House DOPA Vote Threatens Citizen Participation
From:
CNet Web sites like Amazon.com and MySpace.com may soon be inaccessible for many people using public terminals at American schools and libraries, thanks to the U.S. House of Representatives.
By a 410-15 vote on Thursday, politicians approved a bill that would effectively require that "chat rooms" and "social networking sites" be rendered inaccessible to minors, an age group that includes some of the Internet's most ardent users. Adults can ask for permission to access the sites.
Read on.
Wellington, New Zealand E-Democracy Strategy
From
Democracies Online:
The City of Wellington, NZ has released an very detailed e-democracy policy. It illustrates how ideas from leading “e-democracy interested” communities easily spread round the world. Note their Have Your Say section. It is good to see there use of e-alerts which I’ve highlighted among the collection of e-democracy briefs.
To get a sense of their future direction see the report Information and Communications Technology Policy and note their large section on e-democracy:
SECTION 4: e-Democracy
4.1 What is e-Democracy? 16
4.2 Why e-Democracy? 16
4.3 Strategic Fit 17
4.4 e-Voting 18
4.5 Objectives 18
4.6 Policy Implementation 21
4.7 Performance Measures 22
Here is the report’s introductory text:
1.1 Introduction
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has already changed the way many Wellington residents live, work and play, and the Council believes it has further potential to enhance the lives of Wellingtonians.
ICT includes electronic information processing technologies such as computers and the internet (including email) as well as cellular, digital and wireless technologies and fixed line telecommunications. The Council believes these technologies have the
ability to:
• enhance the city’s economic development – by providing a telecommunications infrastructure that enables new opportunities for innovation, increased productivity and an enhanced quality of life
• contribute to the well-being of the community – by building capability and enabling individuals and communities to develop economically, socially, and culturally
• enhance and increase engagement in local democracy by enabling individuals and
communities to be linked to local government and local networks.
Innovations in Citizen Journalism
From
Information Policy:
The
Knight-Batten Awards for innovation in journalism were just announced. Seven projects received recognition, and each faciliate transparency, discovery or user participation in some way. The projects range from a comprehensive, interactive Congressional votes database, to a site that helps users conduct real-time risk assessment for hurricanes.
Each of the award winners can contribute to better governance. Each also represents a model that government agencies could adapt for their own purposes.
Wikipedia: a Radical Experiment in E-Democracy
If you're thinking through the "pros" and "cons" of e-participation on government web sites, here's a
great (though somewhat lengthy) case study of Wikipedia, as published in the July 31
New Yorker magazine.
Proposed Database on Federal Funding
From
Federal Computer WeekBY Matthew Weigelt
Published on July 19, 2006 Legislation that would require the creation of an online database to track federal spending has won praise from several key senators.
“Transparency is a prerequisite to oversight and financial control,” Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) testified at the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s Federal Financial Management, Government Information and International Security Subcommittee hearing. The ability of citizens to know how the government spends their tax money is a basic principle of self-government, Obama said.
The hearing focused on the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, which would set up a searchable database online that the public could use to track federal funding of organizations. The Web site would show how much funding an organization received in each of the last 10 fiscal years, a breakdown of the transactions, and details about the organization receiving the funds.
“The reason for such broad support is simple,” said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). “People are beginning to realize that the only way to control spending and ensure accountability is to let the American people see exactly how their money is being spent.”
“I like to think of this bill as ‘Google for Government Spending,’” said Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), the bill’s original sponsor.
Chairwoman Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said she would work to push the act through the committee.
Obama said senators are constantly surprised at what shows up after they vote for a bill. Having the Web site would empower people and organizations to keep the government accountable.
“It’s one of the wonderful democratizing aspects of the Internet,” he said.
****
Comments from two readers include links to two other transparency/accountability tools:
Kelly points to: http://expectmore.gov
Amy suggests: http://transparency.org
The BBC 2.0: democratic media
Thus far, we've seen very few government agencies that invite users to get involved, "have their say" on public issues, and contribute to collective intelligence.
