Government 2.0: Building Communities with Web 2.0 and Social Networking

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    group cooperation mentality that is provingdi cult or many longtime public employeesto envision and accept.

    This is the sort o trend government canta ord to overlook, and it seems to strike at theheart o many organizations that have estab-

    lished o fcial policy positions blocking accessto social networking sites. The Web 2.0 idea that all o us are smarter than any one o us casts a long shadow over the age o the expert, with its reverence or command,control and seniority, and brings with it anew dynamic. It emphasizes the power o the team, but on the Web 2.0 playing feld,team members very o ten have no assignedpositions. Nevertheless, a new generation o players is taking the feld. They do not classi y

    themselves like their parents or grandparentsin organizational charts with tops and bottoms.In many cases, when given the choice, theyseem to pre er to bypass the ormal organi-zation altogether, avoring instead the looseconfgurations o social networks.

    Workforce ChangesThe sheer magnitude o looming retire-

    ments has been con rmed by the O ceo Personnel Management (OPM) withinthe ederal government. The OPM is theprimary agency charged with trackingand projecting changes among the ederalwork orce. According to the agencys latestpredictions, about 300,000 people or 16.2percent o the ederal work orce is expectedto retire in the scal 2006-2010 period. Inthe past ve years, the actual retirementrate was 14.7 percent o the nonseasonal,ull-time permanent work orce (approxi-mately 229,000 people).

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    0Oct 2008 Jan Apr Jul Oct

    Daily Pageviews (percent)

    wikipedia.org msn.com

    Statistics also show that Encarta Web tra c has decreased signi cantly, and thatuser-created content-driven Wikipedia routinely surpassed it in pageviews.

    Technology Ownership by Household Type

    All Adults(n=2,252)

    Marriedwith Child/

    Children(n=482)

    Otherhousehold

    types(n=1,770)

    Othermulti-member

    households(n=1,189)

    Cellphone(s) inhousehold 84% 95% 80% 88%

    Computer(s) inhousehold 77 93 71 81

    At least onehouseholdmember goesonline

    77 94 71 83

    Have a homebroadbandconnection

    52 66 47 55

    Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project N etworked Family Survey, Dec. 13 2007-Jan. 13, 2008.N=2,252. Margin of error i s +/-2%.

    For todays married with children households, the norm is multiple communication tools.A majority now have home broadband connections.

    Source: Alexa

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    The government (state, ederal andlocal) work orce has already outpacedthe private sector in regard to the numbero older employees eligible or retirement.As o 2002, 46.3 percent o governmentworkers were 45 years o age or olderas compared to just 31.2 percent o thisdemographic within the private sector,especially in occupations that require spe-cialized skills, education and training. 3

    At the local level, the city o Tucson,Ariz., is just one example o how the retire-

    ment wave is starting to break over localgovernment. As o the end o June 2008,the city had seven department directorvacancies including police chie , re chie ,nance/budget director, water utility direc-tor and neighborhood services director.4

    As baby boomers move into retire-ment, they open the way or their childrenand grandchildren to replace them inpublic service. However, this new gen-eration o public servants is not looking

    to take up residence in grandpas vacantcubicle. For them, work isnt a place yougo, but something you do, and you cando it rom anywhere as long as you havethe appropriate tools. The Bruce Springs-teen generation may have been born torun, but this group, o ten re erred to asMillennials, was born to be mobile andconnected to their riends.

    The results o a report published recentlyby a Norwegian so tware company, titled

    State o the Mobile Web, show that in theUnited States, tra c to social networks,such as MySpace and Facebook, com-prises almost 60 percent o Web tra cgenerated by mobile devices.5

    Such social networking sites are unda-mentally changing the way young peoplecommunicate. They text message all day,but when they want to tell their riendsabout upcoming events, places they have

    been and what theyve done, they postvideos, photographs and text descriptionson their Facebook or MySpace pages.

