A blog about government-to-citizen digital communication and engagement, Government 2.0, GovDelivery, and other e-government issues
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Should You Ignore Citizen Expectations?

August 16th, 2012 | Posted by GovDelivery in Government 2.0 - (0 Comments)

By Steve Ressler, Founder of GovLoop

I’m having my first child in 5 weeks (by “I,” I mean my wife is doing all the real work).

So I’m in the process of looking for a pediatrician. As a technologist, one of my questions I keep on asking potential pediatricians is:

Do you have an electronic records system?  How am I able to gain access to my kids electronic file (if need to access it while traveling or just want to look up the last specific vaccine test)?

What’s been interesting is — 3 pediatricians in — that they all look at me as if I’m crazy.

Most of them have heard of electronic records, and they either have it or are in the process of getting it.  But none of them know how their system works, and all of them think I’m crazy that I want access to the electronic file (today’s pediatrician mentioned that to get access to my kid’s electronic file, they’d print out all the pages and hand it to me).

I understand I may be early on this curve, but I think this trend is coming where all individuals and parents will want access to the electronic health record in the same way we have electronic access to our retirement accounts, savings account, and personal/professional documents in the cloud. Which got me thinking: governments face this problem all the time — trying to meet citizens increasing expectations and trying to tease out what will be a trend they should invest in (vs. a small niche).

From my experiences lately, I’d recommend a three-pronged approach:

1) Gather input. As citizens come to your agency with requests, make sure they are being collected in a structured manner.  Also make sure you are doing regular survey of your users (both when they are in your office or via email newsletters and surveys).  Monitor trends of what other government agencies are doing.  Stack rank this input on a regular basis according to demand, cost, and ROI.

2) Beta-test. After you’ve gathered this information, there’s some preliminary interest (maybe directly from citizens or maybe you see other agencies moving forward), dip your toes with a beta test.  It doesn’t have to be a huge test but it should be significant enough that you can confirm at the end if it worked or not (for example, a pilot of 15 iPads vs. just 1 iPad would be a better experiment.)

3) Make a Decision. Beta periods shouldn’t last forever.  At some point, you have to decide whether to go all in or decide that  it’s not worth the energy.  If you go all in, use this time to see if you can cut something at same time.  The best approach if possible is the closest approach my mom taught me: for every new shirt you buy, you have to throw one out.

How should government decide what expectations to ignore?  Which ones to note and wait for growth?  And which ones to jump on right away?

 

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4 Ways Your Organization Can Use Facebook’s New Page Features

August 14th, 2012 | Posted by GovDelivery in E-Government | Government 2.0 | Social Media - (0 Comments)

This summer, Facebook has released several new features for Facebook Pages that allow organizations more control over creating, releasing and managing content and messages. The newest features include scheduled page posts, unpublished page posts, and page admin permissions for third-party apps.

  • Scheduling posts is a feature previously available to Page administrators using third-party solutions, like HootSuite, to create a post and designate a date and time for publication. The new scheduling feature allows post scheduling to be centrally managed within Facebook.
  • “Unpublished Page Posts” are posts released on a limited basis to a target segment of the Page’s audience, such as a specific age demographic.
  • Page admin permissions allow your Page administrator to grant levels of access for managing the Page, which can now be applied to third-party apps.

For government agencies, these new features can be leveraged to connect with citizens on topics they are most interested in and reach them when they are most likely to be online. Here are four specific ways your government org can try out the new Pages features today.

Manage Posts Up to Six Months in Advance

Facebook’s scheduling tool allows you to create and schedule posts for future times between ten minutes from the time of creation up to six months in advance. These posts can later be rescheduled or deleted. Government organizations can take advantage of this feature by strategically creating “inventory” of content ahead of time. Writing and scheduling these posts can be a regular task outside of urgent projects, especially for organizations that work around a “busy season” or a seasonal increase in projects.

