GovHack Sleepover

Government 2.0 is different from Web 2.0.

There are three main components of Web 2.0:

– Visual/graphics: circa 2005 saw the introduction of light gradients, pastel colours, rounded corners, more typography.

– Also the social web; where networks like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter etc really started to take off and make social interactions online a priority for the web.

– Finally; Web 2.0 is about AJAX and other technologies that allow for rich, high-efficiency web user interfaces that push the limits of HTTP.

Government 2.0 on the other hand is about:

– Open data; making available publicly-funded datasets for the public to use as they will, such as they did yesterday at GovHack to develop ideas and initiatives that the Government doesn’t have the capacity, expertise or will to do.

– Citizen-centric service delivery design, citizen engagement and collaboration. Includes the use of social media and sees the demise of PR and press releases.

– Cultural change within the APS to be more transparent, more involving of the people who are affected, assisted or disadvantaged by the decisions the APS makes. Instead of working on some policy in an office for 2 years, going out and asking people what they actually need and then rolling out services or policies as quickly as possible kind of like a beta release program for software; just put it out there, get feedback, incorporate feedback, re-release. This way in the space of 2 years you can have a policy that’s properly informed, tested several times and accepted by the community in the same time it could have taken to develop the traditional bureaucratic APS-centric way.

If you would like, I have a presentation on SlideShare that explains Government 2.0 in a little more detail:

http://www.slideshare.net/NathanaelB/introduction-to-government-20

So, that’s the sort of thing I was promoting in government until I was made mysteriously redundant 2 months ago. I still believe in APS reform and progressive government and am now just continuing to push for change from the outside.

Why so?

The name ‘GOVHACK’ was IMHO a poor choice.