2007 Said to be a "pivotal year" for Redefining Civic Engagement

In browsing the web looking for information on Government 2.0, I came upon this blog post by Alan Sherwood, former Chief Information Officer for the state of Utah. Sherwood asserts that advances in social networking technologies, "including the pervasive YouTube and MySpace phenomena, could make 2007 a pivotal year for redefining the relationships of citizens with their governments." The post seems a little short on details of why government would want to adopt these technologies or even encourage civic engagement in the first place. Of course, we at SCI share these assumptions, but I personally am not so sure government could be convinced of these values without a more persuasive argument.

Here's an excerpt:

According to Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone, online social networks have the unique opportunity to generate large amounts of social capital, or collective social value. Putnam may have uncovered the shot in the arm governments need now.

In the wake of 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, political scandals, the health-care crisis and the war in Iraq, it is becoming clear that social capital has declined, and along with it, trust in government.Social networking sites provide a model for expanding online civic engagement, precisely at the time greater civic engagement is needed to solve social ills. Among the "value-adds" are better policies, improved laws, better governance and greater good will toward government among citizens. Sounds like the right prescription to cure an ailing patient.

The gold mine for CIOs might be to combine ideas from several emerging trends in social networking. Governments could sponsor or enable sponsorship of online spaces where large groups could converge to work among themselves and with their government to solve policy issues. Instead of being passive consumers or recipients of services, citizens actually would influence and drive public policy as creators, designers and active participants. Some might even deliver services as virtual nonprofits and receive government funding.

One idea (but without an online component) is being promoted by Jeffrey Nielson, a Utah Valley State College and Westminster College in Salt Lake City philosophy professor. Nielsen calls this concept the Democracy House Project. According to a recent article in the Provo Daily Herald, Nielsen wants to change the way people and government interact by using trained mentors to empower ordinary citizens and teach them to affect public policy. Networks would then create "citizens councils" that would develop policy proposals or read legislation prior to its being enacted.

Read the full post here.