David Ferriero is the 10^th Archivist of the United States and Head of the National Archives and Record Administration, including the Presidential Libraries.  The collection includes some 12 billion pages and 40 million photos and now holds all Federal Government tweets.  We explore the linkages between open government and record-keeping public data as well as how social media is challenging the notions of what defines a ‘record’.

Our mantra has been from the very beginning that you can’t have open government without good records management.

This interview comes a day after the opening of the National Archive’s first Office of Innovation.  The Archivist – or “Collector-in-Chief” – discusses large-scale public record-keeping in the digital era and offers advice for smaller libraries and public collections.  Mr Ferriero also declares his well-known enthusiasm for using social online channels to push archived content and digital assets to ‘where the people are’, including his Wikipedian-in-residence initiative.

About David Ferriero

David S Ferriero is a librarian, library administrator, and the 10th Archivist of the United States. He was Director of the New York Public Library; and before that, he was the University Librarian and Vice Provost for Library Affairs at Duke University. Prior to his Duke position, he worked for 31 years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology library. Ferriero is the first librarian to serve as Archivist of the United States.

National Archives and Records Administration

On July 28, 2009, President Obama nominated David Ferreiro to be 10th Archivist of the United States. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on November 6, 2009; and he was sworn in to his new office on November 13, 2009.

Ferriero used the public occasion to express his view that the National Archives is at a “defining moment with regard to our existing electronic records, social media communications, and emerging technologies being used throughout government offices.” He also noted “issues of collection security, the future of the Presidential Library system, backlogs in processing, staff job satisfaction, stakeholder relationships, preservation and storage needs.”

President Obama appointed Ferriero to simultaneously head the new National Declassification Center, which “has been given four years to go through 400 million pages of federal documents that remain top secret. They date to World War I.”

Other career highlights:

• MIT Libraries: Ferriero was Associate Director of Public Services at MIT Libraries. His MIT library career spanned 31 years.
• Duke University Library: Ferriero was the Rita DiGiallonardo Holloway University Librarian and Vice Provost for Library Affairs at Duke University from 1996 through 2004. Ferriero was the first Duke university librarian to address the members of the university’s Board of Trustees in person. He was actively involved in the evolution of North Carolina’s Triangle Research Libraries Network (TRLN).
• New York Public Library: Ferriero was the Andrew W. Mellon Director and Chief Executive of the Research Libraries at the New York Public Library (NYPL) from 2004. In 2007 his role expanded with additional responsibilities as director of New York Public Library’s (NYPL) Branch Libraries. He was responsible for the management and operations of NYPL’s Research Libraries since 2005 and the Branch Libraries since 2007. He presided over a major restructuring, which was accompanied by elimination of some positions and the creation of new ones.
• Cataloging: Ferriero was the NYPL’s Partner Representative in OCLC (Online Computer Library Center), which with its member libraries co-operatively produces and maintains WorldCat—the OCLC Online Union Catalog. During Ferriero’s tenure, the library stopped using the unique “Billings classification system” for its reference books in the Rose Reading Room (main reading room).
• Google digitization partnership: The NYPL joined the Google Books Library Project during Ferriero’s tenure. Google and major international libraries have agreed to making collections of public domain books available for scanning to be offered to the public online, without charge.
• Relationship with Wikipedia: As part of his tenure at the National Archives, Ferriero has taken an active interest in working with Wikipedia, of which he has called himself “a huge fan”. When questioned about the National Archives’s engagement with Wikipedia, his response was “The Archives is involved with Wikipedia because that’s where the people are.” Under Ferriero’s aegis, the National Archives has worked with the Wikimedia Foundation since 2009, having had a Wikipedian in Residence as well as uploaded thousands of images to Wikimedia Commons. He has quoted a blogger in saying: “If Wikipedia is good enough for the Archivist of the United States, maybe it should be good enough for you.”

Mr Ferriero is a Co-Chair and speaker at the  ICEGOV 2012 conference – hear his sneak preview (5 mins) of the conference here.

Biography source: Wikipedia
Feature images courtesy David Ferriero

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Episode links and resources

• The Archivist’s blog:   AOTUS: Collector in Chief at http://blogs.archives.gov/aotus
• Favorite Records of the Archivist of the United States (AOTUS)
• David S Ferriero: Speeches and Writings
• US National Archives
• US National Archives and Open Government
• US National Archives wiki
• US National Archives blogs
• US National Archives on Facebook
• US National Archives on Flickr
• US National Archives on You Tube

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Content comes first when it comes to delivering sustainable digital public services at Devon County Council. Carl Haggerty, Digital Communications Manager for the Council shares his insights on the importance of a digital content strategy, where his approach to designing services, not websites or platforms, is transforming the way the organisation interacts with its citizens.

