“Change the world or the world will change you”

I’ve been speaking to several local councils recently and noticed that alot of local council websites are still not Web 2.0. Although many were already on their way to apply Web 2.0 to their websites, I fear to think of those who haven’t even considered it…

The fact is, your constituents are already online and using Web 2.0 tools to communicate and collaborate with each other. So if you’re a leader of a local council and your website is still not Web 2.0… shouldn’t you be?

Here’s a clipping from ComputerWorld on Federal websites in the United States getting a Web 2.0 makeover.

“Using these Web 2.0 tools is a huge opportunity for government to be transparent and save valuable tax dollars,” said Beverly Godwin, director of USA.gov, in a statement. “Tools such as RSS feeds and gadgets allow the public to directly access content from the original source, no matter which Web site they’re on. It reduces duplication across government, because an agency creates content once and makes it available for reuse by others.”

Link to the whole article here

Take a look at some Web 2.0 local council websites.

1. Cheltenham BC
2. Lichfield DC
3. Devon County Council – just got a new facelift. Really nice!
4. Redbridge Council

My favourite quotes from the second video:

“Change the world or the world will change you”

“How do we make so when someone steps into government, they feel not empowered but they feel like they’ve entered a kingdom, where everything becomes possible.”

Web 2.0 “Once u get religion, it seems people keep finding more and more ways of doing this. To tap new audiences and go around traditional structures and become as agile as the threat or the opportunities. And bring leadership that top of the pyramid together with the bottom. Hopefully we’ll move faster and faster as a government towards bending that frame and getting towards transformational change and closing that gap.”

Have a look at the videos below if you want to know more about the Web 2.0 Government.

As technology deepens and it’s day-to-day impact is increasingly relied upon by citizens, governments at all levels are facing pressure to embrace the information age and do more with less.
Deloitte Video – Great Quotes!

Popularity: 3% [?]

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The Videos: Web 2.0 – Transforming Government by Local Government Engagement Online Research, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.