Washington 2.0 Series - Can We Revolutionize Governance?

I have been feverishly following the discussions coming out of Washington surrounding President-Elect Obama's desire to use technology to benefit the citizen under his new administration.

We hear talk about making government more transparent and more connected. How will this work exactly? Will it give us a Web 2.0 bulletin board of sorts to convey our thoughts and concerns on governance issues?


The President-Elect stated that he will put government data online and make it available in universal formats. Does that mean .pdf files or open source software?

Will citizens now be invited to the virtual table to discuss dollars spent and programs pending?

One of the concerns surrounding to this idea is accessibility and availability of broadband throughout the nation. With recent discussions and developments around freeing up the spectrum previously occupied by analog TV signals, I wonder if we will see more smart phones introduced as tools to stay in touch. We in Washington benefit from the Dulles Corridor effect not to mention the power of the blackberry on the Hill. Are the days of a staffer sending canned responses in letter form to constituents long gone? Are you required to have a .com to hear back from a .gov? What will this mean for the .org who wants to get their issue in front of a Representative? Will government representatives work to develop iPhone apps tailored to deliver updates directly to their constituents?

We were all amazed at the grassroots movement brought about through the simplicity of Web 2.0 technology, but what does this mean for all those with profiles on my.barackobama.com? Will the White House utilize Change.gov to capture the passion and participation of these netizens? What will become of all the Facebook groups and pages?

I personally think that any social network or communication channel where people can continue the discussion and stay involved is a good thing. Education on issues was my biggest battle cry during this election. I am proud of the participation levels in this city and other states, but I think we could still work on getting people educated on what they are voting on. How many people actually read the propositions in California and all that was behind them? It scares me to think that people went into the ballot box with limited knowledge of local candidates and amendments, propositions and stances. My goal in using Facebook's share feature was to educate my friends and family on issues during this election. Was it persuasive? I may never know. It did however, always keep people involved in the discussion.

The question remains how the President-Elect and his team will harness the energy of millions who utilized the social networks to stay engaged. As Howard Dean stated, "He changed all the rules." What do you do with 10 million names and contacts collected during the campaign? Do these people become your ground troops to propagate your message as you move through your first term? These communication vehicles through Change.gov, MyBo and Facebook can circumvent the media and skip the spin.

This may deflate the No-Spin Zone appeal of cable news personalities who make their living on delivering information in their own way. Sorry Keith Olbermann and Bill O'Reilly, but would that be such a bad thing? When the digital generation receives updates or messages from candidates, they can quickly Google, Wikipedia and Facebook the issues to find out all sides of the story. Then, they will make an educated and informed decision and post their decision on their Facebook status. Viral knowledge sharing is a good thing for governance issues.

So, can we revolutionize governance via Web 2.0? Can we continue to create virtual movements whereby we self-organize from the comfort of our own keyboard? Can our Facebook status messages be used as a collective outcry against policy? Does crowd sourcing and knowledge sharing play a role in the new government? As Ms. Palin would say..."You betcha." I would challenge the government to look to models put forth by companies like IBM, who holds annual "jams" where hundreds of thousands of employees and clients share ideas and thoughts around themes of innovation to solve world problems and close the change gap.

Maybe the President-Elect will work to institute something similar whereby technology allows us all to be actively involved in a government that is once again of the people, by the people and for the people...thank you President Lincoln for those wonderful words. If you could only see us now. YES WE CAN!