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Gov 2.0 Hero: Mike Rupert

Luke Fretwell — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:40:24 +0000

Mike Rupert, Communications Manager for the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) in Washington, DC. Mike also recently started localgovchat.com and Twitter chat #localgovchat to unite local government communications professionals to share ideas.

What was your path to Gov 2.0?

We started in 2008 with a small campaign aimed at encouraging students at any of the dozen or so universities in the District of Columbia to make sure their off-campus housing was safe. We wanted them to look up their landlord to see if they were licensed and request a housing safety inspection if they thought their housing had safety issues. While the effort was nearly four years old, one of the biggest past challenges was breaking down the age-old student vs. government barrier. Before, when inspectors went door-to-door to off-campus apartments, they were turned away from students more than 90 percent of the time.

We started the District’s first Twitter account @dcra and the blog thisshouldbeillegal.com. In 18 months, we’ve seen inspection requests in college neighborhoods jump 300 percent and we’ve seen spillover into other neighborhoods. The site itself has received more than 40,000 hits – not bad considering we’re targeting about 10,000 students.

One of the great things about social media is that a true conversation can happen on many levels. There is the semi-formal government customer service conversation, the less formal public conversation, and in my mind the most important “background” or “off the record” conversation. This allows you to become “friends” with government, ask blunt questions and get real answers. There is an intimacy that will never exist in an informational brochure, at an information booth, a poster or a typical telephone “hotline.”

Being able to respond directly with my name and my voice and provide the reassurance a customer service representative never could. Just like your friends, some things you want out on their Facebook wall or Twitter-feed; others are private. I don’t see a difference here as we are asking them about personal issues and we should treat it as such and with same care as you would a friend in trouble.

Since then we’ve expanded – at least the Twitter account – to other service areas and we’ve tweeted wait times in our service centers, held live chats with our Director, created easily accessible Google Maps for inspections and licensed businesses, Facebook page, YouTube videos highlighting success stories, and much more.

What area of government offers the biggest opportunity for improvement via Web 2.0 tools?

Customer Service. Customer Service. Customer Service. People want their answers. They want them online and they want them now. They also want to follow up with questions and not have to wait 24-48 hours or a week to get a response.

Local governments are responsible for the most direct services to residents on a day-to-day basis. And while it’s important that we be transparent, it’s just as, if not more, important to provide answers to questions and provide as many services online as possible. People are busy and government has the capability to be ready to respond at anytime the resident is available, not just during regular business hours.

How is the work you’re doing changing the way DC operates?

My favorite post about our efforts so far was titled “DCRA is my Homeboy.” By being responsive and providing our customers – DC residents – with an immediate outlet to get an immediate response we have really changed our image. Personifying the agency through social media – and using a little personality when appropriate – has chipped away at that big, flashing “Bureaucracy” sign that looms over almost all government agencies. I actually have a photo my staff and I have posted on our walls to remind them of what perception we’re battling against everyday.

We respond to pretty much anyone and everyone who mentions us – whether it’s through Twitter, blogs or listservs, regardless of the number of followers or page rank. We use social media to correct false information, provide stats or a link, or simply nudge an employee who let a deadline slip. While it creates some anxiety to legitimize or highlight the negative, we think it’s important everyone feels they are getting VIP service.

The greatest success from our Twitter community is that our customers are helping each other – sometimes before we can even respond. We’ve started to make a series of YouTube videos with customers explaining the process for other customers. We’re kicking ourselves out of the process – should be exciting.

What’s the biggest challenge to executing open gov/Gov 2.0 initiatives?

I think resources are the biggest challenge facing local governments. It would be great to have coders and designers to create beautiful Web pages, applications and aggregators similar to what customers are familiar with from the private industry. But that’s not the reality and in the end it’s probably not that important.

Another big challenge is not all customers use social media so we need to continue to do more traditional campaigns to reach the most vulnerable residents. DC is doing a great job trying to bridge the digital divide, but we can’t solely focus on those with Twitter accounts or Facebook pages.

