OpenGov: Leaving Thousands of Citizens Behind?

Comment

Comment by Andrew Krzmarzick on June 29, 2010 at 12:00pm

@Matt - Great statement: "But what we owe the people we serve is access to information, engagement, and services in whatever way is easiest for them to access, not whatever way is easiest for us to provide."

@Zachary - Nice: "If Government can make digital access simple, fulfilling and provide practical incentive and return on investment, I'm fairly sure the citizenry will meet them on the other side."

Candace: You and I both grew up in rural areas...so I completely understand the lack of access and exposure point. It really limited my opportunities because (a) I wasn't equipped and (b) I wasn't made aware...
And we're moving more and more toward a mobile, web-based society...which may actually be easier for the consumer, too...so we definitely want to bring folks up to speed.

Comment by Matt Snyder on June 29, 2010 at 9:37am

I think we need to judo this - instead of focusing on bridging the digital gap by forcing everyone to jump across it into the internets, we need to ensure that internet is not a pre-requisite for obtaining services and being an involved citizen.

Take my grandmother, for example. It drives her up the wall that companies and government alike are directing people to websites, for example, in advertisements or in the queue of a call-in number. She feels ignored and left out. Trust me, she's plenty opinionated and aware of what's going on in the world, but she is *not* going to involve herself when attempts to do so are so alienating to her.

Another example - I was an organizer in a previous federal campaign and many of my team members were middle-aged or senior citizens, and one of the most important adjustments I had to make to involve them was to realize that many didn't have email (or internet, period), some didn't have cell phones, and those that did had to husband their minutes very carefully to make their monthly budget.

Digital town halls and the like have their place and can be useful. Online services are great - I appreciate them, often prefer them. But what we owe the people we serve is access to information, engagement, and services in whatever way is easiest for them to access, not whatever way is easiest for us to provide.

Comment by Zachary Michael Trimble on June 28, 2010 at 9:14am

@ Riddle

You bring up an interesting point about education. One of the obstacles to spanning the Divide is that new technology often outpaces educator skill-sets, and, it would be a disservice to the truth to ignore the issue of apathy among teachers and public servants who through tenure, collective bargaining protections and other forums, occupy positions which require constant education, enthusiasm and a desire to serve ... and despite their inability to meet the core criteria, these under-performers are allowed to retain their positions of trust, thereby undermining the missions of the agency or educational institution they serve.

If Government can make digital access simple, fulfilling and provide practical incentive and return on investment, I'm fairly sure the citizenry will meet them on the other side.

The webinars and digital town hall meetings that the Department of Labor has been using to engage its stakeholders on policy, regulatory concerns and other jurisdictional issues are a step in the right direction.

@ Brantley - Dude, so sorry I called you Bradley.

Comment by Candace Riddle on June 28, 2010 at 8:54am

The key is education. Bridging the digital divide should be addressed early in the educational curriculum in low-income area schools. That will certainly be the first step to engaging future generations and capturing their interest.

On that same note, I grew up in a rural community where schools were not always equipped with the latest technology. When I went to college I started out as an Environmental Science major, but quickly changed when I realized that my skills with "technology" were far behind that of my classmates. My rural education had not provided access to the "high-tech" calculators and necessary lessons in excel, instead they emphasized the power of the pencil and paper. When I entered basic chemistry in college, I struggled to generate computer models for lab reports and to calculate conversations in class. Needless to say, I blew up several test tubes and switched majors.

How are these children going to feel if these issues remain unaddressed, and they show up to take their SATs or ACTs and they’re all done on a computer? Think about how many things have moved to a completely web-based system: standardized testing, some voting, most job applications, etc.

The point is; the digital divide has to be addressed early to generate interest for life.

Comment by Andrew Krzmarzick on June 28, 2010 at 8:43am

Tuning back in to this conversation, I definitely agree that there is a more widespread sense of apathy among citizens that prevents them from being more engaged with their government...but I don't want us to sweep low-income folks into that group - the question there is more about access...and only after we've achieved access can we talk about engagement...so if I were facilitating a focus group, I'd split the room and have one group address access and another to tackle engagement.

In terms of libraries, I have two other relevant posts entitled "Libraries as Linchpins of #Gov20 and #OpenGov" and "Project of the Week: YOUMedia (Chicago Public Library)"

Comment by Daniel Bevarly on June 27, 2010 at 8:29pm

I will also concur with those who have mentioned this is not an economic, ethnic, gender or generational challenge. Rather it is more a collective of citizen apathy from disinterest, distrust and disengagement. Those are the real challenges that unfortunately technology will not solve, however, there is an encouraging development that technology can successful support engagement when there is interest.

We should be able to make progress if we can find a way to continue into new administrations and governance processes the same types of collaborative technologies that political campaigns utilize to connect with voters. But even here, we know many challenges exist, including legal ones.

Unfortunately, “Open Government” in this sense with easy access to data appears to be more receptive among and used by organizations with special interests to lobby or advocate for their goals –which is also a root cause of citizen apathy.

BTW, I’ve been an advocate of transitioning our libraries to also serve as a community’s public comment centers where citizens can visit to view, in particular, local government (state and federal as well?) activity and policy making and provide comments. Hard copies should also be available of some of the content for those who do not wish to view online and submit comments that could be uploaded by staff.

Comment by Zachary Michael Trimble on June 27, 2010 at 10:08am

Okay, I should have proof-read that before I submitted it.

Please excuse all of the typos and the unintentional use of "right" for "write."

A 15 minute window to edit comments would be a cool GovLoop feature.

Comment by Zachary Michael Trimble on June 27, 2010 at 10:05am

@Bradley:

Yes. I took a grant writing class in college and I chose a similar theme for the hyothetical grant I was required to write for the final project.

Grant funds for non-profits and linbraries and partnerships with foundations, Big Business and the local, state and Federal government would seem the ideal path.

Open Source provides for a new path, one that benefits the public, unlike the Apple monopoly of the 80s and 90s, which helped widen the digital chasm by pitting two mutually exclusive operating systems against each other and by sucking up billions of education dollars on non-competitive, over-priced software and hardware.

My statement about the affluent tapping away at Apple products was made with that fact in mind.

I was an XO G1G1 participant (where private individuals purchased an XO for $400, with one going to the purchaser and another going to South American children living below the poverty level). Awesome design, great PR campaign, total fail as a versatile, low-income computing solution.

I also have a 1st generation ASUS Netbook (EEE 1000; 2 ssd drives). Dollar for dollar, I consider it the best value I have ever gotten back on a PC purchase and I'm currently reading a PDF from Google Books on it while I right this response.

Asus is what Apple should be. It would awesome to see them break into pop culture through an educational/community oriented program to deliver low-budget, high performance computing to those let stranded with the Luddite's on the analog side of the digital divide.

Comment by Bill Brantley on June 27, 2010 at 9:51am

@Zachary - Would you agree that a better way to help low-income folks is to expand the budgets of local libraries to offer free Internet access and computer access? Libraries do that now and their stations are continually crowded so there is a clear need for this service. Expanding this service would help with the digital divide.

@Steve - You can lead a person to the Internet but you can't make them log on.

Comment by Steve Radick on June 27, 2010 at 12:46am

How about the group of people who CAN afford computers and Internet access, but who choose NOT to invest their time/money in getting it because they don't see the value in it? This isn't just about low-income and disadvantaged populations, but about people like many of my family members. They have the money to buy computers and they live in a location with broadband access, but they don't see why they NEED a computer with blazing fast Internet access - "why would I send one of those email-y things when I could just call?" The digital divide exists within the mind as well as the wallet.

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