Carl also discusses the UK Digital Government Service, and asks the question of whether there needs to be a Local Government Digital Service.

Developing the digital content strategy was about asking: What is the content? What’s it saying? How is it managed? How is it being shared? How is it being governed? All those kinds of issues about the content – that’s the only thing that mattered, it didn’t  matter which technology platform it sat in.

About Carl Haggerty

Carl Haggerty is Digital Communications Manager at Devon County Council, which is essentially about championing and developing the digital agenda within the council as well as being responsible for the councils corporate web presence and intranet. Carl is fascinated and keen to explore how people interact with information and technology to enable and facilitate local and global change.

Carl is also the Citizenscape Product Owner with Public I – A leading supplier of e-participation products and services to the public sector by supporting the strategic use of technology for communication and engagement and democratic renewal. His role is to champion strategic technical enhancements and the end user experience.

Carl has worked in Local Government for 16 years, with the last 10 in and around ICT, Communications, Web and Social Media. He was the first county council employee to publicly blog about his work and has been instrumental in encouraging and exploiting the use of social technologies within the council. Carl continues to promote the benefits of the web and social technologies across the Council. Carl has had a varied background working in Local Government on issues such as Strategic ICT, Communications and Marketing, Sustainable Development, Community Engagement & Development, Tourism and Economic Development.

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Episode links and resources

• Carl Haggerty
  Blog: http://carlhaggerty.wordpress.com
  Twitter: @carlhaggerty
  LinkedIn – http://www.linkedin.com/pub/7/1b2/99b
• Devon
  Council website
  News Centre
  In Devon
  Devon Strategic Plan
  Devon SEND pathfinder
  Policy Devon
  Tough Choices campaign site
• Open Space South West
  www.openspacesouthwest.info
  http://carlhaggerty.wordpress.com/2012/05/16/announcing-open-space-south-west-openssw/
  http://carlhaggerty.wordpress.com/2012/05/25/behind-the-scenes-of-open-space-south-west-openssw/
• Blog Posts
  http://carlhaggerty.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/devons-content-strategy/
  http://carlhaggerty.wordpress.com/2012/02/03/news-centre-the-content-strategy-in-action-sort-of/
  http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/2012/03/07/does-local-government-need-a-local-government-digital-service/

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• Tags: #gov20 #localgov

The Black Saturday fires devastated Australia and shocked the world. Now, the Country Fire Authority of Victoria has become a leading example of the use of social media for emergency management, winning this year’s Australian eGovernment award.

Martin Anderson, CFA’s Digital Media Manager and Australian Government 2.0 Innovator of the Year for 2012, explains how the experience of the February 2009 fires highlighted the importance of social communication tools in emergency situations, and that even within a command-and-control environment, agencies need to look outside the box, be flexible and improvise.

What I’m trying to do is explore and learn more myself, and also expose the principles of crowdsourcing and the benefits it can bring to the emergency services.

About Martin Anderson

Martin Anderson is the Digital Media Manager for the Country Fire Aurhority of Victoria, with a background in communications and journalism. During that time he has helped position the organisation as a recognised leader in the digital / social media field. His goal is to continue to use his diverse communication skills to help inform and engage people in ways that enhance their personal and working lives and encourage the development of strong, resilient communities both on and offline.

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Episode links and resources

• CFA Facebook – warnings, incident updates, community safety, general news
• CFA Twitter for warnings, incident updates, media releases
• CFA Twitter for general CFA news
• CFA connect website
• CFA YourTube channel
• CFA wins e-Government awards
• Social media in emergency management presentation http://youtu.be/_EPnCdTPwgM
• CFA / DSE warnings / incidents page – http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/warnings-and-incidents/index.htm
• Social media updates on website: http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/warnings-and-incidents/social-media-updates.htm
• FireReady mobile apps – http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/warnings-and-incidents/cfa-on-your-mobile.htm
• Article containing info on One Source, One Message http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/407737/country_fire_authority_preps_bushfires_hp/

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• Tags: #smem #gov2au #em2au

From deploying Yammer for policy and program support, to creative use of YouTube for recruitment, and through to using QR codes to create the world’s first Wikipedia town, the UK’s Monmouthshire County Council is a leading example of how local government can move beyond social tech to social communication for internal and external engagement.

Helen Reynolds, Communications Officer for Monmouthshire County Council discusses a selection of these innovative initiatives, and also shares her experience with introducing these ideas into local government, and how influence rather than ROI matters for public sector use of social media channels and tools.

