Weekly Research and Best Practices

Research

1. Social Media and Public Sector Policy Dilemmas (08/2010) -Comprehensive report by the Institute of Public Administration of Canada discusses impediments to government use of social media. Topics include access to information, security, leadership, records retention, privacy, and the need for a culture of trust. http://www.mikekujawski.ca/ftp/SocialMediaPublicSectorPolicyDilemmas.pdf

2. Does civic engagement make a difference? (06/2010) Linking outcomes to engagement, new U.K. report provides concrete evidence that civic engagement and participation have helped improve governance and outcomes in the developing world. The study synthesizes the results 100 empirical studies on the subject from 20 countries. http://www.drc-citizenship.org/publications/CDRC_Outcomes_Paper.pdf

News

1. Challenge.gov (09/07/2010) – Challenge.gov, an online tool for federal agencies that allows them to post contests aimed at increasing public participation with the government. The tool consolidates open government contests into one place and provides a universal, no-cost platform that offers uniformity and consistency in how the public engages with their government. www.challenge.gov

2. Sharing technology for the public good (09/08/2010) – Civic Commons is an independent non-profit organization aimed at helping the government identify, document and relicense technology they currently use so it can be shared with other government agencies. Future plans include a repository so that other governments can find and use them. http://civiccommons.com/

3. Do you have what it takes to change the government? (09/08/2010) – Why are some government leaders able to innovate and reinvent themselves and others stagnate? A study of former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush determined which organizational strategies worked best for delivering effective, meaningful change in government—and which did not. http://steveradick.com/2010/09/08/do-you-have-what-it-takes-to-change-government-and-create-gov-2-0/

4. Welcome to the decade of games! (09/09/2010) – Game dynamics are fast becoming a critical currency of motivation. Their power lies not in connecting us to our friends, but in directly influencing our individual behavior. http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/09/welcome_to_the_decade_of_games.html