Product Description
Wiki Government shows how to bring innovation to government. In explaining how to enhance political institutions with the power of networks, it offers a fundamental rethinking of democracy in the digital age. Collaborative democracy-government of the people, by the people, for the people-is an old dream. Today, Wiki Government shows how technology can make that dream a reality. In this thought-provoking book, Beth Simone Noveck illustrates how collaborative democracy strengthens public decisionmaking by connecting the power of the many to the work of the few. Equally important, she provides a step-by-step demonstration of how collaborative democracy can be designed, opening policymaking to greater participation. "Wiki Government" tells the story behind one of the most dramatic public sector innovations in recent years - inviting the public to participate in the patent examination process. Patent examiners usually work in secret, cut off from essential information and racing against the clock to master arcane technical claims. The Peer-to-Patent project radically transformed this process by allowing anyone with Internet access to collaborate with the agency in reviewing patent applications. "Wiki Government" describes how a far-flung team of technologists, lawyers, and policymakers pried open a tradition-bound agency's doors. Noveck explains how she brought both fiercely competitive companies and risk-averse bureaucrats on board. She discusses the design challenges the team faced in creating software to distill online collaboration into useful expertise, not just rants or raves. And she explains how law, policy, and technology can be revamped to help government work in more open and participatory ways in a wide range of policy arenas, including education and the environment.
About the Author
Beth Simone Noveck is a professor of law and director of the Institute for Information Law and Policy at New York Law School and a visiting professor at Stanford University. She is a Senior Advisor to the Technology, Innovation, and Government Reform Policy Working Group for the Obama-Biden Transition and advised the campaign on innovation in government. She pioneered the creation of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Peer-to-Patent: Community Patent Review pilot, the federal government's first social networking initiative that has inspired similar projects in the U.K. and Japan.
Product Details
- Hardcover: 224 pages
- Publisher: Brookings Institution Press (April 30, 2009)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0815702752
- ISBN-13: 978-0815702757
Monday, June 22, 2009
Wiki Government
At Government 2.0: Policy and Practice, Roxanne Missingham, from the Parliamentary Library mentioned the book "Wiki Government: How Technology Can Make Government Better, Democracy Stronger, and Citizens" by Beth Simone Noveck (Brookings Institution Press, April 2009). The book mentions a Melbourne City Council wiki used for their ten year plan (on page 162).
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