If you're interested, take a look at
what the BBC is doing to invite users to participate. Maybe other government units could follow their example.
Check out a great background piece on BBC from Business Week
here .
Another Take on Web 2.0
Gina Hughes at Yahoo recently posted a useful review of
all things 2.0.
She writes:
"I had the same question when I first heard the term. To simplify things, Web 2.0 is what people consider "
the second generation of services available on the World Wide Web that lets people collaborate and share information online". Ok, I took those exact words from
Wikipedia, which is a good example of this new Web 2.0 era. In the past we had encyclopedias, these days we also have wikis or wikipedias, which are updated more frequently.
O'Reilly Net has a much more extensive review on the matter, and they are an excellent resource because they pretty much coined the term during a brainstorming session. Unfortunately, O'Reilly Media is also in the process of registering the term Web 2.0 as a service mark, so they can continue to use this term for their annual conference. I'm sure this will cause a lot of confusion for everyone in the future if we choose to adopt this name, then again, we may already be too late.
Aside from being a buzzword, Web 2.0 also refers to this exciting exchange of ideas where everyone plays a part. Whether they choose to do it via social networking sites like MySpace, blogs, video/audio podcasts, social bookmarking, photo communities and wikis to name a few, users are encouraged to create, contribute, or participate in these online communities. With all these applications comes a new language we must learn, and a new way of designing websites.
Just take a look around the web, and you will notice a lot of great companies out there that offer easy ways to share video, share bookmarks, create personal or business blogs, or even make phone calls over the Internet. You'll recognize Web 2.0 websites by their tag clouds, rounded corners, gradients and short punchy names with elements of english words, well at least that's what Reddit's how-to-video says.
While many have a problem with the label of this new phase, there is no denying that the web has certainly changed in the last few years, and will continue to do so. Believe it or not, the term Web 3.0 is already out there. Since I couldn't possibly explain Web 2.0 as a whole in this post, I will leave you with a few great links to help you learn more about it, or just have fun with it.
So what does Web 2.0 mean to you?"
***
Also -- by way of
O'Reilly Radar,
James Fallows recently wrote about his use of 2.0 sites, published in
Technology Review.
Blog, Blog, Blog...
According to a
recent study released by the Pew Internet and the American Life Project ,
About 12 million Americans (about 8% of online adults) write their own blogs. About 57 million (39% of online adults) read blogs.
Consistent with previous research, the study found that bloggers were disproportionately young. The blogger population is diverse in terms of race/ethnicity, and proportionately male and female.
Although
political bloggers receive extensive public attention, most of the bloggers just write about their own personal experience. However, the informality and intimacy of personal blogs can keep you from getting hired or get you
fired.
Will the
blogosphere keep growing exponentially? Will it have significant and sustainable effects on politics and government? Or will young bloggers grow weary and wary -- and move on to other media?
Goggle Launches Accessibility Search
Recently, we've examined the
(in)accessibility of local government web sites.
Google just launched a new tool that may raise the visibility of this issue.
From
Sci-Tech Today:
For visually impaired users, Web pages that are designed to be accessible can be more easily read by screen reading machines or by making the type larger. But well-designed accessible pages are not yet everywhere.
Google took a major step today toward helping users find the most accessible pages on a given topic. It is releasing a beta version of Accessible Search for the Visually Challenged, available at http://labs.google.com/accessible/.
Accessible Search is "designed to identify and prioritize search results that are more easily usable by blind and visually impaired users," Google said in a statement on the site.
Headed by a Blind Researcher
A project of Google Labs, the Accessible Search project is headed by T.V. Raman, a former IBM researcher who became blind from glaucoma as a child. There are nearly 8 million visually-impaired Web users in the U.S. alone who, like Raman, face challenges in finding information when they conduct a search. Screen readers for blind or dyslexic users turn screen text into spoken words, but, if the page is not designed for accessibility, the result could be gibberish.