    E-mail the killer app or those over30 years old is used only or the typeo ormal or o cial communication thatonce may have required carbon paper.The change is pro ound, but it isnt com-

    plicated. It is 10 percent tools and 90percent cultural, but it is vital to a genera-tion that has grown up with the Internetand in ormation overload, where evensmall children are taught that you canttrust just one piece o in ormation, youhave to look at many and evaluate every-thing on your own.

    Current government o cials needto understand and respect this cultural

    reality and the undamental change it rep-resents; otherwise, our public institutionsrun the risk o missing the bene ts romthe creativity that Web 2.0 can unleash,potentially creating a you cant get hererom there barrier to public participationand discourse.

    Growing Up in a Web 2.0 World

    Some 93% o teens use the Internet, and more o them than ever are treating it as avenue or social interaction a place where they can share creations, tell stories andinteract with others.

    The Pew Internet & American Li e Project has ound that 64% o online teens, ages12-17, have participated in one or more content-creating activities on the Internet, uprom 57% o online teens in a similar survey at the end o 2004.

    39%o online teens share their

    own artistic creationsonline, such as artwork,photos, stories or videos,up rom 33% in 2004.

    33%create or work on Web

    pages or blogs or others,including those or groupsthey belong to, riendsor school assignments,basically unchanged rom2004 (32%).

    28%have created an online

    journal or blog, up rom19% in 2004.

    27%maintain a personalWeb page, up rom22% in 2004.

    26%remix content theynd online into their owncreations, up rom 19%in 2004.

    The percentage o online teens who said yes to at least one o those vecontent-creation activities is 64%, or 59% o all teens.

    Source: Teens and Social Media Report, Dec. 19, 2007 - Pew Internet & American Life Project

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    The Tools From Individual Expressionto Community Building

    Much o what we now consider to be Web2.0 technology had its genesis in the desireo young people or sel -expression, peercommunication and a new way to stay con-

    nected with riends. For example, blogs wereoriginally created to be online diaries. Simplyput, blogging was a way to combine a per-sonal Web page with tools that made linkingto other pages and applications easier.

    Tools, such as MySpace, Facebook,YouTube, wikis and others, urther auto-mated the process and made inclusion o pictures, video, music and other customiza-tions much easier and helped urther createcommunities o interest by linking riends.

    So the question or government is: Do thesetools that were originally created to urthersel -expression really represent and signala undamental shi t in how we create andmanage our relationships and interactions, orare they just modern vaporware, interestingapplications that have little practical or lastingvalue, especially in the public sector?

    Seattles Chie Technology O cer BillSchrier, one o the leading local governmentthinkers on the potential o Web 2.0 in the

    public sector and a member o the DigitalCommunities CIO Task Force, has taken athought ul look at this very question. In hispersonal blog, where he identi es himsel as the Chie Seattle Geek, he looks at thepotential Web 2.0 tools have or buildingbetter communities.6

    In his essay, Schrier contends that socialnetworking applications, such as MySpace,Facebook, LinkedIn and Second Li e, have

    broken new ground. They allow individuals toestablish a new, virtual presence to interactwith other members o their online community.They provide the opportunity or government

    to urther promote, organize and supportsmall groups in communities, such as anti-crime block watches or neighborhood disasterrecovery teams. In his opinion, having (secure)social networking sites or these communitygroups to interact, learn rom each other andeducate themselves has great promise.

    He goes on to say that moderated blogs

    with interactive comments are, potentially, agood way or elected o cials to receive inputrom constituents and interact with them.They might be a supplement to public meet-

    ings in the community, but are not withouttheir challenges. For example, blogs andpublic meetings are o ten monopolized bya ew, sel -anointed citizen activists, and mod-erating a blog is a lot o time and e ort or agovernment agency.

    Online surveys conducted with tools suchas Zoomerang and SurveyMonkey are ubiqui

    The Internet and the 2008 Election: Summary of Findings at a Glance

    Source: Smith, Aaron and Lee Rainie. The Internet and the 2008 Election, Pew Internet & American Life Project, June 15, 2008.