The scheduled content can be scheduled and re-scheduled to ensure timely and relevant content is consistently released to citizens, even during times when your communications staff may be strapped for time or content. For example, a post linking to summer safety tips could be created in advance and scheduled for the week after the Fourth of July, when you know most of your staff will be out on vacation. The post could then be rescheduled for another date if additional content becomes available.

Schedule Posts at Times that Maximize Reach of Your Organization’s Message

The ability to schedule Page posts allows you to release a post at the time when you expect the most citizens to be online and looking for the information you are providing. For example, perhaps you have noticed that more users “Like” and comment on your organization’s posts about weekend community events when they are shared on Thursday afternoons, but you usually have time to work on Facebook content on Mondays. You could create and schedule event-related Page posts during Monday mornings, and use Facebook’s features to reschedule or delete the posts as-needed as the weekend approaches.

Run Segmented Message Campaigns with Sponsored “Unpublished Page Posts”

Facebook’s new “Unpublished Page Posts” allow organizations to create posts that, instead of being shared widely and publicly, are shared via the sponsored post feature on Facebook that allows targeting of specific market segments. Organizations willing to pay Facebook’s fee for sponsored posts can now share information with citizens that is tailored to their specific interests, making the organization more approachable to the target audience. For example, your organization could sponsor a post on your area’s fall-time tourist information campaign and “advertise” to individuals who do not live in the area.

Create Roles and Permissions for Page Admins

Roles and permissions for Page admins are more of a “behind the scenes” feature than those previously mentioned. They allow you to share the responsibility of your agency’s Facebook Page for better engagement and improved content. Given the resources, your organization could enlist resources to manage certain aspects of your Page. For example, an intern could take on the responsibility of managing comments and reporting on insights, while another member of your communications department focuses on creating and scheduling content in order to maximize interaction with the public based on the intern’s feedback. Third-party apps can also be granted limited permissions in order to gain monitoring or content management without giving up too much access.

The new Facebook Page features give government agencies powerful tools for reaching the public and starting meaningful conversations. Has your organization tried out scheduling posts, creating segmented message campaigns, or adding Page Admin roles? We would love to hear all about your experience in the comments!

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How New Media and Government are combating HIV/AIDS

August 2nd, 2012 | Posted by GovDelivery in Compelling Content | E-Government | Federal Government | Government 2.0 | Government Success Stories | Integration | Mobile - (0 Comments)

By John Simpson, Federal Consultant

As some government agencies labor for ways to adopt the White House’s Digital Government Strategy, many have already been working towards the goal of delivering crucial government information to those who most need it and inventing more than just a mandatory response to another Executive Order. A powerful example of the innovative use of government data is AIDS.gov’s prevention and service provider locator.

With different agencies often having separate programs designed to assist the same community, information is scattered across multiple websites and can be difficult for the public to find, especially if they don’t know where to look. AIDS.gov has developed an easy online tool to cut through the forest of government domains and provide one place for the public to see official available treatment options in their area. This tool pulls information from:

  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) testing resource database
  • Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) database on housing resources for people living with HIV
  • Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) database on substance abuse treatment and mental health resources
  • Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) treatment centers

After entering your address or zip code, this locator populates a Google map of the user’s neighboring area and shows available resources for those with HIV/AIDS. Much like Yelp or other location-based searches, a user can filter their search based on their desired results or click on any location to be shown additional details and contact information.

Although advancements in medicine and science are fundamental in stemming the spread of HIV/AIDS, the government’s active engagement with the public and use of innovative tools to spread awareness of publicly available resources can be just as crucial in combating this epidemic and working towards an AIDS-free generation. By allowing a user to easily see all of the available government resources and programs through one simple tool, AIDS.gov cuts through the sometimes confusing assortment of government websites and quickly connects stakeholders with as many publicly available resources as possible. With only few keystrokes, the public is connected to information on vital resources and local treatment centers through a single interface. The easier it is for those in need to find treatment, the easier it is to combat the spread and symptoms of HIV/AIDS.

