Black previously served as government relations director at Code for America and has worked for New York City and San Francisco governments, including developing and deploying SF’s Open311 citizen reporting system.

What is the CA Civic Innovation Project and your new role in this?

I’m very excited to be leading the California Civic Innovation Project (CCIP). CCIP promotes innovations in technology, policy and practice that deepen engagement between government and communities throughout the state. Through research and information-sharing, CCIP builds communities of practice within California’s local governments and identifies best practices to improving service delivery, opening new channels for public voices, and bridging the state’s digital divides.

Healthy knowledge sharing networks, both formal and informal, are essential to the diffusion of innovation in local governments. CCIP’s research in the area will contribute to more a comprehensive understanding of how local governments can better share technology, policies, and practices. Additionally, CCIP will engage with local governments to develop an innovation process grounded in public-private collaboration and community engagement.

What are the biggest challenges in getting government to engage with citizens and how does it overcome this?

The most daunting challenge any large organization could face is culture change, and that really is the underlying barrier to governments’ deeper level of engagement with the community. Local governments operate in an environment that is heavily siloed, so much so that employees in one department do not interact with employees in other departments. The culture of operating in silos disincentivizes government employees from collaboration, both internally and with the public. There are a number of cities in California that have overcome the silo barrier and engage with their communities.

Days of Dialogue, created by former Los Angeles Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, brings together civic leaders, government officials, and the general public to engage in dialogue on issues that divide the community. Other California municipalities have been successful forming partnerships with community groups to support civic engagement. The partnerships offer the advantage of engaging a pre-existing network and tapping into the expertise and resources of local partners.

What are the best examples of innovative uses of technology with regards to enabling better citizen participation?

A few examples come to mind:

• Open311 is one of the best examples of government innovating to not only improve access for residents, but also to create an ecosystem for developers to build mobile apps and consumers to access government data.
• Another example that I consider innovative, simply because the technology we consider ubiquitous is often absent in government, is the use of video conferencing in Nevada County, California. The county government began offering video conferencing for service intake and court filings, saving residents time and making county services more accessible.
• Participatory budgeting is an exciting way to involve the public in better understanding the local budgeting process, but more importantly I believe, raising public awareness of the trade-offs that need to be made when preparing a budget.

How can those interested in your work connect with you to learn more (website, social media, contact info, etc.)?

You can find out more about the California Civic Innovation Project at ccip.newamerica.net.

I’m currently looking for policy interns so if you’re interested in learning more about the opportunity you can reach me at blacka (at) newamerica.net. You can follow me on Twitter at @alissa007 and @NewAmericaOTI.

Listen to Black’s interview on the CAFwd Radio Show:

Source: vogue.com

Congratulations to New York City Chief Digital Officer Rachel Sterne on her Vogue magazine profile.

I like this:

“She’s an intellectual heavyweight who’s as smart as—or smarter than—any guy in the room,” Sklar says. “And she’s ambitious, but she’s also really nice and gracious and poised. She’s a lady.” Half-joking, she adds, “She’s kind of our Kate Middleton.”

and this:

Sterne shares Bloomberg’s vision of turning New York into a tech hub that rivals Silicon Valley, but she understands that it won’t happen by opening factories that make computer chips. What matters now, she says, is the code—the digital language—that is quickly becoming the foundation of the city’s financial and cultural infrastructure. “Rachel is part of the generation that understands that code is literally the architecture of the future,” Rasiej says. “Code can solve problems, save money, make money, and advance humanity.

Full story.

Thank you Alex for your contributions and support of GovFresh, but also all the work you do for the entire open government community. There are many ideas, innovators, apps and events that don’t get covered by mainstream media and, if they weren’t covered by you, would never move beyond our community of Gov 2.0 enthusiasts. Blogging is powerful, and you do important work.

As I’ve said many times, Alex Howard is the “Hardest Working Man in Gov 2.0 Business.”

Follow Alex’s work on O’Reilly Radar or connect with him on Twitter and Facebook.

Secretary Clinton Launches the “100 Women Initiative: Empowering Women and Girls through International Exchanges"

Today is International Women’s Day. Women’s organizations around the world will be celebrating and talking about all kinds of women’s issues, including our Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who launched a bold new initiative. People might tweet about it and the fact that it’s the 100th anniversary. One of the many positive things that come from the day is acknowledgment of many achievements made by great women over time.

