I have a few questions I’d love some musings/answers on:
- Do you trust government services? Local (municipal)? State/Provincial? Federal?
- Can you name 5 government services? 10? Are they local, state or federal? (not a test)
- Do you think it is more important for people to trust their government or for a government to trust its people? Or both? Why?
- If you contribute to projects voluntarily, why? Would anything lead you to wanting to contribute time or effort towards government services projects?
- What do you expect out of a government website?
- What do you think Government Services 2.0 looks like?
I have some suspicions on some of these questions. If all you know/think about is politics (rather than about government services), tell me that, too…and why.
1) I want to – I really do. But in all honestly I have rarely actively pursued their non intrinsic uses. That said, I’ve never had a bridge collapse under me, bart is usually on time and my highschool actually gave me a great education. So all in all, I guess I do at least on my local level. And as a shout out to the australian police – thanks for finding the asshole who stole my sleeping bag. You have made me believe that cops are worth my tax money. =)
2)maybe, but I am having to think really hard about it – not a good sign. The confusion comes from quasi privatization, like my water, power, television… all funded with my tax dollar at one time or another. And then some like the post office who are but don’t quite act like it.
3) Both. I am of the belied that since the disastrous days of Nixon, we have lost trust in our government and have a crises of follower-ship. As our lovely governor so elegantly explained – “you are all girly men”
4)sort of – if you count open source. I tried to donate a few thousand dollars of business books to our local library but they said no, only money and I couldn’t dictate how they use it, which made me really angry because they have a business section of 25 books, with the newest one from 1984. sigh…
5)information and guidance through the bureaucratic maze
6)socialized networking? that would be quite funny. Dear IRS, I would like to cancel my subscription to your newsletter and services.
1. Do you trust government services? Local (municipal)? State/Provincial? Federal?
I trust most government services. Some are better than others. Libraries, good. Garbage collection, good. Schools, some good some bad (poor funding models). Pension help line? Not good.
2. Can you name 5 government services? 10? Are they local, state or federal?
Libraries, schools, garbage, sewer, pension system, roads, bridges, parks, transportation, social security, medicare, student loans, etc.
3. Do you think it is more important for people to trust their government or for a government to trust its people? Or both? Why?
I think it’s important for people to trust people. As individuals I think we tend to be pretty good. As members of larger groups we tend to devolve, intellectually, morally, etc. So generally speaking I think it’s healthy for people to view their government with a little bit of skepticism.
4. If you contribute to projects voluntarily, why? Would anything lead you to wanting to contribute time or effort towards government services projects?
I’m volunteering my time three nights at the library this week. I guess that counts as contributing to a government service. Why? Because I have something to offer and was asked.
5. What do you expect out of a government website?
What do I expect, or what do I hope for? I hope for something that is well-designed and will quickly lead me to the information I seek. What do I expect? Significantly less.
6. What do you think Government Services 2.0 looks like?
Let’s get 1.0 in place first. Then we can look to 2.0!
1. Do you trust government services? Local (municipal)? State/Provincial? Federal?
I’m with Shane on this one. I really want to trust them, but their past track records speak poorly of them. I’m especially distrusting (and embarrassed) by my state’s school system.
The quasi-governmental body in my area that manages mass transit has, though, garnered my trust.
2. Can you name 5 government services? 10? Are they local, state or federal? (not a test)
I can name at least a dozen, largely due to having internationally adopted children, and a child with severe special needs. The irony is that the more agencies and offices that I become familiar with, the more that seem to be out there. It’s like the government is an enormous, ever-growing quagmire of independent agencies that cannot interoperate.
3. Do you think it is more important for people to trust their government or for a government to trust its people? Or both? Why?
I think we need some healthy realism when it comes to trusting our government. The government should have checks and balances, as well as be held accountable for those things it is tasked with doing. I would hope that the government generally trust its people, rather than becoming so fearful that it becomes dictatorial and always needing to watch its back. I guess I’m in favor of a responsible, supportive agency tasked with specific duties, rather than an entity that governs of its own accord. My government should be representative of the collective wishes of its people.
4. If you contribute to projects voluntarily, why? Would anything lead you to wanting to contribute time or effort towards government services projects?
I tend to volunteer where I see there is a need not being met. So far, it’s been in areas where government has been failing. My state school system, medical care needs (guess I’m for universal coverage), etc.
5. What do you expect out of a government website?
My expectations currently are bureaucracy, inefficiency, disorganization and delays. My wish is for clear, efficient and organized sources of information.
6. What do you think Government Services 2.0 looks like?
If I dream big, there would be local, state and federal portals where I can connect with services and opportunities. I’d love to see some kind of information portal that, once I logged in, told me what services were available to me or my family/neighborhood/community, provided opportunities to get involved (online, in person, financially) and gave me insight into how my tax dollars are being spent (expose those budgets folks!).
