As a longtime proponent of the need to break down citizen engagement with our governments into simple to understand segments, I am thrilled by the recent conversations again about the importance of People and language. It is something the planners of Gov20LA 2010 took very seriously. The discussion around Government 2.0 – the revolutionary approach of applying working web applications to solve old time government problems. But really, it is about getting your “You 2.0″ on. Engage. Roll up your sleeves. Fix the problems.
So in advance of the coming fall Gov 2.0 conferences, un-conferences, camps, uncamps, etc – I want to take it a step further. Using SeeClickFix and CitySourced you can now solve some basic problems with your local governments. You can in many states now go online and handle the majority of your DMV related issues, as in this case in California.
What else has the Government 2.0 Revolution done for you? Or for a neighborhood near you?
Here are some examples:
- Mapping has become critical to evolving emergency services and other government services.
- Mobile is turning Government services into real customer service, using a product recall as an example of the amalgamation of mobile with social networking to solve both a health problem and a pr problem.
- How people and technology have merged- ie human behavior was well described in this blog from last year around this time.
- Governments are jumping on Twitter, Facebook as described in this recent piece that was actually a white paper put out by Twitter about how the USGS is using it effectively in emergency management.
- How local Governments are using sites like Flickr to enhance your services.
These are just but a few of the many examples around the World of the Government 2.0 revolution taking root with engaged Citizens 2.0. Yes, there will be stumbling blocks. Yes, there are still those who would prefer to hide their heads in the sand and pretend this day was not coming. But, Gov 2.0 is here to stay. Now when are you getting your Citizen 2.0 on? Or even better, when are you getting “You 2.0″ on?
