Where do we go from here with Government and Technology? Recall that we started the quarter in our first class asking the most basic questions such as, "What is Government?", "What is Democracy?", "What is Technology?". As we progressed through the quarter, we heard from public sector professional guest speakers. Tonight we handed out examples of the automatic e-mail reply sent by Senator Boxer and Senator Feinstein. Does this constitute the highest level of e-government? What could be done to improve responsiveness to citizens? How can one public official effectively serve thousands or hundreds of thousands of their constituents? We discussed the "Election 2.0" article about emerging trends in how technology is shaping the political process. Already we are seeing the use of technology that we did not see in the last election. The efforts by Republican Ron Paul to successfully raise more funding online than all other candidates. The use of YouTube by CNN to have ordinary citizens to submit questions to candidates, an example of how technology can flatten social structures (no media bias here if the citizens are asking the questions). On the other had, questions Education, Health Care, and Iran were missing from the debate; professional reporters would probably have not missed such questions on major issues.
Chapter 10: Democratization and Technological Change was the final chapter in our text and fit with our class theme of emerging topics in technology and government.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Class 9 - Public Sector Tech Careers, Project Management, and Managing the Tech Department
In this class, we covered Chapter 9: Global Electronic Government and looked at how technology in the public sector is used around the world. We looked at government websites from North Korea and high internet use countries. We also handed out a summary of good project management practices. Much of what we do in the workplace will involve collaboration with other people and agencies. Knowing how to work together collectively towards a goal is part of successful project management. This is also related to our previous SDI work in helping us understand and build "productive working relationships".
We also finished our group presentations. Inge and Gabriel shared their insights into electronic government by looking at four Southern California cities. On the external site, libraries were found to have more "hits" or visits, followed by animal services. Differences between "Intranet" and public Internet content was discussed. CRM or customer relationship management was highlighted as a strategy of meeting the needs of citizens.
Alex and Amy shared how the Metro database is used to manage large costly and complex transportation projects. Even the construction of a seemigly simple bike lane can cost a great deal (it's not just painting the lane on the street). The Metro system was found to eliminate volumes of paper and the previous practice (best technology in it's day) of faxing 200 page documents between agencies. The Metro database was able to organize multiple funding resources and allow you to see all the transportation projects in LA county.
AB 1871 and 911 Emergencies were presented by Cheryl and John. This was the legislation designed to create a uniform process for cell phone providers and phone companies to locate people via GPS (global positioning system) technology. On the legal side, challenges by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on protecting privacy are of concern.
We also finished our group presentations. Inge and Gabriel shared their insights into electronic government by looking at four Southern California cities. On the external site, libraries were found to have more "hits" or visits, followed by animal services. Differences between "Intranet" and public Internet content was discussed. CRM or customer relationship management was highlighted as a strategy of meeting the needs of citizens.
Alex and Amy shared how the Metro database is used to manage large costly and complex transportation projects. Even the construction of a seemigly simple bike lane can cost a great deal (it's not just painting the lane on the street). The Metro system was found to eliminate volumes of paper and the previous practice (best technology in it's day) of faxing 200 page documents between agencies. The Metro database was able to organize multiple funding resources and allow you to see all the transportation projects in LA county.
AB 1871 and 911 Emergencies were presented by Cheryl and John. This was the legislation designed to create a uniform process for cell phone providers and phone companies to locate people via GPS (global positioning system) technology. On the legal side, challenges by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on protecting privacy are of concern.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Class 8 - Wireless/Trust and Confidence in E-Government
At this point in the course, we have looked at various frameworks (Leavitt Diamond, Michael Hammers Principles of Reengineering applied to the public sector, Time/Cost/Quality/Quantity to use to lead, manage and evaluate technology projects in the public sector. Recall that this class is not a technology class, but is designed to help us be able to ask the right questions as public sector leaders.
The literature review about "Innovation in Public Services" gave a framework of why there should be innovation in the public sector, a definition of innovation, and types of innovation. This framework can help identify where you can innovate in your organization and the political, organizational and fiscal support you will need to be successful.
Ashley and Allison opened our group presentations with their "Disaster Planning and GIS" presentation. The applications of GIS for disaster planning and mitigation was shared. GIS as a technology is a database of information connected to a visual display such as a map. Shortcomings of GIS include that it may not integrate with existing public data systems and it is ill suited for immediate emergency response. Cost for GIS talent is also a concern.