We have some amazing women doing great work in government innovation, and GovTwit’s Steve Lunceford reminded me that it’s been nearly a year since we highlighted these women on GovFresh, so this seemed like a good time to update the list. If you know of women who aren’t on it and should be, please note their names in the comments. And if you have Twitter IDs for them, even better. I’m maintaining a gov20women Twitter list where they can all be found and contacted easily.

Secretary Clinton may be the most prominent American voice on behalf of women around the world, but she is not the only one, and it’s important that we continue highlighting the work done by these women around the country and around the world every day to promote not only equality and human rights, but also innovation and openness in government.

Secretary Clinton’s International Women’s Day video message:

Special thanks to Brian Ahier (@ahier) for podcasting an interview about GovFresh and Gov 2.0 Hero Day on O’Reilly’s Radar, Chris Dorobek (@cdorobek) for having me on the show, and Craigslist founder Craig Newmark (@craignewmark) for promoting via his blog.

Some great Gov 2.0 Hero posts:

• Beth Beck (@bethbeck): Gov 2.0 Hero Day
• Adriel Hampton (@adrielhampton): Gov 2.0 Hero Day
• Steve Lunceford (@dslunceford): 35 Gov 2.0 heroes to follow on Twitter
• Andrew Krzmarzick (@krazykriz): A Salute to 3 Gov 2.0 Heroes You Don’t Know Yet
• Kristy Fifelski (@kristyfifelski): Celebrating Gov2.0 Heroes Day
• Steve Radick (@sradick): My Gov 2.0 Heroes

Plenty of wonderful tweets can be found at the following hashtags:

• #gov20heroday
• #gov20heroes
• #gov20heros
• #gov20hero

Andrew Wilson’s (@AndrewPWilson) sentiments really resonate and inspire me to work harder and make GovFresh better:

Honored, humbled & inspired to work harder from all the #gov20heroday mentions today – many, many others deserve spotlight on their work

And Scott Horvath (@scotthorvath) gives us a parting thought for next year:

Next year for #gov20heroday…let’s have a BBQ in D.C. and bands!

Second that. Someone reserve the Mall.

Thanks again everyone.

I want to nominate Gabe Klein, our Director here at the District Department of Transportation (DDOT). I know, very self-serving, but Gabe is still very deserving of recognition as a Gov 2.0 Hero. He has made it a priority to make the agency more transparent and to improve communications with our customers, and he has pushed us to utilize every tool at our disposal to do that. We have a thriving Twitter feed, a completely redesigned and more user-friendly website, and a Facebook page that Gabe often updates himself after hours. He also hosts regular live online chats and last week launched the agency’s first ever official blog, www.ddotdish.com.

To keep up with the times, you really need leadership that recognizes that government agencies must adapt and embrace new technology, or they won’t have a voice in the conversations happening all around them.

How did you get to Gov 2.0?

I arrived at Gov 2.0 via a circuitous path that placed me in DC at just the right time.

My undergrad was in engineering at the University of Michigan and I spent seven years at the family manufacturing business, designing products and working in every aspect of the organization. When dad and I disagreed about how best to move the business forward, I left and began a seven year process of answering Aristotle's riddle: “Where your talents and the needs of the world cross, there lies your vocation.” Along the way, I travelled all over the country, repaired computers and set up networks, catered celebrity events in New York and LA, designed and coded web sites, practiced as a hypnotherapist, and helped pass electoral reform legislation in New Mexico. I topped this off with a master's degree in international relations from New York University and moved to DC to get a job in foreign policy in 2007.

Naive and unconnected as I was in our nation's capital, this proved very difficult. After a year of job hunting (a skill I have never learned), I got an email from the United Nations Association with the call to action, "Click here to notify your Congressman!" Something struck me as strange about this: I knew it would only take 35 seconds to send that message, but I was also certain that it wasn't worth 35 seconds. I had no confidence that the message would have any impact on policymaking.

A little voice in the back of my head said, "What? This is not the democracy I grew up in!!" And quickly followed up with, "This is 2008! I can video chat with people in India but I can't get a message to my elected officials? That doesn't make any sense!!"

With this, I had discovered where the needs of the world crossed my diverse experiences and talents: the proper application of technology to create meaningful citizen engagement with elected officials. I started the Open Forum Foundation and when the Gov 2.0 movement gained steam in early 2009, I was in the middle of it all!

What are the challenges of Open Forum Foundation and how do you deal with them?

