HP looks at the Gov 2.0 hype cycle

Gov 2.0 is term that references the use of technology to make government an open platform for innovation. The term and the concept gained traction with public officials around the start of the Obama Administration which brought on a number of forward thinking, technology savvy staffers for key IT roles. Although recently, the idea has been losing steam as personnel changes and budget cuts have reprioritized the conversation. A new survey commissioned by HP and AMD looks at what is happening with Gov 2.0 now, CivSource spoke with Christina Morrison of HP about the survey.

Rather than being tied to a specific tool or technology solution, Gov 2.0 uses variety of different avenues such as social media, web portals, technology and smartphone applications to provide more public information about the business of government. The concept represents a sea change in public service, as individual government offices are not known for maintaining a large public presence.

Early examples of Gov 2.0 leaders include NASA and EPA at the federal level and cities like Manor, Texas at the state and local level. Beyond the first movers, some agencies and officials have been reticent to take on heightened levels of public interaction.

According to the survey, security concerns are still the top barrier to the adoption of Gov 2.0 tools, with 40% of government IT professionals listing security as a concern. Morrison says this claim is largely unfounded – “all agencies need to have a continuity of operations plan. With security concerns, security is often used as an excuse instead of really getting into the heart of why you don’t want to do it.”

The way agencies and offices are interacting has also changed. Early on, outreach was largely happening on social media because it’s free and easy to set up. Now, data shows that video and multimedia sharing take up the lions share at 53% and government-specific social media networks 50% are the most commonly used tools, replacing general social networks and blogs.

Morrison notes that the shift also speaks to a deeper understanding of multi-channel communications at the public sector level. “More people are focused on outcomes now, and setting goals for what they want to achieve. There is still a whole audience of people who read things that come in the mail, or prefer television, or prefer to speak to someone on the phone or in person. Teams have to plan for how to reach people across the spectrum.”

Government industry experts will be participating in a panel discussion hosted by GovLoop on the findings of the survey and the implications for government agencies this Thursday, April 26, at 2 p.m. ET. Registration to join the discussion is available at http://bit.ly/H4Timf .