AIDS.gov’s site also uses a responsive design framework, allowing for the site to be fully accessed on a laptop, tablet or smart phone and automatically adjusting to fit the respective screen. AIDS.gov is one of the first full-scale federal websites using this framework and brings online solutions to the public no matter what device they’re using at the time without the additional work needed to build a mobile site. This framework embodies the mission of the Digital Government Strategy of allowing public access to government information “anywhere, anytime on any device.”

Yet, the potential opportunities for the government to combat HIV/AIDS go beyond the digital dissemination of information. New media offers unique opportunities to combat the stigmas around HIV/AIDS by allowing agencies to directly engage the public, offer those living with the condition to share their stories online, allow for interaction with others in their community, and educate the public by leveraging tools that many of Americans now use as second-nature.

There is more than can be achieved besides providing better customer service or sending press releases through Twitter. New media can help break down walls of fear or ignorance that can’t be done through traditional methods of communication. The evolution of outreach through blogs, social media, online collaboration solutions, and community organizing websites can help eliminate the spread of HIV/AIDS and unlock life-saving resources to the public. When the government works together to better engage the public using new media, as AIDS.gov has done, lives can be saved and made better. During the recent International AIDS Conference, one of the speakers stated that the public and the government shouldn’t “be afraid to connect. And when you connect, don’t be afraid to engage. And when you engage, don’t be afraid to make a difference.”

 

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311 Call Centers versus Email and Mobile: Why You Can’t Afford Not to Make the Shift

August 1st, 2012 | Posted by Mary Yang for GovDelivery in Compelling Content | E-Government | Government 2.0 | Local Government | UK Government - (1 Comments)

311 call centers serve as a crucial link between the government and the public, but their costs really eat away at city budgets. That’s why more and more cities are shifting their services from call centers to less expensive channels, such as websites, email or text messages. Most service requests can be addressed digitally, helping to prioritize 311 centers for information-only calls.

A 2009 article from Baltimore Sun noted how Baltimore saved hundreds of thousands of dollars by cutting down 311 calls to only urgent service requests between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.:  “Operators log about 1.1 million calls annually, but only about 52,000 – less than 5 percent – come overnight. As a result, each call costs about $10. And of those, 1,900 were urgent requests.” That’s a high volume of calls that weren’t necessary and greatly added up in annual costs.

In a recent article, Government Technology cites a Pew Charitable Trusts study that found the average cost of a single 311 call to be $3.39, though some cities ranged higher with Detroit coming in at $7.78 per call. These costs really add up when cities receive hundreds of thousands, or even millions, calls per year. So why isn’t government jumping to shift these communication costs to more reasonable and less expensive digital methods?

Many city governments hope that streamlining their current process will increase efficiency and solve most problems. It is also understandable that government prefers to maintain human contact throughout their services instead of automating certain citizen services. The good news is that government can achieve a balance of both methods, reduce costs and satisfy the needs of their customers. And that’s exactly what some cities have already been doing.

Baltimore is now offering various online and digital alternatives to 311 call centers. The city has provided a website where residents can submit requests at any time and also allows citizens to request services or report problems through the use of mobile apps.

New York is also leading the way in shifting to more cost-effective channels by harnessing the power of social media, with a particular focus on Twitter. Shifting traffic online cuts costs while meeting customer needs at an even higher rate due to the real-time nature of social media. New York also uses a 311 iPhone application, which is being “very well received.” A Destination CRM article notes how iPhone users have been downloading the app and have submitted over 3,000 reports within the first year, with issues ranging from damaged trees to more “quality-of-life conditions.” In May 2011, New York integrated 311 text messaging as one of its modes of communications, which has been used to respond to two hundred texts daily within its first year.