There are a lot of challenges that come with running a non-profit, but to me the most interesting ones are working with people, and maintaining focus on our long term vision in the changing landscape that is Gov 2.0.

Working with People

As I said above, my early training was in engineering and while this may come as a surprise, engineers are not well-known for their people skills. Consequently, coming to grips with my own (and even accepting that I have some) has been an ongoing challenge for me. At this point, it's increasingly rare that I fumble for a name or past association, but the complexity of government titles still completely eludes me.

Part of my growth in this regard has been learning to appreciate skills that I previously considered to be trivial. As it turns out, there is a great deal of complexity and skill required to organize events, understand other people's passions and capabilities, and connect people together so that they can accomplish greater things in concert than they could have separately.

My current project utilizes all of these skills as I assemble the Open Model for Citizen Engagement. It's an association where software vendors are defining and implementing a new paradigm of citizen engagement with elected officials. The founding members include vendors that focus on the needs of Congressional offices, advocacy groups, and citizens; work at federal and state levels; and represent both startups and well-established companies. My responsibilities include rounding out the membership and developing stakeholder communities to ensure that the solutions created by the association meet the needs of everyone involved in citizen engagement, as well as managing the needs of the members, some of which are direct competitors. While the website is still a work in progress, please join us at om4ce.org/.

Maintaining Focus

The main reason I go to events these days is to find out what's going on in the Gov2.0 community. I have no need to re-create good work that's already being done and there are new players in this field every month. In addition, the conversation turns, the expectations shift, new tools are introduced and become popular while old ones fall out of favor. It's easy to get caught up in the desire for a quick fix, or a solution that only meets the needs of Congressional offices or a single government agency or that may capture the heart of the public and become the "Facebook for political discussion".

I've come to realize however that there will be no immediate solution to the problems that Gov 2.0 confronts and aims to solve. Fully transparent and publicly available data does not instantly create accountable government. The best public-facing citizen engagement technology ever devised does not necessarily draw an audience. And an open channel for public comment may be co-opted by a well-organized group of concerned citizens. In short, these issues are complex and how they will be solved is partially determined by who it is that's working on solving them.

When I established the Open Forum Foundation, my goal was to build THE communication channel between citizens and governments. That hasn't worked out so well. In the abstract, the idea is fine but in reality, there are dozens of other players in the market and many of them are well-established and profitable. At some point, I had to ask myself, "Is my goal to build software or is it to solve the communication problem?" Given those options, I relinquished the trail I was on and found a new way to contribute to bringing a legitimate solution to fruition. The market as it stands today will not accept a single communication channel managed by a single entity. Instead, it demands a distributed system with multiple points of entry for innovation from competitors new and old. Sometimes, accepting reality is a challenge in and of itself. Doing so without losing sight of the end goal is even more difficult.

Dealing

To answer the original question, the main way I've dealt with challenges is by continuously questioning what I'm doing. Frankly, I've changed direction so many times, it feels more the norm than the exception, and I mean this in the most positive of ways. I try to live by the belief that the only time you can be wrong is when you decide that you're right. As long as you hold open the possibility that you're wrong, life is just one continuous string of growth opportunities, each of which leads to a better understanding of who you are and what you can do to make a difference. This is the biggest factor in how I overcome challenges – by simultaneously believing that I can while being uncertain about whether or not I'm going about it the right way.

What's most interesting to you about the open government movement?

I think the most interesting thing about the open government movement is the fact that while those of us in it tend to view technology as a panacea of solutions, it can just as easily create problems. In fact, a significant portion of the problem that the Open Forum Foundation is trying to solve was created by technology! It is the advent of effortless web-based communications that created the deluge of messages into Congress and has rendered the majority of the communication between representatives and their constituents meaningless.

I believe that our job as early adopters, promoters, and developers of open government is to see that technology is implemented in ways that solve problems, and not just for the sake of doing it. Clearly this is our goal, but realizing that it is not pre-destined to work out to our benefit adds an additional importance and perspective to everything we do.

In the last two or three months, I have found the maturation of the movement fascinating. Up until that point, discussions have been primarily abstract and guess-based. This lead (appropriately) to a lot of trial and error that only recently has enabled the discussions to shift towards experience-based discourse and advice, eg how to responsibly implement transparency of data, how to engage with citizens to achieve specific goals, and how to get buy-in from both senior management and throughout government bureaucracy. I think there is also a growing awareness that the open Government movement is not about implementing technology or establishing a new department, it's actually about culture change both within government and within citizen expectations of government.

