Research and Best practices eNewsletter

Research
1. Mobile Government: 2010 and Beyond (01/2010) – EU report explains why mobile government is essential for creating a strong public sector. Includes a list of existing m-government services worldwide and analyzes their potential. http://www.mobisolutions.com/files/Mobile%20Government%202010%20and%20Beyond%20v100.pdf

2. Citizen engagement as part of the policy-making process (09/2010) –After a burst of initial enthusiasm, many in government aren’t sure how to take citizen participation to the next level. The author suggests the solution is to use technology to make policy making more transparent, rather than creating separate e-participation initiatives http://www.jedem.org/article/view/43/44
News
1. Citizen.apps.gov (10/12/2010) – New website from GSA offers free tools and hosting services that make it easier for federal agencies to create blogs and wikis and use other Web 2.0 applications. Tools are easy to use, secure, created from open-source software and compliant with federal policies. www.citizen.apps.gov

2. Better collaboration in government (10/07/2010) – Effective change requires a major shift toward collaborative thinking. Mark Forman, former Federal CIO, outlines four broad steps agencies should consider for leveraging collaborative tools. http://fcw.com/articles/2010/10/11/comment-mark-forman-government-collaboration.aspx

3. Government Call Centers Improve Customer Satisfaction (10/13/2010) – Satisfaction with government call centers has gone up five points this year, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index. Biggest improvements include shorter wait times to reach a live agent and better interactive voice response systems. http://www.govtech.com/e-government/Government-Call-Centers-Improve-Customer-Satisfaction.html

4. Working in Virtual Communities Can Be More Effective Than Face-to-Face (10/06/2010) – Virtual meetings have the unique opportunity of bringing together like-minded or even dissimilar people who would never normally meet in the “offline” world. This opens up endless possibilities for collaboration, learning and creativity. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101005092901.htm