Wow. Things are happening in a much more rapid time frame now than they used to. I am not just talking about Moore’s Law for technophiles. But life as we know it is increasingly becoming, rapid. In every way.

For one example – I have hosted Gov20LA for four years now. Next year, 2014 will be the 5th annual event. Every year we have streamed the event, then ultimately put the videos of each speaker up online as an archive. This year, in 2013, Techzulu live streamed it on Youtube and it was available immediately, in full as an archived live stream event. Nine and half hours of mostly unedited and raw footage from the livestream event. We will be releasing the individual videos soon too.

How rapid has life become? Well thanks to Siri and Svoice – the Samsung equivalent; we can now talk to our email, to our navigation systems, to our friends, to our phones, and also if you plan ahead can post from voice to your twitter or facebook status updates.

combination of voice and twitter opens up a whole new world to many who have no access to keyboard

— Alan W. Silberberg (@IdeaGov) May 14, 2013

Now at first this all seems like fun, “a shiny new toy” as I referred to it in my opening remarks for Gov20LA 2013. Then it gets serious, like when a Siri voice command to an Apple Mapping tool results in a wrong turn or an accident. Or when an Svoice misunderstood word becomes something else altogether in the context of a live tweet or facebook post.

@ideagov are you yelling at Twitter now rather than the TV?

— FreeBalance (@freebalance) May 14, 2013

How soon till we start seeing voice driven digital character assassination replete with slang and provisional dialects? I mean if you can do it from your car while driving (not necessarily a good idea) or whilst standing on a street corner talking to your phone – how long till this becomes the tool of choice for bullies, stalkers, harassers and worse, government agents or corporate big brother agents using it to get around rules about emails, written letters etc? It becomes a much more rapid thing when someone can just say it rather than have to type it.

@ideagov You see? I told you it was dangerous.

— Elizabeth Buie (@ebuie) May 15, 2013

On the other hand – the freedom to speak – quite literally – and to generate status updates to social media, or send encrypted emails, or send ones actual location – and any other number of things provide a power unheard of before in human history. Now – without wasting the time of typing something – if you tune up Siri or Svoice and train them to learn your voice and commands – the results are astoundingly powerful.

with voice twitter becomes a true samurai sword in my opinion

— Alan W. Silberberg (@IdeaGov) May 14, 2013

You too can tell us about last night’s dinner simply, by well, talking. Or you can be bad and assert your rights to freedom of speech and speak to looking like a jackass. Go ahead. No one is stopping you, yet. Just remember, a voice to tweet or voice to facebook post – while getting around email rules, does not get around all the other ones specifically created to not let people abuse technology.

When I started Gov20LA in the fall of 2009 it was because I saw the immediate future. Governments were turning to Web 2.0 (Gov 2.0) to change their mode and methods of communications and engagement. We ran with that theme in 2010. 2011 I saw that Digital Diplomacy was changing the world, and we focused on that. The week we did the event, Tunisia, then Egypt fell (day before we did it.) Given that we had world’s collections of government social media experts, including a British Ambassador and representatives of 5 Foreign Governments in the room; many outside watching online were asking if my event somehow caused those revolutions… Umm, No.

In 2012 we did the first ever live presentation on Pinterest at an event that was also streamed; and we focused heavily on the success stories like Data.Gov and how the social media landscape was changing all of our interactions, whether in politics or personal.

This year, we are focusing on social media in emergency management; and how it is being used in the military and intelligence circles as well as at the local levels. So this week’s events in Boston just highlight the themes previously chosen. I did not plan it this way, and honestly wish there was no tie in to such horrific news. But. There it is. I am very proud of this event. It is not something I do to earn money – but rather to teach all of us that we own the government. We are the shareholders and can hire and fire our leaders when we need. Do not forget the power you have. Join us on Saturday in Malibu at Pepperdine for what promises to be another powerful event. www.gov20la.com and thank you for your patience with all my posts and updates about this.

Authored by Alan W. Silberberg
Founder, Gov 2.0 L.A.

Gov 2.0 L.A. 2013

Gov 2.0 L.A. 2013 is almost here.

