Posts By Kim Patrick Kobza

The Paradox of Pilots

As many organizations in business and government try to capture some of the magic created by network communication, they often and understandably formulate strategies beginning with “pilots.” “Pilots” are a paradox. When it comes to creating networks for customers, partners, and employees or citizens, designation of “pilot” status—by definition an experiment—can doom a project toRead… Read more »

Recognition and Social Fear — The Competing Forces of Citizen Participation

What makes for a good day? When you get home at night do you feel like you have had a good day when it is filled with non-stop listening to others and you have had little to say? Or do you have a good day when you can say – “You know what, I hadRead… Read more »

Late Bloomers and The Evolution of “Social”

“…[W]e live in a society with peculiar expectations about the time course of success. We think that if a child isn’t blossoming as fast as the others in grade school, he or she will be hard pressed to eventually flourish.” Scott Barry Kaufman, Ph.D Candidate, Yale, Psychology Today, November 2008 The Social Evolution is inRead… Read more »

Citizen networks – what can we learn from the science of epigenetics?

Not all that long ago, the scientific community was justifiably ecstatic about having achieved mapping of the human genome – The Human Genome project. The promise was that by understanding genetic mapping we could find cures for disease, disability, and perhaps enhance longevity. http://tinyurl.com/2vu2z But an interesting development has occurred. Scientists are now learning thatRead… Read more »

Persuasive Networks

Words can be powerful. They influence purchases – “I’ll buy this good over that good”. “This good is better for me”. “I want that”. In government, they affect public opinion – “I am/am not for government sponsored healthcare reform”, “ I am for less taxes” “We need more roads”. This is why the industry ofRead… Read more »

Network Competency—an Integrated Business Framework for Gov 2.0 [1}

Gov 2.0 is fundamentally about leveraging the power of networks – not on Pandora but on planet earth. As on Pandora, an understanding and competency of how, when, and why networks work is the key to success. Whether those networks involve outward facing citizen involvement, internal facing employee involvement or both – behavioral understanding isRead… Read more »

Gov 2.0- Call it what you will. Labels, language, and the need for a compelling vision

It is emblematic of the times that nascent Gov 2.0 is without adequate descriptors readily accepted and simply described. This has less to do with the availability of labels than the fact that Gov 2.0 is a ship without a rudder— it still lacks a unifying theme and clearly articulated purpose behind the Gov 2.0Read… Read more »

Social Production as a Market Strategy – What We Can Learn From U2

Can social production build stronger market economies? Will we create compelling financial incentives and rewards with more social cooperation? “Social production” was cognitively described by Yochai Benkler in the Wealth of Networks. We often think of market and social production as mutually exclusive. We mentally pit financial outcomes against egalitarian “free” outcomes. A good exampleRead… Read more »

The Future of Transparency-Effective Outreach

The dominant first year theme of the new Administration has been the importance of achieving “transparency” to build citizen trust. The transparency ideal—inarguable in principle—is difficult in execution. To this end, most of the available leadership bandwidth has been consumed by public promotion of a data centric portal strategy as a means to achieve transparency.Read… Read more »

Gov 2.0 Glitz and Gab—Right Track, Wrong Track?

Throughout 2009, the Gov 2.0 community has grappled with substance, tenor and tone for a new era of social communication, and more specifically, “social production”. How can and will citizens, government employees, and stakeholders add value to government processes? (See, The Value of Networks, Yochai Benkler). In an almost non-stop series of 2009 conferences, GovRead… Read more »