I delclare these truths to be self-evident

In honour of my trip to DC last week I decided that remixing a portion of the Declaration of Independence would be appropriate:

I hold these truths to be self-evident, that platforms that enable collaboration are valuable, but useless unless they are supported by people and an engagement process, a process that is built on trust, enablers and reciprocity.
— That to secure these things, bureaucracies must focus more strategically on modernizing their workplace, curating a culture of collaboration in a gift economy.

–That whenever individual bureaucrats resist this cultural shift, it is incumbent on those who embrace it to be courageous, to continue to lay the foundation of public sector renewal in such form, as to maximize openness and transparency.

History, indeed, dictates that long established traditions cannot be thrown by the wayside for the latest social media fad; and that while me must learn from our past experiences, that, while there are risks, the public sector has for more to gain from the adoption of these technologies, than they do to lose by banning them or blocking access to the web.

But if we the evangelists focus on the technologies to the detriment of the people, we will have done the people and ourselves an injustice, and we should be reminded that we jeopardize all that we have struggled to accomplish, and endeavour to rediscover the human element of these technological enablers.

–We have suffered with an outdated culture far too long; and now the rapid development of enabling technologies means that the necessity for change can no longer be constrained. The bureaucratic culture has largely been one of knowledge as power, locked data, and closed government. To change this, we continue to endeavour to open it up to a more transparent world.

[reposted from cpsrenewal.ca]