Katherine and Victor presented "To Your Health", a web based system designed to improve public health. In a related story, we discussed a recent story in LA that found a local community with 60 fast food restuarants and only 1 supermarket in a certain neighborhood. One proposed city response was a ban on building fast food restaurants. To help us practice asking the right questions about technology, the class pretended to be the city council. Questions asked included: Who will maintain the website? How do we measure success? How do we promote the website with the public?
We discussed the golden rule of networking: "Give more than you get". Too often, people use networking as a tacky self serving tool, in the worst case, just blatantly asking for a job. Networking is about relationships and good relationships take time to build. In reference to the Harvey Mackay book on networking, "Dig Your Well Before You Are Thirsty".
We concluded with a discussion of Chapter 8 -Trust and Confidence in E-Government. The government was held in high regard for ending the suffering of the Depression and leadership in World War II. Over time, however, public trust in the government to solve problems has eroded. Events such as the Watergate coverup by Nixon, the disconnect of government information on the Vietnam war and what press coverage was reporting, and most recently the Iran Contra scandal in the second term of the Reagan presidency, and the Clinton Lewinsky scandal are examples that have eroded public trust. The moral of the story with public trust is that you can only lose it once, so as public sector leaders, we must work very hard not to lose that trust in the first place.
Till next class...
The literature review about "Innovation in Public Services" gave a framework of why there should be innovation in the public sector, a definition of innovation, and types of innovation. This framework can help identify where you can innovate in your organization and the political, organizational and fiscal support you will need to be successful.
Ashley and Allison opened our group presentations with their "Disaster Planning and GIS" presentation. The applications of GIS for disaster planning and mitigation was shared. GIS as a technology is a database of information connected to a visual display such as a map. Shortcomings of GIS include that it may not integrate with existing public data systems and it is ill suited for immediate emergency response. Cost for GIS talent is also a concern.
Katherine and Victor presented "To Your Health", a web based system designed to improve public health. In a related story, we discussed a recent story in LA that found a local community with 60 fast food restuarants and only 1 supermarket in a certain neighborhood. One proposed city response was a ban on building fast food restaurants. To help us practice asking the right questions about technology, the class pretended to be the city council. Questions asked included: Who will maintain the website? How do we measure success? How do we promote the website with the public?
We discussed the golden rule of networking: "Give more than you get". Too often, people use networking as a tacky self serving tool, in the worst case, just blatantly asking for a job. Networking is about relationships and good relationships take time to build. In reference to the Harvey Mackay book on networking, "Dig Your Well Before You Are Thirsty".
We concluded with a discussion of Chapter 8 -Trust and Confidence in E-Government. The government was held in high regard for ending the suffering of the Depression and leadership in World War II. Over time, however, public trust in the government to solve problems has eroded. Events such as the Watergate coverup by Nixon, the disconnect of government information on the Vietnam war and what press coverage was reporting, and most recently the Iran Contra scandal in the second term of the Reagan presidency, and the Clinton Lewinsky scandal are examples that have eroded public trust. The moral of the story with public trust is that you can only lose it once, so as public sector leaders, we must work very hard not to lose that trust in the first place.
Till next class...
Class 7 - Public Education and Technology
The most valuable part of the class will not be the grade, but what knowledge and learning you use outside of the class (and perhaps advance your careers). So we warmed up the class with a scenario where you were in the elevator with your boss (or city manager, councilman, mayor, etc). and they ask you the question "What is GIS and how can it be used in our city to better serve out citizens?". The discussion was that a good framework was to describe what the technology is, give an example to help the mayor understand, and give the pros and cons.
The interview assignment is due the last day of class and your opportunity to meet public sector professionals and perhaps broaden your professional network. Group presentations start next week. The "Golden Nuggets" final presentation during the last night of class is individual, about 5-6 Powerpoint slides (no death by Powerpoint please), and highlights your important learning takeaways from our 10 weeks together in the MPA 599: Government and Technology class. Educators are fond of saying "there is no learning without reflection"; "Golden Nuggets" is our opportunity to reflect on what we learned.
Recall that the two primary benefits of this information age are 1) Communication and 2) Information, more than ever and faster than ever. It used to take 3 months to send mail cross country via Pony Express, now we send e-mail around the world it 3 seconds. Our example of this in public sector was the recent public relations fiasco with the fake Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) press conference. Using video clips from You Tube of the fake press conference, we discussed how this kind of behavior, even if it was an error of judgment, erodes the public trust in government. We further discussed how this was different from how information as propaganda to shape public opinion by the selectively shaping and manipulating what is shared and the role of the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights and freedom of the press.
