Social Software/web 2.0 Darlene Meskell

Social Software/Web 2.0 Darlene Meskell Director, USA Services Intergovernmental Solutions, GSA Office of Citizen Services

North American Day 2007 September 12-14, 2007

The Journey to Oz “Lions and tigers and bears! Oh my!”

The Journey to Web 2.0 “Wikis and facebooks and blogs! Oh my!”

What is Web 2.0? • Blog

– People have conversations online: ideas ↔ feedback – Communities form around topics that interest people

• Wiki – Internet-based location for collaboration (We are smarter than me) – Allows people to post, remove, change, edit, merge content

• Multi-User Virtual Environments (Second Life) – Virtual interaction with a different population

• RSS Feeds – Push out information to subscribers

• Video Postings (YouTube) – Video postings

• Web chat – Instant consultation with an expert online

• Podcasts – Audio downloads

• Bookmarking and Tagging (del.icio.us and Diggs) – Personalize and organize your content

How Does Web 2.0 Impact Government “One of the goals of democracy is to make government a two-way process and the Web offers a way to do this” -- Ben Schneiderman, University of Maryland

How E-Government is changing society and strengthening democracy: •

Building Trust in Government – Two-way communication – Gives everyone a voice

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Engaging Citizens in Government – Collaborators can access the same text, resources – At a distance – Public meetings online

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Inviting public comment – Regulations.gov – E-petitions

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Using social media – Going where the citizens are – Reusing data to generate more useful information

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Mature e-democracy – Transparency – Giving citizens the tools to participate online

U.S. Government Blogs

Blog Will Launch in October “Gov Gab” will post 5 days a week on USA.gov 4 Purposes, or Why USA.gov started a blog: • To open a conversation with the public • To put a human face on government • To reach new audiences • To share government information Subjects will be personal choices, e.g., how to handle lost airline luggage, influenced by the Blogosphere

Putting a Human Face on Government 6 USA.gov Bloggers Colleen – Consumer information specialist Newbie bureaucrat

Jake – Frequently Asked Questions Rocker

Marybeth – Web content manager Consumer information specialist

Nancy – TV, print and radio PSAs Media whiz

Sam – Media specialist Southern belle, shopper

Sommer – Web content manager Midwesterner

Blogging policies Policy statement from HHS: • We expect that summit participants will treat each other with respect. • All comments will be reviewed before posting. • We will not post comments that contain personal attacks of any kind; offensive terms that target specific ethnic or racial groups; or vulgar language. • We will not post comments that are spam, are clearly off topic or that promote services or products. • Comments that make unsupported accusations will also not be posted.

Pandemic Flu Leadership Blog Message: Be Prepared for Pandemic Flu

• Blog May 22 to June 27 before, during and after HHS leadership forum on pandemic preparedness • “…to have an open conversation and shape the thinking about how to communicate the critical need for preparedness... • “…addressing the need for all Americans to prepare for pandemic influenza, the challenges that leaders will face in communicating this need and the potential solutions for overcoming those challenges. • “…to communicate lessons learned from the Leadership Forum and to communicate what needs to be done moving forward.

Reaching a new generation on YouTube Message: Go Out and Play an Hour a Day

CDC in Second Life: Hygeia Philo Message: Take precautions against STDs

WikiHomePage | RecentChanges | Page Index •

Login (create account) (3NH7)

[Portal-Search] [News & Announcements] [Communities of Practice] [Go To] [ Membership] [Expedition Workshops] [Past Events] [Credits] [IPR] (3CSL)

Welcome to COLAB: An Open Collaborative Work Environment (CWE) to Support Networking Among Communities of Practice (http://www.gsa.gov /collaborate). (3CSV) • This open collaborative work environment includes a wiki, email discussion forum, message archive, shared file workspace, full text search, and portal. Wiki comes from the Hawaiian word for fast and is "a web site where community members create/edit a web page" that supports quick, collaborative writing and easy hypertext linking. The structure is not pre-determined, but invented and evolved by community in neither a top down or bottom up manner. Networking Among Communities of Practice in Support of: (35OA) • 1. Architecture and Infrastucture Committee (Organization Chart): (35OB) • 2. Best Practices Committee Wiki Page: (35OL) – –

Enterprise Process Improvement Community of Practice (EPIC) (Email and Files) (36A3) IT Performance Management Community of Practice (ITPM CoP) (Email and

Benefits of Using Wikis • Support Communities of Interest / Practice – Like-minded individuals communicate online – Single place to archive papers, agendas, e-mail lists – CIO Council committees

• Create a joint work product across boundaries – Data Reference Model v.2 by 130 people in 180 days – “We are smarter than me” book by 1 million authors – “Swarm intelligence”

• Organizing communications quickly – Tsunami rescue workers

Web Chat How can I e-file my taxes? What national parks are in Utah?

How can I get my husband to stop smoking? What is the recovery rate for skin cancer?

Issues and Benefits for Government Issues • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Policies Resources required Software to use Content-fresh and readable Moderated content Continuity Credibility Easy to use Malicious postings Liability “Official” statements Release confidential info Costs

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Benefits Communicates with citizens where they are Appeals to many generations Listens to what citizens think Increases participation in government Expands the reach of government Makes government transparent Increases trust in government Reuses data to create new knowledge Fosters collaboration Builds communities

Government 2.0: Wikinomics, Government and Democracy “…a multi-million dollar global research project that will identify and analyze emerging opportunities to harness new models of collaboration to transform the pubic sector.” -- Don Tapscott, author, Wikinomics and CEO, New Paradigm

• 4 forces: - Technology Revolution (Web 2.0) - Demographic Revolution (The Net Generation) - Social Revolution (Social Networking) - Economic Revolution (Wikinomics)

• Deliverables: - Survey of young people 13-29 on how they will behave as citizens - White papers, case studies, survey analyses - Podcasts, conference presentations, interactive working groups

Department of the Navy Uses of Web 2.0 •

Podcasts: – – – –

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Wikis: – – –

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Defense Intelligence Agency (Intellipedia) Naval Research Laboratory (SECCHI) Navy Information Operations Command experimenting with wikis to improve the process of developing IO doctrine

Pseudo Blog: –

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Department of the Navy Chief Information Officer Chief of Naval Operations Commander Navy Reserve Commander Fifth Fleet

Marine Corps Center for Lessons Learned - reports findings, trends and issues through verbal, written, and electronic media

RSS: –

RSS being built into the redesign of the DON CIO web site • Allows users an alternative path to finding information • Allows users to tailor information to what they are interested in • Provides a basis for content exchange and sharing with other sites such as NKO or DKO

For more information…

Darlene Meskell Director USA Services Intergovernmental Solutions [email protected]

Rob Carey CIO Department of the Navy [email protected]

For the Intergovernmental Solutions Newsletter How E-Government is Changing Society and Strengthening Democracy go to www.gsa.gov/intergovnewsletter