As the founder of @Gov20la "Gov20LA" as it is referred to, I could not be more excited and proud. As the event gets ready to head into our fourth annual one; we are getting ready to make history, break some trendlines, and lead the dialog for another year.

But before discussing the amazing people who will be speaking I would like to highlight a major achievement of Gov 2.0 L.A.:

Since our first event in 2010, we have created and enabled an environment around building our speakers base as one that represents our society. So we have 50 percent female speakers and 50 percent male speakers. This is a critical achievement and comes at a critical time when this very issue is the subject of TV, Radio and written debate. Just recently there was an article by Nilofer Merchant (@nilofer) in the Harvard Business Review, with one of the salient points being made is that LESS than 20% of all conference speakers and panelists are Female. Less than 20%.

So Gov20LA is proud, as am I, to be able to say that we have beaten this particular national average and beaten it solidly. I continue to ensure that the speakers split for Gov20LA is evenly split between men and women, and did so because it is the right thing to do, not because we thought that in four years everyone would be talking about it. But that is what has now happened.

Gov20LA 2013 is going to rock! I could not be more excited about the powerful collection of women and men who will be speaking,

Thank you! We look forward to seeing you in person and in our live stream on April 20, 2013.

Alan W. Silberberg, Founder, Gov 2.0 L.A.

2012 saw many people get foiled by their own attempts at keeping secrets online.

General Petraeus is only the most vivid and open example. But this is happening to regular people every day.
Expect this trend to continue into 2013.

On one hand all these new social tools allow us to share things instantly; and find things instantly as well. You too can see your neighbors last dinner, quite literally. On the other hand it makes for a visible trail, a “digital exhaust” as it is called. One of the primary reasons that your Instagram photos are worth so much, and true for Facebook, Flickr, etc, and of course your Youtube videos; is the “meta data” contained in each picture. Some of it is boring stuff like what kind of camera, how many mega pixels, etc. Some of it is the more juicy kind, the geo stamped location created by your onboard gps, the time stamping and the tagging of people and locations. This is the treasure chest for companies and governments alike. When things like geo tagging, (location) are put together with timing and people, suddenly a whole picture is presented.

My company Digijaks, is involved with the harnessing of what we call the “Mobile Social Signals.” We are rolling out some products based on intensive data interpretation, and contextually arranging this information so it makes sense.

2012 has been interesting. We got to hear about how General Petraeus who was running the CIA at the time, got caught in an extra marital affair due to how he and his girlfriend used Google’s gmail to supposedly secretly communicate. We all snickered just a little when the media reported how easily the head of the CIA and his mistress became entangled in a web of their own doing. But the bigger issue is how often these same mistakes/overlooked things and sheer stupid uses of technology are tripping up regular people. People have come to think that they are immune, nee carry some “right to privacy” online. The reality is Facebook has become the #1 often mentioned item in divorce filings in 2012. People are littering the internet with their digital exhaust. Some people are just emitting a little, and some people are just pouring it on, leaving a trail behind them rich for investigators, spurned lovers and criminals alike.

Marriages are getting destroyed. Relationships being turned inside out and also destroyed. Businesses are getting wrecked. Sure some people have always cheated. Time and time again. Today’s tools make it easier to plan and execute covert affairs; and also lots easier to track it down if looking. Or if not as the case may be, sometimes the mobile and social signals are “loud” and really stand out for some reason, making it really easy to find. Sometimes it takes analysts with access to deep packet inspection, augmented reality and other context shaping tools to dissect the data. Sometimes just the average clown can figure it out on their own on Facebook. Sometimes all it takes is a coincidence of timing, or place to put the puzzle together. If you are a government agency or big company with resources, it is now just a matter of how far do you peel the onion back.

This is going to accelerate as a trend in 2013 as more and more people rely more heavily on their smartphones and social media to communicate. The sheer number of users combined with the almost total lack of real awareness, even amongst those, like General Petraeus who should know; combines to create a lethal combination of huge amount of information pouring out of pockets and hotel rooms alike. Chaos ensues when someone else gets that data. Free or not. Maybe it is on Facebook; like someone messed up and accidentally pegged themselves somewhere thus getting someone else caught in a lie. Maybe it is the police looking into trending reports of people planning bad things on Twitter.

