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Improving communications
There are myriad areas where Web 2.0 technology could be used to improve communication flows internally and externally, Rudyk says. Advertising and other creative material could be test marketed on internal government blogs, and externally on YouTube.
Blogs, videocasts and podcasts could be set up to provide guidance on any number of citizen concerns instead of static Web site text: how to conserve fuel, operate a boat more safely, and so on.
Rudyk points out it would be particularly useful in speeding up crisis communications.
"If something's gone wrong with a food or drug, instead of doing cross-country consultations, the government can go to Facebook, start a group and interact with Canadians to sort out how to solve the problem," he says. "They're there -- although the government may not be."
While many governments have internal Web 2.0 projects underway, there are very few real benefits in the here and now, says Andrea Di Maio, VP of public sector research at Gartner. "Many agencies want to be modern and are doing these projects in good faith, but they don't have a strong business case. Relatively little is happening that is actually useful," he says.
Nevertheless, governments need to plan for the future, and there's still time before the influx of next-generation workers who've grown up on Web 2.0 tools, DiMaio says. He sees clear benefits in the use of collaborative tools today, particularly by IT staff.
"For inter-agency collaborations in areas like interoperability standards and other tech problems, wikis and blogs work well," he says, pointing out many IT folks are already members of the open source community and accustomed to online interaction.
A sensible balance
But making Web 2.0 tools a normal part of government business will involve some major shifts. "The real question is, to what extent will staff benefit from being provided with Web 2.0 tools, particularly those without a technology background," he says.
Casework is a case in point. Staff involved in child welfare and other human services typically track their cases with workflow management tools that help them serve their clients. To solve a problem, it could be very beneficial for them to tap into the collective knowledge of a number of communities, possibly external non-profits or government agencies involved in similar casework in other jurisdictions.
"If you think about how that task would change, those communities are not communities of government staff only - they're both internal and external," says Di Maio. "What's clear with social networks is there are no boundaries. You can have an internal blog but it won't tap into the collective knowledge."
Real change will take place when social networks start incorporating people on the inside and outside around common interests, he says. All manner of communities - people who receive child benefits, charities that help low-income families, and so on - might congregate around child welfare themes, possibly as a sub-network within Facebook.
"These communities are self-aggregating and must form themselves," he says. "Government is part of the audience, as it wants to tap into that - but it can't be the creator. If the government sets out to design a community for this purpose, it's already started at the wrong end."
While creating a specific community may be a dead-end, letting staff roam freely in existing social networks may be too time-consuming, he says.
"To get measurable benefits, governments can't say, 'Let's do social networking' - they have to do it in the context of a specific category of problem they want to solve." Governments should start with small-scale projects with select trusted staff who have a specific code of conduct to explore and experiment, he says.
Governments globally are debating social networking and how to handle this new beast. "Banning access to Facebook and other sites is not an entirely bad idea for now," he says, pointing out this will give decision-makers time to develop the codes of conduct needed to allow staff to access external sites within specified mandates.
There are many other types of Web 2.0 technologies to consider, says Di Maio. Blogs are of limited value to government in his view. "Blogs often become a place to complain," he says.
Having a business case
Blogs may pose a reputational risk to government, and there's rarely a good business case for them, he says. "The reality is, people don't care about blogs that are created by government unless they're lobbyists with an interest in being connected to government."
There's also much hype around virtual worlds, but these too have few benefits for governments today, he says. "While many have created a presence on Second Life, few have come up with a vaguely sensible business case."
Di Maio says there's only one example of a strong case, given the demographic that inhabits Second Life: the U.S. Center for Disease Control has set up a virtual counter to provide information about sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
"Young people are at risk of getting STDs, so a presence on Second Life is an attempt to anticipate problems with a very particular demographic that isn't really willing to have relations with government."
But one area that shows real promise is mash-ups - Web applications that combine data from different sources with open application programming interface tools. As with social networking, combining internal and external resources can lead to breakthrough developments in government efficiency, he says.
There are many areas where a collaborative approach between government and citizens could deliver more value, he says. A fisheries agency, for example, could allow a fishermen's trade association to create a mash-up with geographic data provided by government to create up-to-date maps about areas to fish, or tax forms could be mashed with online banking applications so people can see the potential impact of new
investments on their taxes.
Rosie Lombardi is a Toronto-based freelance writer. Contact her at rosie@rosie-lombardi.com
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