What do you recommend to other cities trying to execute open gov/Gov2 .0 initiatives?

The first thing every government agency should do is listen. Google yourself, search blogs, search through listservs, and search your acronym on search.twitter.com. Find out what people are saying about you before you just jump into social media. Do this with your boss in the room and their perception of social media will definitely change.

As most social media leaders say, ‘Social media is not a strategy, it’s a tool.’ Decide what tools work best you, if you need anything at all.

People are going to talk about you – good or bad – whether you like it or not. Why not join the conversation? Or at least have the ability to listen.

Connect with DCRA

http://twitter.com/dcra
http://thisshouldbeillegal.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcra/
http://dcra.dc.gov/moving

Gov 2.0 Hero: John Lisle

Luke Fretwell — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:06:38 +0000

John Lisle, Public Information Officer for the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) in Washington, DC, shares his thoughts on leveraging social media and the value of using a little personality to connect with constituents.

What was your path to Gov 2.0?

My first government job was with the Arlington County Police Department, and that’s where I had my first foray into social media. We were the first local law enforcement agency to post surveillance videos on YouTube. We also created a MySpace page and encouraged teens to “friend” the department, as a warning to child predators. Both efforts generated a lot of positive media coverage including stories in the Washington Post and on CNN.

At DDOT, we have a Facebook page which has freed us from the constraints of our outdated website (we are launching a new one soon) because it is so easy to post photos, videos, links and other items.

Our biggest success, however, has been our Twitter account. We launched it last year in conjunction with “Potholepalooza,” a campaign to quickly address pothole complaints, and pitched it as another way for people to report problems. It really took off in December during the first blizzard and we got great use out of it during the twin blizzards last week. We pushed out important information, but we also solicited reports and photos of unplowed streets from residents. Before the December storm we had a respectable following of about 740 followers and that has grown rapidly to about 2500.

What area of government offers the biggest opportunity for improvement via Web 2.0 tools?

Communications/public affairs for sure, but also customer service. For instanced, some great apps have already been created for the public to submit service requests. The challenge is effectively integrating and utilizing them. We’re still working on that in the District.

How is the work you’re doing changing the way DC operates?

I think all of us who are using these tools are helping to change the public perception of the District Government. It is easy to get frustrated when dealing with a big bureaucracy, but Web 2.0 tools can poke holes in the wall and really improve communications and the experience for the consumer. For example, by responding promptly to questions, complaints, suggestions, etc., on Twitter, it can leave people with a much better impression of our agency, even if they don’t hear what they want to hear, or things don’t get done as fast as they would like. Michael Rupert at DCRA has really used Twitter effectively in this way to assist people who are caught up in red tape. When they voice their frustration on Twitter, he reaches out to them and tries to assist.

What’s the biggest challenge to executing open gov/Gov 2.0 initiatives?

Getting buy-in from upper management might be the biggest challenge. It’s not an issue at my agency – quite the opposite – but I’ve heard from peers who have had a hard time getting their bosses to understand the benefits. Many agencies have also created elaborate rules and policies governing the use of social media, or they only use it to repost their press releases or for other formal announcements. I think that misses the point and wastes an opportunity to give your agency a little personality.

What do you recommend to other cities trying to execute open gov/Gov2 .0 initiatives?

If you’re going to get in the water, don’t dip a tentative toe in, dive in! Use these tools to their full potential. However, you should know the risks, too. You have to understand your audience on each platform and communicate with them accordingly; if you botch it you could set yourself up for ridicule. For example, regularly tweeting messages that are too long and as a result get cut off – it’s been done; and don’t do a lackluster job of it. For instance, I think Twitter is only truly effective if you monitor the incoming messages as much as you do what you are sending out. If your followers get the feeling you’re not listening then you could do more harm than good.

Connect with DDOT

NASA Nebula sends government to the cloud

Alexis James — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:47:09 +0000

GovFreshTV talked with NASA Nebula CIO Chris C. Kemp about Nebula’s role in cloud computing.

