Open Doors Catching Fire

For instance, because few of us feel comfortable deviating from what is considered normal, tax repayment rates have been shown to improve when people are told the majority of their neighbours have already paid.

That's true.  Now, skip down the article a bit...

The same sentiments are reflected in policy strategy documents the world over.

Everyone is moving in the same direction - we'll all get there, eventually, but the question is who are the trailblazers?  Who are the ones history (and electorates) will remember as first to the top of the mountain?  

Governments (both the elected and civil service sides) can play catch-up to where others are already going, or they can take a bit of risk, think a little different and lead the way forward.

With initiatives like OpenGov, OpenData and even workplace psychological health and safety, jurisdictions in Canada are on the right track.  With super innovative, proactive and user-friendly digital support tools and services like Guardly, RealTimeCrisis and WalkAlong, we're creating value that other jurisdictions are looking to learn from.

We can get there; we just need to pull together and keep moving forward.

Mapping the Future of Government Services (UPDATED)

Traditionally, government has done a terrible job of presenting information - lists in silos rather than maps in systems.

I have suggested that it's possible to do better by designing service presentation in a way that's intuitive for end-users.

Glad to see someone's listening.

UPDATED: Better than listening - it's nice to see people responding, too.  There are more such initiatives out there, too.  It's a Bold New World...

UPDATED-ER: Maps, yes, but if there's way to bring data to life, that's even better.  People relate to images and motion better than they do to static, highly-contextualized symbols (like letters or numbers) on a page.

Love the fact that so many people are looking for ways to bridge the gaps between us, and between our information.  After all, it's through understanding is the place where diversity meets and innovation happens, creating that better world we all crave.