Two examples of how technology has changed the education landscape are the MIT Open Courseware project and the US Army Education Online (http://www.earmyu.com). The MIT Open Courseware project offers all the lecture and class materials online and free for anyone to use. With access to the best curricular content, what is left of value is the instructional piece of teaching. We shared (not naming names) the qualities of the worst teachers you ever had. Then we talked about the qualities of the best teachers. In this case, technology in education can put more of an emphasis on good quality instruction and this benefits students. The US Army Education online was an example of how physical location for classes is no longer important. However, in class discussions and quality of delivery of instruction are important elements in learning. These may be parts of the reasons why we may not see the ability to earn an undergraduate degree completely online offered by MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Cal Poly Pomona.
The education and technology career paths of John Q. Porter, Superintendent of Oklahoma Public Schools and Michael Robbie, President of the University of Indiana system were shared in articles. Both of these public sector professionals started in technology and moved to the highest levels of education leadership.
Chapter 7 of our textbook covered the Citizen Use of E-Government. The advancement of electronic government and better pubic service delivery is being mitigated by the "digital divide". This is our reflection for tonight. The digital divide refers to the have and have nots of technology. Not everyone has a computer. Not everyone has e-mail or Internet access.
So what do we as public sector leaders do?
We concluded by revisiting the Personal Strengths "Strength Deployment Inventory" (SDI) (http://us.personalstrengths.com/sdi.php?id=104), recalling our own Motivational Value System (MVS) or "color" and the skill of Borrowing to use characteristics of other MVS to communicate in a way that resonates with the other person. We discussed Conflict and differences of warranted Goal Conflict and unwarranted Style Conflict. Conflict is a reaction to a perceived threat to one's self worth. Conflict is always a toxic state (even though some may believe they work better while in conflict). We studied our individual conflict sequence and the stages we go through. Awareness of conflict in our selves and others can help us recognize this toxic state and take steps to move out of it, back to our MVS.
The interview assignment is due the last day of class and your opportunity to meet public sector professionals and perhaps broaden your professional network. Group presentations start next week. The "Golden Nuggets" final presentation during the last night of class is individual, about 5-6 Powerpoint slides (no death by Powerpoint please), and highlights your important learning takeaways from our 10 weeks together in the MPA 599: Government and Technology class. Educators are fond of saying "there is no learning without reflection"; "Golden Nuggets" is our opportunity to reflect on what we learned.
Recall that the two primary benefits of this information age are 1) Communication and 2) Information, more than ever and faster than ever. It used to take 3 months to send mail cross country via Pony Express, now we send e-mail around the world it 3 seconds. Our example of this in public sector was the recent public relations fiasco with the fake Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) press conference. Using video clips from You Tube of the fake press conference, we discussed how this kind of behavior, even if it was an error of judgment, erodes the public trust in government. We further discussed how this was different from how information as propaganda to shape public opinion by the selectively shaping and manipulating what is shared and the role of the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights and freedom of the press.
Two examples of how technology has changed the education landscape are the MIT Open Courseware project and the US Army Education Online (http://www.earmyu.com). The MIT Open Courseware project offers all the lecture and class materials online and free for anyone to use. With access to the best curricular content, what is left of value is the instructional piece of teaching. We shared (not naming names) the qualities of the worst teachers you ever had. Then we talked about the qualities of the best teachers. In this case, technology in education can put more of an emphasis on good quality instruction and this benefits students. The US Army Education online was an example of how physical location for classes is no longer important. However, in class discussions and quality of delivery of instruction are important elements in learning. These may be parts of the reasons why we may not see the ability to earn an undergraduate degree completely online offered by MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Cal Poly Pomona.
The education and technology career paths of John Q. Porter, Superintendent of Oklahoma Public Schools and Michael Robbie, President of the University of Indiana system were shared in articles. Both of these public sector professionals started in technology and moved to the highest levels of education leadership.
Chapter 7 of our textbook covered the Citizen Use of E-Government. The advancement of electronic government and better pubic service delivery is being mitigated by the "digital divide". This is our reflection for tonight. The digital divide refers to the have and have nots of technology. Not everyone has a computer. Not everyone has e-mail or Internet access.