Shifting to digital alternatives can save governments significant dollars while still meeting citizen needs and allowing government to react to requests quickly. But governments need to make a proactive effort to inform the public of these digital alternatives. In fact, if governments can leverage a system where the public is proactively notified about issues that directly affect their lives, such as road closures, construction updates or park hours, local governments could make a huge impact on their 311 call center budgets. By providing information to the public, the number of informational phone calls would be greatly reduced and, in turn, reduce expenses. Being proactive also creates value for citizens in that they would have real-time, relevant information at their fingertips rather than taking the time to seek out information later.

Free image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

In fact, after the above Government Technology article was published, Detroit made the decision to close their 311 call center, unable to justify the costs. They alerted residents to contact city departments directly by phone or email and to visit department websites for more information.

If you could shift 5% of your call center volume to other channels, how many calls per year would that be? Now multiply that number by the average cost of $5 per 311call. Think of the potential savings while being able to maintain citizen services and requests.

Has your local government considered shifting 311 call center operations to include digital alternatives?  If you have thought about it but haven’t implemented digital alternatives for proactive communications, what is stopping you?

In the United Kingdom, shifting phone expenses to digital solutions is a huge initiative for local governments. Find out how channel shift can benefit your organization by downloading this white paper by Dr. Gerald Power.

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Tech-Savvy Senior Citizens on the Rise

July 17th, 2012 | Posted by Mary Yang for GovDelivery in E-Government | Email Communication | Government 2.0 - (4 Comments)

There is a common misconception that senior citizens are not actively using email or are less likely to use technology to communicate. In reality, seniors are tapping into technology more than ever. As more and more seniors integrate the Internet into their daily lives, digital communications is becoming the most efficient way to engage and inform. Studies show that senior citizens are fast adopting email as one of their primary methods of digital interaction and communication. According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 87% of senior citizens use email and search engines, while the Nielsen Company found that checking email was the primary online activity for 88.6% of seniors. With these statistics, it is clear government organizations could benefit greatly by reaching out to seniors via email.

Not only are senior citizens becoming more tech-savvy, but their use of digital communications is predicted to increase rapidly. The Nielsen Company found that “in the last five years, the number of seniors actively using the Internet has increased by more than 55 percent, from 11.3 million active users in November 2004 to 17.5 million in November 2009.” Furthermore, the Pew study shows that more than half of the senior citizens — even more than Millenials — are going online visit a government website already to find information relevant to them.

Social networks are also acquiring more senior users with each passing year. The Pew study demonstrates that internet users aged 74+ have experienced the fastest growth in use of social networking sites, which has quadrupled since 2008. Since social media users are significantly more likely to check their email frequently, the rise in social networking among senior citizens signals a further increase in frequent email use.

By 2015, eMarketer forecasts there will be over 26 million senior internet users in the U.S. By 2030, when tech-savvy baby boomers will mature into this demographic, the US Census Bureau predicts nearly one in five Americans will be seniors — a citizen demographic that cannot be ignored.

As a growing number of senior citizens discover the advantages of digital communications, email and social media are quickly becoming their dominant method of exchanging information. Government organizations can greatly benefit from implementing email outreach campaigns and other digital communications efforts to engage and inform the senior citizen demographic. Unlike other forms of more costly communication, such as direct mail or telephone calls, people’s preferences and response to emails can be tracked, allowing you to understand what is most interesting to this demographic so you can send information that is most relevant to them. Instead of waiting for senior citizens to come to your website, how much more impactful could your organization be by proactively sending these citizens the information they are looking for?

Is your government organization reaching out to senior citizens via email and digital communications already? Are you able to filter and segment this population within your database to provide them with the most relelvant information? How are you harnessing digital communications technology to reduce cost and reach more people with information across this growing demographic?

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When’s the perfect time to engage citizens?

July 12th, 2012 | Posted by GovDelivery in E-Government | Email Communication | GovDelivery | Government 2.0 | UK Government - (2 Comments)

By Amish Patel, Client Development Consultant, GovDelivery UK

Many of our clients rely on us to help them implement digital communication best practices, and one of the many questions we get is, “When is the best time to launch and promote citizen engagement services?”

