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Creating Government 2.0 and Social Media
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Adriel Hampton is a Gov 2.0 and new media strategist, public servant, and licensed private investigator. Follow him on Twitter @adrielhampton

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The Future of Citizen Services

I m prone to idea flurries. Regularly, these idea flurries result in some kind of social media project. They ve often included a domain name, and, back before we called it social media, a blog. Some have been successful, like savecivicpark. Others, not so much, like enviroinvestors or traveltokyojapan.
In the last couple years, the idea flurries have begun to center on social sites like Facebook and, increasingly, Twitter. All of this to lead into a little project I kicked off this past weekend, citizensuite. What is it? Well, right now, it s a domain name and a Twitter account retweeting open data information. What it will be, I m not quite sure, either. But what it *wants* to be is a response to the services commoditization component of Gov 2.0. With OpenID reaching out to government, open API projects like Open311, and the increasingly mobile-yet-connected and borderless lifestyle of the middle class, we are quickly approaching an era of My.gov (hat tip to journalist Alexander Howard for that term). Imagine a near future where the central unit of government and business is not a state or municipality, not a corporation, but the individual or a decentralized coalition of individuals. That s not to say that the traditional institutions will disappear, but they will become increasingly less powerful. The idea behind citizensuite is that services and products need to be puzzle pieces that build a picture of civic life around those individuals and networks. That s what I was thinking about this weekend, that and that the browser is a prison.

- Adriel Hampton is a San Francisco public servant and producer of the Gov 2.0 podcast. Sometimes he has idea flurries.

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Posted less than a minute ago by Adriel Hampton 

#yeg: Critical Mass for Gov2 Awesomeness

There are certain governments that quickly come to mind as groundbreakers in the fledgling Gov 2.0 movement: State of Utah, City of San Francisco, City of DC, Manor, TX. Edmonton, Alberta is making critical strides of awesomeness in joining that pack. From last week's Open311 announcement to Saturday's Open City Workshop, Edmonton - known on Twitter as Yeg in line with its airport code - is making huge moves to improve civic life through technology and community collaboration.
Yesterday, Edmonton CIO Chris J. Moore was widely quoted as telling attendees, "You are the strategy." Moore is a pretty cool dude. His office has no desk, just couches and a laptop, so I'm told. (I'll pin that and more rumors down when Moore visits SF in April.) Saturday, he announced several new "Open City" initiatives: a new app for reporting quality of life issues; a new partnership with Code for America on improving local technology; moving IT services to the cloud; and an app-building contest with a $50,000 kitty.
Edmonton has a vibrant social media community, which I've written about before. I'm excited to see what the future brings. I've also put together a list of folks on Twitter involved in the Open City discussion, and you can follow them here.

~ Adriel Hampton is a San Francisco public servant and producer of the Gov 2.0 Radio podcast.

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Posted 2 days ago by Adriel Hampton 

Upcoming shows on Gov 2.0 Radio

A highlight of upcoming Gov 2.0 Radio podcasts, with a quick video as well:
3/14/10 - Donald McIntosh of SpaceTimeResearch.com on data visualization
3/28/10 - Jess Weiss and Brad Blake from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, on social media in government
4/1/10 - ReadMedia on creating social media for local governments
4/11/10 - Gretchen Curtis on Nebula, NASA's cloud computing initiative
4/18/10 - Ted Nguyen and RailSafeSarah of the OCTA on using social media for engagement
4/25/10 - Christina Gagnier and Lisa Borodkin on the legal implications of social media in government
5/2/10 Sid Burgess and OK State Rep. Jason Murphey
5/9/10 - Joel Whitaker on using social media and emerging technologies for world peace
5/16/10 - Amy Sinclair of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission on that agency's integrated social media efforts
5/23/10 - Armed with Science
5/30/10 - OhMyGov!
June - Beth Noveck, White House lead for the Open Government Initiative

~ Adriel Hampton is a San Francisco public servant and producer of the Gov 2.0 Radio podcast.

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Posted 2 days ago by Adriel Hampton 

Twitter, Time & Tools: TweepleML, TheTwitCleaner, MyTweeple

This is a quick ramble about time, and about some favorite Twitter tools.
First, time. I know that people use different social tools in different ways. However, I'll always fight for two-way communication when that's what the tool enables. That's also because it's offensive when someone wants to give you all their ideas and thoughts, but doesn't respond to you on their channel, whether that's Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, a blog, whatever. That's me, and I'm sure there are plenty of other opinions out there.
To consider - a Golden Rule for the social Web: Respect others' time as you would have others respect your time.
Another one about me - I actively seek to engage with and increase my networks, and to balance that with my family and many other concerns, some of them much more important than the network. I also aim to respond to people quickly and directly - I'm not real fond of phone calls, or of e-mails (for first point of contact), but if you tweet me, I'll usually get back within in a few hours.
Using Twitter tools to manage networks and productive time: three tools I'm very fond of these days are TweepleML, which enables one-click follow for lists of people (please load more of yours, it's a little tilted toward spammy mutual-follow schemes right now); TheTwitCleaner, which cleans up spammers from the list of folks you're following; and, MyTweeple, an oldy and goody, which I use for identifying and pruning non-mutual follows.
What are you thinking about time and Twitter tools these days?

