FREEDyourMind

Welcome Dave Lewan!

Our work in the government and nonprofit space has been exploding lately...between our thought leadership (our new e-gov transparency research, our report on satisfaction with nonprofit websites, and the quarterly ACSI E-Gov Index) and our client work (hundreds of federal, state, and local clients, along with numerous nonprofits and associations), we needed someone great to lead our work in this area.

Enter Dave Lewan, our new Director of Government and Public Sector Markets. You can read all about his excellent qualifications in our press release or on Linked In, but the main point is that we're excited about his strong leadership, which will help us continue to serve government and nonprofit clients with the solutions, methodology, and technology that will help them make the most of their online initiatives.

Feel free to email Dave (dave.lewan@foreseeresults.com) or visit him on Twitter to say hello (@davelewan) and we hope he'll be contributing to a new e-gov blog we have in the works. You'll have a chance to meet him and share your ideas with him next week at the Gov2.0 Summit in DC and again at our annual public sector user conference: Digital Citizen (Oct.8th in DC).

Welcome, Dave!

ACSI E-Gov Index Results and New Online Transparency Research

The ACSI's quarterly E-Gov Index was released today and we saw scores hold steady from last quarter--73.6 on the study's 100-point scale. Problem is, scores dropped last quarter, so we aren't seeing a rebound yet. Personally, I think this has a lot to do with the fact that departments and agencies are in a holding pattern waiting for specific guidance on how to implement all the fancy Web 2.0 stuff that the White House wants them to do. And the White House has been collecting public input about what they should do.

The hot new thing in government is open government, transparency, collaboration, participation . . . watch how often you see those words in memos and news conferences and government tweets.

This brings me to the other piece of research we released today on transparency and e-gov. We've seen over the years that online citizen satisfaction plays a huge role in government efficiency and effectiveness. So we decided to test out whether it related to online transparency, collaboration, participation, and even trust in government, Turns out there is a huge relationship.

Online customer satisfaction directly impacts citizens trust in government. Not only that, online satisfaction impacts their likelihood to participate and collaborate with an agency in the future. Highly satisfied federal website visitors are:
• 49% more likely to trust the agency or department overall;
• 54% more likely to participate in communication with the agency online or offline in the future;
• 73% more likely to collaborate with the agency online in the future using interactive features such as wikis or blogs;
• 54% more likely to return to the site;
• 78% more likely to recommend the site;
• 77% more likely to use the site as a primary resource for interaction with the agency overall.

This strikes me as huge. Just by improving the website, you can impact trust, collaboration, and even cost-saving behaviors like using the site as a primary resource.

So how do you increase satisfaction? It's going to differ from site to site, depending both on existing strengths and weaknesses and on the site's mission. But in aggregate, we found that the top priorities are online transparency and online search. That means that focusing on those two things will have the greatest impact on online satisfaction.

So in short, online transparency leads to online satisfaction. Online satisfaction leads to trust, collaboration, participation, cost savings, efficiency, effectiveness, and a chicken in every pot.

We're really excited about the potential of this research. Stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks.

Q1 E-Gov Satisfaction Results are Here

How are e-gov websites doing in the eyes of us citizens?  The latest report from ForeSee Results and the University of Michigan is now available, measuring over 100 e-government websites using the proven methodology of the American Customer Satisfaction Index.

Quick Summary:
Overall satisfaction with e-gov sites is 73.6 (on a scale of 1-100) down from 74.1 last quarter. This follows 3 quarters of increases. 

Why?  One reason is expectations are much higher now then in the past.  With President Obama's internet savvy campaign and internet savvy staff, the expectations are for better, more usable and more functional e-gov sites.   Well, it has been 100 days, which is a lifetime in an internet company, but a relatively short time for Government.  The future looks bright but we are not there yet.

Get the full commentary here.

Yahoo, Microsoft, and Google Agree on Something

 . . . and that is that info from federal government websites should be findable through using private sector search engines.

Apparently up to 1000 federal websites are not searchable on Google, Yahoo, Ask, or MSN because the information is held in a way that the search engines can't index it (often behind a form that needs to be filled out).

It will be interesting to see how this changes now that Obama has named Google and Yahoo people to his inner circles of tech advisors.

Sure, the search engines probably want access to the info because it will help them. But it also seems it would really help the citizenry if all of that information was available through a standard Google search instead of having to go to the agency website and know exactly what to look for.

Wow - 15th in the world! Not good.

President-elect Obama, in his Press Conference last Saturday, spoke about how poorly our broadband adoption in the US is and vowed to improve it.  I was shocked that we are 15th in the world.  That is sad.

He went on to say, "Here, in the country that invented the internet, every child should have the chance to get online, and they'll get that chance when I'm President, because that's how we'll strengthen America's competitiveness in the world."

Now I clearly agree that we should have much higher adoption of broadband usage (which means we need broader and cheaper broadband made available).  And clearly, the youth of today are the ones that are the hope for our future competitiveness.  But I think it will take a little more then just getting every child online: we also need to rise above the competition from other countries on Instant Messenger, Facebook, YouTube, etc..  And in my house of 3 boys, we definitely can take on the world in Fantasy Football.

