Sep 17, 2009

Serving the Public Better, Together

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Bev Godwin, Director, USA.gov and Web Best Practices at U.S. General Services Administration, gave a warm shout out and outlined the incredible accomplishments of the government web manager community at the Gov 2.0 Summit.



During the Summit, when people were discussing barriers and success factors, time and again they repeated the mantra, it's not about the technology but about the people.

Did you know that 1,600 web managers participate in an open, collaborative, sharing community with the goal to make the best government websites in the world? Across local, state and federal agencies, school districts, departments? Breaking down silos and working with IT, legal, records, procurement, and program staff?

For more on how federal web managers collaborate and information on best practices and how to better serve citizens using the Web and new media see webcontent.gov.

As Bev said, "Let's stop this madness and get organized!"

[so's you know, I am a proud member of this community.]
at 8:22 PM

3 comments:

  1. Wow... thats great..!! By being altogether is better always..!! By helping each other and creating a revolution throughout is the better step taken to promote the Nation high..!!
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  2. Bev Godwin said that, in wake of Karina, the web-managers got together and decided "to use the same terms in the same way" on their websites.

    IMHO, it sounds like Bev, in addressing the "Gov2.0" community (and not just the audience at the Gov20 Summit) is saying that, in order to "Stop the Madness, and Get Organized", one of the first steps is to:

    Use the SAME TERMS in the SAME WAY!!!

    For example, everyone is using the same term "Gov2.0" .... but NOT in the SAME WAY!

    Many people at the Gov2.0 Summit are under the impression that "Gov2.0" only involves "Web2.0" social networking tools.

    Yet, Bev describes the growth of the community/network of federal web-managers by use of (gasp!) an email-listserv!

    Social networking with a "pre-Web" tool?! This is heresy to those who would have us believe that "social networking" can, or should, ONLY occur with the "new" tools, e.g., Facebook, Twitter, etc.

    So, until we clear up the terminology, many people will indulge themselves in their own personal definition of "What Gov2.0 Means to ME" ... and our conversations on this topic will continue to be seen by others as just babble.

    FYI: I raised this concern about terminology on the Open Govt. Dialogue (See Point #4 at http://tinyurl.com/p4yueq )

    vr,
    Stephen Buckley
    http://UStransparency.com
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  3. Thanks for your comment @Stephen. You are right that using common terminology was critical in emergency communications, like Katrina. And maybe it's somewhat easier to gain consensus in the heat of battle. I don't know, tho, if gaining consensus on what Gov 2.0 is or means is the first step.

    IMHO the term has been morphing, but will eventually become defunct. If Gov 2.0 is the path to transparency, citizen participation and collaboration, great. But I am a great believer in the saying that there are many streams that lead into the great rivers that flow into the sea. Different people/agencies/orgs will take different paths, but the end point is better government.
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