BasicGov / BLOG

Government 2.0, also called Gov 2.0 and e-government, essentially gives easier access to government information.

There are many benefits of Gov 2.0 from more citizen engagement, paperless office, faster processing, and better service with added convenience.

Examples of Gov 2.0 and greater citizen participation include blogging and web portals.

1. Blogging to communicate with citizens

• Montgomery County, Maryland, Division of Solid Waste has a blog titled “Talkin’ Trash“

• The government of Rhode Island has a media center on their portal, including a place where you can read state agency blogs

• EPA.gov has established blog writing and blog commenting guidelines, which include sample blog posts

• To read tips for starting a government agency blog, click here

2. Web portals for citizen services such as

• Submit building plans for permits and check progress on permit approval

• Apply for or renew business licenses

• Schedule construction inspections

• Report graffiti or other neighborhood complaints

• Click here to see citizen portal example

• To learn more about finding the right services for a citizen portal, click here for a down-loadable book

3. More resources

To learn about strategies and planning for Government 2.0 initiatives click here

Feel free to share your examples and resources …

I just recently attended Salesforce.com’s annual event, Dreamforce, in San Francisco last week with my BasicGov colleagues, David Roberts (CEO) and James Wikkerink (Tech.).

Overall, it was a very good event.  It combined good business, good fun, and a solid education in a very packed 3-4 days in San Francisco.  As I reflected on the conference I was left with a general theme of openness.  Everyone at the show is there to figure out how to do more business and expand the “cloud and salesforce ecosystem”.  Lots of good discussions with SalesForce, AppXchange partners, customers, and other OEM partners like BasicGov.

The 5 highlights of my Dreamforce experience are:

1. Database.com was an interesting announcement and development for Salesforce.com (see blog) as it leads to a more open platform.  Any platform that allows for open access is good for our customers.
2. The acquisition of Heroku is a big indicator of how committed Salesforce.com is to pushing a strategy to become the defacto open standard for cloud development.
3. Meetings with Salesforce.com’s public sector sales people to work more closely with their economic development products and BasicGov community development and land management products.
4. From an entertainment perspective Steve Wonder with Will.I.AM,  Bill Clinton keynote and Neil Young performing were an impressive line-up of talent and fun events to attend anywhere let alone to have it included in the Dreamforce registration.
5. Marc Benioff continues to impress with his quest to make cloud computing the go to strategy for IT people in all industries.  His contribution to charity with the 1-1-1 strategy is what other corporate leaders should be looking up to.

Watch the Dreamforce keynote video