Yesterday we had the great honor of hosting an amazing panel of speakers at our Ogilvy DC office to discuss Gov 2.0. An intrepid audience was not daunted by the early hour, the rain nor the delays of the red line. They arrived ready to hear our panelists:
- Alexander Howard, O'Reilly Media
- Gwynne Kostin, U.S. General Services Administration
- Micah Sifry, Personal Democracy Forum
- Ari Melber, The Nation
- Mark Murray, NBC News
Quite a panel it was. For those of you that joined us, thank you! For those of you who missed it, please check out Alex's recap here. Below you can find the full version of the live stream (the event starts about 30 minutes into the live stream) as well as Alex's abbreviated version.
The moderator, Rohit Bhargava, a founding member of the 360 Digital Influence group at Ogilvy PR, kicked off the panel with a conversation about Gov 2.0 what it is, what it isn't, etc.
When asked his opinion on Gov 2.0, Micah noted that where he got excited was the chance that Gov 2.0 offered the people, the possibility of a smarter government and the opportunity for government to give its citizens the ability to participate and help with the greatest challenges of our time. He talked about how the Obama campaign came in with a bunch of promises regarding how they would use the web to co-create government to produce the services but that we were just seeing the beginning of this. "There is a civic surplus waiting to be tapped of people who want the country to succeed," he quipped and while he confronted a few in the audience with the contention that the White House has failed at #opengov he offered up as consolation that they had at least successfully pushed #gov20 at agency level.
Gwynne shocked the group by bluntly stating, "We're still throwing spaghetti on the wall and seeing what sticks." She paid homage to the folks who have been working in this space for several administrations before it was called Gov 2.0 and discussed how despite that history this space was still new and agencies were still trying to figure out how to bring the services closer to where the people are.
Ari noted that there is a strong argument that the #Gov20 model is more representative than the 1.0 model and yet there was quite a ways left to go on that front. Related to the question of who's in and who's out, in perhaps one of the most unexpected moments in the panel, Ari asked the audience: "Would you want an app to tell you how racially diverse your Facebook or Twitter networks are?" He asked for a show of hands. He then asked a mostly stunned group: How many of you would want to share that information with others?
Mark spoke about the impact that he saw issue campaigns having on the upcoming elections and the political environment. In his estimation, the party out of power has had a tendency to be the most innovative in this space. The ensuing question of course was: why? The response? Those in power have to govern and are often using the technology to govern. Those out of power can be innovative with technology in their campaigns because they are not governing.
Building on Gwynne's historical analysis, Alex also pushed the group noting that the conversation couldn't just be about Washington. It had to be about data that people could use in Washington but also locally. He discussed how in his estimation the technology itself and platforms were tremendously relevant, giving a shout out to Drupal and Open Source Technology. He also gave props to techpresident and Gov Loop. The group discussed some excellent case studies and left us all with much to think about as it relates to the future of Gov 2.0, OpenGov, We Government and what that could hold.
Some highlights from the hashtag on the Twitterverse:
@digiphile #gov20 case studies coming up at #ogilvy360di. @rohitbarghava mentioned Pillbox at NIH: http://j.mp/dktlf3#opengov
@dlblack #ogilvy360DI: #gov20 is about gov being open, transparent and people being involved with their gov
@dlblack #ogilvy360DI: #gov20 isn't about big or small gov, it is about smart gov that is effective.
@voleynik #Gov20 = government using the web to create better services for citizens. Creating smarter more effective government. #Ogilvy360DI
@KWALSH30 Micah Sifry Gov20 is using web20 to allow interactions between citizens and gov. #crowdsourcing ? #Ogilvy360di
@yasminfodil Loving the shout-outs from @ re: NASA at #ogilvy360di from @mlsif - they are doing great #gov20 stuff
@Mlsif The amazing thing about @digiphile is that he tweets from the panel without moving his hands. #oglivy360di #gov20
@gwynnek Really, gov workers have mastered the telephone, can probably use web 2.0 tools- @mlsifry #ogilvy360di
@parkerism Gwynne Kostin, GSA mentions @ChallengeGov as place where citizens & govt can solve problems together #ogilvy360di #gov20 -challenge.gov.
@Mlsif I agree w/@gwynnek: Challenge.gov = game-changer. Not just for public partic in solving probs, but also changing govt culture. #oglivy360di
@cttansill Challenge.gov - Have you checked it out? "Inviting innovators to submit solutions." #gov20 #ogilvy360di
@AriMelber: At #ogilvy360di #Gov20 - @mmurraypolitics admits he mostly follows fellow politicos on Twitter! @Mlsif @digiphile @KetyE
@AriMelber Would you want an app to tell you how racially diverse your Facebook or Twitter networks are? My q at #ogilvy360di
@msspinach Great turnout at today's #ogilvy360di #gov20 panel http://twitpic.com/2si1nn