Tag Archives: web 2.0

Study on the Impact of Government 2.0

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SmartPlanet reports on a study by Grant Thornton and FreeBalance on the impact of government 2.0.  The conclusions?

Government 2.0 — enabled through social networking tools — provides benefits such as reduced cost of engagement through more productive tools and processes, simplified knowledge creation and retention though usable applications, easier knowledge sharing, and enhanced information discovery through transparency and data mashups. It all sounds like good mom-and-apple-pie stuff, but is it actually being put to use?

The Grant Thornton report says yes.

And on better using social media and government 2.0?

To help government better take advantage of social networking technologies, Grant Thornton suggests that government organizations better incorporate “design thinking” (Government 2.0 mindset) as a supplement to “management thinking” (Government 1.0 mindset).

“Design thinking” uses a collaborative and iterative style of working that builds up ideas – the best ideas surfacing from a pool of many.” The consultancy also recommends that government managers embrace “viral” change, versus the more static, top-down command-and-control decrees. “Change Management in the Web 2.0 era is more peer-to-peer, viral – change is pulled by participating constituents, employees, customers.”

These are conclusions that many of us have already realized, but I think the study is a good reassurance of where government 2.0 is going.

Library of Congress to Archive Tweets

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Yesterday, Twitter and the Library of Congress announced that the Library will digitally archive all public tweets made on the social network Twitter.  The Library of Congress announced the plan on its blog, and Twitter did the same on its blog.  Wired has a good overview of the news.

Something I didn’t know, but the Library of Congress archives lots of websites (from the LoC blog):

So if you think the Library of Congress is “just books,” think of this: The Library has been collecting materials from the web since it began harvesting congressional and presidential campaign websites in 2000. Today we hold more than 167 terabytes of web-based information, including legal blogs, websites of candidates for national office, and websites of Members of Congress.

We also operate the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program www.digitalpreservation.gov, which is pursuing a national strategy to collect, preserve and make available significant digital content, especially information that is created in digital form only, for current and future generations.

The Federal government, the White House, and the Library of Congress are taking Twitter seriously- are you?  Let us know in the comments.

FEMA’s Social Media Site

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The Federal Emergency Management Agency has a great site for it’s own social media accounts and explanation of what they do.  Check it out here, and read FEMA’s factsheet on social media usage here.

About this page, FEMA writes:

FEMA has been engaging in Web 2.0 tools and on social media sites nationwide as part of its mission to prepare the nation for disasters. FEMA’s goals with social media are: to provide timely and accurate information related to disaster preparedness response and recovery; provide the public with another avenue for insight into the agency’s operations; and engage in what has already become a critical medium in today’s world of communications. FEMA’s social media ventures function as supplemental outreach, and as appropriate channels for unofficial input.

All FEMA social media accounts outside of the www.FEMA.gov domain carry the branded femainfocus look and feel. This provides consistency and accountability for content in that the public and our partners can rest assured it is the authorized FEMA account and that the information is accurate. Citizens can engage more easily with the emergency management community through social media sites, and increase their role in disaster preparedness, response and recovery.

FEMA has wholeheartedly engaged social media, how does your organization stack up?

Marines and Social Media

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The Marine Corps has decided to embrace social networks and is now allowing units and individuals to use social media (and access the sites, which were previously blocked on Marine networks).  Wired describes this decision as an about face because the Marines had banned Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and other sites last August.

This is probably the most interesting passage from the Wired article, a quote from a Major who worked in the Haiti relief operations:

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are fought on classified information systems. While an operational necessity for these conflicts, most disaster relief partners, to include a majority of the US Embassy staff, can neither see nor access classified material. During the initial days of the relief operation, the ability to pass timely and accurate information was arguably as important as the availability of food and water. In the initial weeks of Operation UNIFIED RESPONSE, Blackberry text messages became the primary means of communication, chiefly because they were the simplest and most reliable means of corresponding with the host of US Government agencies, United Nations offices, and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) coordinating the relief efforts.

Drupal for Building Gov 2.0 Sites

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GovFresh has a great article on the usefulness of the open source Drupal content management system in creating transparency and government 2.0 websites.

Don’t forget to look at our Goverments Using Open Source CMS for many examples of sites built with Drupal (and other open source solutions).

On Social Networking Security

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Sophos released an advisory on security risks with social networking this past week.  ReadWriteWeb has a great article on the subject, and has this recommendation:

The real solution to the social networking security problem is to embrace sites instead of blocking them. Rather than being overly restrictive, companies would do better to make social networking policies a part of their corporate policy and procedure manuals, spelling out what is and is not acceptable within their organization. Left up to users, it’s clear that for some, it’s anything goes…and that’s a danger most companies cannot afford.

North Carolina Social Media Policy

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The State of North Carolina has issued a new policy on government social media policy, focusing on:

  • appropriate implementation, authorization and acceptable use of social media
  • Security measures to protect individuals, sensitive information and state systems
  • Proper records management and preservation

How Santa Clarita Uses Social Media

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How the City of Santa Clarita Uses Social Media.  And on the future of social media use in Santa Clarita:

In early 2010, the City will expand the business utility of social networking for our residents by adding a Twitter component to our CRM application, referred to in Santa Clarita as “eService.”