What is a virtual city hall?
One answer to that question requires another question: What does city hall mean to most city residents. It could be a place to pay for services, a site of city governance or even a community meeting place.
Another answer also requires another question: What does city hall mean to the employees developing the site? In essence, the web designers impact the residents' view of the digital city hall in the same way that customer service impacts the residents' view of the physical city hall.
Of course both of these are impacted by resources, by the vision of city leaders to embrace new technologies, and by the employees' commitment and understanding of new technologies. It is this which will determine how Web 2.0 does and does not transform our virtual city halls.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Managing Employees in the Digital City
In his 2005 book, The Digital City: The American Metropolis and Information Technology, Michel S. Laguerre devotes an entire chapter to teleworkers and telemanagers. On page 91, he states, "It is not simply enough to learn how to manage at a distance, it is also important to learn how to coordinate the labor produced at the workplace with the labor produced elsewhere."
This is certainly a struggle that my supervisor faces as he supervises one employee telecommuting from eastern Washington and the rest of the staff who work within our office in Olympia.
This is certainly a struggle that my supervisor faces as he supervises one employee telecommuting from eastern Washington and the rest of the staff who work within our office in Olympia.
City Wi-Fi Networks Can Be Successful When City Focus Is Kept in Mind
Oklahoma City's recently unveiled Wi-Fi network is considered a success, despite the failure of city Wi-Fi systems elsewhere. What makes Oklahoma's system different? According to a June 4th Associated Press story, rather than being created for the purpose of providing free internet to residences. Oklahoma's network was created solely for city government business purposes.
The network's focus is public safety. The $5 million system was paid for with public safety sales tax and city capital improvement funds. The network is the world's largest city-owned and-operated Wi-Fi network and covers 555 square miles through 1,200 routers across the city. These routers are structured as a mesh so that, if one goes out, another can take its place. The system is being used by city public safety personnel in the field for such purposes as accessing detailed topography maps or viewing building floor plans and other data quickly from city databases. Many other uses for the system are in the works.
The network's focus is public safety. The $5 million system was paid for with public safety sales tax and city capital improvement funds. The network is the world's largest city-owned and-operated Wi-Fi network and covers 555 square miles through 1,200 routers across the city. These routers are structured as a mesh so that, if one goes out, another can take its place. The system is being used by city public safety personnel in the field for such purposes as accessing detailed topography maps or viewing building floor plans and other data quickly from city databases. Many other uses for the system are in the works.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
E-Governance In Action
The Municipal Research Services Center (MRSC) is a great example of improved service delivery through the internet. MRSC is a Washington state not-for-profit who provides research, consultation and information services to local governments. MRSC has a staff of attorneys and other consultants who provide information to local governments.
Prior to the implementation of MRSC's Website, telephone inquiries were the measure for the organization's level of service delivery and telephone inquiries steadily increased each year. With the Website now being widely accessed first for many inquiries, phone inquiries have remained relatively steady and no consultant staff positions have been added since 1997. Creation of the Website allowed MRSC to avoid significant service delivery costs. MRSC is funded, through the Muncipal Research Council, by a portion of city and county liquor tax revenue. Given the fiscal challenges faced by local government because of citizen initiatives and curbs on revenue growth, it is very likely that funding would not have kept up with the service demand that would have existed without the Website.
Prior to the implementation of MRSC's Website, telephone inquiries were the measure for the organization's level of service delivery and telephone inquiries steadily increased each year. With the Website now being widely accessed first for many inquiries, phone inquiries have remained relatively steady and no consultant staff positions have been added since 1997. Creation of the Website allowed MRSC to avoid significant service delivery costs. MRSC is funded, through the Muncipal Research Council, by a portion of city and county liquor tax revenue. Given the fiscal challenges faced by local government because of citizen initiatives and curbs on revenue growth, it is very likely that funding would not have kept up with the service demand that would have existed without the Website.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
E-governance Questions/Issues to Explore
Bridging the Digital Divide:
Does bridging the digital divide solely mean bringing everyone over to full computer use, or is there another way? Can we develop technologies that fully utilize the collaborative capabilities of wikis and other internet tools, but still involve people who choose not or cannot access the internet?
For myself, I am still struggling with the answers to these questions. Because these questions are large issues and difficult to "get your hands around" so to speak. I have decided to apply them to one of my work processes to see how I could have made it more inclusive with technology.
Last year I conducted a Small and Rural Fire District Facility Assessment. As part of that process, I conducted a survey of all 390 fire protection districts and then convened a focus group to come up with recommendations. I received a 60 percent response rate on my survey, but because most districts could not afford the cost or time spent for travel to a focus group, the participation in the group was less than 15 people.
How could I have made this process more inclusive with technology? Perhaps I could have taken the focus group product and then created it as a Wiki that other districts could have added to. Of course 25 percent of the districts who responded to my survey did so through a paper survey rather than an email so this additional step may have excluded those 25 percent on the wrong side of the digital divide and skewed the data to reflect weathier districts that could afford internet access.
Chosing whether to use new technologies continues to be a struggle for me, as it likely is for many other researchers. It is extremely important to be aware of the tradeoffs and find ways to counteract them as appropriate for the group you are researching. I am very glad, however, to be aware of these new tools that could be a powerful aid to government research.
Does bridging the digital divide solely mean bringing everyone over to full computer use, or is there another way? Can we develop technologies that fully utilize the collaborative capabilities of wikis and other internet tools, but still involve people who choose not or cannot access the internet?
For myself, I am still struggling with the answers to these questions. Because these questions are large issues and difficult to "get your hands around" so to speak. I have decided to apply them to one of my work processes to see how I could have made it more inclusive with technology.
Last year I conducted a Small and Rural Fire District Facility Assessment. As part of that process, I conducted a survey of all 390 fire protection districts and then convened a focus group to come up with recommendations. I received a 60 percent response rate on my survey, but because most districts could not afford the cost or time spent for travel to a focus group, the participation in the group was less than 15 people.
How could I have made this process more inclusive with technology? Perhaps I could have taken the focus group product and then created it as a Wiki that other districts could have added to. Of course 25 percent of the districts who responded to my survey did so through a paper survey rather than an email so this additional step may have excluded those 25 percent on the wrong side of the digital divide and skewed the data to reflect weathier districts that could afford internet access.
Chosing whether to use new technologies continues to be a struggle for me, as it likely is for many other researchers. It is extremely important to be aware of the tradeoffs and find ways to counteract them as appropriate for the group you are researching. I am very glad, however, to be aware of these new tools that could be a powerful aid to government research.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Evaluate Your Internet
How Does the Internet Serve You?
On what part of the digital divide spectrum do you reside? Depending on how you answer that question, the internet can be a very different place. It can be new and scary, and you don't like getting lost. Or it can be the next new horizon waiting to be explored.
On what part of the digital divide spectrum do you reside? Depending on how you answer that question, the internet can be a very different place. It can be new and scary, and you don't like getting lost. Or it can be the next new horizon waiting to be explored.
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