I just heard about two upcoming online consultations at the federal level that might be worth keeping an eye on.
First, the Department of Defense (DoD) Web 2.0 Guidance Forum. From their site:
The Department of Defense (DoD) Web 2.0 Guidance Forum is a new initiative to solicit input from the public that has been undertaken in the spirit of President Obama’s Open Government Directive. President Obama issued a memorandum on 21 January 2009 entitled, “Transparency and Open Government,” which emphasized the need to ensure public trust and to establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. We are using this blog as an approach to engage the public in Department of Defense (DoD) considerations of web 2.0 capabilities, and are excited to participate in this new facet to the President’s openness and transparency efforts.
The blog posts will be written by a number of different DoD participants. The primary moderators will be Noel Dickover, a contractor supporting the DoD CIO, and Jack Holt, Senior Strategist for Emerging Media. In some cases, we may post blog entries for other participants. This will be annotated by the author’s name listed at the bottom of the blog post.
Thanx for joining us.
The site runs on the Wordpress blog engine. As outlined in the opening post, the project started yesterday, July 31 and will run through the end of August.
Participation is open to the general public, though they say they are most interested in hearing from certain specific stakeholder groups (e.g. families of military serving overseas, soldiers currently using web 2.0 tools).
Second, the Department of Homeland Security’s Quadrennial Homeland Security Review (QHSR). From their site:
What goals and priorities do you think should inform our nation’s Homeland Security policies for the next four years?
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano invites you to participate in the National Dialogue on the Quadrennial Homeland Security Review (QHSR). This groundbreaking, web-based interactive dialogue is designed to allow a broader range of opinions and ideas to inform the QHSR process, and to strengthen the Department’s relationship with its vast array of partners and stakeholders, including other federal agencies, state, local, and tribal governments, law enforcement professionals, first responders, academic institutions, and the business community.
In order to capture this critical feedback, the Secretary is seeking your participation in three week-long, web-based dialogues. Each dialogue will build on the previous one, allowing participants to view and comment directly on proposed elements of the review before they are made final. Your invaluable participation will directly inform the work of the DHS study groups conducting the QHSR—and ultimately, our Homeland Security policies and priorities over the next four years. The final report is due to Congress on December 31, 2009.
What is the Quadrennial Homeland Security Review?
The Quadrennial Homeland Security Review (QHSR) is a congressionally mandated, top-to-bottom review of the Department’s policies and priorities that will guide the Department and the nation for the next four years. The review is conducted by the Secretary of Homeland Security with key assistance from a set of study groups within DHS, each charged with reviewing a different aspect of the Department’s mission and operations. For more information, see http://www.dhs.gov/qhsr.
What is the National Dialogue on the Quadrennial Homeland Security Review?
The National Dialogue is a conversation between you, other Homeland Security stakeholders, and DHS on an innovative web-based platform. The National Dialogue is an iterative process, building on your input over the course of three dialogues. Each of the three dialogues will involve discussions on six topics being reviewed by DHS:
- Counterterrorism and Domestic Security Management
- Securing Our Borders
- Smart and Tough Enforcement of Immigration Laws
- Preparing for, Responding to, and Recovering from Disasters
- Homeland Security National Risk Assessment
- Homeland Security Planning and Capabilities
This unique experiment in 21st-century stakeholder consultation is being hosted by the National Academy of Public Administration, an independent, non-profit, congressionally-chartered institution, on behalf of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The site is hosted by the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA), which also hosted phase 1 of the Open Government Initiative. And once again, this is a three-phased project, with each phase taking about one week (and a few weeks in between phases). The first phase starts Monday, August 3.
It should be particularly interesting to watch if the conveners were able to incorporate any feedback from the various recent experiments of this kind and how their improvements play out.
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For the QHSR, do you think NAPA will use its regular platform (like it did for Recovery.gov)? http://www.thenationaldialogue.org/
Not sure. I was looking for hints as to what technology they would use this time around but didn’t find anything. I guess we’ll find out Monday.