Accessible Search looks at the page's HTML, and favors pages that are more easily understood when images are turned off, as well as those that are most accessible through keyboard navigation. Such a page will also tend to read well when a screen reading machine is used. Web pages that are complex visually, or have much of the information or navigation primarily in visuals, are less favored.
US E-government: Status After Twelve Years
By way of
Information Policy:The following article in Public CIO by Robert D. Atkinson.
It's been 12 years since the U.S. government went online. The first stage of e-government meant a passive presence on the Web based on information, but not citizen interaction. The public sector evolved to the second stage: developing Web applications that allowed individuals to interact with government, such as paying parking tickets and renewing drivers' licenses. But most governments have been slow to move to the third stage of e-government -- creating functionally oriented, citizen-centered Web presences by breaking down bureaucratic barriers. Too often, existing e-government applications are user-unfriendly, designed around agencies' needs rather than citizens'.
http://www.public-cio.com/story.php?id=Turbo-Charging%20E-Governmen
OMB Publishes Guidelines for Interagency IT Practices
By way of
Government Executive, we read:
National Journal's Technology Daily Part of the challenge of implementing change is following the guidelines -- and knowing exactly what the changes are. To that end, the White House Office of Management and Budget on Monday announced the
release of an online catalog to make guidelines on information technology practices easier to access.
OMB is sending a memorandum to the chief information officers and chief architects of the different federal agencies to explain the launch of the federal transition framework, which consolidates guidance to agencies on policies and best practices on tech solutions.
"By consolidating cross-agency information on IT policy in one convenient location, agencies are able to quickly and more efficiently make decisions related to their overall mission," said Karen Evans, administrator of e-government and technology at OMB.
OMB said the new catalog lets agencies get more complete, consistent information, capitalize on cost savings, and increase the speed of compliance with the directives.
Oregon: Mile Fee In Place of Gas Tax
From
Government TechnologyLee Younglove is motoring about town in a way that could be the future of driving in America: A state-installed GPS unit in his Subaru Outback is counting every mile he's logging, and a special transmitter in the car will tell the pump at one of two Portland gas stations how many miles he has traveled. Soon, as part of a state experiment, he'll be paying 1.2 cents for every mile but won't be charged the state's 24-cents-a-gallon gas tax.
That's because Oregon sees little future in its gas tax, which has been at the same level since 1993. Voters don't want to raise it, inflation has eaten much of its value and fuel-efficient cars such as hybrids are reducing collections.
As an alternative, the state is experimenting with a "virtual tollway" system in which a road-user fee would replace the gas tax.
New Approach to Traffic Management
One of the greatest services government can provide is to help users use transportation systems efficiently. Agencies can monitor traffic flows continuously, and push advisories to users with email, SMS or automated phone calls. If successful, these efforts will relieve traffic jams and will improve transportation safety. It will also make users much more satisfied with agency services.
For example, see
Traffic.com. Users can register for free and receive a variety of services. For a small montly fee, premium users can customize their traffic alerts to fit their changing needs. You can walk through an example by checking out the site's services for the
St. Louis metro area.
The Future for Digital Government
Government Technology recently asked a panel of experts (from public agencies, for-profit IT service providers, and academic backgrounds) to list issues that would affect the development of e-government for the next five years.
You can read their responses
here.
The IT Profession in 2010
Computer World recently published an extended report about
the future of IT professions in 2010. They forecast a major shift over the next 4-5 years. The report warns that rapidly changing technology and competition from outsourcing will put more pressure on aging boomers working in this field.
This shift will also put new pressures on government agencies struggling to keep pace.
Government thinking about web 2.0
Several weeks ago Tim O'Reilly made some provocative comments about the need for government agencies to adopt web 2.0 philosophy, functionality and infrastructure.
Check
here to review his thoughts.
Networked Government
William Eggers, author of
Government 2.0, also co-authored a useful brief article about
networked governance.
