#CeDEM13 day 2 afternoon, Keynotes. (John Carlo Bertot, Successful eGovernment Takes a Village: Inclusion and the Role of Community Anchors)

1. Successful eGovernment Takes a
Village: Inclusion and the Role of
Community Anchors
John Carlo Bertot
Director and Professor
Information Policy & Access Center
College of Information Studies
University of Maryland College Park
jbertot@umd.edu

2. Some trends and concerns

3. Growth Rate
— 103% growth rate between 1950 and
2009
◦ From 152 million to 308 million
◦ Germany: 21%
◦ Italy: 30%
— Continued growth anticipated
◦ ~440 million by 2050
http://2010.census.gov/2010census/data/
http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/wpp2008/
wpp2008_highlights.pdf

4. Immigration
Shrestha, L.B., & Heisler, E.J. (2011). The changing demographic profile of
the United States. CRS Report RL32701.

5. Age
http://www.census.gov/population/projections/data/national/2008/
summarytables.html
0
50.000
100.000
150.000
200.000
250.000
300.000
2010
2015
2020
2025
2030
2035
2040
2045
2050
Under 18
18-64
65 and over
85 and over
* In thousands

6. Race
http://www.census.gov/population/projections/data/national/2008/
summarytables.html
2010
2015
2020
2025
2030
2035
2040
2045
2050
0
50.000
100.000
150.000
200.000
250.000
White
All Others
* In thousands

7. Poverty

8. Broadband Plateau
— $7.2 billion spent on broadband diffusion as
part of the Stimulus Bill
◦ Funds end August/September 2013
— Broadband (home) penetration around 65%
◦ No, mobile access is not the answer
— Who are the non-adopters?
◦ Those who do not adopt technologies
– Older, less educated, less wealthy
◦ Recession
– Cut Internet access
◦ Stagnating/declining income
– Less spending on ICTs

9. Inability to Govern
— Inability of federal government to make
any decisions
— States financially strapped
◦ Though bottom may have been reached
◦ Burden shifting to local governments/
communities
— Local governments taking on more of
governing/governance to resolve nation’s
challenges

10. Trust in government
10
How much of
the time do
you trust the
government in
Washington?
http://www.people-press.org/2013/01/31/trust-in-government-interactive/
Pew Research
Center

11. Open Government and Engagement
Opportunities
— Radical redistribution of power away from
government and to communities and people
(Cameron, 2011)
— Redesign institutions around collaborative
problem solving (Noveck, 2009)
— Government as platform for the creation of
public value and social innovation (Tapscott, 2010)
— Reinvention of government through digital
engagement, crowdsourcing, open data
(Newsome & Dickey, 2012)
— Reinvention through “nudging” (Sunstein, 2012)

12. Community Challenges
— What is a healthy
community/society?
◦ Basic needs
◦ Economy
◦ Health and wellness
◦ Education
◦ Arts and Culture
◦ Neighborhoods and
Communities
◦ Environment
◦ Seattle Foundation, 2006
— Digital inclusion
◦ Access: Availability,
affordability, design for
inclusion, and public access
◦ Adoption: Relevance, digital
literacy, and consumer
safety
◦ Application: Economic and
workforce development,
education, health care,
public safety and
emergency services, civic
engagement, and social
connections
◦ IMLS, 2012

13. Assumptions of eParticipation
— Informed citizenry
— Participation is broad
— Digitally inclusive communities
— Digitally literate citizenry
◦ Data literacy
— Engagement is intermediated by
technology, and directly between citizens
and governments (G2C)

14. Public Libraries in the US

15. Public Libraries
— Trusted
— Neutral
— Ubiquitous
— Community-based social innovators

16. Engagement at the Library
— Hartford Public Library (CT)
◦ Community & Civic Participation
– Strategy 1: Recruit and train volunteers to serve
as Cultural Navigators
– Strategy 2: Build coalitions among key
stakeholders
– Strategy 3: Community - two approaches: City
Wide and Neighborhood
– Strategy 4: Bridging cultures through facilitated.
– Strategy 5: Communicate the value that
stakeholders bring

17. Engagement at the Library
— Sacramento Public Library (CA)
◦ I Street Press

18. Engagement at the Library
— Howard County Libraries (MD) HiTech
◦ Partners include Institute for Learning Innovation,
Mindgrub Technologies, Howard County Public School
System, Howard Community College, University of
Maryland’s Clark School of Engineering
◦ Digital Media - Internet collaboration, web site
design, and e-publication development
◦ Mobile Collections - mobile apps and e-book
creation
◦ Games - game play, logic, design, and game building
◦ International Relations - domestic and
international networking, linguistics exploration, and
international news and current event observation

19. It’s about
— Leveraging community resources
◦ (space, people, organizations, skills, infrastructure,
trust)
— Engagement at the local level
— Engagement through intermediaries and
technology
— Digital literacy and data skills
— Inclusive community building
◦ Not just for the connected and skilled
— Community transformation in critical areas of
need
— Innovation and creativity

20. References
— Cameron, D. (2011). PM on Government Transparency.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=tQTt4l2Qmd4&feature=player_embedded
— Institute of Museum and Library Services. (2012). Building Digital
Communities:A framework for action. Washington, DC: Institute of Museum
and Library Services.Available at:
http://www.imls.gov/assets/1/workflow_staging/AssetManager/2140.PDF
— Newsome, G, & Dickey, L. (2013). Citizenville: How toTake theTown Square
Digital and Reinvent Government. Penguin Press.
— Noveck, B. S. (2009). Wiki Government: HowTechnology Can Make Government
Better, Democracy Stronger, and Citizens More Powerful. Washington, DC:
Brookings Institution Press.
— Seattle Foundation. (2006).A Healthy Community:WhatYou Need to
Know to give Strategically. Seattle,WA:The Seattle Foundation.Available at:
http://www.seattlefoundation.org/aboutus/Documents/
10029170_HCReport_web.pdf
— Sunstein, C.R. (2012). Simpler: The Future of Government. Simon & Schuster.
— Tapscott, D. (2010). Foreward. In D. Lathrop & L. Ruma, Eds. Open
Government: Collaboration,Transparency, and Participation in Practice. O'Reilly
Media.