Crowdsourcing Public Policy

Listening to StationXtv this morning they mentioned www.MyIdea4CA.com. It is an attempt to harness Twitter and hashtags to Crowdsource Public Policy.

It’s been three years since Jeff Howe coined the term “crowdsourcing” in his Wired article “The Rise of Crowdsourcing.” The term, which describes an online, distributed problem solving and production model, is most famously represented in the business operations of companies like Threadless and InnoCentive and in contests like the Goldcorp Challenge and the Doritos Crash the Super Bowl Contest.
(via CFCM.)

Governor Schwarzenegger launched the www.MyIdea4CA.com website for Twitter users to share and discuss their ideas to move California forward. The MyIdea4CA Twitter Forum was initiated to extend a popular conversation that began in June of 2009 on Twitter when Governor Schwarzenegger called for public participation for new ideas on the state budget.

As government cuts back their budgets, consultants, polling data, and combined with the need for transparency we will begin to see more crowdsourcing projects more and more. It not only creates a way to get real time results of public opinion, but also provides engagement strategies to connect with the public. The real question is the quality of this feedback?

This is not scientific nor a professional response, however it is true public response and engagement. The Public and the European Union has begun working with the public to perfect this approach.

Echoing the Open Government initiatives currently underway at the White House, the process is beginning with an open brainstorming session to identify and evaluate a range of ways in which EU governments can harness the emerging power of the web to transform European public services.

Debate graph on these ideas here: http://debategraph.org/flash/fv.aspx?r=20101

The potential is huge. The trend of such approaches have already caught on. With such traction, do you feel that decisions will now be interpreted as the popular sentiment? Does access and knowledge of social media provide greater access to policy makers?

Does Twitter Have a Place in Government?

Not surprisingly, heralding a transparent government is much easier to do when in opposition than in leadership.  Case in point is last week’s admission by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs that the White House has blocked online access to Twitter.  Although, the White House does have several  official Twitter accounts, actual White House employees are not Twittering about their daily adventures.

Government transparency in the form of social media is a hotly contested issue.  Some say that blocking employee access to social media sites is great news as taxpayer money is not being wasted on using Twitter on White House time.  Of course this logic is slightly flawed for those of us living in the digital age can access Twitter via our mobile phones.  However, the message being sent by invoking this policy is strong; social media is vital on the campaign trail but dangerous when governing.

Can social networks be harmful to government?  Worse yet do they pose a security risk?

Before delving into those questions, lets take a look at identity manipulations issues on Twitter.  Now when I joined Twitter I used my favorite screen name and linked it to my email and full name.  I am who I  say I am.  This is not always the case on Twitter, especially where celebrities are involved.  Twitter profile fakes for celebrities such as Emma Watson, the Dhali Lama, and Tony LaRussa have gained huge followings.   In an effort to delegitimize these impostors Twitter has created verified account status, which can only be obtained by the celebrity or their agent. (more…)

Can Social Media Make Government Work Better?

Living in the information age is a blessing and a curse. We find ourselves spending half of our time searching for specific information in databases and search engines. Our government is comprised of hundreds of agencies, committees, subcommittees, and layers of bureaucracy. To Belt Way outsiders it seems obvious that entities, which cover similar policy areas, should be able to easily communicate and share information. However, on Capitol Hill the obvious is not reality, plans to centralize authority and merge agencies like the Commodities Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission have foundered on Capitol Hill.

My first thought upon hearing this was, “I thought we learned our lesson with intelligent agency communication failures?” According to Norman Ornstein at Roll Call there are serious turf wars in our government, which contributes to inefficiency and poor policy making. So how do we solve difficulties in finding and sharing information?

Enter, the age of social media and “pedias.”

Intellipedia, the first government “pedia” was introduced in 2004 by a CIA analyst. Intellipedia is a proprietary, Wikipedia-like system set up to enable 16 separate intelligence-related agencies, from the CIA to the FBI, the National Security Agency and various entities in the Department of Defense, to share information, data, theories, insights and ideas in an interactive fashion, and to edit the entries that are put onto the network. There are now tens of thousands of articles on Intellipedia, with hundreds added every week.

Intellipedia is shear brilliance, this simple tool is connecting people across agencies, which would most likely never meet, and allows them to share information vital to our national security. For example, data uncovered by one analyst may be shot down by another, reducing the likelihood of dry holes or actions taken on the basis of faulty intelligence.

For Congress a “pedia” can be created for legislation and be a place where staffers and Members can share policy information.

In lieu of merging agencies and commissions, “pedias” can be created as a medium for information exchange. Social media is allowing staffers, analysts, committee persons, and citizens to participate in policy making. This is not only smart government but good democracy.

In a world of instant communication, we cannot afford for our government to fall behind. Information is everywhere, social media helps us find and utilize the right information. More importantly social media allows us to carry on conversations about security and policy involving any subject matter.

We would love your feedback on the idea of connecting Capitol Hill through social media tools. Does centralizing information through “pedias” work or create more headaches?