Gov 2.0 Hero: Kevin Curry

Luke Fretwell — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:25:15 +0000

Kevin Curry is Chief Scientist and Co-founder of Bridgeborn. He recently helped organize CityCamp Chicago to help address open government and Gov 2.0 issues at the local level.

What was your path to Gov 2.0?

My path to Gov 2.0 might be a case study in the power of the social Web; simple, scalable, and serendipitous. I sent Tim O’Reilly a link via Twitter to the paper Government Data and the Invisible Hand by David Robinson, Harlan Yu, William Zeller, & Edward Felten. I hadn’t yet met Tim but was and am still a fan of his “What is Web 2.0?” essay. Tim re-tweeted the link and started following me. A few days later he contacted me to ask if I might be interested in helping him organize the first Gov 2.0 Summit. I wasn’t sure how I could help, but saying “Yes” was a no-brainer. I’ve been involved with Gov 2.0 ever since.

What area of government offers the biggest opportunity for improvement via Web 2.0 tools?

Municipalities. Local governments have the most direct impact on our day-to-day lives. They affect our immediate physical environments; our homes, our schools, our commutes. Sure, we pay federal and state income taxes, but our sales taxes, real estate taxes, vehicle registration fees, parking fees, sanitation fees, and the like, all go to local governments. It’s our city councils and school boards who decide what services we get (or not). Web 2.0 can help at the municipal level in a number of ways; by virtualizing council meetings on the Web, by using tools that allow citizens to vote priorities up or down and see both sides of issues in one place, and by opening up crime and other key indicator data to better inform local populations, for examples.

What’s the killer app that will make Gov 2.0 the norm instead of the exception?

Gov 2.0 isn’t about apps. Gov 2.0 is about government as a platform. Government provides infrastructure. Citizens provide apps. In the same way that a power utility provides the grid and a water utility provides plumbing, government should provide an infrastructure for citizens to access and use government information. The Web provides the logical infrastructure for information access, broadband vendors provide the physical infrastructure, and government provides the legal framework for how government information can and should be used. Government also collects and manages enormous amounts of data. Assuming reasonable exceptions, this data belongs to the public and should be made available to the public according to the 8 Principles of Open Government Data. We need to change some of the laws and policies to reflect how the Web can be used to improve our ability to connect citizens more easily with government. This may be especially true at the local level, where government has more direct impact on our daily lives. If government becomes platform, that will be the “killer app.”

What part of Gov 2.0 most excites you?

The part of Gov 2.0 that excites me most is government-as-platform at the local level. Jen Pahlka and I started CityCamp because we recognized that municipal government was missing from the Gov 2.0 conversation (state government, too). Municipal governments have the greatest affect on our daily lives. I want my hometown of Virginia Beach, Virginia to adopt Open 311 so people can report work requests through SeeClickFix using a GPS and camera enabled phone instead of calling an office or filling out a form. I would like to see something like Localocracy used to survey the citizenry for pro/con input to city-wide decisions. I want my police department to start publishing their crime data as linked open data, perhaps through an API, instead of a clunky HTML table that shows exactly 15 of 20,000+ records at a time. I want events published in standard iCal formats that can be aggregated through cloud apps like Jon Udell’s Elmcity Project. My good friend for over 20 year is the Director of Beach Events. Every month he sends me and a hundred other people an email containing a Word document listing the events. I need to go teach him and his colleagues how to improve that process such that it becomes easier for him to produce and everyone to consume. We’re working on it here in Virginia Beach, and I encourage others to do the same where they live.

Connect

Gov 2.0 Hero: Dominic Campbell

Luke Fretwell — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 14:43:38 +0000

Founder: FutureGov and TweetyHall
Twitter: @dominiccampbell, @FutureGov, @tweetyhall

What was your path to Gov 2.0?

I came to government straight out of university (I’d actually wanted to work in local government since I was 17, if can you believe it) where I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to work my way around a local city council and poke, prod and challenge existing practice.

