Oct 14th, 2008 |
Bob Parkins, Canadian Government Executive MagazineGreat expectations may not be so great
Turns out that you don’t have enough to worry about. A recent British report is reminding public sector tech types of challenges beyond privacy and security and such detritus as coding,
Like – managing expectations.
Researchers with the Hansard Society, a research forum which promotes public involvement in politics, wants government to ensure that expectations of online government aren’t set too high.
“Online deliberations offer a promise of transparency; unclear communication from engagement teams is often read by participants as obfuscation,” the Hansard study warns.
“Web sites that combine careful planning and appropriate marketing with the development of reflexive engagement strategies have a greater chance of success. In such cases, policy leads have benefited from user input with government departments seeing enhanced public trust and receiving positive feedback from stakeholders. In turn, end users report more faith in the political process and better understanding of government.”
The report, part of the society’s Digital Dialogues review, says people visit the Digital Dialogues web site for any number of reasons – “from general interest in online engagement to a strong interest in the policy matters being discussed,” according to a summary in CIO magazine.
“Many had previously not engaged in political processes; even when they had, most were initially critical of government,” the report says. “Such distrust was overcome when moderators facilitated open discussion and provided information to Web site users.
“When government departments were reticent, they courted controversy and disengagement became inevitable. Some Web sites failed to gain traction (measured through few repeat visits) because users did not believe that anyone was listening or responding to their perspectives; in such cases, departments were paralyzed by a sense of ‘risk’ and failed to harness the range of engagement opportunities at their disposal — responding only on topics deemed ‘safe’.”
In one sense, there’s nothing new in any of that. It amounts, however, to a reminder for CIOs and their nearest and dearest: Don’t get so caught up in tweaking the latest back-end wiki that you overlook the front end of the operation as a whole. The digital democracy side of Government 2.0 may indeed be lagging as service delivery is ever more automated. But be warned: It hasn’t been written off entirely.
