In a post in the Complexity and Social Networks Blog at Harvard University, Alexander Schellong discusses the uses of Web 2.0 technologies in government public consultancy.
He makes the really good point that government has done quite well in it's approach to public consultation over the years via town meetings, research and other tools.
This is something often missed by online enthusiasts - including myself.
Online is a new channel, but it's not the only channel.
Government functioned before the internet was created and, while online adds extra tools to the toolkit, in many cases they are simply more advanced tools - evolutionary rather than revolutionary changes.
It is extremely important to look backwards before going forwards.
Very true - something that I mentioned in a recent blog post about the now largely obsolete concept of a town hall and council meetings:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.purecaffeine.com/2008/05/government-20-bringing-back-the-town-hall/