Becoming Citizen 2.0: Step Four, Co-ordinator

If most of government, and Gov 2.0, is about ordinary people doing ordinary (though necessary, ennobling, and underappreciated) things, Coordinators are the people who are doing extraordinary things.  Both within government and beyond it, coordinators are the ones who are looking at the big picture and creating the tools that co-deliverers and creators use.  

What do coordinators do?

Weekly Round-up: Palindrome Issue: 10/01

Gadi Ben-Yehuda

Weekly Round-up - September 24, 2010

Gadi Ben-Yehuda

Citizen 2.0, Step 3: Co-Deliverer

In his book, "The McDonaldization of Society," George Ritzer points out an invisible obvious fact: McDonald's is able to keep its costs low in part becuase its patrons perform essential functions for the store.  They pour their own drinks, bus their own tables, get their own napkins and other table settings, and in some locations even add their own condiments to their burgers.

Weekly Round-up: September 17, 2010

 

Gadi Ben-Yehuda

Becoming Citizen 2.0: Step Two, Creator

To be a creator is take the step from merely accessing information online (in the form of data or content) to adding new information (again, content or data) online.  Using online tools to submit forms or payment also falls into this category.  There are countless venues through which people can do this: through apps, government Web sites, and nongovernment Web sites.  More on each of these in a moment, becuase to talk about any of them requires an understanding of why anyone should visit any of them.

Becoming Citizen 2.0: Step One, Consumer

What does it mean to be a consumer and why should anyone bother?

These are the first two questions that we, as Gov 2.0 advocates, should ask ourselves when exhorting our compatriots to take a more active role in their own governance.  The first question is easily answered: to be a consumer is the least time-consuming way to become involved in government.  It means that you read the information that government bodies publish with the goal of understanding three things:

Weekly Round-up - September 3, 2010

Here are the articles that caught our attention this week:

Gadi Ben-Yehuda

Of course, no one should miss my incredibly insightful and unfathomably well-written post "Meeting Half-way: Becoming Citizen 2.0."  But other people published material that you should read.  Check out:

Meeting half-way: Becoming Citizen 2.0

In 2005, William Eggers released a book titled "Government 2.0."  Its cover shows two parallel cables  sending information between them wirelessly.  Yes, parallel cables, and only 5 short years ago.

Can You Hear Me Now?

In February, Rasmussen Reports released a poll that found that only 21% of Americans feel that their government has their consent.  This is despite the fact that we have more communications channels with our government than any time in American History.  So how do we fix this?

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Innovation Fellow, Emeritus
IBM Center for The Business of Government
600 14th Street, NW Second Floor
Washington, DC 20005
United States

Gadi Ben-Yehuda was our Innovation Fellow for the Center for The Business of Government. In the five years that Mr. Ben-Yehuda was with the Center, he was a speaker, panelist and moderator for events with State Department, Department of Labor, Department of Defense, General Services Administration, and other agencies. He also delivered presentations both nationally and internationally, at SxSW Interactive Festival in Austin, TX, the Global eGovernment Forum in Seoul, South Korea, and conferences in venues ranging from Washington, DC, to New York City, and Las Vegas, NV, to Burlington, VT. He was a prolific writer, with articles appearing on the Center’s blog, in Government Executive and Fast CoExist. He is active on Facebook, Twitter, and Vine. Mr. Ben-Yehuda has worked on the Web since 1994, when he received an email from Maya Angelou through his first Web site. He has an MFA in poetry from American University, has taught writing at Howard University, and has worked in Washington, DC, for nonprofits, lobbying organizations, Fleishman-Hillard Global Communications, and Al Gore's presidential campaign. Prior to his current position, Gadi was was a Web Strategist for the District of Columbia's Office of the chief Technology Officer (OCTO). Additionally, Gadi has taught creative, expository, and Web writing for more than 10 years to university students, private-sector professionals, and soldiers, including Marines at the Barracks at 8th and I in Washington, DC. Gadi is also a member of ACT-IAC.