All kidding aside, it is embarassing that we are 15th in the world in Broadband adoption.  Maybe part of Obama's works program will include a national grid of internet accessibility.  This might be a good use of wimax. Eric Peterson's letter to Obama (which was excellent) should have a p.s. added to it on building an accessible internet grid. Also a good reason for a E-Gov Czar (or Chief Internet Officer) to be added to the office of the Government CIO.

Dear President Obama

Eric Peterson has a great post up about the issue of persistent cookies and federal government websites. I think many of our clients would agree that their inability to use persistent cookies has been a barrier for them. Any federal government web people care to weigh in on this?

Change.gov

As predicted, some of the unprecedented levels of citizen involvement in the Obama campaign are trickling over into the administration, or at least the interim period.

Change.gov is up and running. One of its features is a page where you can submit your thoughts on what the biggest priorities for the federal government should be, and you can also share your ideas on solutions. I don't know who will be reading these ideas or how they will be integrated into government, but it's an ambitious application of Web 2.0 feedback to the federal government. The trick will be showing people you are actually listening to them and actually acting on their ideas, and that they are not just submitting thoughts into a vacuum. It will be interesting to see how they actually implement citizen feedback in the next administration...I don't think any previous administration has tried anything like that.

Also, I would like to see the craziest ideas they get compiled into some kind of coffee table book, because I bet they will get some doozies.  Who knows, the revenue they could make from that coffee table book could help fund the bailout.

Obama Prioritizes High-Tech Policy

According to the Washington Post, Obama has named high-tech executives from Google and IAC to his transition team, sending a strong signal that he's going to continue his campaign's focus on technology into his administration.

Obviously ForeSee Results operates in a sector of government that is even more specific than "high-tech:" specifically e-government and the way that the federal government can use the internet to offer citizens information and services. And the fact that Obama specifically chose execs from Google and IAC does indicate a heavy focus on the internet. All signs are that an Obama administration will expand federal initiatives online; hopefully there will be a continued interest in accountability and metrics as well.

One example only two days after the election: Obama's team is developing a new website, www.change.gov, which will supposedly launch today. This is a sign to me that Obama understands the power of the internet as a communication tool and as a way to involve citizens in governance, though it will be interesting to see how the change.gov website develops and how the administration evaluates its success at meeting stated objectives.

No matter what, Obama's campaign certainly revolutionized the use of the internet, and it would be a mistake to pull back from his exploitation of that powerful tool.

We work with hundreds of federal government websites. To our clients: is there any specific support you would like to receive from the new administration that would make your efforts to interact with citizens online any easier?

E-Gov Continues Upward Trend

Our quarterly rating of nearly 100 federal government websites is available today. You can read about it in Internet News or in the government trade publications, or you can download the full report on our website.

The report finds that the government has done a great job satisfying citizens with e-gov initiatives so far, But we’ve really only scratched the surface of e-gov’s potential, and a change in administration is the perfect time to implement new policies, executive orders, and legislation that will support the work of federal workers to deliver superior information and services to the citizenry via the web.

One week from today, we will be electing a new president. Each candidate has promised that his administration will bring change, improve transparency, and increase accountability to United States citizens. Fears about the economy are at a fevered pitch, and whoever wins will inherit an economy where efficiency in government has never been more important. It will be crucial to save money wherever possible.

As the candidates spar about saving money on earmarks, energy independence, federal government efficiency, or any of the other proposals intended to offset the controversial $700B bailout, let's talk about how technology—specifically increasing adaptation and sophistication of e-gov initiatives—could kill two birds with one stone. E-gov programs that satisfy citizens will encourage more people to use the website not only to get information but also as their primary channel of interaction with the government. These two kinds of usage save the government and the people both time and money while fostering democracy, increasing accountability, and improving transparency.  

I'm working on an op-ed about this topic. I know that the next prez will have a lot on his plate, but anything that saves money and increases efficiency and transparency should be a priority.

Meanwhile, kudos to all the great federal employees who are working hard to make services and information available to citizens online, and extra kudos to those who are succeeding with flying colors.

Multichannel VP Debate?

It's all-politics-all-the-time over here and I'm thinking that people are watching the debates the same way they watch the Emmy's . . .maybe people are taking even more advantage of the merged channel idea when it comes to political things because of the flurry of emails and blog posts and YouTube clips that pop up starting even minutes after the debate is over.

So the true political junkies could watch the debate on TV while fact checking and reading along with pundits and live bloggers on their laptop, then review key moments on YouTube, network websites, etc. the next morning. You can use your iPhone while you're stuck in traffic to post a snarky status update on your Facebook page, mocking whichever candidate you thought was more mockable.

In what was the most hyped VP debate that I can remember, did it live up to your expectations?  A search on Google News for "VP Debate" yields 4,613 stories.  I think the headline from the Boston Herald probably sums it up pretty well, "It's all substance, and no sideshow".

Out of curiosity, how many of you skipped the televised debates all together and just watching selected clips online the next day?