citizen

So, who are we?  Customers?  Taxpayers? Citizens?  Or something else?  And how should government managers respond, given the differences implied by these various roles?  A recent academic article by Georgia State University professor John Clayton Thomas provides some useful context, as well as practical guidelines for public managers. He starts by saying it is not an “either/or” distinction, but rather “all of the above,” depending on context.

Michelle Cullen, Senior Editor within IBM, recently had the opportunity to sit down with Jason Goldman, the first Chief Digital Officer of the White House, to discuss his Office’s online engagement strategy and outreach. Jason was part of the Blogger team acquired in 2003 by Google, where he worked as a product manager until 2006. In 2007, he was on the founding team of Twitter Inc. where he was Head of Product and served on the board of directors until 2010.

By putting the user at the center, organizations can focus resources and initiatives on providing the best and most needed services. This “citizen-centric” approach takes citizens from passive recipients to active contributors through methods like design thinking, co-creation, and even analytics. This approach can benefit not only the system as a whole but also allows citizens to take ownership of their experience.

Mark Fisk is the lead author for this article.  Mark is a Partner within IBM's Global Business Services division.

Citizen Engagement #CitizenCentricGov

I recently attended the Center for The Business of Government's CIO Leadership Forum and found myself coming out of the session trying to reconcile several different points of view presented on Citizen Engagement.

We should all see it as part of our civic duty to contribute toward the common good. However, many people do not connect with the governing process in a meaningful way. Perhaps this is where government can do more by further engaging citizens and driving civic awareness.

Fortunately, there are a number of ways, already tested at multiple levels of government, that citizens can interact with public organizations and contribute to improved services for all.  Such examples are summarized below, and provide excellent models for government to enhance citizen engagement.

Lori Victor Feller, Mobile and Apple Partnership Leader, IBM Global Business Services, is the main blogger for this post.

I recently participated on a citizen engagement roundtable with leaders from a variety of agencies, moderated by FCW, as part of a broader set of panels on citizen engagement (see FCW's summary here).

Note:  The IBM Center recently released Seven Drivers Transforming Government, a series of essays exploring key drivers of change in government.