Gartner’s Andrea DiMaio writes:
Last night I decided to spend a couple of hours replaying videos from the Gov 2.0 Summit held in DC on September 7 and 8.
Two things struck me.
First of all, the obsession of Tim O’Reilly and friends with the term “government as a platform”, which IMHO did not make much sense last year, does not make more sense this year and is also getting a bit stale. But
I know I am one of the very few contrarians here, as the term has been
used throughout the event and beyond.
The view it conveys is of a government that provides data to application developers who create new mobile or web application that
will make our life so much easier.
This is just pursuing the asymmetry of government 2.0, whichI have highlighted multiple times and gives government an
illusion of control by almost ignoring that much relevant data will come
from people themselves, and not necessarily (and sometimes not at all)
as a response to a call for ideas of a challenge that government issues.
Secondly, and more importantly, whereas last year most conversations were about social networks and open data, this year cloud computing seems to have gained a more prominent place at the table. This was very
clear in O’Reilly’s opening address, but also throughout the event, where Sanjeev Baghovalia interviewed by Clay Johnson, or Aneesh Chopra and Vivek Kundra interviewed by O’Reilly kept going back and forth from cloud to open data to social media.
“What Do Government 2.0 and Cloud Have in Common Beyond the Hype?”
Both provide an opportunity to hire contractors; which is, after all, the one enduring function of government at any level.
I agree that the introduction of new technology can be alot of hype. However, it gets the government moving in the right direction.
Andrea is the man.