So what do we as public sector leaders do?
We concluded by revisiting the Personal Strengths "Strength Deployment Inventory" (SDI) (http://us.personalstrengths.com/sdi.php?id=104), recalling our own Motivational Value System (MVS) or "color" and the skill of Borrowing to use characteristics of other MVS to communicate in a way that resonates with the other person. We discussed Conflict and differences of warranted Goal Conflict and unwarranted Style Conflict. Conflict is a reaction to a perceived threat to one's self worth. Conflict is always a toxic state (even though some may believe they work better while in conflict). We studied our individual conflict sequence and the stages we go through. Awareness of conflict in our selves and others can help us recognize this toxic state and take steps to move out of it, back to our MVS.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Class 6 - Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
As as opener, we talked about how a city near San Diego used a mass notification system similar to one we heard about from our first guest speaker in this class. A living example of how technology can provide better communications in the area of public safety.
We are past the halfway point of our journey, so just a reminder to work on your interview projects and group presentations. Everyone has been doing a great job keeping up on your weekly reflections. As the saying goes, "There is no learning without reflection". The object of reflections is to ponder the big takeaways from each class that have meaning in your work and career. The interview project is your opportunity to meet public sector professionals you'd like to know. Interested in being a city manager? The interview project is your opportunity to contact one (or two).
Our guest tonight was supposed to be a Geographic Information Systems professional from one of our local cities. This person, if they had appeared, would have told you how he had earned a certificate in GIS and was working in supporting GIS for a city. We encountered GIS systems in the Rudy Giuliani book "Leadership" with his Compstat system. Recall that people in New York were saying "the city is ungovernable" due to crime. Giuliani brought in Compstat to bring information and accountability to crime and law enforcement. With such data on exact precincts and who was responsible, they were able to focus on the problem of crime using data from the GIS system to pinpoint clusters of crime activity. We looked at GIS examples in the NASA investigation of the Columbia space shuttle disaster. As the shuttle broke up in the atmosphere, it scattered debris over hundreds of miles and several states. By using GIS to pinpoint what pieces were found and where they landed, NASA was able to reconstruct what happened and the sequence of events of the disaster. ESRI (http://www.esri.com) in Redlands is the world leader in GIS software.
Chapter 6 covered "Public Outreach and Responsiveness" in our Digital Government book. The chapter starts with the wonderful appeal that technology can provide in terms of making government more responsive to the public. However, we also saw how professional and organizational barriers have slowed the progress of digital government and responsiveness. Communications with the public help responsiveness, but what if you are a public official and you receive an e-mail a week from every one of your constituents? The short story is that a lack of political will and vision has been limiting the pace of change to improve the relationship between citizens and leaders. In any technological change, there are winners and there are losers. Those who would stand to lose with a technological change (e.g. someone's job is taken away, political power and influence is lost) is threatened. This opens the door to next weeks class where we will use the Strength Deployment Inventory (SDI) about creating productive working relationships to talk about Conflict...
Until then...
Thomas
We are past the halfway point of our journey, so just a reminder to work on your interview projects and group presentations. Everyone has been doing a great job keeping up on your weekly reflections. As the saying goes, "There is no learning without reflection". The object of reflections is to ponder the big takeaways from each class that have meaning in your work and career. The interview project is your opportunity to meet public sector professionals you'd like to know. Interested in being a city manager? The interview project is your opportunity to contact one (or two).
Our guest tonight was supposed to be a Geographic Information Systems professional from one of our local cities. This person, if they had appeared, would have told you how he had earned a certificate in GIS and was working in supporting GIS for a city. We encountered GIS systems in the Rudy Giuliani book "Leadership" with his Compstat system. Recall that people in New York were saying "the city is ungovernable" due to crime. Giuliani brought in Compstat to bring information and accountability to crime and law enforcement. With such data on exact precincts and who was responsible, they were able to focus on the problem of crime using data from the GIS system to pinpoint clusters of crime activity. We looked at GIS examples in the NASA investigation of the Columbia space shuttle disaster. As the shuttle broke up in the atmosphere, it scattered debris over hundreds of miles and several states. By using GIS to pinpoint what pieces were found and where they landed, NASA was able to reconstruct what happened and the sequence of events of the disaster. ESRI (http://www.esri.com) in Redlands is the world leader in GIS software.
