LET'S KEEP THE CONVERSATION GOING – A Plan for Tomorrow's Government Services

I wrote this conceptual piece on how to enhance government services a bit over a year ago - man, things are moving fast, aren't they?

BUILDING A CONSCIOUS SOCIETY – A PLAN FOR TOMORROW’S GOVERNMENT SERVICES

1 - Cognitive Labour/Mental Health

-       Focuses on Human Resource supports, cognitive workspace design and supporting/enhancing outputs of cognitive labour resources, mitigating negative mental health stressors

http://www.positivepsychologycanada.com/

http://www.mentalhealthworks.ca/

2 - Innovation/ Information Economy

-       Builds on cognitive labour/ mental health piece by focusing on go-forward side of cognitive labour: building new markets and generating innovation. 

-          Seeks to connect individuals, companies and sectors in new ways to gestate collaboration and innovation; create new partnerships, new fields and new opportunities. 

-          ThinkFair one example of a project that could be implemented and tested for its efficacy; would include “policy generating game” as innovative way to facilitate collaborative innovation

3 - Online Service Aggregates

US Government has already released a roadmap for Digital Government.  Canada / Ontario needs to catch up to this trend through the creation of Online Shared Services Networks that aggregate services, collate data, allow for user interface and personal ownership of data while presenting material in a map-based interface with Apple-like clarity of presentation.

Guardly an example of an existing piece that could be expanded to test this model on a smaller scale.

4 - Service Restructuring

One of the core themes of the Drummond Report http://www.fin.gov.on.ca/en/reformcommission/ was about big structural changes, aggregations and reducing the silo-effect that's leading to duplication, gaps and overlaps in our services.  There has been early discussions around structuring government differently; hiring, managing, funding, etc.  Whether there's the appetite or will to enact systematic change is yet to be seen, but people know it has to happen sooner or later.

 5 – Justice Reform

Applying what we know of Social-Emotional and resortative justice tools to rehabilitate offenders; look at the education side to provide these tools earlier in life, allowing for better choices at the individual level; empowering justice officials through the implementation of other Parts of the strategy

Let’s keep the conversation going!

No, not this one (yet).

I'm sure there are many people who've seen picture emerging over the past several years that I have; as a society, we're wriggling out of the of an old skin to fully explore the potential of a new one.

It's an exciting time to be alive.

An App That Saved 10,000 Lives

While most start-ups feverishly track figures like the total number of users, Ron Gutman, the founder and chief executive of the health information start-up,HealthTap, is more interested in a different data point.

This week, the start-up heard from its 10,000th user who said the site saved her life.

“My local doctor brushed me off and told me it was anxiety without doing any tests at all,” wrote one woman who turned to HealthTap after seeing her doctor. After spending two hours on HealthTap, she was told by a doctor who contributes to the site that her condition sounded like a blocked artery. She soon saw a cardiology specialist who later inserted a coronary stent.

Since its founding in 2012, the site has logged nearly a billion questions and answers, from simple queries about headaches or the flu, to more complicated ones, like whether mechlorethamine is a cancer medication. Questions are then routed to a physician who is both an expert in that particular field of medicine, and who is determined by an algorithm to be likely to respond fast, Mr. Gutman said.

None of that would be possible without the participation of nearly 50,000 doctors who contribute their advice free. (Every page on the site has a disclaimer saying that the site “does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.”)

HealthTap, which is both a Web site and a mobile application, was recognized at its introduction for applying the principles of gaming — features like badges, rewards and reputation scores — to health care. Today, however, that has shifted.

If “gamification” was the hot phrase driving new app design 18 months ago, today start-ups are increasingly looking to the principles of behavioral psychology to encourage behaviors and return visits. HealthTap’s evolution shows how moving to behavioral psychology has helped it increase its number of users and the number of doctors who offer knowledge on the site at no cost.

Instead of the goofy digital awards that were featured in an earlier version of HealthTap, the site’s rewards for doctors have been now recast as decorous professional markers of accomplishment. Instead of the “Doogie Howser Award,” physicians are given more serious designations like “advocates,” “mentors” or “founding experts.”

A special dashboard on the site provides a slate of ego-boosting statistics and prompts with physicians’ reputation scores, user comments and most crucially, areas in which other doctors consider them experts.

This way, the site appeals to the value that doctors place on reputation, expertise and authority. It is also marketed to doctors as a way to find new patients.

“There’s something really powerful in the ability to create positive feedback loops,” said Mr. Gutman, who learned through his many conversations with doctors that they craved something simple after days full of appointments — they simply wanted to be thanked.

So now, after a person receives an answer from a HealthTap doctor, they are prompted by the system to thank the doctor, or the site, or both. The woman with the blocked artery, for example, was even prompted to indicate if the service saved her life — a smart touch that not only helps the site track its success, but offers incredibly powerful reason for a doctors to keep coming back and answer more questions.

Stephen Harper Reads WAKATA

 

“The government is also examining opportunities to streamline its web presence by making it easier for Canadians to find and access government information on the web through a single entry point,” explains the federal budget.

 

 

Creating an online service hub that makes it easier and more intuitive for users to determine and access the services that they want is actually a really good idea - one I've discussed before:

 

- Digital Government service platforms that facilitate information access

 

- Using mobile device Aps like Guardly as a model to bring services (online and in person) that much closer to end users

 

- Building on the model of video games to create a "hub world" that adds value and empowers service users to develop skills at the same time as accessing services

 

 

That's okay - I'm totally fine with the Prime Minister cribbing my ideas.  A bit of recognition, though, would go a long way towards encouraging other engaged citizens to share their innovative ideas for streamlining service or improving productivity or fostering innovation.

 

But yeah, there's a chance Harper isn't cribbing from me; he could be cribbing from the US.  Or Australia.

 

Either way, it just goes to show that innovation doesn't happen in a vacuum - progressive ideas happen through collaboration and sharing.

 

Of course, the concerns raised in the article above are valid; the Harper government has a history of shrinking public access to information; they've curtailed the Census, they've denied bureaucrats the right to speak, defunded NGOs they don't like, built up cones of silence around Parliamentary activity and are even stifling their Caucus.

 

Canadians should be very concerned that Harper and co will continue to starve knowledge in their drive to develop The Master Switch.  The trick isn't to get mad and fight against the very idea of improving online service access, though - that would defeat the underlying progressive purpose.  Instead, the goal should be to get creative.

 

People do have trouble accessing public services in their present format.  They do spend tons of time online.  And they like online stuff that is both informative, fun and rewarding.  Better service presentation would reduce duplication, gaps and overlaps (and related costs) and making engagement rewarding will encourage people to be proactive.

 

How do you get the public engaged in service reform using modern technology and use a bit of charm offensive to build political traction at the same time?

 

Smart political operatives will be seeking partners to answer those questions and have a plan in place for the next election.