Citizen Engagement

3 Ways to Create a Positive Customer Vent

According to a study conducted by the Society of New Communications Research, “59 percent of respondents say they regularly use social media to “vent” about their own customer care frustrations.” Social media has changed the way organizations (public and private) interact with citizens. Organizations can have people fill out surveys in under a minute, shareRead… Read more »

Government – The Ultimate Experiment in Open Source?

GitHub is the world’s largest social coding service. “Think of GitHub as Facebok but instead of sharing pictures of your kids or what you had for lunch, you share software code,” said Ben Balter. Balter is the Government Evangelist for GitHub. He told Chris Dorobek on the DorobekINSIDER program that GitHub at its most basicRead… Read more »

Get out the bugle horn! – Learn how to get your message out

Having the perfect message is only half the equation for good communication strategy. The other part is making sure your message gets to the right people. The impact of your communications depends on how many people you’re reaching. It would be like creating the perfect wedding invitation and sending it to the wrong people. LogicallyRead… Read more »

More Transparency Needed for Federal Communicators to Build Public Trust

As a federal communicator, are you able to share as much information and data with the public as needed, or is real transparency just the latest buzzword? Do you often run into antiquated bureaucratic stonewalls and other internal obstacles when trying to foster greater transparency and open government? If so, this is likely problematic notRead… Read more »

Four Approaches to Crowdsourcing

Is this a Golden Age for citizen involvement in government? As dismayed as some may be with the political process, there are growing opportunities for meaningful engagement in many areas, thanks to growing social media tools and a willingness to participate by many ordinary people. Gavin Newscom is California’s lieutenant governor, and was formerly theRead… Read more »

Hacking towards a solution – 7 elements of a successful gov hackathon

The Digital Government Strategy, the Open Data Directive, the Open Data policy and the Open Data Partnership agreement are all pushing agencies to find new ways to jumpstart innovation. Hackathons are the easiest and cheapest way to do that. The idea is simple, get a bunch of smart and talented programmers together, provide them withRead… Read more »

Is the citizen CIO taking over government IT?

Are citizen CIOs a threat to local governments or a blessing in disguise? With government IT departments producing more open data and participation from community interest groups and citizens on the rise, we’re beginning to see the start of a new movement within open government: telling our government which technologies to deploy. Citizens are identifying—andRead… Read more »

Looking for Knowledge? Here’s Your GovLoop Research Digest

Happy Monday, GovLoop! First off, thanks for all you do in government, the innovative work you’re all doing to improve our communities, especially in a time of such uncertainty and the difficult challenges you must overcome daily. Yet, even though times are tough – it’s inspiring at GovLoop to hear all the great stories ofRead… Read more »