What resources, books, blogs, apps or Websites do you recommend to others?

If it isn't obvious from what I've written so far, I tend to focus on people and the long term perspective. Consequently, I get most of my information first hand (and that includes through Twitter) and am always encouraging people to think in terms of 5 or 10 year plans for what we're doing. That said, we are blessed with some great 'reporters' within the space – GovFresh (of course) and Gov 2.0 Radio covering things from the West Coast and Digiphile (now with O'Reilly) right here in DC.

I happily recommend the book Millennial Makeover to almost everyone I meet because it places the American political system into a historical (and cyclical) context that begins with the Revolution and continues to hold true today. It fundamentally changed the way I consider politics and also enhanced my appreciation for, and understanding of, the Millennial Generation and their abilities.

While it's slightly dated at this point, I'd also throw in Clay Shirky's Here Comes Everybody for anyone that hasn't read it and wants an informed and optimistic perspective on how technology is remaking our society.

I briefly mentioned Twitter above, but it bears elaboration that a well-curated group of Twitter followers will tell you everything you need to know about anything you're interested in.

GovLoop – especially if you're inside government, you need to be part of the social network for govies.

Also, while it can't be recommended to everyone: I love WordPress. It's blogging software at its core, but dreamy as a CMS. I know Drupal 7 is supposed to have made great strides for back-end user interaction, but WordPress has had that licked for 5 years. It's great. In addition, I recently discovered their social networking plugin BuddyPress, which you should definitely consider if you're going to put up a community site.

Finally: Mission, Tools, Metrics, Teach. Jeffery Levy's early Gov 2.0 mantra still holds true. If you haven't read it, do so. There will be new adopters of what we're doing for years to come and Jeffery has covered the basics, including the importance of sharing what we learn with those that come after.

What's your 3-word Gov 2.0 motto?

Envision. Do. Repeat.

I struggled with this, but I think the most important thing about Gov 2.0 is Envisioning the future, Doing something that takes a step towards that vision, and then Repeating the process based on what was learned.

Manor, Texas has received lots of recognition for the innovative technologies that have come out of it, but many people don’t know all the individuals that are responsible. My role as Assistant City Manager and CIO is to steer the development of emerging technologies in Manor, but the real hero is our City Manager, Phil Tate.

Phil is a Gov 2.0 Hero because he chooses to say “yes” to new emerging technologies that allow us to be more efficient and transparent. It would be so easy for a city manager to say “no” to new ideas and concepts, but Manor has been fortunate to have such a progressive leader with the drive to serve citizens and instill government accountability.

With this said, this individual has had a profound impact on government through his immense drive and passion to make the government a better place. Luke Fretwell is the creator of GovFresh, which has become a very important resource for agencies and citizens interested in how technology is reshaping government of all levels. Luke recognizes individuals making their mark in government as Gov 2.0 Heroes, but I think it’s time that his efforts get recognized. Luke, thank you for being a real Gov 2.0 Hero, and inspiring me to press forward no matter how difficult the challenge may be.

Lucas Cioffi is the CEO of Online Townhalls, Inc., and founder of the Open Government Directive Workshop Series. The OGD Workshop Series is an inter-agency collaborative event hosted by a different federal agency each month. These self-organizing workshops help the public sector’s OpenGov community coordinate from the bottom up and make the critical transition from good to great.

This series of monthly workshops is designed to steadily build momentum for successful implementation of the Open Government Directive.

The Open Gov Playbook wiki is self-managed: anyone can contribute. Notes from all of the OGD Workshops can be found at opengovdirective.pbworks.com.

Lucas is one of the few who has a deep understanding of the core messages of the OGI, and as such has designed these events to be as inclusive and effective as possible. His workshops bring the message of the OGI down into federal agencies to effect change in a way that no externally hosted event or workshop can ever hope to do. He is a visionary leader and a great facilitator to boot. The OGD workshops are addressing issues that are at the forefront of the OpenGov and Gov 2.0 communities, and are not to be missed.

Lucas Cioffi is a Gov 2.0 hero for braving the challenge of effecting cultural change from the inside-out of government, where resistance to change and antiquated process are still very much the norm.

Here’s Lucas doing his thing at the Feb 17, 2010 OGD Workshop.