Posts Tagged Web20

Understanding Web 2.0: Impacts and Future Direction

Web 2.0 technologies have democratized publishing and led to significant changes in the way people communicate. Looking at the internet as a platform, with user-generated content in wikis, blogs, social networking and social media sites, we are in a period of significant innovation and change.  In developing guidance for the use of Web 2.0 technologies both internally to DoD operations and externally in communicating and interacting with the public, we are investigating the current state and trend in Web 2.0 technologies.

In line with this, we have a number of areas to investigate and we would like input via use of the comments function on the following topics:

Social Networking Services Portability: Looking at social networking services, there seem to be a number of efforts under way to make an individual’s social network portable.  We are looking for thoughts on where social networking services portability is today, and where you expect this idea to be in the next three to five years.

Impact on Web 2.0 Technologies to Critical Business Processes: Web 2.0 technologies have led to direct impacts on how businesses have organized.  What business processes do you think have been most directly affected, and more importantly, what type of environment must exist for these technologies to make the most impact? The environment in this case refers both to cultural concerns and the key technology issues that need to be addressed.

Succinct Web 2.0 Definition: There have been a number of different definitions proposed for Web 2.0 technologies.  Part of the challenge involves communicating this Web 2.0 concept to those who have not used Web 2.0 technologies, and are not involved in the technology field.  If you were to pair down Web 2.0 to its essence, what would be your very succinct definition (no longer than one sentence)?

Best Web 2.0 Reference: There has been a lot written about Web 2.0 technologies and their impact on society.  Some discuss Web 2.0 technologies in terms of generational issues, some refer to the technology shift in the way applications are built.  If you were going to pick one reference (video, article, book, etc) that best discusses this shift in a way that a non-technical laymen could understand, which would you recommend?

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Welcome to the DoD Web 2.0 Guidance Forum

The Department of Defense (DoD) Web 2.0 Guidance Forum is a new initiative to solicit input from the public that has been undertaken in the spirit of President Obama’s Open Government Directive.  President Obama issued a memorandum on 21 January 2009 entitled, “Transparency and Open Government,” which emphasized the need to ensure public trust and to establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. We are using this blog as an approach to engage the public in Department of Defense (DoD) considerations of web 2.0 capabilities, and are excited to participate in this new facet to the President’s openness and transparency efforts.

The Web 2.0 Guidance Forum will allow the public to comment and make suggestions to key DoD decision makers regarding useage of Web 2.0 capabilities.  Involving the public and allowing for suggestions serves two purposes. First, it will act as a “gut” check to ensure public buy-in on possible decisions as they are being discussed.  Second, it will provide an opportunity for the public to aid in sensemaking around Web 2.0 definitions and use, and to contribute creative solutions and ideas that may inform our overall approach towards Web 2.0.

The Web 2.0 Guidance Forum is open to the general public for comments.  That said, the public stakeholder groups we are most interested in hearing from include the following:

  • Families of military serving overseas
  • DoD interest groups, including veterans groups, think tanks, academia and others
  • The Web 2.0 technology community
  • Government-Industry groups focused on how government and industry collaborate, and most importantly
  • Soldiers and sailors and civilians currently using Web 2.0 tools

Logistics: The associated topics for discussion will be introduced by a DoD Web 2.0 Forum team member, one at a time.  After the third day, there will be a summary entry before moving onto the next topic.  Commenting by the public on each topic will be available for the entire duration of the Web 2.0 Forum input process.  At the conclusion, the Web 2.0 team will draft a final entry summarizing the conversations and comments and will then notify the Web 2.0 Development Team of the results.

The set of topics we intend to cover, as well as the proposed schedule of events are listed below (there may be minor shifts in the order the questions are asked).

  • Friday, Jul 31: (Entry 1) Initial Blog Entry by Tamie Lyles-Santiago, introducing DoD Web 2.0 Forum
  • Sunday Aug 2: (Entry 2) Scope of Web 2.0, and near-future direction and impacts
  • Thusday, Aug 6: (Entry 3) Summary Entry
  • Thursday Aug 6: (Entry 4)  Use of Web 2.0 by military families and friends to connect with loved ones overseas
  • Monday, Aug 10: (Entry 5) Summary Entry
  • Monday Aug 10: (Entry 6) Value that Web 2.0 capabilities can provide to current and future DoD operations
  • Wednesday, Aug 12: (Entry 7) Summary Entry
  • Thursday, Aug 13: (Entry 8 ) How broadly should SNS and other commercial Web 2.0 services be used by DoD service members and employees and for what purpose?
  • Monday, Aug 17: (Entry 9) Summary Entry
  • Monday, Aug17: (Entry 10) Use of Web 2.0 for government-industry connectivity to improve innovation and situational awareness of DoD capability needs and industry options
  • Thursday, Aug 20: (Entry 11) Summary Entry

We plan on keeping the Web forum available and open for comments through the end of August.  At that time, the comment feature for the existing entries will be turned off.  We expect additional posts to provide updates on the status of our progress will be added periodic intervals.  And most importantly, we are interested in your thoughts.

~Tamie Lyles-Santiago, Office of the DoD CIO (Posted for Ms. Santiago by Noel Dickover)

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