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Tim Bonnemann

User Profile Image Tim Bonnemann
Member since : May-21-2009 (Verified)
1 Ideas, 12 Comments, 14 Votes

User Activity Stream

Ideas Posted

The basic idea is to make sure that any important information about past, current or upcoming government projects or programs in the areas of transparency, participation and collaboration is captured and shared in a timely manner and easily accessible to anyone interested in or affected by these projects/programs.

The project directory would contain project briefs, contact information, key performance indicators, lessons learned, media coverage, citizen feedback etc.

The knowledge base could include information on key people and organizations, tools, metrics, case studies etc. as well as checklists, how-tos and other best practices.

This information would benefit everyone involved (citizens, government, research, media, vendors etc.) by helping design better projects/programs as well as increase the likelihood of project/program success.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 4205 Ideas
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Comments Posted

Tim Bonnemann 9 months ago
@Enquirer

I agree that a lot of the issues brought up in this forum (healthcare, legalization of marijuana, balanced budget, foreign policy etc. etc.) are important and many people care deeply about them.

However, for the most part they do not relate to the topic at hand, which is to gather citizen input that will inform the crafting of the Open Government Directive (namely around the three principles for promoting a transparent and open government: transparency, participation, and collaboration).

Starting with Change.gov, there have already been a number of opportunities created by the new administration for citizens to discuss their most pressing issues, ask questions or brainstorm ideas online (and I'm pretty sure there will be many more, both general as well as focused on specific topics like this one here).

I think it's reasonable to ask people to respect the fact that every topic cannot be discussed every time and to refrain from flooding forums with off-topic remarks (there's also been a lot of foul language and name calling in recent days to a level that is hard to tolerate). It is also reasonable to allow the site moderators to gently keep their site in order (and as Steven's idea suggest, nothing would be deleted, but instead simply moved to the side).
Tim Bonnemann 9 months ago
Leaving off-topic ideas and spam unmoderated also forces those participants who come to this site with a sincere intention to contribute to dig through layers and layers of unrelated material. This makes participating more cumbersome and a lot less productive (and less fun). Any convener of e-participation effort of this kind would be well advised to being more mindful of their participants' precious time. In that sense, moderation and community management become a courtesy.
Tim Bonnemann 9 months ago
I've been tracking how the top 25 developed over time here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/planspark/3552325294/in/set-72157618585823580/

As of 05/28, the average age of the top 25 contributions was roughly 6 days (the program started 05/21, 8 days earlier). Half of the top 25 ideas were submitted on the first day (or even within the first hours).
Tim Bonnemann 9 months ago
Very good idea.

Earlier this year, I contacted the transition team with the same request in order to get a hold of the raw data from the Change.gov discussions but didn't hear back from them. At some point, they made available for download the content of over 3,500 comments from the economy discussion (alas, in a flat file with no structure and none of the metadata that would be essential for further analysis): http://change.gov/newsroom/entry/join_the_discussion_obama_economic_team_responds/
Tim Bonnemann 9 months ago
A matchmaking component that connects participation projects with research (e.g. universities, foundations) would also be nice.
Tim Bonnemann 9 months ago
Very much agree.

One of the main shortcomings of "crowdstorming" tools such as IdeaScale is that they often violate one of the core rules of good brainstorming, which is to suspend judgment (at least during the initial phase).

I blogged about this observation a few months ago:
Structuring Participant Input: Dynamic Facilitation, Brainstorming" (http://www.intellitics.com/blog/2009/02/15/structuring-participant-input-dynamic-facilitation-brainstorming/)
Tim Bonnemann 9 months ago
Possibly related: "Create an Open Government project directory and knowledge base" (http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/3420-4049)
Tim Bonnemann 9 months ago
Possibly related: "Create an Open Government project directory and knowledge base" (http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/3420-4049)
Tim Bonnemann 9 months ago
Another related idea: "Research and share best practices for targeted outreach to involve more than the usual suspects in public decision making" (http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/2961-4049).
Tim Bonnemann 9 months ago
Also, please expand on this idea (e.g. note the kind of information/resources you would like to see in such directory/knowledge base). Thanks!
Tim Bonnemann 9 months ago
It should be noted that this could probably be achieved in a light-weight and decentralized manner as well, as long as government is required to somehow "register" their project/program work and provide the necessary or available information in some standards-based format. That way, multiple third parties could work on exposing that information back to the end user (of course, there are pros and cons to this approach well).
Tim Bonnemann 9 months ago
Another idea "Establish a federal institute for public engagement" (http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/2434-4049) also suggests to "develop a knowledge-base."