Then came "Gov 2.0" and the trumpets sounded for transparency of government data and innovation.

Now, Hope Street Group (a Forum One client) has opened up the policy making process with a new collaboration platform: Policy 2.0.

The concept is simple. The three steps are:

1. Recruit engaged citizens from outside of government -- most importantly the people directly impacted by the policy


2. Provide them with the tools to learn about, collaborate and refine real world policy recommendations


3. Give them a microphone and access to government leaders to advocate for and implement these recommendations

Hope Street Group pilot tested its Policy 2.0 model this past summer with a project to craft recommendations that improve teacher evaluation systems nationwide.

"Recommendations like this generally come from researchers and policymakers, administered top-down in states, districts, and eventually schools," according to Monique Nadeau, Executive Director of Hope Street Group. "But Hope Street Group recognizes that teacher and administrator input is critical in designing and implementing teacher evaluation systems, and this project really brought their voices to the table."

The pilot team comprised 22 K-12 educators, 6 private sector professionals, and 8 participants from the civil society sector across 17 states. They collaborated online on the Jive community platform, the recommendations were published in a report, and the results were presented at an October 26 event at the National Press Club.

Hope Street Group and team leaders from the pilot project then took their recommendations to Capitol Hill.

What's most exciting about this platform is that it puts the power to craft real policy solutions in the hands of the engaged citizen, whether that citizen is a teacher who wants to have input in the policy that impact his/her livelihood, or a community member motivated by a desire to improve a failing school district.

In the coming months, Hope Street Group and its Policy 2.0 community will be busy identifying targets and implementing its teacher evaluation recommendations in 10 or more districts, expanding its policy focus into health reform and looking to the public for the next great policy area to tackle.

• How do I found out if I'm registered to vote?


• Where do I vote?


• What's on the ballot?

• Web sites (five)
  
• Blogs (five)
  
• Newsletters (two)
  
• Twitter (six accounts)
  
• Electronic press releases
  
• LinkedIn page
  
• Facebook page
  
• Scribd
  
• Slideshare
  
• Flickr
  
• YouTube
  
• Delicious
  
• Events sites (eventbrite, upcoming)
  
• Paid channels (Google, Facebook)
  

• Receive high effort: Web, Blogs, Twitter, Newsletters
  
• Receive some effort / appear to be useful: Press releases, Slideshare, Delicious, Event sites
  
• Receive low effort / watching: LinkedIn, Facebook, Scribd, Flickr, YouTube, Paid channels
  

The real-time web is creating new opportunities in business, media, communication and collaboration. We are bringing together industry leaders using the real-time web in social networks, financial services, media and nonprofit groups to discuss:

* the state of the art, science and business of the real-time web

* efforts to create standards and interoperability

* challenges in user experience, technology and monetization.

The app automatically identifies where a user is, and then displays the latest news feeds and uploads from the immediate vicinity.  I'm able to quickly scan recent outbreak news from the Northern Virginia area.  It also provides a simple form for reporting an outbreak in the vicinity.

This is a very nice model for the international development community in general, and one can imagine how reporting of all sorts of information (financial? programmatic? environmental?) might start to happen on a more widespread basis through these kinds of extremely user-friendly mobile interfaces.

(For more about Health Map's orgin's, view this presentation by co-creator Clark Freifeld.)

However, some are concerned about how far agencies will have to go to transform legacy data, especially when it is in inaccessible formats such as PDF. This concern is understandable, but it shouldn't delay efforts on the part of federal agencies to take action. In planning their response to the directive, we'd recommend that agencies go through a series of steps:

• Do an inventory - valuable data is often dispersed throughout the organization, sometimes "owned" by people with little incentive to share it (or are just unaware of the need).


• Identify and prioritize - evaluate the utility of different data sets to determine which has the highest potential value to the public and assess the difficulty to transform it or make it available in an accessible format. There might be different approaches for opening up different data, including APIs, XML feeds, RDF format, or in some cases CSV.


• Develop a plan - based on the priorities, develop an ongoing plan for making the data available, starting with the easiest and most valuable data.


• Just do it - whether submitting existing data to Data.gov, planning an API, or conducting pilot projects to transform and make data available. Start with the low hanging fruit immediately to show progress, and work in parallel to make other data available.


• Highlight progress and build upon small successes. This will take time and effort, organizations should promote their progress so far and communicate to the public the steps they are taking.
  

