for those who would make a difference
August 2, 2012
MT @kristyfifelski: Free SM measurement tools to try: TweetReach, Sitetrail, Netvibes, Facebook Insights & Google’s RT Analytics #GovChat
April 21, 2012
Gamification refers to the practice of making non-game activities more like games by incorporating achievement-based reward systems.
Under gamification, using government examples, when your project or mission is complete you might receive a ‘completion badge’ (such as a letter from the Secretary, an Australia Day Award, or a medal). Or when you attain a higher level of proficiency in a particular skill you’d receive an ‘achievement’ or rise on the ‘leaderboard’ (such as a bonus or a promotion).
From the examples above, there’s clearly already aspects of gamification at work. Rewarding achievement, success and skills acquisition is a standard part of business and forms the basis of merit-based advancement systems – not just games.
However the gamification process involves a much greater level of achievement-based recognition, than has commonly been used in organisations.
March 26, 2012
Updated with video of Thom Kearney presenting on the Virtual Government Network at PSengage, November 22nd, 2011
Thom Kearney – The virtual Government Network @ PSEngage2011 – November 22, 2011 from PSEngage on Vimeo.
Original post from Jan 6th, 2011:
The following material comes from a paper I recently finished as part of my studies. I took the opportunity to combine what I have learned about Information Management and Collaboration and then apply that knowledge to something that might be practical. If you want the paper you can find it on the Articles page, here is a somewhat abridged version for your perusal and comment. By the way, if you do comment I promise to get back to you, however my response may not be immediate.
The framework elements generic in the sense that they could apply to any large-scale collaboration network; in this example they have been populated with the Virtual Government Network in mind.
December 30, 2011
One of the leaders we most admire in Web 2.0 government world is Nick Charney @NickCharney a man who is living on the edge of this ongoing social revolution in all associated contexts. We were over the top when he agreed to allow us to share his phenomenal content here on the PSleader blog and his are some of the most insightful of the great contributions we have had to date.
At the PSengage event in November we were also very pleased that the new Guideline for External Use of Web 2.0 for the Government of Canada was announced by Minister Tony Clement (see video). Since that time we have been working diligently on delving further into development of training and other supporting materials for application and use of this guideline on a practical “day to day” level.
November 20, 2011
This is the third installment in our series of highlighting PSEngage Speakers.
Ina Parvanova Public Affairs Director, at Mayo Clinic has extensive experience working in a fast paced environment.
Ina started her career as a reporter, working for Reuters and Canadian Press. In 1998, Ina joined the Public Service and spent a number of years at Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada before joining the Privy Council Office where she was responsible for the international communications files.
In 2008, Mayo Clinic recruited Ina to establish its Research Communications function to support $540 million in research operations at Mayo Clinic. Ina is currently part of two leadership teams. One is a reflection of Mayo’s new strategy to make a global impact in healthcare called Global Bridges – a Healthcare Alliance for Tobacco Dependence Treatment. The other is statewide effort called Decade of Discovery: A Minnesota Partnership to Defeat Diabetes.
November 17, 2011
How you tell the story of something whether your best friend’s recent golf incident – or the introduction of a new paradigm into an old channel matters. It matters more and more so in the instant gratification and short time frame attention span economy. How our brains process information now is based on how fast does it answer basic questions. If you cannot tell the story of why something should be done using outside references then figure out how to tell the story using those from inside.
Time matters. People’s time matters the more that you are demanding they contemplate either large expenditures or something technical in nature or both. If you can tell the story in a simple to understand, bite size version, you are more likely to get a buy-in from skeptical management or budget conscious bean counters.
So frame your story as if you were sitting around a family dinner table. Keep it simple. Use basic language. Sure you can let loose with fancy nomenclature and or highly technical terms to show you know your stuff. But – relate it to the here and now, why is something practical, applicable and affordable at this period in time? Tell the story of other Government agencies doing what you propose. Tell the story of successful wins from the actions you seek.
There will be more in the PS Engage talk, but this is the basic outline of what I am addressing in Ottawa on November 22, 2011.
Alan Silberberg
September 26, 2011
As many of you know I am helping to put together a networking and learning event as part of the @PSLeader initiative started by Jeff Ashcroft, Jeff is the same guy that got me into doing the #GovChat series of twitter chats, it all started with a comment on a blog post here.
Anyway, when I was part of the Public Service I was involved in the first Collaborative Management day and was excited about it, basically I think the whole #w2p #goc3 thing is awesome. Sadly, now that I am Private Sector I can’t participate in the same way, so that got me to thinking and…
…a while ago, a group of us in the shadow public service were chatting and felt that it might be a good idea to create an event that builds on the #goc3 momentum for collaborative management. Of course if we were going to do something it had to have value over and above what an internal conference could provide. The logic we came up with goes something like this:
September 24, 2011
Abstract: Developing the appropriate behaviors and competencies to integrate into society is a crucial test for any concept of citizenship1. Virtual society today is a connected community of global citizens thriving across multiple platforms and social networks. People are dispersed geographically, culturally and politically and are unconstrained by whom they interact with and why they interact. In virtual worlds, the borders are fluid and physically unconstrained. The personal surrogate encoded as an avatar can move about freely and participate in dynamic, multiple states at the same time. The avatar is valued more for his performance, skill and abilities in the context of the virtual world, rather than by his race, pay grade or political affiliation.
September 24, 2011
The Open Government Partnership is “a global effort to make governments better“, led by Brazil and the USA.
The concept was announced a few months ago and countries have been rapidly signing up to the commitments required to demonstrate their willingness to take action to improve transparency and accountability in government.
As their website states,
Participating countries in the Open Government Partnership pledge to deliver country action plans that elaborate concrete commitments on open government. In each country, these commitments are developed through a multi-stakeholder process, with the active engagement of citizens and civil society.
September 24, 2011
The Government of Canada announced an initiative to centralize services across the government, to develop consistency across departments, and most importantly cut costs by reducing redundant systems and contracts.
On paper, it makes sense. To improve efficiency and lower costs by consolidating services centrally and reducing contracts. Solid argument, seems very reasonable.
In 2006 Tokyo’s Department of Recreation launched their “Swimming Pool shared services” initiative resulting greater efficiencies and lower costs for pool administrators by combining the pools (and their staff) together and reducing pool hours. “Pooling resources” is always the right solution.
Sadly and unsurprisingly, in practice, there is no direct correlation between simply centralising services and realising cost benefits. Despite many attempts before to centralise services, the result hasn’t always been savings in cost, but instead the opposite.