GigaOM » Collaboration

Open Government and the Web Discussed in New Book

Charles Hamilton — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 00:00:11 +0000

My clients include private-sector businesses and non-profit organizations. My company has chosen not to take on government work because, frankly, the paperwork is not worth the hassle. But I’ve participated in local government as a citizen, and I appreciate the access provided by the web, although it’s sometimes disheartening to see how little some agencies have taken advantage of the technologies that we in business take for granted.

O’Reilly Media was kind enough to provide me with a copy of its new book, “Open Government: Collaboration, Transparency, and Participation in Practice,” edited by Daniel Lathrop and Laurel Ruma. It’s available in print and as an e-book and is an interesting compilation of essays discussing the problems and successes that governments and citizens face as they struggle to catch up with the openness that we’ve come to expect in the era of social media, crowdsourcing and user-generated content. The snooze-inducing subtitle is actually taken from President Obama’s memorandum on transparency and open government, reprinted as an appendix to the book.

What do the authors mean by “open government?” As Tim O’Reilly puts it in one of the opening chapters:

[G]overnment is, at bottom, a mechanism for collective action. We band together, make laws, pay taxes, and build the institutions of government to manage problems that are too large for us individually and whose solution is in our common interest. Government 2.0… is the use of technology — especially the collaborative technologies at the heart of Web 2.0 — to better solve collective problems at a city, state, national, and international level.

Some of “Open Government,” especially its earlier chapters, will probably be of more interest to policy wonks than to most web workers. But later in the book, readers are presented with detailed case studies of web sites that are improving interaction between citizens and their government. In these chapters, I found some really good ideas (and some cautionary tales) that I think many web workers will find interesting and thought-provoking. I found the story of the state of Utah’s web presence of particular interest, as it leverages its own resources by taking advantage of social media and user-generated content sites.

This book will be of particular interest to those working in and with the public sector, but much of its content will be enlightening to anyone who cares about public participation in all levels of government.

How do you think that governments can improve their accessibility using web tools?

The Impact of Corporate Policies on Web Working Employees

Dawn Foster — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 22:00:18 +0000

Last week, there was quite a bit of discussion about how some social media web sites, including Twitter, were being blocked for at least some White House staff members. The end result was that people were simply finding ways around the policies by accessing Twitter through third-party clients or using their phones and other personal devices. I’ve been running across more and more companies and organizations that have strict policies about using social media or are even blocking access to various social web sites through the corporate network.

On the surface, it can seem like a good way to cut down on goofing off, but the reality is that many people use these sites to get information and, increasingly, to communicate with customers. While this can be a problem for some employees, it can cause a devastating productivity issue for those of us who do most of our work online.

I worked for a company a couple of years ago that blocked IM. We could use IM within the company to communicate with other employees, but it was blocked for any IM outside of the firewall. I like using IM for getting quick answers and checking in with people. While this may not sound like much, it was a big inconvenience for me because I worked with many consultants, contractors and customers who were not employees of the company. It didn’t take me long to find a way to bypass the corporate policy by using a new and nearly unknown web-based IM client. For me, the goal was to get more done as efficiently as possible, despite the obstacles.

When spending time working remotely and telecommuting, these social tools can be a great way to keep up with co-workers and colleagues. I often use Twitter to get answers to tough problems or find information that I need to do my job, since I can’t just drop into the office of another employee who might have the answer. Blocking social web sites only makes it more difficult for many employees to get their work completed efficiently. Let’s face it, those employees who are spending four hours a day goofing off on Facebook will find another way to spend their time goofing off, and the real solution is to deal with the problem employees, not to use broad policies to deal with a few isolated performance issues. Many employees will simply see this as a challenge to be overcome by finding interesting technical solutions to circumvent the technology used to block the web sites.

How have similar company policies impacted your productivity on the job, and did you find ways to get around those policies?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

The State of Telecommuting

Mike Gunderloy — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 18:00:00 +0000

When we looked at last year’s Telework Report from CDW, the federal government stood out as a leader in encouraging telecommuting. This year’s report, which should be available on the CDW site shortly, paints a different picture. Thanks to strong growth in support from corporate IT departments, as well as price pressure at the gas pump, private sector telework has surged.

The simplest bottom-line numbers: 17% of Federal employees telework on a regular basis, as do 14% of private-sector employees. There’s been a marked change in the reasons employees offer for being interested in telework as well. Compared to last year, the number of people who are motivated by lowered expenses – primarily commuting expenses – has jumped from 31% to 67%. (This data correlates well with an IBM study from earlier this year that found $4.50 per gallon gas would be the breaking point for many commuters).

There are other points of interest in the CDW report as well. I was struck by the divergence in how often people telework. At the Federal level, only 6% of teleworkers do so for five days per week; that number is 30% in the private sector. Private workers also lead at 3 and 4 days per week, while 30% of Federal teleworkers do so less than one day per week. Overall, it seems clear that telecommuting is not the all-or-nothing option that it’s sometimes portrayed as; many web workers are only enabled by the web part-time, and in a traditional office setting the rest of the time.

68% of private sector employees, and 57% of federal ones, say the would telework if they had the option. The overwhelming reason for doing so: “more flexibility” (though “high gas prices” was not far behind). As for those who would skip it, the leading concern was isolation from fellow employees, followed by not wanting to work from home and reduced productivity.

The bottom line is simple: telework is here to stay, and given the current economic picture, it continues to make gains as a mainstream option. Those of us who work on the web full-time, though, are still the exception rather than the rule, even in the teleworking ranks.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.