I mentioned that I was at 1105 GovInfo's Government Leadership Summit for the beginning of this week. The Summit has been going on for more than a decade -- this was the 23rd Summit, but we have traditionally held two a year. Anyway, I believe they are a unique event in this market -- a market that is just overloaded with events, to be honest. The Summit is intentionally small -- an invite only kind of thing. We do that to spur conversation. And I think we have found that it also spurs results.
Finally, I first got to know EPA CIO Molly O'Neill at the 2007 Summit. Since the Summit, EPA went on to host the Puget Sound Information Challenge, where they hosted a wiki searching for solutions to the water problems plaguing the Pacific Northwest's Puget Sound. EPA's Jerry Johnston went on to win a 2008 Fed 100 award for that initiative. The Summit can only take a bit of credit for that inactive. O'Neill is so smart, it would have happened anyway, but I do think that we gave it some help. O'Neill recently wrote about her Web 2.0 views on the EPA blog, Greenversations.
But it does feel good to bring people together in a place where smart people can talk about the realm of the possible, where they can talk about issues in a safe environment, and they can find ways to do their jobs better.
This year's Summit looked as collaboration -- and tried to focus on both what is possible and what is already being done. I hope and believe there will be some interesting initiatives coming out of this year's Summit as well.
On Tuesday, I pulled together some links both for people who were there -- and people who were not able to attend. This just gives you an idea of some of the readings and writings that people were talking about over the two days.
Two other links that I will pass along. For the past three years, we have featured a panel of young people to talk about how they use technology. (We get to treat them something like zoo animals -- we get to ask them why, for example, they text.) This year, we had a really stellar group of people including FCW reporter Ben Bain, Russell O’Neill, an IT specialist and senior application developer for GSA's Office of Citizen Services; Tristen Pegram , special assistant to the Virginia's Secretary of Technology, and Brett Phillips, who just graduated from the University of William & Mary.
The idea for this panel grew out of attending many conferences and hearing people say, 'Well, I don't use these technologies, but my kids do.' So we decided... let's talk to the kids. And this year's group was particularly good.
The idea for this panel grew out of attending many conferences and hearing people say, 'Well, I don't use these technologies, but my kids do.' So we decided... let's talk to the kids. And this year's group was particularly good. That is, in part, because of Harvard Prof. Steve Kelman, who is also a FCW columnist and blogger. Kelman is a really good moderator -- and he was great with these young people. Today, he blogged about the session.
Although we talked a bit about collaboration tools and about blogs, most of the energy, including from the audience, was around social-networking sites such as Facebook. We talked mostly about how the participants themselves used technology, a little about how their agencies did so.
We even had one attendee record the session from their laptop in the front row. The sound isn't that great, but... if you can get used to the sound and if you want to be inspired by a group of young people...
I hope to delve into the Summit items more as there is time. (I need more then 24-hours in my day!)
View Comments
Thank you Chris, FCW, and the 1105 Group for all you have done and are doing to help government on this important topic. Your conference last year could not have been more timely as the National Academy was starting to look at the challenges that this issue presents for government leaders. This year's conference was an excellent look at the continued innovation and impact that the interactive web is having on government.
Kudos for all your hard work!
Note; If anyone wants to learn more about what is going on in this space or wants to work a particular challenge (i.e., culture, governance or technology issues), please contact us at www.collaborationproject.org.
Posted by FrankD on June 5, 2008 - 06:18 AM
Thank You very nice topic
Posted by oyunara on November 21, 2008 - 08:11 AM
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