During this time, I was exposed to a wide range of public services and bodies and became very aware of the gap between image and reality surrounding people working in government. The vast majority are hard working, committed individuals who do it out of love and a real passion to change the world. But they are hindered all the way by bad management, poor leadership, a culture of risk aversion and blockers like awful IT systems that are made by robots for robots. I refused to believe things had to be this way.

And then I came across this guy James Governor who was talking about this thing called Enterprise 2.0 at an event I was at. He was young, fun and wore crazy clothes and showed how business was being changed by this web 2.0 thing. James also introduced me to Twitter and rest is history on that front.

I was struck by the potential for its application within government, a way of bringing people together, to humanise government, to move towards a more humble, relevant, empowering, open government.

I founded FutureGov 2 years ago as a way to try and influence the sector and help make this aspiration a reality. FutureGov is a “a consultancy-cum-social innovation incubator helping to shape the future of government,” meaning we spend a lot of time working with government (officers and politicians alike) to help it get its head around how it needs to act/behave in this new world, strategising solutions and building tools for them to use.

We also enjoy inventing things. We sit at the intersection between geeks and government and therefore tend to have a lot of ideas about how this technology and user-centrred approaches such as service design can be applied in this context, whether it’s networking politicians, bringing service users together to re-imagine public services that work for them or creating new solutions to age old problems such as child protection or social care.

What does Gov 2.0 mean in the UK?

The term Gov 2.0 isn’t actually used a great deal in the UK. We’ve heard it from the US and elsewhere, but our core group of open government enthusiasts tend to prefer the term ‘Digital Engagement.’ At the Gov20Camp back in March I made the bold statement that Gov 2.0 wouldn’t go big in the UK as a term – typical UK being different! While I stand by that statement, I do now wish we would adopt it. Digital engagement really doesn’t capture the movement in its widest sense. And #Gov20 works so much better as a tag ;-)

Much like in the US, the majority of digital engagement in the UK has been about a race to develop shiny new websites and get government agencies on Twitter and the whole spectrum of social tools. The focus has predominantly been on better PR and communications which has indeed led to some improvements, but even then nowhere near as rapidly as you might hope.

Again as with the US, the UK has also developed an obsession with ‘open data’. We actually led in this space with initiatives like the Power of Information Taskforce, but implementation was slow and it actually took some determined individuals such as Tom Watson and the election of Obama to create sufficient momentum to get this moving. As with most governments, the UK Government rarely moves on anything without proof of success elsewhere first. Obama has been great for us from that perspective.

Some say the upcoming General Election will provide the catalyst for real and rapid change in this area, particularly if the Conservative Party are elected, but given the poor state of all major parties’ online election campaigning, I won’t hold my breath. But at least with that kind of commitment to transparency up front we have a great pledge to hold them to in power. But if this is our first internet election, it will be a low key affair. I’d say we’re a good 5-10 years behind the US on this front.

What’s the climate for open government in the UK?

There has been some great work done so far in pockets. Government has begun to experiment, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills perhaps leading the way. There have also been some major events, such as the MPs expenses scandal, where forces outside of government have led to step changes in government behaviour jumping only once pushed. We are also blessed with a small but perfectly formed core group of government geeks, freelancers, social entrepreneurs and even opposition parties putting the pressure on and pushing for change.

We are also seeing more initiatives such as data.gov.uk, the London Store, openlylocal and others, who are getting hold of the open data agenda and pulling it kicking and screaming. This is now being backed up by the odd US style competition and some key innovation investment funds (such as the IDeA’s customer insight and social media fund or NESTA’s digital test beds programme), encouraging government staffers, social entrepreneurs and geeks alike to get inventing.