    46%o Americans have usedthe Internet, e-mail orphone texting to get newsabout the campaigns,share their views andmobilize others.

    35%Two new Internet activitieshave stormed the politicalstage: 35% o Americanshave watched online videosrelated to the campaign,and 10% have used socialnetworking sites to engage inpolitical activity.

    MoreAmericans have goneonline to get politicalnews and campaignin ormation so ar thanduring 2004.

    1 in 10Nearly one in 10 Internet

    users has donated moneyto a candidate online atthis point in the race.

    Young voters tilt towardObama and his party,which gives the Demo-crats some advantages.

    39%o online Americans have

    used the Internet to gainaccess to primary politicaldocuments and observecampaign events.

    Despite the increased salience o online sources in thepolitical arena, wired Americans have mixed views about the overall impact o the Internet on politics.

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    tous in the private sector and could be used

    to help elected o cials gauge the mood o a citys residents on particular topics. Withany online survey, however, activists andspecial interest groups can rig the results byvoting early and o ten. Such surveys wontbe statistically valid, but valuable insightmay be gained by combining them withtraditional surveying techniques conductedvia U.S. mail or telephone.

    Dynamic Online Collaboration

    Wikis, a collection o Web pagesdesigned to enable anyone who accessesit to contribute or modi y content usinga simpli ed markup language, certainlyhold great promise as tools internal togovernment.7 Government is typically

    broken up into departments, each withits own unique unctions. Departmentstend to be siloed groups, and cross-department communication is di cult toestablish and maintain. Wikis or similartools, such as Microso ts SharePointor others, could be used to standardizebusiness processes, unctions and termsacross an entire government. Simple pro-cesses, such as how to handle a public

    disclosure request or how to pay avendor invoice, are candidates or docu-mentation and improvement through awiki. Certainly such processes can bedocumented and put on static Webpages on a government intranet today,but the advantage o a wiki is that manymore employees are involved in creatingand editing the content, so the processhappens aster. Furthermore, employ-

    ees read it and use it because they are

    involved in it.According to Schrier, external wikis

    also o er signi cant utility or local gov-ernment. For example, they can be usedto deliver in ormation to communitymembers and answer requently askedquestions, including, What is the bestway to recycle a used computer? or Howdo I apply or and use ood stamps? orWhom should I call about a re rigeratoround in the median o a major street?

    Again, much o this in ormation can beposted in a more traditional online ashionvia public Web pages maintained by gov-ernment employees; however, by takingadvantage o the wiki structure, govern-ment is able to include others who may

    have alternative or better ideas than thegovernment. For example, recyclers, envi-ronmentalists, nonpro t and educationgroups may have great ideas or dealingwith e-waste. The collaborative and inter-active nature o the wiki gives everyonean opportunity to participate in identi y-ing the best possible solution.

    Local governments role is to create publicpolicy and deliver public works within ade ned geographic area. Public works caninclude public sa ety, social services anddevelopment and maintenance o streets,parks and other public acilities. A developingtechnology tool well suited to support localgovernment is the mashup. A mashup isa Web application that combines data rommore than one source into a single integratedtool. For example, geographic data may addlocation in ormation to crime or vehicle acci-

    dent reports, or it can provide greater location

    in ormation about where the need or socialservice programs may be greatest based oncurrent requests or assistance. In ormationrom program databases can be displayedon a map, giving policymakers and com-munity members a more complete picture otheir community.

    Schrier not only has the courage o apioneer willing to explore the unknownbut also the realistic perspective osomeone who knows that success ul

    exploration requires that you survive th journey. He points out that while Web2.0 technologies may hold great promiseor local government, they also presentsome signi cant challenges.