By being in social spaces where people are, and by being relevant and providing information that’s timely and worth engaging with – that’s how we build our influence as government.

About Helen Reynolds

Helen works for Monmouthshire County Council and is responsible for the council’s social media programme.  She has also advised a number of other public sector organisations on making the most of new technologies for better engagement. As a result of the work she’s done Monmouthshire Council has taken a number of innovative approaches to engagement, won UK social media and PR awards and the authority has become a vastly more approachable organisation.

She’s particularly passionate about making government accessible and easier to understand.

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Episode links and resources

• Helen Reynolds’ blog 
• ROI of social media in public service
• Social media for social care: how Monmouthshire foster carers support each other with Yammer
• Monmouthpedia including Monmouthpedia Day
• Monmouthshire County Council social media page and guidance for staff (linked at the bottom) and council blog
• Some feedback on Twitter 
• Facebook and youth services
• Opening up social media access to all staff
• Recruiting on Youtube

Videos

On Monmouthpedia

On the foster carers Yammer community

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• Tags: #Monmouthpedia #monmouthshire #localgov #innovation #socmed

In “Revolution @ State” Fergus Hanson – Visiting Fellow from The Brookings Institution – explores practical cases of what US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has called ‘creative diplomacy’ and 21^st Century Statecraft.

A useful reference for agencies of all sizes, this wide-ranging report describes how the US Department of State has infused the use of connective tech through all aspects of their mission in a whole-of-organization approach, from operational development through to public diplomacy.

It became apparent that the US State Department was in a league of its own… there was a real cultural difference I think where the Department had really taken a position on modernizing.

About Fergus Hanson

Fergus Hanson is the Director of Polling at the Lowy Institute and is currently a Visiting Fellow in e-diplomacy at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC. He has a Masters in International Law from the University of Sydney and his published thesis focused on regional stability in the Pacific.

Fergus worked for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) from 2004 to 2007. From 2005 to 2007 he served at the Australian Embassy in The Hague where he was responsible for Australia’s relations with five international legal organisations and domestic political issues.

Prior to joining DFAT he was a fellow at Cambridge University’s Lauterpacht Research Centre for International Law. Fergus has also studied at Uppsala University.

Fergus was a visiting Vasey Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Pacific Forum from November 2010 to January 2011. He was awarded a 2011 Professional Fulbright scholarship to pursue further research on e-diplomacy and the use of opinion polling by foreign ministries at Georgetown University.

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Episode links and resources

• Revolution @ State: The spread of Ediplomacy – Report by Fergus Hanson
• US Department of State 21st Century Statecraft policy
• US Department of State Office of eDiplomacy
• Initiatives
  • Diplopedia wiki
  • Communities @ State blogs
  • Corridor
  • Virtual Student Foreign Service
  • Tech@State
  • TechCamp
  • Enterprise Search
  • Idea Exchanges
  • Virtual Presence Posts (VPPs)
  • Collaboration Clearinghouse

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Amanda Eamich from the US Department of Agriculture joins us to share some insights into her approach to including new media as part of the communications mix for the Department.

I always stress that we have an “And / Also” approach – we’re not going to throw out talking to newspapers and radio – these channels are extremely important, particularly in the agricultural industry and communities.

Amanda also talks about how to infuse innovation, open government and new media channels into the broader activities of the Department:

We definitely think through the entire lifecycle before jumping into any new tool or service, just to make sure we understand it fully and how it will help us achieve whatever the particular objectives are.

About Amanda Eamich

Amanda serves the U.S. Department of Agriculture as the Director of Web Communications, Office of Communications. Here she manages the Department’s web site and new media operations and strategic planning. The policies and programs of the USDA impact the lives of Americans every day – from food, agriculture, and science to natural resources – and there is an ever-present opportunity to communicate our mission effectively using new media. New media provides an outstanding opportunity for USDA to connect with consumers, customers and employees in new and interesting ways on a wide variety of topics and issues.

Recent efforts include the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food social media outreach, MyPlate, Apps for Healthy Kids competition, Open Gov efforts and developing overall strategic guidance for a wide range of communication campaigns throughout the Department.

Prior to joining the Office of Communications, Amanda served as a press officer for the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.