Chapter 6 covered "Public Outreach and Responsiveness" in our Digital Government book. The chapter starts with the wonderful appeal that technology can provide in terms of making government more responsive to the public. However, we also saw how professional and organizational barriers have slowed the progress of digital government and responsiveness. Communications with the public help responsiveness, but what if you are a public official and you receive an e-mail a week from every one of your constituents? The short story is that a lack of political will and vision has been limiting the pace of change to improve the relationship between citizens and leaders. In any technological change, there are winners and there are losers. Those who would stand to lose with a technological change (e.g. someone's job is taken away, political power and influence is lost) is threatened. This opens the door to next weeks class where we will use the Strength Deployment Inventory (SDI) about creating productive working relationships to talk about Conflict...
Until then...
Thomas
Class 5 - Public Safety and Technology
A bit tardy on the blog posting, sorry about that. Now to the summary of our Class 5 - Public Safety and Technology. The Chapter 5 from our Digital Government textbook looked specifically at the case of online tax filing. Just about the most paper and people intensive activity one can find in government, it would appear that having citizens file taxes online would we readily accepted. The chapter detailed how it was cheaper to process taxes online on a per page basis for the government. However, while technology is pervasive, it may not be wide spread enough technologically (e.g. does everyone have a computer in their home to file taxes easily?) or socially (e.g. is every taxpayer comfortable enough and trust the safety and security of the network enough to file taxes online?). These were some barriers to online taxes completely replacing paper tax filing. This may not be the first time that the benefits of technology have been overpromised but underdelivered. There was once a very large buzzword movement towards the "paperless office" in the late 1980s. As we sit here in the early 21st century, paper cans still be found in ample quantities in many offices. And as a type of technology, paper is cheap, easy to use, requires little training, and never crashes.
Our guest speakers for the class were from the growing City of Ontario. We were joined by Dale Wishner and Jimmy Chang from the City of Ontario Information Technology department. Dale and Jimmy shared their experiences and opinions on "municipal wi-fit" or citywide wireless. As much as it is touted, wireless is not secure or as fast as a wired connection. Wireless connections on the edge of the network eventually must connect to a wired network. This "backhaul" or connection of the wireless to the wired network is where the most concerns are in terms of network speed. AVL or automated vehicle location was a method of using wireless for real time reporting of the locations of city resources such as garbage trucks, fire and police vehicles, etc. A city technology department can also provide a competitive advantage for cities; cities with good technology infrastructure can attract businesses. One concern is the provision of high speed network access in older underserved parts of the city. The Georgraphic Information System (GIS) is a map that uses a database of information to manage information resources. For example, a GIS system with a database of the addresses of all the fire hydrants in the city can be useful to help firemen put out fires. For public safety, a police officer can check out if an address has any people with wants or warrants at that address. For our aspiring city managers, the areas of cost to pay attention to in technology deployments are: 1) initial capital investment, 2) recurring annual costs (e.g staff to support the system, training, support contracts), and 3) maintenance (e.g. repairs, replacement of equipment). Will wireless one day be an expected utility for cities, like water and electrical? Food for thought as we do long range planning for the future....
City website resources that Dale and Jimmy shared included:
http://www.misac.org
http://www.muniwireless.org
http://www.disasterportal.org/ontario
Notable quotables from Dale and Jimmy:
"Is it good for the citizens?"
"Will it serve the citizens?"
Thomas
Our guest speakers for the class were from the growing City of Ontario. We were joined by Dale Wishner and Jimmy Chang from the City of Ontario Information Technology department. Dale and Jimmy shared their experiences and opinions on "municipal wi-fit" or citywide wireless. As much as it is touted, wireless is not secure or as fast as a wired connection. Wireless connections on the edge of the network eventually must connect to a wired network. This "backhaul" or connection of the wireless to the wired network is where the most concerns are in terms of network speed. AVL or automated vehicle location was a method of using wireless for real time reporting of the locations of city resources such as garbage trucks, fire and police vehicles, etc. A city technology department can also provide a competitive advantage for cities; cities with good technology infrastructure can attract businesses. One concern is the provision of high speed network access in older underserved parts of the city. The Georgraphic Information System (GIS) is a map that uses a database of information to manage information resources. For example, a GIS system with a database of the addresses of all the fire hydrants in the city can be useful to help firemen put out fires. For public safety, a police officer can check out if an address has any people with wants or warrants at that address. For our aspiring city managers, the areas of cost to pay attention to in technology deployments are: 1) initial capital investment, 2) recurring annual costs (e.g staff to support the system, training, support contracts), and 3) maintenance (e.g. repairs, replacement of equipment). Will wireless one day be an expected utility for cities, like water and electrical? Food for thought as we do long range planning for the future....