In our minds, there is never a bad time, but in working with more than 500 government organisations worldwide, our experiences have shown that people flood to government websites when there is an emergency or other event that impacts service delivery.  Severe weather is a prime example of a time when citizens visit local government websites and subscribe in the thousands to official sources of information.  In the UK, with recent  floods along the south coast,  West Sussex County Council saw nearly 1,000 residents sign up for service information in a 48-hour period.

When there is an emergency you need a reliable, effective way of directly reaching as many residents as possible. The more people you reach the greater the impact your information can have. In addition to the obvious public benefits, effective communications help ease the workload of strained customer service teams.  Proactive, informative alerts are proven to help manage call demand and reduce avoidable contact.

Recent analysis of GovDelivery subscription rates to UK local government clients clearly shows that there is considerably more activity between the months of November and February, and it’s no surprise this period coincides with winter service disruptions.  Interestingly, the majority of new subscribers during this period subscribe to multiple topics of interest, including school closures, missed bins, council tax updates and local events.  Even obscure service areas, such as  Pest Control, get multiple subscribers. A typical resident subscribes to 7 – 10 service notifications before leaving the website, giving your local government organisation multiple future points of engagement.

Derbyshire County Council  captures website visitors’ attention with eye catching sign-up links in key areas.  The result of this is that residents who search for the latest information on winter service disruption can easily sign up to receive future updates and be proactively informed across multiple service areas, maximising direct connections with residents.

It goes without saying that informed citizens make better decisions and are generally much happier.  In these austere times, efficient communications save Government large sums in avoidable contact. Therefore, it’s hard to say there is ever a bad time to increase public engagement and improve communication.

 

 

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National Weather Service Using APIs for Tsunami Alerts

July 10th, 2012 | Posted by GovDelivery in E-Government | Federal Government | Government 2.0 | Government Success Stories - (4 Comments)

By Richard Fong, Technical Implementation Consultant

Tsunami events in 1946 and 1964 devastated Hawaii, Alaska, and the coastlines of Washington, Oregon, and California. The 1946 event started with an earthquake magnitude of 8.1 near Unimak, Alaska. Tsunamis inundated the coast over 100 feet above sea level and destroyed many structures near the Unimak area. The waves arrived in Hawaii about 4 to 5 hours later, and 159 people lost their lives due to the ensuing tsunami, which occurred before any warning systems were established.

Due to the 1946 and 1964 events, two warning centers were created: the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) and West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Center (WCA). Each Center has an Area of Responsibility (AoR). West Coast/Alaska’s AoR “consists of Canadian coastal regions, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the ocean coasts of all U.S. States except Hawaii.” WCA’s mission is to “help protect life and property from tsunami hazard by providing tsunami information and warning messages to its area-of-responsibility.” They are also tasked with developing new processes to improve responses time and message content to residents.

Pacific Tsunami Warning Center

Since these two tragic events, warning systems have been developed to keep people safe. One of the methods now in place is digital communications, which the National Weather Service (NWS) employs to get out the word about weather and climate forecasts to help protect the public.

NWS quickly and easily drafts messages with forecast information, including severe weather updates, and uses GovDelivery Digital Communication Management to deliver those alerts via email and SMS/text message to nearly 140,000 citizens and stakeholders. But with events like tsunamis, seconds matter, which is why the NWS utilized cutting-edge application programming interface (API) technology to send out tsunami bulletins even more quickly than before.

When issuing a tsunami hazard bulletin, speed and accuracy are extremely important. In order to provide near real-time messaging, the GovDelivery Send Bulletin API is used to rapidly disseminate tsunami bulletins to the public. The application integration is able to send both an email message to subscribers as well as an SMS/text message to mobile phone/wireless subscribers. GovDelivery APIs are designed to automate previously manual processes, so this was a perfect option for NWS to send critical tsunami updates.

