October 7, 2009
Posted by Kelly Rusk
What is Gov 2.0?
Although the term was thrown around a lot at this year’s GTEC, Tim O’Reilly was the only one who thoroughly—and inspiringly—defined what it meant.
Given that I don’t work in IT, or in the government, I felt a little like a fly on the wall at this conference (that brings together leading experts from all levels of government to collaborate on what citizens want with a technology focus). However what drew me to it was Tim O’Reilly and he did not disappoint. One thing I really wanted to take away was a better understanding of “Gov 2.0” and what it really means.
The funny thing about buzzwords is the more they are used the more meaning they lose. Even the term Web 2.0 has many different meanings depending on who you ask. Since O’Reilly is at least partly responsible for defining the term, I have a hunch he knows what he’s talking about.
So what exactly is gov 2.0?
O’Reilly suggests it involves the following:
- Citizen contribution and collaboration
- use of social media
- transparency
- new methods of procurement
- cloud computing
And what it all means is positioning government as a platform for citizens to build upon and help make better. The current model, which David Kettl explains is “government as a vending machine;” we put money in, and receive services in return. Straight foward, but is it effective?
The problem, O’Reilly states, is that the cost just keeps going up. An alternative model—that embodies the government as a platform idea—is to throw the door open to partners (i.e. citizens) and provide the data for them to collaborate and improve services. This would enhance efficiency and curb spending. It’s the gov 2.0 model.
I’m excited to see if this is adopted in Canada. Obviously our biggest concern (as usual) is privacy… Which, of course, someone asked about during questions. O’Reilly responded by quoting Scott McNealy of Sun Microsystems who said: “you have no privacy, get over it”
We’ll see how it goes I guess.