But, overall, quite honestly there is still a lot more talk than action. Few inside government are willing to truly invest the time and effort in digital engagement in the UK, with much of the best Gov 2.0 work being led by non-profits and parts of the private sector (although the big consultancies are nowhere to be seen on this in the UK unlike in the US). The Power of Information Review once led the way globally, but a lack of backing and investment in the agenda has meant it has progressed extremely slowly and we have now fallen behind. Local Councils across the country and departments at a national level remain steadfastly silent, citing a lack of evidence of outcomes as a reason to wait and see. But with few willing to experiment how is this possible?

This is not helped by a chronic lack of resources now and even more so in coming years in government, where Gov 2.0 or digital engagement is seen as a luxury rather than a necessity. Conversely it could (and should) be argued that Gov 2.0 is the best response to the forthcoming ‘public sector recession.’ Such an economic climate should clear the way for cheaper open source solutions and encourage government bodies to better work with citizens to create better outcomes for all through more collaborative (and cheaper means), empowering people to do more for themselves and reduce the burden on the public purse.

Until the case for Gov 2.0 / digital engagement can be made (in terms of efficiency and effectiveness), it will never go mainstream and therefore never reach its full potential.

What part of Gov 2.0 most excites you?

Without a doubt social innovation is the UK’s most promising, up-and-coming sector in terms of opening up and disrupting government from the outside and a movement I am very excited and lucky to be a part of.

Yes, moves to open up government data are important, but really this is just one building block on the road to a more effective relationship between citizen and state, which I fear data geeks often forget. We must not lose sight of the outcomes we are looking to achieve.

Most important and interesting of all is how these building blocks can be used to support public service users to make decisions for themselves, working with government to design and deliver public services that better meet the needs of the end user in which the user plays a key role.

Projects such as Southwark Circle, School of Everything and even some FutureGov projects like Enabled by Design that are leading the way in this field, working with or without government to demonstrate how the world could look in a logical progression of web 2.0 and citizen co-production. The idea that government needs to shift to act very much as an enabler of social change and action, not sole public service provider.

This will require a huge shift in mindset with a significant change management challenge ahead. It will require the government to learn to trust the people it is there to serve and work with them to redesign services to be far more co-produced and personalised. This is not about data, not about websites even. It’s about vision, brave leadership, and effective management, creating a government that is willing to prototype new approaches to public service delivery. So not much to ask then! ;-)

Gov 2.0 Hero: Andrea Di Maio

Luke Fretwell — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:00:43 +0000

Andrea Di Maio doesn’t mince words when discussing Gov 2.0 on his blog. Di Maio, Gartner Research VP Distinguished Analyst, shares his thoughts on Gov 2.0 globally, what will happen in 2010 and how to filter the signal from the noise.

What’s your assessment of Gov 2.0 execution across the globe?

Gov 2.0 is primarily a bottom-up phenomenon. So, while nation-wide strategies on gov 2.0 in the US, UK and Australia, make people think those are the most advanced countries, reality is that there are many local and regional authorities as well as individual agencies across the globe that are trying out and sometimes succeeding in getting value out of gov 2.0. The assessment also depends on what people define as Gov 2.0. In most cases, this is equated to the combination of open government (more public data more easily available to people over the Internet) and the use of web 2.0 technologies for internal collaboration and external engagement. In my view, gov 2.0 is something much deeper, like the tip of the iceberg of socialization and commoditization of government data, processes and services. What we are seeing is the first phase, but the real (and disruptive) potential of gov 2.0 is still ahead of us.

What’s the signal v. noise in Gov 2.0?

Undoubtedly it is a much hyped phenomenon, so I would say that in many instances the ratio is not so good. However, if you apply the right filters, you can find interesting developments in several areas. I do believe people start getting the fundamentals of social media usage right: although many still look at that as a complementary communication channel and focus on developing agency and department Facebook pages, client conversation tell me that there is now a better understanding that engagement has to take place on the citizen’s turf, i.e. on their rather than on the government’s terms.

What does 2010 look like for Gov 2.0?