But the connection in real life now to people is instant. The data being emitted by someone in Italy posting a photo at 4:17am onto Facebook from a specific hotel in a specific city can be used in multiple ways, almost as fast as the photo was itself posted. That data may be used in New York or Los Angeles in a real time context to put two and two together. Multiply by the trillions of computations a government agency could throw into it. Be sure, we will be hearing much more about these parts of the larger puzzle of somehow retaining some privacy in an ever un-private age and at same time being aware of the fluidity and ever presence of your meta-tagged digital exhaust. If you are not paying attention to settings and the actual platforms themselves, you may be exposing yourself, your company or agency to massive amounts of data loss. This exposes people in real time, and exposes itineraries, plans, etc.

2013 is going to see lawsuits based on “intrusion of privacy” notions that will get thrown out time and time again. We will see regular people begin to learn that it may have been easy to keep affairs; locations; other critical information secret before, now unless you are using carrier pigeon, the chances are, someone else already knows. How Governments use this power will be of increasing debate in 2013, here in the U.S. and abroad. Questions will be raised about who is big brother? Is it companies with little to no regulations guiding their use of much of this data, or is indeed the Government?

Authored by Alan W. Silberberg, Founder.

THANK YOU ALL!

The holidays bring with them lots of stories, both true false, and of course, allegorical. It is that time of year again. But alas, this is not a holiday cheer or holidays blahs post. No. This is about when the mythical St. George and the Dragon and biblical David and Goliath stories come together in a weird way – actually in one that harkens back all the way to Greek mythology, and the story of Medussa, the multi-headed hydra and symbol of evil.

I have said it before, and will say it again here, now. The United States finds itself in a new war. A constant 24 hour/7 day a week/365 day a year war that is both hot and cold at the same time. In fact it presents the most asymmetrical threat to our national security since the founding of this country.

Cyber war. Cyber terror. Electronic Warfare being aimed at our military, our intelligence, every government agency, utilities, banks, critical infrastructure like power, water, sewage, hospitals, police and other first responders. Yes. This is happening, now; probably even in your town or city or State.

Just imagine cities across America without power for extended periods. Imagine in your mind, no running water. No electricity. No fresh food deliveries. Hospitals suddenly finding themselves with no ability to treat sick, or dying people. Imagine this, and realize all it takes is a successful hack attempt into a critical infrastructure choke point to cause this, sight unseen, maybe not even leaving fingerprints or evidence of how things got hacked.

My company Digijaks has been working on some solutions and indeed is launching a series of products designed to enhance the national security footprint of the United States in the cyber arena. We are well past the ideation stage, and deep into turning our working prototype into deliverable services. We were recently notified that the U.S. Government has quietly funded a consortium of 17 of the top Universities here in the U.S. to also work on these issues, and develop solutions. So here comes the David and Goliath analogy but not in the way you think.

Both Digijaks and the 17 university consortium are David in this story. The cyber bad actors are actually Goliath, as they can shape shift, move their locale both real and online; and become a force to reckoned with in multiple forms. Much like the greek Medussa of earlier mythology.

Both Digijaks and the 17 university consortium are heading down the road of providing solutions to the new national security challenges facing the United States and our allies. We may take differing approaches; there may be commonalities both seen and unseen. But we are collectively facing the multi-headed Medussa/Goliath.

So if the 17 Universities have each other and a government entity working with them, Digijaks has developed our solution(s) and a working prototype through the private sector approach of modern innovation. The flat management, entrepreneurial kick ass; take no prisoner way that so many American tech companies have built their products.
The team at Digijaks takes tremendous pride in the extensive listening, question asking and probing we have been doing with our own government and those of our allies.

This hard baked, real world experience tied with being deeply involved with both the rapidly changing and growing Government 2.0 and the ever expanding digital diplomacy arenas for over 4 years now; is teaching constant lessons for the Digijaks team. It has taught us what was missing; what is needed and how to design and implement something that is both forward thinking and coming at a critical time to the National Security of the United States and our allies.

