I posted this blog posting today on a social networking site that I’m working on with the USPHS Commissioned Corps. I wanted to share it amongst the folks here at Govloop and get feeback from everyone here too. Thanks.
Yesterday my office had our monthly “all hands” meeting. During the meeting the topic of Web 2.0 came up. Apparently the topic of Web 2.0 is starting to come up at senior level meetings in my agency. Naturally, I wanted to add some points to the discussion. I told my director about this great new site that I found called Govloop and how I am trying to push a Gov 2.0 initiative for the US Public Health Corps. I also commented that our office would be a great program to beta test a social networking site for our staff. If successful maybe it could be applied center-wide or agency-wide. Here are examples of my agency, the FDA using Gov 2.0. Consumer Health Information website and the FDA Patient Safety News website.
I’m interested to know if your agency is pusing any new Gov 2.0 initiatives. Does your agency currently have any Gov 2.0 projects already deployed?
Hi, We use twitter some. Web 2.0 has run into problems with content monitoring and official policy. We want to engage citizens more but have run into political not technical or intelectual problems.
Allen, one good question to ask is “What Web 2.0 sites do you like?” Mike Leavitt who used to run HHS had a daily blog that was very good. HHS also produces their own webinars on pandemics. If they can generate interest in pandemic that is a tall order to fill.
The White House has their Web 2.0 site but do people like it and use it well ??
Also – what need or niche will Web 2.0 fill? The State Deparment et al have internal wikis to capture corporate knowledge about countries and customs so what one learns all may know.
Regards,
I am currently working in the Washington Office for the Forest Service in Communications, developing the basis for our agency resource guide/handbook/parameters, and how-to for the field to begin to explore and use appropriate social network platforms. There is a real buzz at USDA and other agencies about the potential for this to really give us unprecedented access to the majority of Americans who used to get their information from the mainstream media, or from our detractors and opponents who may or may not include all or some of the truth in their quest to sway public opinion to their way of thinking.
We are working Twitter into this mix early as we develop criteria to determine what sites and what context we can make real use of in our agency and at what levels (national, regional, local). Just because it is available does not mean that we need to be there. so we all, as government agencies, need to make sure we are careful about which sites we use and why, and develop ways to measure the effectiveness of the sties compared to the costs in terms of time, personnel commitment, soft/hardware and training issues, etc.
While I am not an official spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Education (ED), I can list several items that are public facing to all citizens:
Commercial hosted:
… Twitter microblog at http://www.twitter/usedgov
… Twitter microblog at http://www.twitter/FreeResources – Federal Resources for Educational Excellence
… YouTube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/usedgov
… YouTube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/FederalStudentAid – Federal Student Aid (FSA)
… Facebook (College.gov) at http://www.facebook.com/pages/collegegov/24764754645 – Federal Student Aid (FSA)
Internally hosted:
… Education News Parents Can Use
… … ED TV Multimedia Videos – http://www.ed.gov/news/av/video/edtv/index.html
… RSS Feeds for numerous initiatives including Education Statistics, ARRA Recovery
… … http://www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/rssnewsfeed.html
… …http://nces.ed.gov/help/rss.asp
Thanks David,
The Facebook (College.gov) page is a great example of embracing Web 2.0!