This internet technology that is currently being hosted by on ideascale.com is used to facilitate brainstorming from anyone with internet access and and idea so that good ideas can be collected and discussed. This brainstorming session ends May 28th. What happens after that? What if someone has a good idea, but missed this brainstorming session deadline. Why not make this technology a permanent part of government to keep it's ears open to the people so that anyone with a good idea can quickly and easily share it ANYTIME. If the idea is truly good, it will rise to the top and gain attention and benefit everyone. I would hate to see this technology be "shelved" and not available after this temporary period.
I would like to see the categories be expanded to cover all aspects of US government so that if I had an idea about technology or green energy, for example, there would be a category for that. For example, suppose I wanted to suggest the government look into funding research for determining the feasibility of using lightning (ie from thunderstorms) as a potential green energy source. I've heard there's a lot of energy in a lightning bolt - I've also heard not so much. I would like to be able to share that idea and see what people think. If the idea is truly revolutionary, perhaps the idea would gain attention of top government officials who have decision making power and act on it, put some research dollars into it and maybe benefit the country. How else can a layman submit such ideas? Perhaps there are ways, but would could be easier?
Comments (12)
I don't think it was well announced to the public.
I would be into a periodic or a bi-annual brainstorming.
To the degree the topic of brainstorming may focus on technology, anyone can use the CIO Council's ET.gov site/process to identify and try to build communities of practice (CoPs) around emerging technologies. http://et.gov/
Good idea but only works if there is some mechanism for follow-up or for insuring that the ideas are actually read and passed on. Otherwise it is like the old cartoon where the company suggestion box empties directly into the trash can.
I only found out about this on the day it's supposed to end! If this brainstorming thing turns out to be valuable, we should absolutely keep doing it.
But there should be a length display limit to the ideas. If people want to see the rest of a really LONG idea, they should be able to open it in a new tab, instead.
The complexities of business and invention need not be compromised in supporting standard portal connections. The ability to connect to the rest of the world and access the strength of community the web has to offer is vital for all humanity to compete in future learning environments. The fundamental secure portal that this writing refers to is a high level secure portal connection, the device offers the user the immediate ability to connect and transmit or receive data on the move. It unifies what is technically possible and marketable into a single device. Vital statistics would be monitored and available to the user for analysis. Applications that enhance the user in interactions with the community at large offer advantages that right now while available, are weakened in usefulness by fragmented and independent design. The trends in communications design and embedded applications have made rapid acceptance in society. The convergence with green power generation from the user coupled with embedded applications that provide enhancements for connectivity would also assist in societies efforts to reign in cybercrime. A standard portal device will offer encryption levels that are hack proof and will be designed to ensure user privacy. A citizen standard connection portal, in the spirit of transparency the strength in the adoption lies in the societal acceptance. When all citizens have the power of connectivity to participate in the strength of community, opportunity for enhanced learning becomes more powerful as well.
The costs of governance have the potential for drastic reduction. By merely giving every person in America immediate connectivity no matter where they are in the world reduces the infrastructure costs of providing the services of government and society as a whole. By giving this level of possibility to all Americans the strength of what it means to participate in building success will become immediately apparent. The design of this device through peer review across the population’s diverse spectrum of scientists’, business leaders, social network professionals and government agencies, along with the public at large will give 21st century clout to the protection offered within the constitution.
Cyber security will be made highly affordable to implement as the standard would have the largest audience not only in its creation but as well in its deployment. Once deployed the increased connectivity to efficiently deliver the services primarily of government but of all aspects of societal interactions, will be the 21st century platform for all cumulative societal efforts engaged in national and global prosperity.
Wireless connectivity offers the most efficient transition to full participatory access for all Americans.
Given some of the most popular ideas, like ending the war on people, err, drugs, I would like to see accountability now for why our government ignores such things.
We need a clean, clear, and effective route for challenging these things.
Every congressmen should have a site like this where people can register as their constituents or guests and ask questions and answerss in an open public format. Then and only then will we the people begin to hope that our representation does exactly that.
When I posted http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/3863-4049 , I did not see this, We agree, in general. thanks... I would add:
1) This site is a good first step, but I think it can be improved. (My post had some suggestions, please consider adding your own.
2) Re: kdtroxel, I'd prefer to centralize the information, and then let congressmen be notified of your interest and let them comment here.
3) I would hope that IdeaScale.com could comment as to their ideas as to how to continue this, improve it, and possibly pay for it.
4) Finally, I'd like to get the Administration involved. My suggestion is that they comment on the top few ideas each week so that the people who do participate in it see that their thoughts are being listened to.
If you replace up or down voting with ranking (e.g. 0-5), the cream is more likely to float to the surface.
Re: mkelly , I agree that a -5 to +5, or however one expresses Strong NO to Strong Yes would probably be more indicative and that it seems to be a good idea.
I'd add that I'd like to see more "sorting" options, The -5...+5 allows a sorting option to show the average score rather than the total score, as we have now, and would allow people to see those items that do not yet have a large number of votes, but do have the people who voted being strongly Positive (or Negative) GOOD. I'd add that it would be nice to have all 4 sorting possibilities:
1) Highest number of Positive-Negative
2) Lowest number of Positive-Negatives
3) Highest Average Score (-5...+5)
4) Lowest Average Score (-5...+5)
as well as a being able to select the items that have words of interest to the viewer, are in the category of interest...
To echo Josh Senecal, this should have been more widely advertised, but given that this was the first time I think it was great.
Having this more broadly available for Congress is even more crucial per kdtroxel comments. If we can make them feel more connected to their constituents and other citizens I'm sure it will impact them positively.