So in order to help David truly defeat Goliath, to allow St. George to slay that dragon — and to encourage all of us in the modern fight against the age old medusa here is the shout out:
To those venture capitalists, hedge funds and private wealth pools out there with a real interest in protecting and enhancing the national security profile of the United States. Grow and protect ours and yours at the same time. Show the world what the U.S. private sector can accomplish on a global scale, or at a micro local level. Let these words ring in your head. One small business here in America has already developed a working prototype of something that now 17 universities and a government entity are chasing after. But it is the small business with the working prototype right now.

Happy holidays.
Alan W. Silberberg
CEO, DIGIJAKS

Once a year. That is right. Once a year I open my business a bit more to offer my services at a discounted rate for a limited time. From now through January 15, 2013; I will offer a 25% discount of all the digital, social, tactical and strategic offerings of my company.

Typically we help large companies and government agencies understand the deeper ways to utilize social, mobile and what tactics and strategies apply to each situation. We have and continue to do a lot of work with elected officials here in the U.S. as well.

“DIGITAL SWORD + SHIELD”

We apply the same cutting edge social media, search tactics strategies; and tools as we do for Governments around the world to both private and publicly held corporations.

➜ Digital crisis communications
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Why us? Proof is in a live search.

➜ Tactical and strategic analysis of usage of the current social media platforms you are on, and training in new use patterns and engagement cycles.

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The offer is 25% (twenty five percent off all fees through January 15, 2013.

So contact me today for a chance to take your agency, your company or even yourself to the next several layers of engagement and making your social presence work for you.

http://www.silberberginnovations.com/contact/

In the last 5 years or so “Gov 2.0” (Government 2.0) has grown from being a name coined by William Eggers to now becoming the umbrella term for serious change in Government, and not just here in the United States, but around the world.

Many people, including myself have written much about the term Gov 2.0 – everything from “What is Gov 2.0” to lists of people leading current efforts. Lots of other angles have been covered by both the traditional media and online media.

I focus primarily on people power and how people are at the heart of any Gov 2.0 discussion, whether in print or in person. In fact I have called Gov 2.0 a “good revolution” and as we have all seen in the last few years, this is true regardless of country. I do not mean to state that Gov 2.0 is causing revolutions. Far from it. However, the openness and transparency that Gov 2.0 efforts around the world advocate for; driven by mobility and the cloud – have allowed people to be heard. To hear each other, those people whether in government or civic life, in business or entertainment.

Now thanks to the “Triangle of Gov 2.0″ which is the social media and open computing use; the mobile and device specific tools; and the cloud which facilitates both; we now see individual people gaining access to information and power never seen before in our history in more than one country at a time. Now this is happening in multiple places.

People are driving the change. People are adopting the tools. People are leading the way in forcing governments around the world to be more open and accountable. With this innovation of course comes the other side. The very same tools that can promote openness and transparency can and are in turn used against the people by governments, both democratic and not.

But we are so past the “What is Gov 2.0″ phase that I wrote about in 2010. We have blown past the “look the government is using twitter and facebook” phase. Indeed, we have entered the big data and deep analytical tool phase – complemented by more and more machine readable databases that are continually presenting new and innovative uses and creating new businesses and jobs. But people are still at the heart of the matter. Without courageous leaders willing to stand up to the buffeting forces of politics, budgets and fear; we would not be seeing the deep and dramatic changes we are witnessing unfolding in many countries, and many cities, and localities. People are driving this change, this is the constant in Gov 2.0 since 2007.

Market maturation comes with ups and downs in any industry. With Government 2.0 we have now reached a point in my opinion, based on being directly involved with part of the transformation; that we are quietly seeing a mashup of Gov 2.0 with cyberwar and digital warfare.

We are in an undeclared cyberwar with multiple countries, a “cyber world war” if you will:
We are in a cyberwar every single moment of every day with multiple countries. This is an undeclared war, a digital free fire zone. It is the space of gauss, flame, stuxnet, duqu; and thousands of other variants in dozens of countries.

