizational commitment or change. The other issue holding back full-on adoption is that agencies keep adding Web 2.0 tools but don’t take outdated tools away.  Speedy adoption requires that old tools must be phased out in a timely manner.

Mark Drapeau, National Defense University, recently wrote the article  “Government 2.0: the Midlife Crisis” stating that he thinks Gov 2.0 is at an inflection point. With the White House calling upon an agency review for processes relating to 2.0 technologies, some government leaders and ‘worker bees’ are already using it to do very interesting things, including forming intra-agency collaboration networks. The current White House and these early adopter agencies interact well with the Web 2.0 community but in between you hit the ‘Clay Layer’(a middle layer through which no life-giving water will pass). Top down and bottom up,buy-in exists but there is a line through which information isn’t passing.

The new uses of technology are getting citizens excited to interact with and participate in government more. Most citizens have a lot to contribute and new tools are making it easier for them to have a voice, like YouTube during the presidential election. Collaboration/Web 2.0 tools allow an ongoing conversation to occur and with government adoption it can also stop the disconnect between the agency and its groupies, detractors and followers.

Steve Ressler, founder of GovLoop.com, wanted to tap into the already existing collaboration problem when he formed GovLoop.com. He saw great conversations taking place within all of the government associations but also saw that there was an information gap, since these associations tend not to reach across agencies. This opportunity pushed Steve to create GovLoop.com to allow government employees to connect and converse across agencies and locations. Steve loves that government agencies are beginning to follow the trend and go to where their constituents are conversing and sharing, instead of making them come to the agency.

He sees this change as continued evolution:  In 1999 E-Gov was about putting services online, giving all companies and agencies websites; now we see a progression of how agencies are putting information online. They are realizing they can’t own conversation, no matter how much they may want to, and are beginning to join discussions already in progress.

Teresa Nasif, director of the Federal Citizen Information Center, says that Web 2.0 is on the brink of a revolution. The portfolio of tools is expanding and now agencies are finding new ways to talk with citizens. The FCIC sees itself in the forefront of this revolution and is taking leadership in creating standard agency wide agreements, allowing all federal workers to join networking sites and still adhere to strict security restrictions.  Before, security officers wanted no agency participation in social media due to the fact that most content can’t be controlled. These standardized terms of service will cut back on restrictions.

Teresa predicts that in the next few months there will be a “social media thaw” and we will begin to see momentum in government participation in social media, including a U.S. government channel on YouTube. According to Teresa, in order for the government to be successful in communicating with citizens, they must take a holistic approach to conversation. While social media is changing the way many Americans communicate, she finds that call centers and other more traditional methods of communication are still being used just as frequently by constituents and must be addressed as well.

Overall, it seemed that the biggest challenge agencies are facing is giving up control.  If they can get over that fact, and the White House seems to be pushing agencies in that direction, we could soon see a new approach to how the government communicates.  Does this mean that my Senator will send me Facebook messages now?

Popularity: 2% [?]

2 comments March 11th, 2009