With online documentation and support from GovDelivery staff, NWS was able to quickly write the integration. Because the APIs employed open standards such as REST and XML, it made deploying the solution easy.

During the April 11, 2012 earthquake, a number of tsunami messages were sent to the public and officials. While no tsunami warning was issued for the U.S. or Canada, the message was sent once the earthquake was identified.

How does this automation ultimately benefit organizations such as the NWS? Simple: NWS and other government organizations can get out of the business of sending out communications (and all the operational logistics this entails)  and focus instead on their core business mission. For both the WCA and PTWC, the mission is to watch for and alert stakeholders to potential tsunami threats as quickly as possible to protect the lives and property of the public. Taking on the process of automating these alerts with near real-time messaging helps NWS get even closer to fulfilling their mission objectives, and that’s a process no one can properly put a number on.

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Coming Soon to a City Near You: Civic Technology

June 25th, 2012 | Posted by Lauren Modeen for GovDelivery in E-Government | Government 2.0 | GovLoop | Local Government | Web 2.0 - (0 Comments)

This morning, while hopped up on caffeine at my favorite coffee shop, I overheard two recent Washington DC grads talking.

One asked the other: “So, what are your plans these days?”

“Get a gig with Code for America” replied the 20-something. YEAH! I thought, smiling as I turned the pages of my latest Atlantic Monthly magazine.

Ironic, too, since between reading a paper copy of the magazine, I was also reading on my Mac screen an article published a few weeks ago in The Atlantic Cities called: “The Next Big Start-up Wave: Civic Technology.”

Ridiculously awesome, Code for America, akin to the “Peace Corps for geeks, ” as its founder Jennifer Pahlka describes it, is taking things to the next level this summer with the launch of a Code for America “Accelerator.”

Over the last few years, Code for America has done an amazing job sending talented and hungry developers into city halls like Boston, Philadelphia, Washington DC, and Seattle, where they help to solve city problems, like fire hydrants covered in 4 feet of snow, through technology.

If you listen to Jennifer’s recent TED talk, you’ll get a nice well-rounded picture of all the cool stuff these bright fellows are doing. The problem the cities are facing, however, is that these visitors come, create awesome stuff, make change, and then leave. As the article explains: “What cities really need in the long run, of course, are not temporary technologists and their stopgap services.”

Enter the new Accelerator program. “The model comes out of nearby Silicon Valley, which is now littered with start-up accelerators and incubators. These outfits are designed to foster infant companies by giving them all the resources they wouldn’t have working out of a garage: seed money, collaborative office space, legal guidance, access to professional mentors (in exchange, accelerators often take equity in these new companies). The most well-known incubator, Y Combinator in Mountain View, California, has helped hatch Reddit, Dropbox, Airbnb, Scribd and a few hundred others.”

So, now start-ups can apply for everything they need to get off the ground including a $25k grant, a place to work in San Francisco (snacks and wi-fi included!), access and support from previously proven civic rockstars, direct connections with people necessary to work with, a growing stage to show-off progress and innovation, and training from the industry’s best.

For a start-up looking to make strides in government, applying for this Accelerator program seems to be an absolute no brainer.

As Jennifer describes in her TED talk, its amazing to see how these fellows and apps “represent how a new generation is tackling the problem of government. Not as the problem of an ossified institution, but of the problem of collective action.”

It’s so true, as she says, “government can work better.” And as she points out, “because government ultimately derives its power from us, remember, we the people, how we think about it is going to affect how that change happens.”

Of course I may be biased towards all of this, having the chance and to meet and become friends with some Code for America fellows, and knowing and working with Steve Ressler, Founder and CEO of GovLoop, and one of the mentors for the Civic/Gov program, but that aside, I deeply believe this can work. And I am pretty psyched to be part of a generation to see the fruits of this innovation.