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Episode links and resources

• USDA New Media Channels
• Energy Investments Map, Matrix and Tool
• USDA at 150 – information and sign up for the Historical Facts and Photo series
• Recipes for Healthy Kids Challenge
• Apps for Healthy Kids Challenge and Game Jams that extended the conversation and expanded community of solvers
• Farmers market directory (also mobile optimized)
• USDA Results – example of “And/Also” approach of the standard 2-page PDF documents where key data points and accomplishments were extracted and paired with compelling photos from our the USDA catalog. Photos used throughout the Department, as Facebook cover, Flickr gallery
• “Think through the lifecycle” and “be prepared” – official one-page request form (AD-3022) that the USDA team requires that people think through before submitting new channel or tool requests
• Celebrating successes – a 2011 countdown with some favorites – new tools included!

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As the use of social and digital tools in the public sector increases, UK digital engagement advisor Steph Gray is helping to answer some of the knotty questions about how to maximise the value of digital engagement efforts and investment.  In March 2012, he launched the Digital Engagement Guide, a collection of ideas and practical help to use digital and social media in the public sector.

Digital engagement is about embracing the fact that these digital channels are interactive – that when you put something out there people reply to you: you need to answer questions, you need to respond to criticism, you need to engage in discussions that are already happening in places that you don’t control.

About Steph Gray

Steph is a digital engagement strategist and practitioner. In plain English: he writes digital strategies, manages projects, builds websites and delivers training and mentoring.

Steph was formerly Head of Digital Communications at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, leading a team managing corporate websites, digital engagement/social media, online public service delivery and internal digital channels. Under his leadership, the team earned a reputation across and beyond Government for practical innovation in support of the Department’s work, including pioneering approaches to online consultation, work with online communities and social media monitoring.

Steph is now a consultant, developer and coach to clients, helping them to use low-cost digital tools and techniques including social media to engage their audiences, work more collaboratively and save money. About half his work is still with UK central government. He also hosts a number of events aimed at digital practitioners, including MailCamp, a seminar on public sector email marketing and UKGovcamp, which brings together over 200 people interested in the public sector’s use of digital.

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Episode links and resources

• Digital Engagement Guide by Helpful Technology
• UK GovCamp as well as MailCamp and GrantsCamp
• Social Simulator
• Martha Lane Fox report Directgov 2010 and Beyond: Revolution Not Evolution
• UK Government G-Cloud service
• UK Government Digital Service

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• Tags: #mailcamp #ukgovcamp #ukgc12

In the first of Gov20 Radio’s Country Profile interviews, we look at connected government in the United Arab Emirates.

Host Allison Hornery is joined by Salem Al Shair Al Suwaidi, the Director General of Emirates eGovernment to talk about the journey of the Emirates to reach their current ranking by UNPAN’s recent eGovernment survey as #1 in the Arab region.

Mr Salem shares his candid insights into the challenges and benefits of eGovernment for federal agencies, city governments, local entrepreneurs and citizens.

When we started we had a very small team, however it was a team of highly motivated professionals and we had ‘removed the rooftop’ for creativity and innovation, and I think that’s what has put us at the forefront. We could not have achieved what we have if it wasn’t for opening the roof and having everybody chip in.

About Salem Al Shair Al Suwaidi

H. E. Salem Khamis Al Shair Al Suwaidi is the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA)’s Deputy Director General for Information and eGovernment.

In August, 2008, H. H. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan,  President of the United Arab Emirates appointed Al Suwaidi  as Director General of the General Information Authority (which was later merged with the TRA) and tasked him with the activation of the eGovernment programme at the federal level in the UAE.

Prior to that, Al Suwaidi held the position of eServices Director at Dubai eGovernment between 2000 and 2008, where he led the e-Governance transformation in Dubai government and contributed in raising the community’s e-literacy level to facilitate a new knowledge-based society in Dubai.

Al Suwaidi’s achievements and successes were recognised by various awards and honours. In April 2009, he received The Feigenbaum Leadership Excellence Award which is dedicated to honour men and women in the Arab World for their exemplary leadership in driving their organisations to fulfil their roles in business and society.

In September 2011, Al Suwaidi was granted the Arab eGovernment Pioneer Award by the Pan Arab Internet Academy and the Arab Administrative Development Organisation.

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Episode links and resources

• Revamped UAE national portal: government.ae
• UNPAN eGovernment Survey 2012 (PDF format)
• Emirates Telecommunications Regulatory Authority website
• Emirates eGov on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/emiratesegovernment
• Emirates eGov on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Emirates.eGov
• Emirates eGov on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/egovuae

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  @EmiratesEGov
• Tags: #UAE #egov #ae #gov20 #gov2ae #g2rUAE

Join us for a discussion with Julian Carver, a founding member of Open NZ – bringing citizens and government together around open data standards.

Julian also talks about the two recent devastating quakes in the Christchurch region of New Zealand, the loss of 60 percent of the central business district, and how open government principles are assisting the recovery process.