We Are Moving From Government 1.0 to Government 2.0

Happy Fav Five Friday!

Government 2.0 will fail if YOU and people like you do not contribute to the collective intelligence, which is the foundation of government 2.0.

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What is Government 2.0?

You have probably heard a lot about Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, & Social Media.  Government 2.0 or Gov 2.0 are terms used to describe how our government is looking into Web 2.0 & Social Media tools to help improve communications and collaboration in our government agencies.  These technologies will also be used across government agencies to help cut cost and eliminate waste to help streamline the way our government functions through efficiency and innovation.  President Barack Obama leads us into a new era with Presidency 2.0, his emphasis on government of the people, by the people, for the people creates new opportunities and responsibilities.  These new opportunities includes our responsibilities to contribute to the collective intelligence our government relies on to move forward.

Government 2.0 Camp

I attended #Gov20Camp, an event in Washington, DC March 27 – March 28 2009.  Usually these type of events attract just a handful of people, but this event attracted over 500 people.  I met people from several government agencies, Microsoft, IBM, and other organizations from around the world.  I was amazed by how fast people were getting connected to other people and how easily people were sharing their ideas.  The beautiful part of this effort is that it did not end with this event.  People from all walks of life from all around the world are working together to help shape government 2.0.  My friend Steve Radick led a discussion about the Twenty Theses for Government 2.0, Clue Train style.   Another interesting session was the one led by Mills Davis of Project10x called, “From E-Gov to Connected Governance: What is the Role of Cloud Computing, Web 2.0, and Web 3.0 Semantic Technologies in an Era of Connected Governance?” Check out his slides.  One of my favorite quotes from the event was from a new friend that I met on Twitter long before we met at the Gov 2.0 Camp event, Lovisa Williams of the Department of State was quoted “Don’t share your best practices, share them when they are good enough” during a conversation about building on cross agency’s efforts.  I could go on and on, because there was something for everyone.   You can get involved by connecting with people and sharing your ideas at Government 2.0 Club and you can connect with the government community at Gov Loop.   I strongly recommend connecting with people there to share your ideas on changing how our government functions.

Intellipedia is a Good Example of Gov 2.0

I worked as a government contractor supporting the Navy and several other government agencies for several years.  I was lucky enough to work for a government employee that had a mantra of “I would rather beg for forgiveness, than ask for permission”.  This allowed us to move forward with web-based tools before the Web 2.0 wave.  I’m glad to see higher interest and adoption rate of social media and web-based collaboration tools throughout the government.  I currently work as a technology consultant in the Washington DC area and get to see first hand how Enterprise 2.0 solutions work in real life.  Several months ago I met Don Burke, he is one of the main people behind the CIA’s collaboration tool, Intellipedia.  Don is a very fascinating person, he has a deep passion for technology.  He showed me an app on his mobile phone that allowed him to take a picture of a bar code and it returned details about the product with information about the closest location to get more.  We were talking about the adoption rate of Enterprise 2.0, which I believe is more important than the coolest wiz bang tool.  He has great insight on this and you can catch up on some of his thoughts on this video from the presentation he did at the Enterprise 2.0 conference in 2008.  If the CIA can use web-based collaboration tools, then why can’t other agencies move toward government 2.0?

5 Favorite Government 2.0 Resources

• GovLoop.com: GovLoop is the premier social network connecting the government community.
• Government 2.0 Club: Government 2.0 Club is a national organization that brings together leading thinkers from government, academia and industry to share ideas and solutions for leveraging social media tools and Web 2.0 technologies to create a more collaborate, efficient and effective government — Government 2.0.
• Government 2.0 on Blog Talk Radio: Taking Government 2.0 – collaborative and transparent governance – LIVE and worldwide. Producers: Meghan Harvey and Adriel Hampton.
• Sunlight Labs: Sunlight Labs started as a Sunlight Foundation pilot project to prototype tech ideas to improve government transparency and political influence disclosure.
• White House:  Learn more about what our government is doing and be sure to check the briefing room.

Please post your other government 2.0 resources here.

What do you think about Government 2.0?

Tags: Enterprise 2.0, Gov 2.0, Government 2.0

Is Meeting in Second Life Necessary?

Fav Five Friday: 5 Tips on Social Media Tools for Virtual Meetings

Do you remember all the hype about virtual meetings in Second Life?  Second Life is a free online virtual world.  There still seems to be a little buzz about using Second Life for virtual meetings.  I don’t see massive benefits of using this space.  Seems like others are over the hype.

• The Reuters Second Life bureau is now closed
• The Second Life Hype Has Fizzled Is Twitter Next?
• The End of Second Life

How Presenters Can Take Advantage of Social Media Tools

Connecting Attendees With Your Presentation By Using Twitter

Twitter is a micro-blogging tool more attendees are using these days during meetings to post tweets, small messages.  There are plenty of twitter tools and applications for mobile devices too.  The presenter at the meeting can announce the hash tag for twitter users.  A hash tag is a method of connecting tweets to your presentation by adding # (the pound symbol) to a key word. Attendees of Web 2.0 Expo used #w2e. The hash tag can also be used on other social media web sites to connect images, videos, slides, & conversations on Google’s YouTube, Yahoo’s Flkr, SlideShare, & Blogs.

Presenters can stay connected with their colleagues and get instant assistance for those difficult questions.

Presenters can harness the power of Collective Intelligence by capturing input, questions, answers, & comments with Twitter.

There is plenty of information available on the web on how presenters can take advantage of Twitter.

• How to Present While People are Twittering

Blogging During Meetings

Presenters should be aware that more attendees are using social media tools like blogs to capture meeting information.  Presenters can also harness the power of social media by using their own blog to connect with people and share information.

Presenters should remember to include links in their presentations.  Bloggers could include links to your presentation, LinkedIn profile, Facebook profile, Twitter account, blog, web site, and more.  If the presentation is available online, then give that link early to give bloggers and other attendees enough time to access it so they can follow along.  Twitter users love to tweet links too.

Some attendees are required to submit a report about attending your meeting.  It’s easier and the report is more detailed when it can be created closer to real time.  A blog seems to be the social media tool of choice for this task.  Blogging about a presentation or during a meeting also creates a collaborative space for other to share relative information.  Blogging has many more benefits than writing up some email or word document that may be read once or twice before it’s filled in the black hole.  Presenters, please be kind to your bloggers and give them space, power, and connections to get online.

• How Conference Organizers Can Use Blogs

Sharing Your Presentation on SlideShare

Upload and share your PowerPoint presentations and Word documents on SlideShare. Share publicly or privately. Add audio to make a webinar.  SlideShrare also has a simple API to allow users to embed presentations into Facebook, Blogs, and web sites. Learn more at SlideShare.

Running an Effective Teleconference or Virtual Meeting

Virtual teams are becoming commonplace, but the old rules for running a meeting don’t necessarily apply. Managers need to learn new skills to keep people engaged and to use the time (and technology) effectively. These tips will make your next remote meeting a success. Learn more here.

Using Bar Camp Event and Content Management System

Barcamp Event and Content Management System: This is a web-based-wordpress-powered system aimed at helping people running unconferences manage their event’s content in a more organized manner. Learn more here.

• What Social Media Tools do you use during meeting?
• What is your favorite Video Conference Service?

Tags: Social Media, Social Media Software, Twitter, Web Strategy