Check it out.
Multi-State Collaboration on Emergency Preparedness
According to
Government Technology,
The Southern Governors Association is working to prepare a
common framework to respond to natural disasters and other emergencies.
Details will be announced at the Association's annual meetings later this week.
Don't be evil ??
After reading John Battelle’s great book, The Search: How Google and its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed our Culture, I think it is definitely getting harder for Google (and just about everyone else) to follow its corporate motto – “Don’t be evil”.
Here are a few examples of well-documented challenges the company faces.
Google’s China Problem and China’s Google Problem – a practical summary of dilemmas faced by both published in April, 2006 by the New York Times. (Read Google’s side of the story published on a company blog last January).
Gmail and Privacy Issues - provides links to several different perspectives on Google’s ads inserted into your gmail messages.
Plus some recent articles about Google from
Business Week magazine – (you will need to register at their site).
Google’s print ad strategy - Business Week magazine’s review (July 17 issue) of Google’s approach to dominating print ad sales.
-- the debate about the future of the Internet, including Google’s position. (BTW - if you have some time, and need a smile, listen to
Sen. Ted Stevens (AK) remarkable perspective on this complex policy debate (;>).
Google’s track record with non-search products -- this is not directly tied to questions of good and evil, but it provides one perspective on the company's recent attempts to venture outside search products.
The Plot to Hijack your Computer -- Business Week's (July 17) cover story reports about spyware: what is it? how it is used? who's behind it? why you should care? and what you can do to protect yourself. (Read Google's principles re: spyware, adware, etc.,
here.)
The capacity to develop and deploy search at Internet scale presents many new challenges for public policy and public administration, and for all of us. It really has changed the rules of the game.
If you haven't read Battelle's book yet, you should. For more insight into Google's corporate philosophy, check out a key document they call "
Ten Things".
Who pays for "free" municipal wireless?
Hundreds of local governments have now decided to offer free wireless Internet access - either in certain "hot spots" or as wide area clouds. This service is very popular for users, but it is unclear how the costs involved will be covered.
One business model often debated is illustrated by the agreement between the City of San Francisco, Earthlink and Google. A recent essay in
Government Technology provides an
excellent summary.
(Thanks to Martha for this tip.)
MySpace.com and Public Service
I saw the following post by Erik Bergrud at the International Center for Civic Engagement
According to the Washington Post:
MySpace.com, the social-networking site that boasts 90 million members who are "friends" with one another online, is trying to galvanize its user base to get involved in public service.
It is doing so by sponsoring a contest, which begins today, requesting submissions of 15- to 30-second video public-service announcements encouraging social activism. The winner will be featured in Seventeen magazine, which is co-sponsoring the contest.
While we are lamenting the decline of membership associations and traditional service clubs, we should recognize that a new generation, which is more interested in "mashing up" than bowling together, is redefining civic engagement in the Web 2.0 era.
In a related follow up, we’ve had a lot of discussion about blogging and new media for public officials. Some of that discussion focused on a Washington state legislator who used MySpace to communicate with his younger constituents. Opinion was mixed about whether this was an effective way to engage young people.
Today, we received the following comment from the Representative.
As the author of the blog on myspace.com (see: www.myspace.com/upthegrove), I encourage (another blog commenter) to take a closer look. The postings are not designed to be policy papers, but rather, are designed to provide a window into my day-to-day activities as a legislator in order to help demystify government and my role as a legislator. The content is written in a way to be brief and interesting, yet hopefully spark an interest in a topic. I often provide links to additional information. The use of rap music, graphics, and humor does not make the site "silly". Quite to the contrary, it makes the site palatable to an audience that would otherwise be disinterested. Despite the light intent, the posts have spurred a few interesting policy discussions. For example, note the 13 postings on June 20th debating the new high school exit exam in Washington.