    Liabilities of Online ParticipationIncreased citizen participation in the

    public policy and governance process canbe a proverbial double-edged sword. Moswould agree that adding voices, perspec-

    tive, opinion and ideas to public discourseis a good thing, but whether it is done bybringing more people to the meeting orcreating new electronic avenues o par-ticipation, the process is susceptible tobeing manipulated by a vocal minorityWeb 2.0 technologies are also at risk o being commandeered by such people,but as Schrier rightly points out, normalconstituents also have additional paths,mechanisms and opportunities to interactwith their elected o cials.

    The possibility o a digital divide thaseparates communities with easy accessto in ormation and communication tech-nology rom those without it also mustnot be overlooked. In such communities,interest and investment in creating elec-tronic participation opportunities must bebalanced with more traditional communi-cation methods to ensure everyone has

    The collaborative and interactive nature o thewiki gives everyone an opportunity to participatein identi ying the best possible solution.

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    The gambling industry and cable tele-vision have somehow managed to de nepoker playing as a sport worthy o almostconstant television coverage on the cablesports channels and, in doing so, theyhave begun to insinuate the gamblerslexicon into the mainstream popula-tion. At the moment o decision, a pokerplayer must decide i the hand he or she

    is holding has su cient winning potentialthat justi es making a bet. I so, they aredeemed to be in. I not, they old thehand, throw their cards into the muckand are out until the next time the cardsare dealt. Right now, local governmenttechnology pro essionals are struggling tocalculate the winning potential o socialnetworking and trying to decide i theyshould be in or out.

    According to an article in the July/ August 2008 issue o Technology Reviewmagazine, there is no question that socialnetworking is popular. Hundreds o mil-lions o people worldwide visited the siteslast year, but does popularity equate toinevitability or create a populist mandaterequiring local government to participatein social networking? Will ailure to under-

    stand, appreciate and participate in socialnetworks result in a wider gap betweenpublic o cials and constituents or orevercast local government as a rule-bound,out-o -touch employer o last resort?12

    Or were our mothers on to somethingwhen they questioned the wisdom o

    jumping o the bridge just because all theother kids were doing it? Do the hard-won

    lessons o more traditional public-sectorIT project justi cation still apply whentrying to decide i investment in socialnetworking makes good business sense?Is social networking the next incarnationo the ree municipal Wi-Fi ad? Perhapsas one Task Force member put it, socialnetworking is still primarily a technologyin search o a problem.

    How you answer those questionsseems to depend on what kind o role youde ne or technology within the govern-ment enterprise right now and how yousee the uture. Just as poker players lookat the cards and try to calculate the like-lihood o success be ore they bet, thereare some common considerations amongCIO Task Force members as they decidehow to play the social networking hand.

    CIO ReservationsThe act that a new set o interactive,

    community-building technologies, suchas blogs, RSS eeds, MySpace, Face-book, LinkedIn, wikis and YouTube-typevideos, have increased use o the Internetis not news, but in general, governmenthas still been slow to adapt them orpublic agency use. There are some goodreasons or this.

    First, most CIOs recognize that govern-ment should not be on the bleeding edgeo adopting new technologies. Hard-won, expensive experience show thatexperimentation with taxpayer unds canend badly.

    Second, technology designed or indi-vidual expression in a relatively open ando ten academic environment is not alwayscreated with the same kind o manage-ment and security capability that is builtinto more traditional enterprise systems.Networks are more than just an individualPC; they are comprised o every piece o connected hardware, including smart-phones, laptops, handheld devices and

    even USB keys. Each and every piece o hardware that connects to or inter aceswith a network and every so tware appli-cation run on a device connected to thenetwork exposes the entire enterprise toincreased risk.

    Increasing reliance on social networksalso raises privacy and data securityconcerns. Sensitive, o cial data couldinadvertently be displayed over a publicnetwork or thousands to see. These net-

    The Gamblers Dilemma Are You In or Out?

    Perhaps the greatest potential or Web 2.0technology in local government is its ability to,as Washington, D.C., CIO Vivek Kundra said,re-establish the public square and create andconnect communities o interest.

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    uture. It can be a di cult task getting an

    organization to coalesce around a sharedvision, but success ul leaders believe inthe ollowers ability to understand andshare in the dream and have the courageto try new things.

