Green Announces Government 2.0 Platform for NYC

      If using information in a better way can make business more productive, why not government too?  “Government 2.0: New Technology for a New Democracy,” my paper released today, proposes 30 ways to harness new technology to make government more accessible, transparent, participatory and collaborative. (Available in PDF and in HTML for you to comment). 

      It’s time to make sure that New York City is I.T. in the sense that we use information technology as aggressively as our private sector is doing. The current Web 3.0 revolution has tied the Internet to our physical location -- through our iPhones and Blackberrys -- and our social relationships -- through Facebook and Twitter -- providing an opportunity to use Government 2.0 as a new solution to old problems.  Instead of today’s top-down, CEO-board model of government, new technology can create an open-source model based on the collaborative principle that all of us are smarter than any one of us. 

      Some highlights from the 30 ideas include:  

• My.NYC.GOV – a portal to New York City government, similar My Yahoo, providing personalized information like alternate side of the street parking, school closures, or mass transit service advisories, with the ability to voice your opinions, create online communities, and interact online with City government.

• New York City Wiki –a “wiki” for NYC.GOV to empower New Yorkers to share their knowledge and understanding of government services to help one another cut through our City’s bureaucratic red tape.

• Fully Searchable User Friendly New York City Budget  – an itemized list of figures from the various budgets showing, say, the number of residents affected and the specific programs to be cut, offered in Excel as well as searchable by keyword, agency, service, borough, community board, zip code, address and even geocode for an iPhone or Blackberry, so that an any New Yorker or elected officials can easily understand the budget and how it is affecting them.

• Twitter Hashtag #311NYC– use the true power of Twitter to collect every tweet using a hashtag like #NYCWatch or #311NYC to build a community around tracking local issues through the Public Advocate's office to deputize every Twitter user in New York City as we follow, re-tweet, respond, direct message and track new problem trends so that we can solve them.

• Universal Internet – Internet for all New Yorkers by expanding the City’s current Universal Internet implemented earlier this year for first responders covering all 300+ square miles of New York City to include the general public starting with free or subsidized Internet for public housing residents and public school students as well as a tax incentive for communal shared wireless Internet so that soon all New Yorkers have equal access to Government 2.0.

• Open Data –provide increased access to complete data collected by the government in real-time and online so that Internet users can make the data into usable information.

• Open 311 –the next logical step for the 311, which would allow for the open collection and dissemination of information for government services over the Internet in real time, tapping the vast network of Internet users like the City of Washington, D.C., which created a culture of “do-gooder one-upsmanship” through applications produced for competitions, like “SeeClickFix” and “Easy311,” which provided online, location-aware and social-media based 311 tools that allow people to submit a complaint in seconds and share it online for the world to see.

• Adopt Free or Open Source Software – to save the City tens of millions in licenses currently spent on commercial and proprietary software by reforming contracting to recognize the value of free and open source software, which is anytime any agency makes an improvement it would immediately benefit every other government agency, as well as the general public, using the same product.

      The Public Advocate is tasked by the City Charter with providing citizen access as Chair of the Commission on Public Information and Communication (COPIC).  COPIC in turn is tasked with reviewing information policies and compliance, facilitating public access, holding public hearings, making recommendations about new technology, publishing a data directory and broadcasting public proceedings.  But COPIC has been dormant.  Instead, it should be a cornerstone of Government 2.0.  So rather than just going back to the same job and using the same old rules, let’s modernize the office of Public Advocate with new technology and a new spirit of civic engagement. 
      
Information is the oxygen of democracy.  For only if constituents have adequate, accessible and accurate information can they make informed and good decisions when it comes to election and policies generally.  It’s essential that the next Public Advocate, given his portfolio under the City Charter, take the lead on distributing more information to citizens and being a socket folks can plug into.