City website resources that Dale and Jimmy shared included:
http://www.misac.org
http://www.muniwireless.org
http://www.disasterportal.org/ontario
Notable quotables from Dale and Jimmy:
"Is it good for the citizens?"
"Will it serve the citizens?"
Thomas
Friday, October 12, 2007
Class 4 - How Municipalities Use Technology
We primed the pump for learning with a recap of what we covered last week. Our special guest speaker for tonight was Dennis Vlasich, the Information Technology Director for the City of Fontana. Dennis has over 30 years of experience in the public sector and technology field. He is also a Principal/Senior Consultant with the Kerry Consulting Group (KCG). Operational realities of the work Dennis shared were: money, skillset, and time. The value of starting with a Strategic Goal (where you want to go) vs. a Tactical Goal (how you want to get there) was emphasized. Without these, technology for technology's sake situations can occur. What is the problem you want to solve with technology? What opportunity will technology provide? The thought process behind whether to Build a system or Buy a system was discussed. It depends on your situation. Dennis also shared his insights that a good city manager usually either knows how to work with the city council or work with the city issues. The ability to defuse interdepartment rivalries for resources and blur lines between departments so all work together for the good of the city was a valuable skill to have as a city manager.
In the area current events show and tell, we discussed the 10/11/07 presidential hopeful candidate Ron Paul and his effective use of the web to raise funds and organize supporters. This is an example of how network technology and communications can flatten social structures. Ron Paul is able to run a campaign outside of the structured political party heirarchy. Whether an entire election can be run and won on the Internet has yet to be seen.
Chapter 4: Explaining E-Government Performance of the "Digital Government" book was a hard read. The data collection methodology and details about how data was collected obfuscated the valuable findings. Critical success factors were organizational, fiscal and political. Each was interrelated (think Leavitt Diamond). First and foremost was to keep citizen demands and wants in focus and what services the public values before deploying technology. Funding was determined to be the most important factor for technology development. However, political savvy, leadership and vision can change the equation. With proper alliances and coalitions, fiscal purse strings could be loosened. One hint was to be able to identify potential allies who had an interest in technology.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Class 3 - Privacy, Read ID and Identity
We kicked off the evening with a little warmup by looking at electronic government in India and a review of how Korea is approaching electronic government:
Mishandling of public data or data loss, even if accidental or by malicious outside hackers, damages public trust in the ability of government to manage personal data. Cases studies we looked at were the data breach at the University of California - San Diego: http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/general/securitybreach.asp.
Can government be trusted with personal information? This was the question asked during the discussion of RealID, a controversy that is see in national ID card debates. In the following link, it was observed that in Asia and South America, such identification papers are required to be carried at all times. However, in New Zealand and Australia, such practices are shunned. http://www.news.com/National-ID-cards-on-the-way/2100-1028_3-5573414.html
So how much freedom and personal information should citizens be expected to give up?
From the book Leadership by Rudolph Giuliani, we read about the Compstat crime fighting system. This was not so much a technology as it was a process. The Leavitt Diamond framework from previous classes highlighted the interaction between the technology (in this case a Geographic Information System (GIS) which is a map attached to a database), people skills to use data and technology, organizational structure of how Compstat was accepted, and department structure such as the weekly "Crime Strategy Meetings". It is again important to note that 3 of the 4 elements of the Leavitt Diamond relate to people and how they interact or change.
This week we turned to Chapter 3 - Content of American Government Websites in our class text Digital Government. What web content does the public value? How do we measure successful performance and what works on public websites?
Building on the Personal Strengths Strength Deployment Inventory (SDI) that we took to learn how to "build productive working relationships" (http://www.personalstrengths.com), we learned about our own Motivational Value System or "color". We broke into groups to learn how each color viewed the world. It was interesting to note how Mother Theresa was viewed as tough by our Red MVS group but as compassionate by our Blue MVS group, a living example of how our filters determine how we view the world. The class ended with a practice of "borrowing" or communicating in a way that resonates with the other person in a way they need to hear it.
http://egov-india.blogspot.com/2007/09/road-to-e-government-korean-way.html
In contrast, we also looked at You Tube video clips of the suppression of a democracy protest in Myanmar and discussed how not all parts of the world are accepting of Democracy. Our role as public servants and guardians of the public trust is made more challenging by the survey data that indicates that public is less trusting of government than previous generations.Mishandling of public data or data loss, even if accidental or by malicious outside hackers, damages public trust in the ability of government to manage personal data. Cases studies we looked at were the data breach at the University of California - San Diego: http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/general/securitybreach.asp.