    Creating a pre erred uture requiresaction now in order to prepare the rame-work o success. Speaking about thepotential o Web 2.0 technology, StuartMcKee, national technology o cer o Microso t and ormer CIO o Washington

    state, recently said, It takes 10 years o experience be ore we really know howbest to characterize things. Right now, weare at a lurch- orward point where time,location and ormat dont really matteranymore. In order to gain the advantageso lurching orward, it may be necessaryto give up control o historical structures.The willingness to nd a new structuremay be just the thing that is needed to

    bring a new relevance to public process

    and community governance.Ultimately CIOs must decide or them-

    selves i Web 2.0 technology makes senseor their community and i this is the timeto invest in it. And perhaps, tellingly, there

    is a developing social networking ethic thatmay guide them. As Web 2.0 pushes theage o the expert into the history books inavor o collaboration and consensus, thereis a growing belie that trusting just onepiece o in ormation or one source is insu -cient. The developing cultural dynamicchallenges us to look at many, evaluate

    many, consult with many, collaborate with

    many and then make our own decision.Even now, Web 2.0 is not the real issueor governments seeking to make a moveorward to better citizen engagement andgovernance. The question is: What is the

    best approach and strategy or creating adynamic, fexible and courageous organi-zation that is able to meet the changingneeds and expectations o local commu-nities? How that question is answeredwill de ne the uture o local government:Government 2.0.

    Younger generations tend to see knowledge moreas simply a tool to be widely shared, expandedand re ned through social media and broad,

    unstructured collaboration.

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    What problems do Web 2.0 and/or social networking sitessolve?

    What opportunities do they present to do something notpresently being done or to do something better?

    Have you identi ed a compelling business case or employeeaccess to social networking sites during business hours?

    Is your organization ready and able to deal with the potentialadministrative burden o more citizen engagement andparticipation?

    Is your move to Web 2.0 appropriately balanced with tradi-tional citizen communication and participation opportunities?

    Do you understand and have you prepared or the e ect

    Web 2.0 and social networking will have on public recordsretention and production policies and practices?

    Are you con dent that your enterprise network securitypolicies, practices and procedures are appropriately estab-lished in order to allow sa e participation in socialnetworking and access to the sites?

    Have employees been trained and do they understand thepotential implications o social networking and Web 2.0applications or privacy and data security?

    Is your enterprise in rastructure su ciently robust to supportemployee use o social networks, including the demands o streaming video, audio and multiple RSS eeds?

    Do you have sta that are ready, able and authorized toprovide personal insight, pictures, videos and other mediainto conversations so your social networking activitiesbecome more than a regurgitation or duplication o pressreleases and o cial statements?

    Do your personnel policies, including acceptable use o government resources, allow employees to access and

    participate in social networking sites rom work computers? Do you have an o cial organizational policy that covers

    use o Web 2.0 technology and social networking and areemployees and supervisors well trained on its application?

    Web 2.0 and SocialNetworking PreparednessChecklist or Local Government

    1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web _ 2.02 http://www.govtech.com/gt/print _ article.php?id=2416703 http://www.naspo.org/documents/Responding _ to _ an _ Aging _ and _ Changing _ Work orce _ - _ FINAL _ compressed.pd 4 http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/byauthor/2461045 http://www.opera.com/mobile _ report/ 6 http://www.chie seattlegeek.com/web20essay.htm7 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki8 http://egovsharing.blogspot.com/ 9 http://www.govtech.com/dc/379694?id=&story _ pg=110 http://www.cityo sancarlos.org/news/displaynews.asp?NewsID=406

    http://www.govtech.com/gt/articles/37651411 http://www. acebook.com/pages/JSOnline-Milwaukee-Journal-Sentinel/1651126381512 http://www.technologyreview.com/printer _ riendly _ article.aspx?id=20922&channel=biztech&section=13 http://www.govtech.com/gt/375535

    Endnotes

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