Telling the Federal Government Story of Coming Together

The rotating tag line reads: “People are criss-crossing the country and the world to celebrate the holidays with friends and family.  Tell us your story of coming together.”  What seems rather reminiscent of a call to answer a survey in USA Today’s Travel section, is actually a call for input on President Elect Obama’s transitional Website, www.change.gov.

We have known for at least the last fifty-plus post-election days that this is a new world we live in; one that was built on a promise of change, to share information and bring about a transparent federal government. Now, so many of us are curiously looking at how that new U.S. world order will really occur.  After all, what is being attempted with our government’s online presence is revolutionary (at least for government).  And there is a strong sense that the White House transition will be somewhat challenge-free, but as the Washington Post pointed out yesterday, how do we leave behind the “Encyclopedia Britannica era ” that is present throughout the federal government?

Most federal Web sites and Web Programs (if they exist) are not only unprepared for Web 2.0, but still finding Web 1.0 a challenge. Many sites are static HTML, even more brochure-ware, with a postal address provided as a means of contact (when was the last time you wrote a letter?) Some have shown rapid advance in the right direction, and leveraged RSS feeds and email alerts on things that may or may not be of actual interest. But most sites are a far cry from leveraging input from citizens, let alone soliciting it.

A good start might be to simply assess where agencies are today. In fact, wouldn’t it be great if all agencies took a self-assessment and graded themselves in the arena of strategy (goals and mission of the organization and how those are translated to the Web), governance (a definition of who makes decisions about the Web, and what the ground rules are), execution (how that strategy got translated to actions such as the design, navigation, taxonomy, and content management system), and measurement (self-assessment of ability to deliver on what was set out for the Web, including a brief ROI)? Or really, on any other reasonable criteria.

Arguably, if agencies knew where they score on the continuum of President-elect Obama’s vision, they could at least make the case for what will change (and associated resources) to fall in line with the new administration's approach. They could take steps to implement an agile Web team that can address this transition to Web 2.0, and beyond. But most importantly, as citizens, we could all start to interact with our government through the channels we are used to (YouTube, Facebook, etc.), and interact within our citizen community at large. Perhaps doing so would allow more agencies next year to ask questions and receive our answers, to things that matter to citizens and businesses every day… how to secure college tuition through loans, federal support for exports to the Ukraine and China… or even a request to hear our story of coming together.