Open Government andCitizen Engagement

David L. McClure, Ph.D.

Associate Administrator

Citizen Services and Innovative TechnologiesU.S. General Services Administration

ALA Annual Conference June 29, 2010

Context: The Industrial Revolutionof data is here

“Data is the flint for for the next 25 years.”Ray OzzieChief Software ArchitectMicrosoft

Plus: the data is replicated many times over!

Volume of digital information increases tenfold every 5 years

Will information creation exceed storage?

Context: Moving information and knowledge to the user

Strategic Planner "I need performance

analytics and predictive models"

Elected Officials"The media wants to

know how our response time has

changed"

Customer Relationship

Manager"I need a single

citizen view"

Program Manager

"I need status reports — and I need them now"

Agency CFO "I need financial and

corporate performance management"

IT Operations "I need

performance and availability reporting"

Business Process Analyst "I need data mining and business data"

…. and to the public

Decline of the info producer vs. consumer paradigm

Context: Maximum sharing and flow of information and knowledge

• YouTube is now second largest search engine in the world

• 1.5 million pieces of content shared daily on Facebook

• On-line newspaper readers are up 30%

• 250 million visitors each month to Myspace, YouTube, and Facebook (none were around 6 years ago)

• Mobile devices will be world’s primary connection tool to the Internet in 2020

As big an issue outside your organization as within it

Context: Search analytics is alive!

Data exhaust – trail of clicks that users leave behind, where value can be created …. using algorithms that push more relevant search terms to top of lists

Less time looking for information and then analyzing it

Structured searches tied to trusted and well-indexed government web sites

The Open Government initiative

Transparency promotes accountability

Participation allows people to contribute ideas/expertise; government benefits from broad knowledge sharing

Collaboration encourages cooperation within government and with industry

Center for Citizen

Engagement and New Media

Federal Citizens’

Information Center

Center for Innovative

Technologies

- USA.Gov- Federal Contact Center- Print Distribution

- Social Media- TOS- Open Government- Public DialogsChallenges

- Federal Cloud PMO- eGov Projects- Mobile Platform- Data.gov- Cloud platforms

Center for Customer Service Excellence

IT Solutions and Services

GSA Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies

Open Government tools

Leading practices for OGD plans

Leadership, Governance, & Culture Change

Transparency

Participation & Collaboration

Flagship Initiatives

High value data sets• Get public input

• Decide which sets areactionable

• Provide context

• Improve search

• Encourage mashups

Promote common tools

Cheaper and faster roll out

Consistent user experience

Deal with policies only once

Dialog Tool: February 5 – March 19, 2010

Spurs innovation

Leverages governmentwide solution

Spreads risk (broad shoulders)

People participate!

NASA: 304 ideas; 3,641 votes

created by Robbie Schingler and Kate Jessy, Feb 2010

NASA: 4,754 votes, 420 ideas, 700 comments

Top ideas

189 Votes

68 Comments

114 Votes

12 Comments

118 Votes

9 Comments

Agency Plans – Outside Reviews

Open reviews being conducted by “good government” groups

77 organizations

What’s ahead for online dialogs?

Open Government & Engagement Continuum

Brainstorm ideas, questions,

suggestions

ENGAGEMENTCONTINUUM

Deeper Discussions with

Specific Communities

Collaborative drafting such as

regulations, policies, process

steps

Collaborative problem-solving

and solution creation

Connecting employees within

and across agencies

Energizing and connecting

communities where they are

Sparks innovation

Solves specific problems

Mobilizes new talent

Educates around a cause

Can save money

What’s Next: Contests & Challenges

A connected workforce innovates!

An Inside-Out Process

GSA Provided Tools

•WordPress•PHPBB3•MYBB•Media Wiki•Twiki

•

GSA Provided Tools

•WordPress•PHPBB3•MYBB•Media Wiki•Twiki

•

Free, Open & Commercial-Off-the-Shelf

•Blog•Wiki•Forum•Brainstorming•Idea Generation•Polling•Challenges

Free, Open & Commercial-Off-the-Shelf

•Blog•Wiki•Forum•Brainstorming•Idea Generation•Polling•Challenges

Infrastructure Services

Front End User Interface

Commercial Services

•Nation Academy of Public Administration (NAPA)•Neighborhood America•Imaginatik•IBM•SalesForce•Spigit• …………

Commercial Services

•Nation Academy of Public Administration (NAPA)•Neighborhood America•Imaginatik•IBM•SalesForce•Spigit• …………

Identity & Access Mgmt

Reporting & Analysis

SecurityHelp Desk

DataBase

Hardware HostingCloud

21

Citizen Engagement Platform

Common Services

Engagement Tools / Services

FedSpaceNew social intranet site for U.S. federal employees and contractors

share knowledge

connect with other feds

collaborate on projectsTools: employee directory, wiki, communities, blogs, bookmarks, search, file-sharing, more…

Citizen Services Delivery Dashboard

• Being developed by Office of Management & Budget

• Will track performance of top services

• Common metrics

• Could evolve into “pizza tracker” like tool

Needs to be relevant to a citizen !

A push for Mobile Apps

Some concluding thoughts

Our experience demonstrates that culture, process, people, technology, and content are all

extremely relevant to successful Open Government