Government in the Web 2.0 Age
By: Sommer | April 11, 2008 | Category: General
Since you’re reading this blog you know that government is somewhat active in the social media arena. Here at GSA's Office of Citizen Services, we’re really having fun with this new and exciting way to communicate with the American public. We have very supportive leadership that encourages us to be innovative and creative and to reach out to you in a way that’s most convenient for you rather than making you come to us and conform to the bureaucracy.
However, some government agencies don’t have the same flexibility we do. A lot of agencies are afraid of losing control of their information and content and many don't understand if and how using social media tools can advance their agency missions.
So, America, I pose a question to you… What do you think of government agencies using social media tools like blogs, RSS feeds, podcasts, YouTube, Flickr, widgets, and microblogs to reach out and give you information? Is it good? Bad? Are there ways you’d like the government to provide information that we haven’t thought of or addressed yet? After all, we’re public servants and we’re here to serve, so let us know what you want and need.
Permalink | View Comments [21] | E-mail This Entry | Tags: blogging conversation government media rssfeeds social sommer web2.0
Posted by Citizen Jmaximus on April 11, 2008 at 07:10 AM EDT
Posted by rhonabwy on April 11, 2008 at 09:22 AM EDT
I think one major priority for agencies developing these tools is to determine how this information will continue to be fully and freely accessible in years to come, just as it is now fully and freely accessible simply by virtue of being on the open web.
After all, even in the long run, these products will always have an audience of librarians! Comment Permalink
Posted by the nicest thing (the blog) on April 11, 2008 at 01:17 PM EDT
SO GO USA BLOGS.GOV
HELPING AMERICANS TO FEEL GOOD ABOUT OUR COUNTRY Comment Permalink
Posted by Me on April 11, 2008 at 01:24 PM EDT
Posted by Ray on April 11, 2008 at 02:05 PM EDT
I personally agree with Citizen Jmaximus, though, all public information should be available through the web.
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Posted by lentigogirl on April 11, 2008 at 02:06 PM EDT
I applaud government involvement in social networking and think it should expand. Putting artificial restrictions on public information prevents members of the public from disseminating it even further, as is their right for materials in the public domain. There may be times (as articulated above in the security comment) when we want that to be the case, but most of the time I suspect we just aren't paying attention to things like Flickr's default setting. Comment Permalink
Posted by gohyaku on April 11, 2008 at 02:21 PM EDT
Go social media! Comment Permalink
Posted by Misanthrope on April 11, 2008 at 02:25 PM EDT
Posted by Sommer on April 11, 2008 at 04:12 PM EDT
Thanks for the heads up on the Flickr photos. I hadn't noticed the photos were labeled "all rights reserved" before. Whenever I view our photos I'm logged into the account and that piece of information isn't displayed to you on your own account.
I've done some research on Flickr and they don't offer an option to set your photos for the public domain. The closest I can come for now is designating them "Attribution-NoDerivs Creative Commons" (for more info http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/). Also see the Flickr Help Forum for more information on this topic: http://www.flickr.com/search/forum/?q=photos%20in%20public
%20domain
Based on comments in the Help Forum I think the best solution might be to just tag all our photos with a "public domain" tag.
Thanks for teaching me more about Flickr -- it really is all about communicating with each other!
Have a great weekend!
Sommer Comment Permalink
Posted by Gail on April 12, 2008 at 01:32 AM EDT
Posted by danm357 on April 12, 2008 at 08:30 AM EDT
Best Practices might include:
a) vetting process;
b) publication authority
c) recommended uses and prohibitions
d) data quality review process;
e) correction process;
f) development of "reviewers" cadre;
f) etc.
Several Federal Agencies are using these tools to make content available to the public. Perhaps some organization can capture their lessons learned, work with an independent entity to formulate some best practices and then host an event to disseminate the information, answer questions through a panel discussion and Q&A session. Comment Permalink
Posted by americanpie on April 12, 2008 at 09:33 AM EDT
Posted by Unknown on April 12, 2008 at 09:45 AM EDT
Social Media and the 2008 US Presidential Election (from a TV interview) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBzjRdEMjEU
and
Barak Obama on Social Media (from a speech where at end he talks about applications to government) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD099nxF3L0 Comment Permalink
Posted by Gail on April 12, 2008 at 05:34 PM EDT
Posted by Thomas on April 13, 2008 at 08:43 AM EDT
In regards to private information being improperly released or stolen, that is nothing new. It sure was nice of the V.A. to send me a letter saying that the computer that had my military information had been lost or stolen. I wonder why my information was on a laptop that could be easily be lost or stolen.
You Gov Gabbers truly understand that the average American should have easy access to public information and are trying to make that happen. Thank you for all you do.
Thomas
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Posted by Cris on April 14, 2008 at 03:20 PM EDT
Since I run a health and nutrition blog at thelifeledger.com, I am particularly interested in seeing more timely information on recalls, new FDA/USDA regulations, and other health-related information. I have noticed many federal agencies participate in the wellness arena, but don't seem to offer the same access. For instance, the FDA uses RSS to disseminate some of their information, but places like recalls.gov or nutrition sites like mypyramid.gov do not. I'm sure many people don't even realize there are free tools offered by the gov't to look up nutrition information, plan healthy diets and track caloric intake - everything you need to maintain a healthy weight-loss track! Exposing services like this through screencasts on YouTube, timely information through RSS, weekly informational shows as podcasts - adoption of web 2.0 services like these could go a long way to making the information the gov't has to share more transparent and accessible. Comment Permalink
Posted by Nora Stoecker on April 16, 2008 at 10:19 PM EDT
In part I'm overwhelmed with all the data and info bouncing around in e-space -- talk about information overload !! So I personally, rarely subscribe to RSS feeds or other push techology - would rather visit a site when I have time. My favorite first source of information is a well-designed website, with comprehensive and current information, and CONTACT names and phone/e-mail addresses, so I can get to a real person when needed. With the blogs, podcasts and you name it easily linked to and from the website.
And as a business researcher and librarian, I want it all to be well-organized and cross-searchable :-) Tall order? Yeah.
Nora Stoecker, NKS Info Services
http://www.linkedin.com/in/norastoeckerandnksinfo
nstoecker@nksinfo.com
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Posted by BLOG SAFE/ BIG BROTHER ISN'T on April 18, 2008 at 01:39 PM EDT
VET IN MI Comment Permalink
Posted by Unknown on May 12, 2008 at 04:22 PM EDT
The title of the article should have been something like "Government has long been in the blogosphere. Many agencies joining in." Maybe you could tell the FCW author John Zyskowski that.
The government is already in web 2.0. It's not a matter of if they should be...it's a matter of how long it will take other agencies to jump on board and realize the public is making it happen. Comment Permalink
Posted by seo baiju on May 27, 2008 at 07:13 AM EDT
Posted by Mr. Resume Writer on June 04, 2008 at 02:36 PM EDT
I think that the government could also gain by providing the opportunity for it's citizens to comment and post on topics of interest and importance to them as well.
This would enable the Gov to have it's finger on the pulse of the nation and to respond as needed to the wishes of it's constituents.
There does need to be security on the blog so that only true citizens could access and post to the blog.
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