Great speech you gave at GOVIS. I would have loved to have been in the audience. For almost twenty years, I’ve been a net activist personally and professional involved with the uses of the internet/web for professional development, knowledge-building collaborations, lifelong education, and citizen involvement. When I began promoting the use of the internet in k12 systems way back in 1990 very few teachers and students had access to a networked computer. In that time much has changed in terms of the technology and how it is used and by whom it is used. Now virtually every school in the US is connected to the world via the internet and virtually every university around the globe has a website and is utilizing global networks for administrative, research, and pedagogic purposes. And yet in many respects most schools and most universities are no different than they were fifty years ago. Teachers and professors still lecture, learning is structured around a classroom or lecture hall, or six hours or 15 week semesters, etc. I contrast political blogging during the 2004 US Presidential primaries when only the Dean and Edwards campaigns had tapped the power of blogs and bloggers and 2008 when every campaign had blogs and blogging for candidates became America’s pastime. Change does not come easy or quickly and often does not come in ways that we imagined or hoped for but it does come.

In the matter of public empowerment, the more important changes are cultural. We need visionary leaders who embrace change and have open and eager minds and we also need committed and engaged citizens who can think beyond their own self-interest and work for community, national, and global concerns. Visionary leaders — the maestros of the world — whether in government or universities or corporations will make decisions on a timely and relevant basis and will base those decisions on the best information and knowledge available to them and they will invite discussion and dialogue and constantly be engaged in knowledge-building collaborations. Simply walking around with a smart phone and twittering with the world does not make a wise leader and may in some cases actually result in a less engaged and less effective manager. The US Foreign Service officer you spoke about surely should have engaged with people in the country he was working in as soon as he was assigned there and it shouldn’t have required some directive from Washington to twitter away. Any person who is involved with policy or decision making should be engaged and open and constantly communicating with others who can provide new and different insights, information, and knowledge. The technology can further enable the process of citizen awareness, engagement, involvement, and empowerment but citizens, especially in democracies, always have power.

We need to be careful in somehow suggesting that these new technologies will magically solve all the problems of governing and being governed. As we all know who do use these new technologies there is often noise, distraction, and disruption. Too much of a good thing becomes a bad thing in terms of decision-making. Moreover, the technology is only as effective as the person who is using or misusing it. I have seen classroom teachers who use technology in mind-numbing ways and others who do not use technology and yet manage to provide their students with exciting and different experiences. The same is true in terms of government leaders or engaged citizens.

Too much focus on public engagement for the sake of engagement is probably worse than no engagement. And public empowerment is not simply accessibility or direct connection to decision makers. Public empowerment should be based on citizens who accept their responsibilities, understand their role, and are totally committed to a lifetime of constant learning and engagement in civic activity.

Yes, there are many dinosaurs still in government all over the place. But there are changes afoot. The reception for this talk in NZ was pretty good. I’m sure there were some that didn’t get it. Many others did. I hope for a similar reception at the Web 2.0 in Government conference in Sydney next month where I’m repeating essentially the same talk.

Events like Senator Lundy’s Open Government Public Sphere are a worthy first step in getting minds ticking over.

Just try getting an engaging idea up in these environments and you will feel either overbearing backlash or quizzical bemusement that borders on marginalising mockery. They are no place for the likes of you or me, Stephen.

I apologise for using a pseudonym for this comment. I hope you understand why.

Re. the APSC document, it *can* be read as encouraging public servants to engage online. But it can also be read as recognising (reluctantly) that such engagement is happening and that we need some guidelines around that, for the benefit of both public and servants.

I work in a gov agency, and am a strong advocate for social media (and innovation in general)… it’s not easy…

The elastic exists – much of it linked in the post. There are federal level whole-of-government guidances to best approaches and frameworks for public sector staff activity. The message doesn’t seem to be getting through, though. And that bothers me.

I’d encourage you to be a part of the Gov2.0 Camp Australia list on Google Groups. There’s lots of discussions of value there.

As for your blogroll, I’d be honored.