So, if you know of any start-ups who would benefit by learning about this program, share with them! The deadline for this year has already passed, June 1, but they can at least start thinking about it for next year.

Are you familiar with Code for America? What’s the coolest thing you’ve seen come out of the program?

“Government at its core, is what we do together, what we can’t do alone.” – Tim O’Reilly

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Proposing the The Office of Yes staffed with Citizen Concierges

June 14th, 2012 | Posted by Joseph Porcelli for GovDelivery in Community Management/Engagement | Government 2.0 - (2 Comments)

Some of the greatest barriers at the local level to citizen engagement are the experiences many citizens have when they approach government with questions or request for assistance and receive answers like “that is not permitted,” or my personal favorite….

“First, you need to come to headquarters on the third Tuesday of the month at 2pm and present your case to a committee. Should your case be approved (if you brought all the correct paperwork, by the way), then we will direct you to the next three offices you need to go to in person also during business hours so you can get the official permits…..to hold a block party on your street.”

Grrrr.

This is why, following the Knight Foundation’s “Tech for Engagement Summit” at the beginning of this month, my peers and I came up with the recommendation that every government organization should have an “Office of Yes Staffed with Citizen Concierges.”

Some background:

At the summit we were charged with advising the Knight Foundation on where they could have the greatest impact. Throughout the summit, I challenged myself and my peers to explore these three questions:

  1. What roles can and should citizens play to improve their quality of life?
  2. What can and should government do to help facilitate engagement?
  3. What are the gaps and barriers that deter citizens from engaging?

Collectively we came up with:

  1. Citizens can and do play any role they wish. Engagement can be expanded and deepened by evangelizing stories about what citizens have already accomplished and which tools they used to assist them.
  2. Many great tools to help citizens engage already exist. Instead of just funding the development of new tools, investments needs to be made to increase adoption of current tools.
  3. Even with great technology, most people are not effective organizers or group facilitators. People need step-by-step instructions and support. Investing in capacity and skill building will expand and deepen engagement.
  4. Even experienced organizers with access to great technology can run into barriers that inhibit engagement when they seek assistance or involvement from government, especially when they utilize public property.

The role of the Office of Yes staffed by Citizen Concierges would be to:

  1. Create, publish, and maintain best practice engagement guides.
  2. Celebrate and evangelize success stories of what citizens have accomplished.
  3. Provide one-on-one support to and advocate for citizens looking to engage their neighbors and city/town hall to improve quality of life for themselves and their neighbors.

We envisioned that an Office of Yes Staffed with Citizen Concierges would make the following hypothetical experience possible:

  • Citizen: Hi, I’d like to have a block party on my street.
  • City Hall: Hey, that’s wonderful. Let me connect you to a Citizen Concierge in the Office of Yes.
  • Office of Yes: Hello, this is Terry, I’m a Citizen Concierge in the Office of Yes. What can I help make possible for you today?
  • Citizen: Hi, I’d like to have a block party on my street, can you help me?
  • Office of Yes: Yes, absolutely, let’s get started, what do you need help with?
  • Citizen: I am not sure where to start.
  • Office of Yes: No problem, give me a minute to pull up our Block Party Success Guide. Next I will give you a brief overview and then support you through each step of the way from planning to permitting and all the way through to helping you build a strong resilient group of connected neighbors who each pitch in and are connected to other offices who can provide valuable services.

I realize that this grand idea of ours in reality is complex to implement and requires a major shift in thinking about the role of citizens, government, and culture. With shrinking budgets and increased demands for services, I predict the roles of citizens will continue to expand and so will the dependence on technology for government to effectively and efficiently communicate with them. Just like “Government is platform” for technology, Government will need to serve as platform for engagement.

Let’s discuss:

  1. How many more block parties, park clean ups, and neighborhood watch groups do you think would form and be sustained in your city or town if you could get help from Citizen Concierges in the Office of Yes?
  2. What other needs or services do you think citizens could play a more active role in providing?
  3. What other gaps and barriers do you think also need to be addressed to increase citizen engagement?

