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What National Journal said about my “21st-century tips”
By WDavidStephenson | August 23, 2007
IMHO, National Journal Technology Daily’ s Aliya Sternstein does some of the best reporting on e-gov transformation. Unfortunately, there’s a steep price (nearly $2,000 a year for the package of Journal publications and services, which are aimed primarily at K Street people and other Capitol Hill insiders — worth every penny, IMHO) for that quality, so most people never see it.
Be that as it may, yesterday she wrote about my new YouTube videos to help the public take an active role — through wise use of their personal communication devices and apps — in anti-terror and natural disaster preparation and response: “Video Series Touts Web 2.0 Tools for Emergencies.”
Here are a few of the highlights:
“.. (Stephenson) said he hopes the shows lead to a “virtuous cycle” where his network of experts and government officials distribute the videos to regular citizens, who in turn share the snippets with their local officials …
…. Tom Simpson, a former Multnomah County, Ore., emergency manager, heard of the videos through a mutual friend of Stephenson’s. When he was with the government, Simpson — now with the business and technology firm Strategic Solutions NW — was a proponent of sharing and updating emergency plans electronically.
“‘I love the fact that, one, he’s using YouTube,’ Simpson said. ‘I’ve got two teenagers at home. They don’t use the television. David is right on the money on using the technology that is available to people today.’”
Sternstein also noted some caveats:
- “… Simpson said, ‘There may be good business reasons not to use some of these technologies … but it could be because they [public officials} se it as a threat or are uncomfortable with it.’”right! — to which I respond that government has already lost control of the flow of information in emergencies because of these devices and applications, so now the challenge is how to actually make that loss of control an advantage, by capitalizing on public involvement.
- two leaders in the e-gov field, Bruce McConnell and Margaret Anderson, of Government Futures, weighed in:
- Bruce asking why the series title mocked government officials who I know, and who could help by promoting the approach.
“Stephenson said he decided that making the videos ‘edgy and provocative so that the public would check it out … trumped being polite and deferential.’ He added: ‘As we know, public officials ain’t the most trusted folks right now.’”
OK, I’m really taking a risk with this approach, and I did so knowingly, if not without trepidation: I’ve found that, up until now, I’ve gotten a fairly warm reception among government officials, even if they differ strongly with my occasional snarky remarks about the Bush Administration. I’d like to think it’s because they don’t have to love me to respect my insights, and perhaps because they can use me as a stalking horse to advance alternatives they agree with but can’t risk saying themselves. We’ll see….
- Anderson said I should promote the tips more heavily on my blog.
She was interviewed before I’d posted yesterday’s piece and added the permanent video link to the tips. BTW, I’ll be adding a dedicated section of the site and blog to the tips as soon as I can figure out some pesky little formatting problems (it turns out that adding a table to a blog requires a different set of tags from those used for .html tables, as I unfortunately found out!).
- Bruce asking why the series title mocked government officials who I know, and who could help by promoting the approach.
Thanks, Aliya. Sometimes I get a little exhausted from pushing the 2.0 envelope, and it’s nice to get some outside acknowledgement….
Technorati tags:
homeland security War on Terror terrorism antiterrorism e-democracy crowd-sourcing crowdsourcing smart mobs swarm intelligence emergent behavior networked homeland security YouTube government IT government collaboration web 2.0 homeland security 2.0 disaster management 2.0 disaster management Government Futures business continuity disaster planning disaster planning 2.0 National Journal
Topics: empowering public, technology, profitable corporate preparedness, policy and politics, e-gov transformation, collaboration, networked security | |