It is time to move from vision to execution and to fully understand that the single most important success factor is to empower government employees. The focus must be on refining social media policies and creating management frameworks that enable employees to use external social media in order to engage with existing groups and to advise their own agencies about whether and where to create a more institutional presence on selected social media and for selected topics. The other important aspect is to shift focus from information provision to information intelligence: in fact, while many governments (at all levels) seem obsessed with making public data more easily accessible (which is good), they are not putting sufficient emphasis on identifying, assessing and leveraging information that citizens collect on social media and can help in both service delivery and policy-making.

What’s your advice to Gov 2.0 implementers?

Make sure gov 2.0 is not limited to a small elite of visionary officials who blog, tweet and join barcamps and govcamps. The business value of joining communities and engaging external stakeholders must be shown by socializing examples where value has actually been created, and not only an idea that has a great potential. Also, look at the information management aspect: how to find communities and content that are relevant and how to identify external patterns that may help agencies do their job. We have seen early examples in areas like law enforcement or tax and benefit auditing, where examining external information (on Youtube, Flickr, Google Maps and the likes) has revealed patterns of fraudulent or criminal behavior. The same should be applied to more positive patterns: where is knowledge that can help fight unemployment or improve child welfare or better prioritize local policies?

Connect with Di Maio

Gov 2.0 Hero: Daniel Newman

Luke Fretwell — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 18:30:37 +0000

Daniel Newman
Executive Director, MAPLight.org

What was your path to Gov 2.0?

As a volunteer in politics, trying to improve my community, I realized the tremendous influence of wealthy interests which slant laws to their benefit. I co-founded MAPLight.org to shine the light of transparency on the river of money that underlies our politics and to help citizens hold their politicians accountable.

What area of government offers the biggest opportunity for improvement via Web 2.0 tools?

The biggest opportunity comes with getting government to post its data on campaign donations and voting records. It takes continuous, serious pressure to make this happen.

This past year, MAPLight.org sought data about how California legislators voted. We had to sue to force the government to release this information and we won. But it shouldn’t take a lawsuit to make government make information available. It’s amazing that government has to be dragged into the 21st century in this way.

On the Congressional side, public records have been published sporadically if at all. Information on Congressional committee votes should be up on a website the same day the vote is taken, not released months later, if at all. Information about how our government representatives vote should be available to everyone and not just people or firms that can afford thousands of dollars for private subscriptions to this information.

What’s the killer app that will make Gov 2.0 the norm instead of the exception?

The killer app is a political representative who is both honest and savvy about reaching and working with the voters. It’s a government official who will use the web more effectively to engage his or her constituents, whether they use email or discussion forums or other means. And conversely, we definitely need more and better ways to access elected leaders.

What part of Gov 2.0 most excites you?

I’m excited that it’s easier than ever for citizens and voters to determine what their elected officials are doing and hold them accountable.

The internet makes it possible for good research to be done and shared.

MAPLight.org is a lean and effective organization. With just six full-time staffers, we have reached at more than 13 million during the past year and a half with groundbreaking research findings on how campaign dollars align with lawmakers’ votes. Our work has been featured on CNN, Marketplace, and hundreds of other media outlets. New Internet tools make it possible for organizations like ours to shine a light on government in ways that are farther-reaching than ever before. This empowerment of anyone who wants to shine a light on government is the exciting promise of Gov 2.0.

Gov 2.0 Hero: Jen Pahlka

Luke Fretwell — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 18:30:34 +0000

Jen Pahlka on her new role as founder of Code for America, the new role developers play in democracy and the importance of their involvement.

Gov 2.0 Hero: Bill Eggers

Alexis James — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:13:50 +0000

Government 2.0 author Bill Eggers sat down with GovFreshTV to talk about his new book, If We Can Put a Man on the Moon … Getting Big Things Done in Government.

Gov 2.0 Hero: Mark Drapeau

Luke Fretwell — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:00:52 +0000

Dr. Mark Drapeau (@cheek_geeky), co-chair of Gov 2.0 Expo, share his thoughts on Gov 2.0 in 2009, and what to expect in 2010.