How does Government 2.0 play a role in cyberwar?

1. The very openness and transparency is easily exploited against each owner of data, web presences, mobile presence; and can be both quietly or loudly used.

2. More and more countries are using funds devoted to new technology transformations to quietly build cyber armies. China has deployed tens of thousands of hackers in officials positions. Many countries are using their sovereign wealth funds to buy into technology providers who can provide both cyberwar and hacking/stealing technologies.

3. There has been such huge focus on engagement and “listening” that sometimes we forget the huge number of fake accounts and purposeful misleading accounts that exist in cyber space now, let alone social media and mobile social apps.

4. More and more civic and public systems are not only being attacked, but in many cases successfully so now. With the spread of truly dangerous malware like gauss and flame, we will be seeing an increase both domestically and internationally of cyber attacks designed specifically to disable and disrupt.

5. The asymetrical aspect of cyber-warfare when compared to what the U.S. is doing on the ground in Afghanistan as I write this is huge. If in Afghanistan we are concerned with the taliban re-grouping and forming new regional (old) alliances; but we know the tactics and the general terrain. War in cyber space means we are dealing with enemies who instantly can change shape, move time, and can be in 30 places around the globe at once if they are good.

The future battlefields are here upon us; although since it is an undeclared war, the media is not focused on the reality yet. Digital bullets might be replacing real bullets but when whole systems like water, electricity, or transportation go down due to hacking, cyberwar or cyber economic espionage; the effect could be the same.

Are you listening; really listening to the conversations going on about you and your products? As a CEO and an adviser to governments and politicians, I do a lot of listening. I even wrote a blog post about my listening into my industry, Government 2.0.

In the 1990’s and early 2000’s it was “You got mail” as made famous by the AOL advertising stable. Now the new thing is a play on the old one, “You’ve got Klout.” Or do you? Or do you have Peerindex? Do you know your grade on Grader? Do you know what your Kred is? Did you know you can see how many impressions you get through twitter using a variety of tools like Crowdbooster and others?

It’s ok, most people have no clue. But you need to get a clue. It might seem like fun and games as in the social media stock market “Empire Avenue.” But the reality is, people are watching; whether employers, potential employers, clients, friends, enemies, ex-spouses, competitors, the police, governments, and of course giant database companies. It is like credit scores were maybe 25 years ago: they mattered but they did not rule your life like credit scores such as FICO do now. Social media influence and “credibility” are of increasing importance. So these scores, whether real or gamed, whether you subscribe or not, matter.

Real keyword and conversation searching brings your audience to you. Passive or not searching through your social networks does not. It is pretty simple. Relying on one analytical metric to track your progress or that of the campaigns you are running is a false flag. You need to incorporate a constant monitoring of multiple channels in order to really understand what is going on. Indeed as I have written about before elsewhere, social media is a two edged sword, and this applies both to engagement and listening equally.

1. Listening tools like: Tweetdeck; Hootsuite, Bottlenose, and Google and Bing alerts.
2. Engagement through real conversation not a one way broadcast model; talk to people like you would at a coffee shop or across your kitchen table.
3. Do not rely on just one metric to follow your progress, but rather: think about it like this, times change. Social media is no longer just a buzzword, but really a part of daily life. It might even be like a utility in the near future, something the average person literally cannot live without. Therefore the more you know about what you are listening to, the better.
4. Relate social media to real world business. Ie. If you are a retailer, use your social media in part for customer service with active listening and response to problems. If you are a restaurant, use it to promote chefs specials or bring in someone with a true high definition camera and make a reel of background images of your food to post on Facebook or Google + or to tweet specials. Compare your foot traffic on days when you do this versus days you don’t. Thank your customers, talk to them just like you would in real life.
5. Actively search your social media platforms for conversations going on around your industry, about you or your competitors. Engage with the influencers and some of the outliers alike about the things that drive business to you; and reaching out to those leaders in the conversations to dialog with you on a real basis shows you are both listening and showing the world you know your stuff too.

You can follow Alan on Twitter through @Ideagov and on Google + and on the Huffington Post.