We’re just in the process of wrapping up the exciting online dialogue project that we’ve been working on with the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) in the USA, http://www.thenationaldialogue.org/healthit.
This has been a great project for many reasons, not least the incredible professionalism and ability of our stateside clients, but I particularly liked the way they described the project:
In late October, just before a critical presidential election, citizens and stakeholders around the nation will join a unique experiment in 21st century democracy. The National Academy of Public Administration, on behalf of the Federal CIO Council, the Office of Management and Budget, and the General Services Administration, will host an online national dialogue that demonstrates a fundamentally different approach to the work of government.
This national dialogue will engage a diverse group of voices in tackling one of the key issues confronting the nation’s health care system: How can we use information technology to improve the way patients interact with the healthcare system, while safeguarding their right to privacy? Participants will
have an opportunity to discuss challenges, generate breakthrough ideas, and recommend principles that will be presented to the next Administration.
‘A fundamentally different approach to the work of government’? ‘An opportunity to discuss challenges, generate breakthrough ideas, and recommend principles that will be presented to the next Administration‘? Now those are the sorts of exciting, ambitious we like to be able to say about our projects!
NAPA were commissioned to find a topic and method to make this online experiment work; they brought on board all kinds of capable advisers and companies, such as citizen engagement specialists AmericaSpeaks, and, I’m pleased to say, had a look at several different options for the technology supplier before deciding to go with us.
The brief was essentially to gauge the opinion and hear the ideas of stakeholders and the American public around this topic of healthcare, IT and privacy. Between NAPA’s vision and our recommendations, we decided to build an ‘ideas and comments’ site with social consensus-building add-ons like tagging and rating systems, and to roll out an Opinion Tracker. The time-limited dialogue has now closed but you can have a look at the site at thenationaldialogue.org/healthit.
The results and analysis of the dialogue are currently being put together and turned into a full report but you can have a look at NAPA’s initial round-up slideshow below:
View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: government e-democracy)
I really can’t overstate how much we enjoyed working on this project, despite a busy studio and tight turnaround time. Here’s hoping for more, similar opportunities in future.
I’d just like to second Ben’s comments. I was the project manager for this build and found NAPA’s approach inspiring. The project was fun and we really felt like we were making a difference.
NAPA’s enthusiasm ran right through the process here at Delib-towers, everyone involved, from the developers to the directors, enjoyed the project. Here’s to many more of the same!