Web 2.0: What is it? Who’s using it? How to introduce it in your organization? What to expect from a new national administration in 2009? On October 22, 2008, these questions and more were answered at the Web 2.0 event sponsored by Young Government Leaders (YGL), in coordination with our partners at the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA), The Public Manager and our corporate sponsor, Cisco Systems.
Our expert panel consisted of Frank DiGiammarino, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at NAPA; Mary McCaffery, Senior Advisor to the Office of Environmental Information at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); Andrew Krzmarzick, Senior Project coordinator in Business Development at the Graduate School, U.S. Department of Agriculture; and Alan Balutis, Director and distinguished fellow of CISCO’s Internet Business Solutions Group.
The mission of YGL is to provide a community and infrastructure for current and future public service leaders that will educate and inspire to transform government. Web 2.0 plays a pivotal role in all of this because it leads to more efficient government by breaking down stovepipes, inspires innovation and serves as an enabler for knowledge sharing and management.
Some highlights of the event were:
– Closing the gap on transformation. NAPA launched a website, http://www.collaborationproject.org/, which is an initiative aimed at leveraging the benefits of Web 2.0 and collaborative technology to solve government’s complex problems.
– Getting to Active Transformation. Discussed how Facebook and TSA blogging were forms of incremental passive and active transformation, respectively. Expanded on Active Transformational Initiatives such as the Pugent Sound and Virtual Alabama.
– Change in your agency. Clear problem, people who care and a real value exchange. Focusing on the ‘who’ by bringing in a wider array of stakeholders and embrace the opportunity. Do not empower the status quo.
– Information sharing and collaboration. Solicit knowledge, tagging and facilitating internet collaboration. Some people want to contribute, but don’t want technology to get in the way.
– Collaboration tools in your agency. Why? Tie it to the mission. Who? Owner/Audience – you need a champion. How? Decide which tools. What? Content is the key to success. When? Create a schedule to implement and evaluate. Andrew explores Web 2.0 in the federal environment in his blog, http://www.generationshift.blogspot.com/. His slide presentation on how Web 2.0 is changing government can be found at http://www.slideshare.net/akrzmarzick/web-20-for-young-government-leaders-oct-22-2008-presentation.
– Culture change. The government needs the ability to actually deliver and embrace collaborative technology. A citizen-centric model of service delivery is critical. Using technology to reach out to the American people for ideas on improving government.
The mixed crowd of over 60 people from both public and private sector took advantage of the opportunity to engage in open discussion with these experts and the event was a complete success. If you are eager to learn from our leaders throughout the private and public sector, have ideas to share or just want to get involved, take a look at some of YGL’s upcoming events by visiting http://www.youngovernmentleaders.org/ or send me an e-mail ([email protected]) for more information.
Shaun Khalfan
Chief Information Officer
Young Government Leaders
If you haven’t already join Young Government Leaders at youngovernmentleaders.org
Original blog posted at youngovernmentleaders.org/blog.htm
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