Please leave your thoughts in the comments below, or find me on Twitter!

@JosephPorcelli
Director, GovDelivery Engagement Services

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Me Government: The Critical Role of Government in the Internet’s Political Power

June 12th, 2012 | Posted by Scott Burns CEO of GovDelivery in Community Management/Engagement | Compelling Content | Current Affairs | Government 2.0 | Uncategorized - (0 Comments)

I’m a long time fan of the Personal Democracy Forum and am thrilled to be at PDF 2012, which is embarrassingly the first time I’ve been able to make the trip to see this important meeting of the Internet’s thought leaders in person.

The theme of this year’s conference is the “Internet’s New Political Power” and the thrust of the conference so far appears to center around the Internet Freedom issues, which are critically important in the wake of defeats of legislation that threatened the Internet as we know it.

The presentations have been very compelling, but I’d like to also consider this theme from another angle. I think of the Internet’s New Political Power more expansively and believe it lies in the constant and persistent flow of information, and the ability for people to react rapidly and connect around it.  We see examples of this in the Arab Spring, the Occupy Movement and the Tea Party.  Because of the perpetual flow of information, citizens are now empowered in new ways to work together on micro and macro scale to bring about changes in policies, services and politics.  This has been called “We Government” in previous years—a term that was coined by Andrew Rasiej, PDF’s visionary leader.

Personal Democracy Forum 2012

But the Internet also brings new opportunities for government to change from the inside.  A new generation of government innovators is using improved technologies and the power of the Internet to communicate and connect directly with citizens to effect widespread change in a similarly disruptive fashion.

With those government agencies that are leveraging these new tools, we can already see the power of improvements in the “Me Government” services that affect most Americans every day: from road closure updates that inform citizens to use alternate routes to severe weather alerts that notify the public to seek safe shelter. While these examples may seem small and unimportant compared to worldwide disruptive events, they provide immediate impact that benefits people’s lives.

The ability for government to improve the connectivity of the citizen to government and democracy through these micro-improvements in service is profound because the impact is real and personal (better access to benefits, a shorter commute, awareness of a local park event for your family, etc.).  There are incredible examples at all levels of government where new technologies and the expanded reach of the Internet is driving higher levels of engagement between government and citizen in a very personal way which leverages a positive “Me Government” experience to convert more members of the public to active participants in “We Government.”

Strengthening “Me Government” can empower a broader group of citizens in new ways because a responsive government that can deliver service and explain its actions starts to feel like “Our Government” rather than “The Government,” which is a transformative shift in mentality that empowers the broader public to move from passive consumers of government to active stakeholders.

As we think about the big “We” picture, let’s never forget the impact of delivering a great “Me” experience at the micro level, as that is how we can impact the broadest number of people and create a larger pipeline of people who want to expand their relationship to government into the “We” engagement opportunities.

As CEO and co-Founder of GovDelivery, I’ve had the privilege of working directly with government agencies in their efforts to communicate with the public. We see what the public is really interested in, with data showing that 10,000 – 30,000 people are signing up every day for updates through government and data showing engagement activity of the 30+ million people receiving information from government through our platform every month.  We published that  earlier this year for all levels of government (see below for links.)  We also see the energy of the new generation of government innovators in action every minute at GovLoop, the leading knowledge network for more than 55,000 people working in and around government, which became part of GovDelivery back in 2009.  In both cases, the massive numbers of people involved demonstrate that “Me Government” and government innovation from the inside are already relevant and fast moving contributors to the Internet’s New Political Power.

What do you think? Have you seen the power of government innovators? Are you a government innovator? Share your thoughts and stories with us in the comments.

Download 2011 year-in-review digital communications reports:

2011 Federal Digital Communications Report

2011 State & Local Communications Report

2011 UK Digital Communications Report

 

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