We’re looking for minimum viable behavior change here – what is the easiest first step that a citizen can take, turn it into a habit then a ritual and then build on top of that.

Manor Labs is fascinating to me because it’s looking to create a behavior change from within AND without – to get city employees to see themselves as contributors and innovators rather than paycheck collecting civil servants while also inviting the public to interact with the government beyond the ballot box.

We’re very interested in games (see Byron Reeves’ work at Stanford – http://www.techaffair.com/2009/08/byron-reeves-work-sucks-games-are-great/) and how game mechanics – points, trophies, recognitions, dashboards and leveling up act as persuasive motivators to get people to continue playing and re-engaging. Manor Labs is using Spigit as a testbed to see if game mechanics are valid in a government context.

Let’s keep the conversation going.

- Margarita

Thanks for the feedback!

I do believe that the platform is one significant component of a larger multi-dimensional process as you described; however, the capabilities and structure of the platform can significantly hinder the overall process. I would be interested in talking with you in more detail about PubliVate, as Margarita and I continue to expand our research on idea generation platforms.

Best regards,

Dustin
dhaisler@cityofmanor.org
T 512.272.5555

but the motivation factor i think isn’t making it only easier but a sense that there needs to be a customer manifesto of some kind that educates why you must participate and the overall good it will do.

Both Dustin and I have been experimenting and wrestling with these issues:

* How to get the public involved in better governance?
* What is the process/mechanism/tools that make it *easy* for them to get involved and stay involved?
* How does government incorporate this feedback and turn it into actionable tasks?
* How do you close the feedback loop so the public gets a sense of self efficacy? That their ideas become solutions which in turn spurs the public to come up with more ideas? (Crowdsourced government solutions)

When we started experimenting, we immediately ran into some basic issues. For instance, with Ideas4Haiti, getting people to login became a big deal. Any web 2.0 site developer will tell you that you lose an enormous amount of people at the login stage. So even though a platform might have the right list of features, the user experience can make a huge difference in engagement. This is even before we get people to submit ideas. So a platform that uses Facebook login becomes key.

Other issues include motivation. In the Persuasive Technology Lab we talk about putting “hot triggers in front of motivated people.’ The donate for Haiti buttons that have popped up all over the web are a prime example of this. People are motivated to help and the ‘Donate Now’ button lets them act on this immediately.

So, what is the motivation for people to submit ideas? When are people primed? Right now, the only tools we have readily available for open gov idea is platforms such as Spigit, BrightIdea, IdeaScale, etc.

Is it better to have mobile apps like SeeClickFix have a ‘suggestion’ button instead? How do we get these mobile apps widely distributed among the citizenry?

I better stop now — this is becoming a new blog article. :-)

Please comment. I’m interested in your thoughts.

- Margarita

So, while I agree with your comparison (and if you are adding to it we would certainly like to be included), we would also say that the platform is one-dimension of a multi-dimension solution. Ultimately, for organizations considering ideation or not happy with the results they are achieving, they need to ensure that they have a life-cycle solution aligned to the community they want to leverage.

Thanks…Geordie

Sorry about that; however, I’m working on a more extensive and detailed guide to open innovation platforms and I’d love to include Delib’s in it. Let’s touch base soon so I can get some information from you to get started.

Best,

Dustin

Check it out in action here:
http://www.helpusimprovekings.org/

And product overview here:
http://www.delib.co.uk/products_and_services/dialogue-app

Cheers!

Q