Governing People - The world's best thinkers on e-government and open democracy

It's Amazing We Get Anything Done At All

DannielleBlumenthal — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:23:31 +0000

Been reading Bureaucracy: What Government Agencies Do And Why They Do It by James Q. Wilson. Aside from realizing that Gov 2.0 isn't all that new - they called it "Reinventing Government" back in the Clinton era - I am starting to realize that federal agencies present a unique kind of sociological challenge: Paradox!

Evaluating Citizen Participation

MickPhythian — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:32:42 +0000

One of the major difficulties accepted in the discussions around citizen participation was how do we measure it. This was presented more recently in the post ‘Participating in a Democracy’.

Back to the Basics: Taking Care of Folks

DennisSmith — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:37:15 +0000

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As CNN and Fox News Fail to Put #Syria on TV, Twitter and the Internet Spread the News

Alexander Howard — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 16:28:52 +0000

I’m seeing upset from and others on Twitter about a disconnect between what’s on CNN now and the violence that many outlets are reporting in Syria. It feels like 2009 the #IranElection all over again, when the world finally awoke to how the real-time Web was disrupting mainstream media by driving conversations and coverage of an historic event that the producers of cable news had failed to cover.

How Should Government Agencies Moderate Their Online Channels?

CraigThomler — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 08:15:58 +0000

While government agencies often have limited options in the approaches they choose to use for moderating third-party social media channels, there's a number of ways they can choose to moderate channels under their control, including blogs, forums and wikis.

It's Tough To Write A Good Social Media Policy. Here's Why.

DannielleBlumenthal — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:17:33 +0000

In the community where I grew up, at the time when I grew up, there was no Internet.

What a Twitter Map Can and Cannot Tell: The Gates Foundation Twitter Network

InesMergel — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:51:17 +0000

The Twitter network below was created by Marc Smith, Social Media Research Foundation. He used it in a recent workshop on Social Media Network Analysis that I organized here at Syracuse University on January 19-20. I picked it up and posted it here on my Social Media in the Public Sector blog, because it relates to the Global Health Advocacy and Policy Project (GHAPP), PI Jeremy Shiffman (American University).

Prime Minister of Israel Hosts Facebook Chat

govloop — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:04:18 +0000

Pretty cool to see other countries start hosting Facebook Chats to reach citizens and connect with folks across the globe. Next Up - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be hosting a chat in Arabic on Monday at 10:00 am Jerusalem time (3:00 am ET) on his Arabic Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/IsraeliPM.Arabic

How to Encourage Innovation In Government

DannielleBlumenthal — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:50:48 +0000

The other day I was urging that we do something or other and got the response: "You're so cutting-edge." It wasn't a compliment.

The State of the Union Goes Social

GovTwit — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 15:32:25 +0000

The president’s election-year State of the Union messaging strategy this week has included increased use of social media channels in an attempt to reach audiences in a different way and extend the conversation beyond a single day news cycle. Tactics included:

When Will We See Gamification In Government?

CraigThomler — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:34:15 +0000

Gamification refers to the practice of making non-game activities more like games by incorporating achievement-based reward systems. Under gamification, using government examples, when your project or mission is complete you might receive a 'completion badge' (such as a letter from the Secretary, an Australia Day Award, or a medal). Or when you attain a higher level of proficiency in a particular skill you'd receive an 'achievement' or rise on the 'leaderboard' (such as a bonus or a promotion).

5 Tips on a Website Redesign

govloop — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:39:05 +0000

Last week GovLoop, the online knowledge network for government employees, launched a redesign where we redesigned our home page and launched 7 new sub-communities.

Governors Push for Changes to First Responder Broadband Network Bill

JefferySmith — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:08:05 +0000

Congress may be moving forward on the public safety broadband network, but some Governors say that there isn’t enough involvement from state officials – the primary users of the proposed network. Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) and Wyoming Gov. Matthew Mead (R), co-chairmen of the homeland security committee of the National Governors Association (NGA), have written a letter to Congressional supporters of the network detailing their concerns.

Why I am Nominating Scott Mills @GraffitiBMXCop for a Shorty Award

connectedcops — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:17:38 +0000

When P.C. Scott Mills delivers presentations to students on behalf of the Toronto Police Service, he finishes by encouraging his audience members to “friend” him on Facebook. Students initially are incredulous to this. Meeting an authority figure who understands the social media tools of their generation is a rarity. Moreover, Mills communicates openly and sincerely about the kinds of issues they consider important.

Education.data.gov Launches for Education Data Community

govloop — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:16:00 +0000

I really like how data.gov is launching niche communities like health.data.gov. Generally I believe if we want interest in our government data it's not going to be developing just broad "data" ecosystem. Instead, I think we need to build smaller ecosystems like transit data, health data, jobs data, education data, etc.

Participating in a Democracy

MickPhythian — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:53:00 +0000

Following the very active debate on the UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange following the announcement of the publication of the Digital Participation in Scotland report I thought it worthy of a brief summary of some of what had been said and the concepts that had been considered.

+1: The White House has joined Google+

Alexander Howard — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 14:12:12 +0000

+The White House joined Google+. The addition of this official government account can be reasonably described as a tipping point for the platform. This will free other federal agencies to join, if we assume that the terms and conditions that +The White House and Google lawyers worked out are transferable.

Is it Time for Government to Take Google+ Seriously?

CraigThomler — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 11:00:19 +0000

Often in government there's only two social media networks discussed and considered for community engagement and communications, Facebook and Twitter. MySpace is a distant memory, LinkedIn is used just for resumes and services like FourSquare, Plurk, Ning and others are not well-known.

Open Data in BC – Good & Bad Examples from Bikes to Libraries

DavidEaves — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 13:06:07 +0000

Some small examples of open data use and public servants who do and don't understand open data from the Province of British Columbia to the City of Vancouver. Open Libraries?

Why Govies Sometimes Act Like Zombies

DannielleBlumenthal — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 09:06:03 +0000

Thanks to Redbox we were enjoying family movie night and the show was a third of the way through. In this scene the main characters have to go to the local government office and get some help. Right away the first word out of the clerk's mouth is "No." They peer over at her workstation. "Why not?" says one.