Contrast this with my traditional campaign website (www.upthegrove.com) where I have not received a single email all year on any topic. On my myspace blog I was able to receive passionate and candid feedback from young people and engage in a substantive back-and-forth debate on a pressing state issue. I believe some people-- especially young people-- are simply more comfortable with the forum.
As a result of the myspace page and blog, I have helped place a college student in an internship, have plugged several young people into political trainings, have recruited new campaign volunteers (and donors!), and have engaged in countless email discussions with young people about policy and political issues.
Political communication does not need to be stuffy in order to be meaningful
Dave Upthegrove
State Representative
Washington State
***
Thanks Rep. Upthegrove, for your contribution to our discussion, and for your public service.
Governments use data to provide new services
Shane Peterson at
Government Technology published an interesting essay about how some governments are using data they're already collecting to provide a new service --
helping consumers make better choices. States and local governments are providing these data over the web to help people compare price and quality from providers of everything from health services to gasoline.
E-democracy case studies
From
Democracies Online:
If you're looking for case studies about e-democracy, you can find them
here.
European Public Participation Portal
Check out this interesting site called
Your Voice in Europe.
It invites EU citizens and businesses to respond to open consultations and discussions on a wide range of policy issues, facilitates periodic chat sessions featuring EU public officials, encourages people to share their experiences, concerns or complaints re: EU programs, etc.
Users like e-newsletters
From Democracies Online:
New user research suggests that e-newsletters are still one of the most effective methods to keep web site readers informed and engaged. (The research was conducted by usability guru Jakob Nielsen. The link above provides excellent usability standards and best practices for design and delivery.
Czech E-government teaches computer literacy
From
Information PolicyThe Czech Republic is adding
computer literacy courses on their e-government portal.
"The interactive self-study courses are designed for convenience. Theory and practical exercises are combined and users can skip chapters and return to them later if they wish. Both beginners, e.g. simple word processing skills, and more advanced users, e.g. database administration, are catered for, and certificates are awarded for passing final tests.
This eLearning initiative is squarely aimed at raising computer competences, particularly among the more excluded groups such as elderly workers, where the lack of these skills is the main reason for unemployment. And the courses are proving popular: more than 10000 people have subscribed in the first six months!"
Maine Enacts Information Access Law
On Government Technology, I read that Maine has now enacted an
information access law designed to facilitate government transparency, and provide web support for citizens who want to know how to get public information.
Usability Declining on Local Government Web Sites
Usability should be a top priority for local government web sites. But recent research suggests the issue needs much more attention – at least on US municipal government sites.
Usability refers to the convenience, reliability, credibility, navigability, accessibility and readability of a site. The federal government (through the National Cancer Institute – Dept. of Health and Human Services) provides measurement standards, and excellent resources for sites at
usablity.gov.
We adapted these standards to measure the proportion of usability requirements met by the 100 largest municipal governments in March of 2004, 2005 and 2006. (For details on methodology and measures, please
see this recent paper).
Results show a substantial decline in average usability over the past year. Some sites improved, but most sights declined significantly since 2005.
Several factors might contribute to this trend. First, some of the standards require subjective assessment. Although analysts used for each year’s research were given the same orientation and training, we employed different analysts each year. Perhaps the analysts involved in 2006 were biased, or held more rigorous standards for some of the standards.
A second possible explanation may imply something more important. The sheer volume of content on local government sites, and the decentralized approach used by most cities to manage this content generated by separate municipal departments can make the task of improving usability very difficult.
Many of the problems the study found re: usability were relatively simple – if not easy – to fix. For example, inconsistent or inappropriate use of color, graphic images, and navigation aids across different department pages. We also found problems with accessibility such as omission of “alt.tags” on images, content that required excessive scrolling for users. In addition, we found a lot of content with no information about authorship, or even dates when posted, which can cause users to question the veracity and currency of the information and services available at the site.
In short, usability is critical to meeting the service needs of site users, and large municipalities are having trouble keeping up.
| | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 |
| Percent Usability Standards Met | .67 | .72 | .52 |