~ Adriel Hampton is a San Francisco public servant and producer of the Gov 2.0 Radio podcast.

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Posted 3 days ago by Adriel Hampton 

The Open Gov Challenge - Get Involved!

As part of the Obama administration's Open Government Directive, dozens of federal agencies are scrambling to put together "open government" plans. In an amazing example of how fast Gov 2.0 ideas, tools and ideals are taking hold in the federal space, nearly all of the agencies are using the collaborative tool IdeaScale to allow citizens to submit, comment on and rank ideas for the open gov plans.
Now, there are plenty of things to criticize about this roll-out, but I'm truly excited that it's happening. I just spend a little time looking through the ideas submitted to three agencies I find particularly important - Education, State, and the Office of Personnel Management. Many of the ideas submitted are far off topic of an open government plan (though highlighting the need for more of these sorts of initiatives in the policymaking arena). Education's open gov team was doing a great job of working to bring the discussion back on topic - key to successful community collaboration efforts. This is clearly a work in progress, but I urge all open gov advocates to work over the next few weeks to help make this effort a success.
I'd like to highlight here an idea for each of these agencies that's worthy of consideration and inclusion in their open government plans:
Education: "National program evaluation data should be public-access" - basically a plea for raw survey data from contracted studies, a gimme for any serious open government effort. Vote it up!
State: "Promote the Development of Web 2.0 Solutions" - social media outreach, collaboration and agile development for new programs, FTW! Vote it up!
OPM: "Employer Profiles 2.0 on USAJobs.gov" - this recommendation includes making USAJOBS a hub of information "where a job seeker can get a solid overview of mission, culture and other benefits of employment." It's a good idea. Vote it up!
Agencies are taking comments until March 19, on the Web and also by phone, mail and in person. If you've got a great idea for one of the open gov plans, make it known. If it's good stuff, I'll be happy to use my networks to share it. Let's not allow this opportunity go to waste.

More background:
The Open Government Directive (pdf)
OpenGov Tracker (aggregation of most of the .gov/open sites and their stats)
Gov 2.0 Radio discussion of the Open Gov IdeaScale initiative
GovFresh Open Gov Blog Challenge: Share your ideas to get more ideas


~ Adriel Hampton is a San Francisco public servant and producer of Gov 2.0 Radio.

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Posted 13 days ago by Adriel Hampton 

Vote for the Top Gov't Tweeter; and for Gov't Cheese

It was quite an fun week on the UserVoice front. I've written before about this easy-to-use crowdsourcing tool, but haven't used it a terrible lot. Well, that all changed when Gywnne Kostin put me on a list for "Top Government Tweeter" nominations on a UserVoice campaign set up by the GSA's Bev Godwin. I'm a total sucker for contests (a point accrual mechanism is one of the things I love about GovLoop.com participation) and this was enough to get my competitive juices flowing.
Check out and vote in the contest here, and a short "vote for me" video here.
And that wasn't it for the week of UserVoice. A couple evenings ago, spurred by discussion by Jake Brewer of the Sunlight foundation and FutureGov's Dominic Campbell, I asked, "What cheese is gov't like, and why?" Before you know it, the GSA's Dan Munz has whipped up a new UserVoice poll, and #cheesygov was born. Vote, it's fun :)

~ Adriel Hampton is a public servant and host of Gov 2.0 Radio.

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Posted 17 days ago by Adriel Hampton 

Help Save My Friend's Daughter. Become a Marrow Donor Today.

Usually this is a blog about tech-enabled government reform. However, today my close friend's daughter is in the hospital, dying of leukemia after several rounds of chemotherapy gave her only a six-month reprieve from the disease. She URGENTLY needs a bone marrow donor match to live, and her most likely match will be found in the Asian community. You can find out more at Hope for Natalie. Thank you!

~ Adriel Hampton

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Posted 1 month ago by Adriel Hampton 

Want to Advance Gov 2.0? Your Input Needed. Plz RT.