Can government be trusted with personal information? This was the question asked during the discussion of RealID, a controversy that is see in national ID card debates. In the following link, it was observed that in Asia and South America, such identification papers are required to be carried at all times. However, in New Zealand and Australia, such practices are shunned. http://www.news.com/National-ID-cards-on-the-way/2100-1028_3-5573414.html
So how much freedom and personal information should citizens be expected to give up?
From the book Leadership by Rudolph Giuliani, we read about the Compstat crime fighting system. This was not so much a technology as it was a process. The Leavitt Diamond framework from previous classes highlighted the interaction between the technology (in this case a Geographic Information System (GIS) which is a map attached to a database), people skills to use data and technology, organizational structure of how Compstat was accepted, and department structure such as the weekly "Crime Strategy Meetings". It is again important to note that 3 of the 4 elements of the Leavitt Diamond relate to people and how they interact or change.
This week we turned to Chapter 3 - Content of American Government Websites in our class text Digital Government. What web content does the public value? How do we measure successful performance and what works on public websites?
Building on the Personal Strengths Strength Deployment Inventory (SDI) that we took to learn how to "build productive working relationships" (http://www.personalstrengths.com), we learned about our own Motivational Value System or "color". We broke into groups to learn how each color viewed the world. It was interesting to note how Mother Theresa was viewed as tough by our Red MVS group but as compassionate by our Blue MVS group, a living example of how our filters determine how we view the world. The class ended with a practice of "borrowing" or communicating in a way that resonates with the other person in a way they need to hear it.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Class 2 - Technology Failures in Government
We warmed up the class with an informal pop quiz/discussion about the elements of the Leavitt Diamond. The Leavitt Diamond on one framework to evaluate technology systems and projects. Remember our goal is to create public sector professionals who are tech smart and can ask the right questions. Two other frameworks covered tonight were the four ways to measure Value: 1) Time, 2) Cost, 3) Quality, and 4) Quantity. The other framework was Michael Hammer's Seven Principles of Business Process Reenginneering (BPR). Popular in the early 1990's, BPR in the "Reengineering Government: Making Government More Efficient" (9/27/07 Daily News, http://www.dailynews.lk/2007/09/27/fea02.asp) discussed how BPR is currently applicable to the public sector, such as online license renewal. In the "Show and Tell" part of our class, John shared an article about flooding in Uganda keeping kids out of school and the role of technology. In the education and technology related sidebar discussion, the "One Laptop Per Child" (OLPC) initiative by Nicholas Negroponte. Our guest speaker tonight was Martin Lind, Director of Product Development from the NTI Group. Martin shared the Connect CTY (https://www.nticonnectcty.com/about/CTY/home.html) mass communication system. We often can learn more from studying failure than successes. In this case, we broke into small groups to dissect the Washington Post article "The FBI's Upgrade That Wasn't: $170 Million Bought An Unusable Computer System" (8/18/06). Till next time...Thomas
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Class 1 - Class Overview (Govt and Tech)
Our first of 10 classes was tonight. We set the table for the class by asking ourselves "why are we here" and "what do we want from the class". Our class is quite diverse with most being working professionals in the public sector. I counted representation by at least 4 cities. Our class is not designed to be a technical class but designed to meet the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA) standards to understand 1) ways in which policy making and analysis substantially related to or are affected by information technology, 2) strategic management of knowledge and information in organizations and associated systems, and 3) oversight and supervision of information management and managers. Tonight we covered the Leavitt Diamond, a framework for understanding organizational behavior under change with technology. The four interlinked elements of the Leavitt Diamond are technology, people skills, organizational structure, and department/business function. A change in any one of these areas impacts the others. We took the Personal Strengths Strength Deployment Inventory (SDI) to learn about building productive working relationships. As public sector professionals, the SDI can help us learn more about "what makes us tick" and "what makes others tick". We will use the SDI in later classes to understand the skill of "borrowing" to communicate in a way that resonates with how others prefer to receive information and how to manage conflict. Till next time....Thomas
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