I really and truly heard the term Government 2.0 on the radio this morning. I shuddered and it wasn't from the cold. However, I listened to the broadcast anyway despite my disgust at hearing that our government was now being tagged with version labels. (Shouldn't we be on something more like government 232.0 or something anyway?)
Yes there is a point.
Utah in spite of being non-progressive in politics is very progressive in using technology to help facilitate the political process. They have computers and email. (One senator from Cache Valley is quoted as saying he would use his as a step ladder to help him get up on his horse - true story.)
Luckily they have moved a step further. The Senate has a webcam and a Senate blog. It is my understanding however that only the majority posts to it so that excludes a democrat that somehow got elected - I am sure they will do away with that guy somehow :-).
You can listen to Senate radio. (Who needs to still music anymore when you have the Senate to listen to. Watch out Black Eyed Peas the Senate is going to take you down.
The 2.0 part comes from the most exciting development. The Utah Senate has a Youtube channel. and they are now accepting texts and will send out a daily text to anyone that wants to keep up with the goings on in Utah.
The 2.0 label is overused and lame, but it is very cool that here in Utah the government is moving to greater levels of transparency and that they are attempting to get information out to citizens as quickly as possible. Normally I complain about government but in this case these guys are doing the right thing.
Tags: government · senate · utah · Web2.02 Comments
2 responses so far ↓
Thanks for the mention, JB.
Yeah, we’re beyond Government 2.0. I should change that label, but what would the number be? And that conversation will take eyes off the ball. What we (my bosses and I) are trying to do is reengage with the people who own, live under, pay for, and are responsible for, their own government. No reason they should be alienated from the process. We’re trying to make it easier for them to engage.
Any senator can post. Some do, some don’t, regardless of party. The minority caucus didn’t love the word “majority” on the masthead, so they created their own blog site. In fact, since the advent of the Senate Site, all four of Utah’s legislative caucuses (cauci? what’s the plural?) have created strikingly similar blog sites.
We’ve only begun to explore the possibilities and I’m always looking for gifted interns. If you know anyone who may fit that description, please send them our way.
RC
Hi Ric,
Thanks for the comment. Hopefully, I wasn’t to offensive. I spend quite a bit of time in the ‘web 2.0′ space and so I have heard so many variants on the term so many times that it literally makes me shudder.
That being said I loved the piece on NPR and I was excited to see that Utah is focused on connecting citizens with their leaders. Even though the labels grow old the technologies have a great deal of value.
I am a full time programmer/analyst for the Center for Open and Sustainable Learning at Utah State and sometimes a PhD student. I can’t really take on an internship, but I would love to have a discussion sometime. We try to research how technology impacts people’s lives and I would love to have lunch sometime - I’d even drive to SLC and buy.