Ideally the organizations' plans to make data available in machine readable formats should be part of a larger plan (that goes beyond data) for being more transparent, participatory, and more accountable. But that is a topic for another day, and another post. Stay tuned.

Deloitte: 6th Annual Global Security Survey found that 53% of its respondent businesses (i.e. global banks, insurance companies, and financial institutions) prohibit the use of social networking technologies due in large part to data protection concerns.


U.S. Strategic Command: Stark announcement warned the rest of the military it was considering a Defense Department-wide ban on the Web 2.0 sites, due to network security concerns.


Websense Security Labs: Survey of over 130,000 IT Professionals from around the world revealed that the majority of IT managers are still unsure what constitutes Web 2.0, and are ill-equipped to combat security concerns associated with social media.


Sophos: Two-thirds of systems administrators worried that employees are sharing too much information on social networking sites and threatening the security of corporate systems

The decision to embrace social media technology is a risk-based decision, not a technology-based decision. It must be made based on a strong business case, supported at the appropriate level for each department or agency, considering its mission space, threats, technical capabilities, and potential benefits. The goal of the IT organization should not be to say ‘No’ to social media websites and block them completely, but to say ‘Yes, following security guidance,’ with effective and appropriate information assurance security and privacy controls.

The downside: A new certification process requires an up-front investment on the part of the Federal Government.
The upside: A respected certification would encourage the wider adoption of social networking technologies by government entities and private businesses without undermining future innovation.

1. Congressional staffers view social media and related Web 2.0 technologies as an effective means of driving citizen engagement and increasing government transparency. They are committed to advancing OpenGov initiatives and are looking for best practices and case studies to assist them in improving their use of Web 2.0 technologies.


2. Congressional use of social media and related Web 2.0 technologies frequently is not guided by an underlying digital communications strategy. The failure to invest in an up-front strategy results in Congressional staff often establishing social media presences (ex. Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook) without integrating them into their existing web presence, aside from home page cross-link placement. This suboptimal use of social media and Web 2.0 technologies is lowering the return on investment for these properties.


3. Congress is in the initial stages of social media maturity - typically leveraging Web 2.0 technologies to broadcast their message and respond to negative PR. That said, there is a deep interest by many staff to leverage Web 2.0 technologies to enable conversations and encourage two-way feedback with constituents. Already, there are a number of examples of representatives and senators who are breaking the mold and redefining congressional web communications. Congressional staff recognize that these representatives and staff are strengthening their powerbase by employing such tactics and seek to replicate their success in their own offices.


4. Congressional implementation of social media and related Web 2.0 technologies is occurring without overarching governance and technology guidance from institutional bodies. Congressional staff on a number of occasions mentioned that they look to outside parties for guidance as social media is an emerging issue for their communications teams. Institutional entities, like the House Information Resources, appear aware of the need for guidance and are slowly making progress to meeting this need with new rules/policies.


5. Congressional staffers are looking for better metrics to track social media performance. Social media metrics are not as mature as those used by commercial companies and brand management consultants. Congressional staff are not widely leveraging business intelligence software or listening technology to gain insight into public discourse on policies and their representative/senator. Web analytics likewise are not being leveraged to the extent possible to provide feedback on the effectiveness of social engagement and the amplification of the office message.


6. Ownership of data and security and privacy issues is not widely understood by congressional staff. When staff begin using sites such as Twitter or Facebook, they don't always pause to consider the implications for the data captured on users. Web-savvy staffers perceive this will be an increasing issue for congressional offices in the future and therefore will seek guidance from their peers and outside parties on these issues.


7. Political campaigns and nonprofits are fueling the push to transform digital communications on the Hill. Congressional staffers are gleaning insight from the recent Obama campaign to ongoing congressional campaigns. Staff are looking for examples of where innovative use of social media and related Web 2.0 technologies has been a game-changer to candidates and seeking to replicate the most effective solutions, where possible. (Note: The different communications requirements and rules for a campaign and a congressional Office make some of the campaign examples irrelevant on the Hill.) They also are well aware of initiatives by nonprofits, such as the Sunlight Foundation, which are in many ways more influential on the congressional staff than the campaigns themselves.

Example of Amazing Graphic Recording Services Provided by Diane Cline. (Photograph © by Christiana Aretta - Used with Permission)

• Congressman Bob Latta: Innovative use of mobile technology;


• Senator Claire McCaskill: Twitter presence;


• Congressman John Culberson: Former employment of Qik (mobile streaming);


• Newark Mayor Cory Booker: Application of Google Translate.

APIs

Open Standards

Demonstration Projects