Good questions. Trust is important because governments need legitimacy. The NZ State Services Development Goals mention trust numerous times, as being critical: http://www.ssc.govt.nz/display/document.asp?docid=5438&pageno=1#P10_43
Citizens’ expectations of government services appears to be different, for different countries. NZ is doing research at the moment, for what NZers expect, and it is different from Canada. Here the most important factor is that people have confidence that public servants do a good job. Other interesting learning was that ‘Actual experience can be more positive than general perceptions’ ie people criticise government services, but when you ask them to think of the last govt service they encountered, it was actually pretty great
More info http://www.ssc.govt.nz/display/document.asp?DocID=6030
Govt 2.0 to me, is distributed government … government appearing where you need it, not you going to it. For example, at a travel agency portal, have govt widgets renew your passport, sign up for country safety alerts, add a next-of-kin emergency contact, confirm I wont be stopped at the border for overdue fines. This is a challenging picture for many agencies, who use metrics about site visits, etc, for measuring performance.
Go even further, public servants are not about capturing eyeballs. You can put the open hours for the rubbish dump, in the first 120 characters of a google search result, the citizen doesnt even come to your website and you have done your job. Its a different way of thinking from the private sector (bring them to our website, often).
Looking forward to seeing you in NZ again.
Disclosure: I work for the Government (well they pay me to make web sites and services for some of you to use)
1. Do you trust government services? Local (municipal)? State/Provincial? Federal?
Yes, probably more than business. Sometimes the execution is far from perfect but the good intent is there.
2. Can you name 5 government services? 10? Are they local, state or federal? (not a test)
Probably 10 of each, (ok got stuck at 9 at local government level)
3. Do you think it is more important for people to trust their government or for a government to trust its people? Or both? Why?
Both, people need to trust government, because outside the politicians and top level it should and often is a service driven not a political organisation.
Government organisation need to understand most people are good.
4. If you contribute to projects voluntarily, why? Would anything lead you to wanting to contribute time or effort towards government services projects?
Yes, it is the right thing to do to share my knowledge and expertise. And I already do contribute time and effort outside work, to hopefully improve other government services projects. Mainly because the expertise and knowledge is not there.
5. What do you expect out of a government website?
To get accurate information I need quick and fast. Reality, I use google to search the site of the Government Department I know that is responsible. Most .gov websites have bad IA and poor search.
6. What do you think Government Services 2.0 looks like?
That is a trick question, because almost all government organisations are too conservative to release their control over “their” information. So until there is a big change in thinking, government services 2.0 will not exist. That said I just saw a job yesterday for a government data mash-up creator (in NSW – Australia) so maybe times are a changing.
Rounded corners, gradients and drop shadows
Definitely a blurring of the us (the government organisation) vs them (the unwashed public) dichotomy that seems to exist now. A more cooperative approach.
Less restrictions on the information and services so it can be reused and even repurposed. For example as Mike said above, services like passport renewal and travel alerts being available outside one specific .gov website
Excellent discussion. I’m way late to the party, but I’ll toss my answers in (though I’m doing research on this same area so I’m more fascinated than anything else, more questions than answers)…
1. Trust? I think I believe that they are doing their best. Whether their best is enough is something I have yet to test. I guess I haven’t really been in the position where I need to trust them, although the commentary I’ve read has been fairly negative, electoral politics don’t engage me, and there’s a perception of sluggishness for the Federal government in Canada.
2. Yes, mostly because in Vancouver we went without them for almost 3 months.
3. I think the answer for whether trust is important for government is definitely, especially if we want to be able to see government as an enabler of things rather than an obstacle. That said, I think most people get the perception that things are slower and a lot more unwieldy than they otherwise would have thought, when they are forced to deal with a gov’t office. Sometimes there are pleasant surprises but they can be few and far between. Trust, after all, needs to be maintained, not abused (which is what some of the actions of the local gov’t here has felt like).
4. Nope, not yet, though I have had the pleasure of sitting in on some voluntary organizations around food security.
5. I expect it to be a tool of transparency and accountability (so updates are great), and easy to use.
6. Goverment 2.0? I’d want it to be working closely and well-integrated with community groups. It’d be great if local government didn’t feel so faceless online – maybe see someone comment on a blog once in a while, or otherwise acknowledge that these conversations and community-level actions are happening. I guess it’s just about treading the line between liability/legality, over-editorializing, responsiveness, and keeping pace with the collective mindset. I often get the feeling that the concerns of doing that job are completely different (yet legitimate) from the concerns of the public being served.