SXSWi Part 2: Web Team or Ambassadors for Change?
by Tori Garten
After last year’s Federal Web Managers Conference, I started to think about the role the web team can play in organization management and changing the culture of government from within.
Attending this year’s SXSWi conference reinforced this idea for me. As web managers and web teams our role is commonly defined as that of disseminating content and information through the web. However, the Open Government Initiative pushes this role to another level. The explosion of social media, mobile devices and the rapid development of apps blows apart the one way push of information dissemination. Not only is the rapidly evolving digital world changing how we communicate, but it is changing - or SHOULD be changing - how we do work.
Themes from SXSWi were on solving problems using game theory and game mechanics, using social networks and developing communities, of revealing data and setting the data free, and essentially making the world a better place.
The themes that have been truly resonating with me go hand-in-hand with the HHS mission. At its core, our mission is to improve citizens’ lives through improved health. We do this through communicating, collaborating, supporting research, and seeking to change behaviors to improve health.
We should be asking ourselves how can we do this better? How can we do this effectively, efficiently, smartly? New media can play a role beyond disseminating content by helping our organizations see ways to work smarter. To explore and innovate new solutions. To ask the "what ifs".
The culture is shifting and our organizations need to shift too. We have the knowledge, skills, mind sets and enthusiasm to effect change within our organizations, how our organizations do work. We can help change or hack, as a geek might say, work processes that are out of date. We can help re-train and re-educate our fellow employees on the tools available that can help them do their jobs and reduce wasted effort. We can help our coworkers see another way of solving a problem or completing a task. We can help grow the understanding of how sharing government data can result in improving people’s lives - with no additional cost to the government.
I was inspired by Todd Park’s, HHS CTO, presentation . Not only is the work itself having exciting results, but the way in which Todd and his team are approaching this work should be a model for others. Supporting transparency, sharing data and inspiring innovation are key to us succeeding in our missions. Starting with "what might be possible, rather than with what cannot be done ".
It’s just as important to get out the story of this innovation attitude and start-up mentality. It is said that Millennials are the most engaged and have the most pro-government view of recent generations. They believe in affecting change through technology. Through sharing data and simplifying processes, we help citizens be more involved in helping solve problems. Government can be a "data sugar daddy" and citizen geeks can build the layers, tools, revelations of data in ways not previously imagined.
Change is hard. Especially for large organizations known for stability. Are we up for the challenge of being ambassadors of change? Are we ready to turn in our web master hats for a bigger hat? Can we help balance risk management and policy compliance with new tools and new ways of working? If we don't do it, who will?
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