So, here's a provocative question - if the answer is social networking, what was the question? It's easy to be carried away these days by an uncritical tidal wave of emotional engagement with the wonderful world of social networking with its evocative call to connect, communicate and collaborate. And the evidence is mounting that we're past the stage of passing fad - 70 million blogs and counting, 120,000 new blogs created every day, the social photo site Flickr uploading anything up to 5,000 pictures or more every minute of the day. In 2007, Forrester research suggested that nearly 70% of 12-21 year olds were actively involved in social networks of one sort or another.
A new "point of view" paper from Cisco confronts one of the big questions facing government and public policy arising from this astonishing phenomenon:
So how does the phenomenon of social networking affect government? Why should the ability of a single user to share a video of a skateboarding dog with a global audience of more than 100 million cause governments fundamentally to rethink not only how they interact with citizens, but what they actually do?
Actually, the answer is simple and profound. This is going to completely change the way we do government and the way government itself is structured and operates. Of course, it's not going to happen overnight or without a struggle. As they have everywhere else, these new tools will wreak a certain amount of havoc on the settled patterns and inherited traditions of the public sector.
The paper suggests that these new tools and capabilities, fuelled by technologies that make it cheaper and easier to get connected and to stay connected, bring with them powerful new possibilities for the way we govern and the conduct of public policy. Empowerment, interaction and engagement and the potential for much greater transparency are all becoming the watchwords of what we might describe as "public policy 2.0".
The way governments conceive, design and deliver services is starting to change as service users get to be involved beyond the traditional forms of ‘consultation' which could often be sterile and manipulative. Policy can now engage a much richer mix of ‘voice' and insight from a wider range of people. The New Zealand Police Act 1958 was recently re-written using a wiki, with over 300 people, many from outside New Zealand, contributing not just ideas and concerns but draft clauses and detailed editing suggestions.
The paper claims that within 10 years, the use of social networking and the new tools of mass collaboration will be commonplace in the ‘connected republic'.
In his consulting work over the past 18 years, Martin Stewart-Weeks has specialised in strategy, policy analysis, facilitation and market and social research. At Cisco, as Director for IBSG's public sector practice in Asia-Pacific, he works at the senior executive and political level to help shape Internet business solutions and online strategies at both an agency and whole-of-government level. Martin has been a key member of the global team developing a new e-government framework, the ‘connected republic, for Cisco's public sector work.
http://www.theconnectedrepublic.org/ [1]