The people at Goldmundus have started an interesting exercise. They propose future narrative scenario of an ideal government 2.0, based on the possible usage of web2.0 tools such as Twitter and GCal in government.
I really like the idea. It is a powerful way to discuss possible visions of what government should do.
But I am less enthusiastic about the specific visions they propose. Coordinating your calendar with one of the public sector, or using twitter to disseminate information is not really disruptive.
Anyway, a very good idea to launch the discussion.
On a similar level, Administraciones en Red is proposing some key values of eGovernment 2.0 in the form of Gods’ commandments. The first they propose is: you, government, should not build web2.0 applications if not necessary.
I think this is a VERY important message – as I say in the comment to the post. It points to usual mistakes of government: build custom applications, rather than using what is already available (and better done); try to centralize the discussion on one platform, website, rather than reaching out or partnering with existing experiences.
When we did a scenario exercise on “what can go wrong with web2.0”, the best comment we received was: “government will launch a big web2 platform, which will raise no participation and create general mistrust towards web2 applications in the government context”.
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May 12, 2008 at 5:18 pm
The other point is that a lot of web 2.0 isn’t accessible – not a minor issue for government.
May 12, 2008 at 6:16 pm
I do agree! We have to say it loud.
May 12, 2008 at 9:22 pm
Thanks for this comment. It’s not disruptive what I say in Goldmundus, but perhaps It could be the first step using what actually exists.
May 13, 2008 at 7:49 am
Paul and Alorza: seems that usability and accessibility are hard to get – yet another reason for using what is available rather than developing new
Roc: I love the idea of future visions, they are like small snippets of innovation projects. But I think web2 can be disruptive in other ways; for example publishing planning applications as geoRSS feed (see planningalerts.com). As you see, not a big technological innovation, but potentially a disruptive impact. Would be great to open up your exercise inviting people to submit ideas of future gov 2.0.
Thanks to all!