Just like politics, all governance is local. And, as the Gov 2.0 movement grows from infancy to toddling around the country, we're seeing key concepts of openness, collaboration and tech-fueled government innovation and transformation make their way further into municipal and state agencies. Last weekend, Chicago hosted CityCamp, and coming Feb. 6, the west coast kicks off its first major Gov 2.0 conference, Gov 2.0 LA.
If you're interested in the future of Gov 2.0 there's something you can do right now to shape its road map: take this 15-30 minute survey designed by Antonio Oftelie of the Leadership for a Networked Word program at Harvard Kennedy School.
At Gov 2.0 LA, we'll be working with this survey, our speakers, and workshop participants to create a framework for tackling the near future of the Gov 2.0 movement, particularly online services, enterprise collaboration, and community collaboration. Is evolutionary change in government enough, or, like the radical shift shaking up the newsgathering industry, does the disintermediation of a networked society call for a full-scale re-creation of governance structures? Big questions, so sharpen your mouse pointer, and help us out by completing the Harvard survey.
Now, a little more about the Gov 2.0 LA event:
You can register (free, thanks to sponsors and lots of volunteer work) and check out the camp themes here. If you're coming, take a few minutes and vote for your favorite sessions - I did it last night, and there's some great content from great speakers to choose from. The camp will be announcing winning submissions, as well as keynotes and themed sessions, next week.
Logistics such as location, hotel and transportation are here. If you plan on attending an opening reception Friday night, Feb. 5, RSVP by e-mailing register@gov20la.org.
If you want an early look at speakers, check out this Twitter List. And network with speakers and other attendees with this List.
Along with sessions all day Saturday and early Sunday, attendees have extended invites to great pre- and post-session activities. Tracy Lee is putting on the "Gov 2.0 La Dishcrawl," a Saturday night tour of four dishes at four restaurants. If you can make it down early on Friday, Ted Nguyen of the Orange County Transportation Authority has invited social media practitioners to the Southern California Transit Forum.
Please share your thoughts, inputs and related events here in the comments and on Twitter using the hashtag #gov20la. I'll see you in LA!
Oh, and don't forget to complete the Harvard Gov 2.0 survey. Thanks!

~ Adriel Hampton is a San Francisco public servant, host of the Gov 2.0 Radio podcast, and a Gov 2.0 LA organizing committee member. Follow him on Twitter @adrielhampton.

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Posted 1 month ago by Adriel Hampton 

We Are All #Yeg'gers

Several weeks back, I noticed the prominence of a community-based Twitter hashtag in my network stream and made a few inquiries that led to a pair of well-read blog posts about the twitizens of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and their energetic social media community. I'm happy to say that Edmonton - #yeg - continues to impress.
Since those posts:
I've virtually met the CIO of Edmonton and planned a face-to-face chat for his next S.F. Bay Area swing in April - CIO Chris J. Moore drives a car plated "YEGIT," FTW!;
Roma Sobieski made me an honorary Yegger;
and Edmonton firmly positioned itself as a local leader in the open gov/Gov 2.0 movement.
I guess you could say I'm yegstatic about Edmonton.

~ Adriel Hampton is a San Francisco public servant and host of the Gov 2.0 Radio podcast.

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Posted 1 month ago by Adriel Hampton 

#Gov20 For the People: Los Angeles. February.

In a 2008 year-end blog post about my fledgling Gov 2.0 advocacy efforts, I wrote, "In 2009, let's say we did it." And did we ever.
From the open data technologists in the Obama administration to grassroots-led barcamps to O'Reilly's Gov 2.0 Summit to the explosion of social media into the mainstream, a fledgling idea that back in 2007 required framing by pricey consultants has taken on a life of its own in the hearts and minds of thousand of everyday public sector workers.
I also think that the Government 2.0 movement is just now getting its sea legs. The ecosystem of govies, vendors, consultants and conference organizers is not far from the Wild West. Today, we face the challenges of how to make tech-based collaborative reforms real for more than just technocrats and the affluent urban young, and we need the energy to keep bashing up against bureaucratic and political barriers to change. We've got a long way to go, but I have great hope.
I hope for a Gov 2.0 that brings us back to Lincoln's ideal of an enduring people-focused government.
It's this hope that has me blogging away far past my bedtime to invite you to Gov 2.0 LA, the first major Gov 2.0 conference on the West Coast. The event is free thanks to sponsors like Microsoft and Rock Creek Strategic Marketing, and incredible work by You2Gov CEO Alan Silberberg, and I hope you'll sign up and make travel plans this weekend. At the hybrid event, we'll have structured panels as well as attendee-driven sessions and hands-on tech demos. We'll be building on the history of Gov 2.0 research to road map the past and future of implementation in the enterprise and in gov-citizen collaboration, and we'll be discussing democratization of the language we use to describe this movement.
I'm hopeful about the future, and I hope to see you in LA.

~ Adriel Hampton is a San Francisco public servant, host of the Gov 2.0 Radio podcast, and a Gov 2.0 LA organizing committee member. Follow him on Twitter @adrielhampton.

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Posted 1 month ago by Adriel Hampton