An Experiment in Crowd Funding, Community, and Official Languages

While it's been years since I wrote Scheming Virtuously: A Handbook for Public Servants, interest in the document seems constant. Over the years I've invited people to contribute directly to the document on GCPEDIA, I've released an updated version myself, and even worked with my good friends at Govloop to spice it up visually. 

The only thing I haven't been able to do yet is have it translated. I've been asked repeatedly if the document is available in French and, sadly, it is not. It's something I've always wanted to do, but quite simply don't have the wherewithal to get done. 

Recently I was contacted by a Learning Advisor at the Canada School of Public Service who was keen to include Scheming in the orientation materials for new public servants. When I got the call I was flattered, it would, in my view, be a tremendous achievement.

Then, the obvious question came up, is it available in French? We chatted a bit more by email and it became clear that the school was unable to take on the cost of translation (which I completely understand given the estimated price tag of $3750 in times of austerity).

Besides, I don't have $3750 to spend on translation either, but the phone call got me thinking.  

Would the community be willing and able to chip in enough to get it done? Could crowd funding the translation be a viable option?

I wasn't sure (read: still am not sure), but I figured it was worth a try.

This is completely uncharted territory for me, and to be honest, I'm a bit uneasy about even trying this. I want to get the document translated but I'm hesitant to ask for help. 

Social capital has always been more important to me then physical capital, so if you can't contribute or don't want to, I completely understand. 

On the other hand if you can contribute or share the link to the campaign, I would sincerely appreciate it.

*** Link to the Campaign ***

Footnote

I will be participating in an Arm Chair at the Canada School of Public Service on Linguistic Duality day (September 13) to discuss the role of language in my home, in my workplace, and more generally in social media spaces. I plan on speaking about the results of this campaign in my presentation.

Originally published by Nick Charney at cpsrenewal.ca subscribe/connect

Public service renewal: the weekly round-up

For the week of September 19 - 23, 2011

If you’re involved in public service renewal – or just a curious bystander – here's the run down of stuff you'll want to read and do this week.

To do:

Sign up (as soon as possible!) for an inexpensive (read: $5) opportunity to scheme virtuously and network at: Beyond the Kool-Aid: Open Government? Space is limited and conversation promises to be dynamic. Join experts from Google, other levels of government and Mediastyle to talk Government 2.0; while the ideas have been discussed over and over, for many it feels as if little progress is being made. Where do we go from here?

Join us: Now that school has started we’re gearing up for yet another #w2p mixer, this time with a different twist. Mark your calendars for September 28 where the #w2p community will be mixing it up with the Advanced Leadership Program.

To read:

• The Future of the Federal Workforce: can we apply the cloud model to the PS workforce?

• On cuts: Federal unions launch petition drive to call on Clement to put critical services and the long-term social safety first.

• Junk the jargon, cut the clichés and use plain English – a new tone of voice would help so many public organizations

• The U.S. is having a national dialogue on improving government web sites - and there are loads of fabulous ideas to be found on the site.

Have a great week!

This post has been a collaborative effort from Lee-Anne Peluk and Nicholas Charney.You can check out Lee-Anne's blog "In the Shuffle" at www.leeannepeluk.wordpress.com

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Public service renewal: the weekly round-up

August 15 – 19, 2011

Thought of the week: Your ideas are not obvious to other people. That’s why you need to share them.

Watch of the week: a WW2-era Disney cartoon, All Together Now. This historically avant-garde collaboration between the National Film Board of Canada and Walt Disney Studios aimed to get more Canadians to invest in war bonds. (And, truly, there’s just something about seeing the Disney gang march up and down in front of an animated version of the Canadian Parliament buildings. Priceless.)

Crowd sourcing:

Maybe I am behind the times, but this week I discovered a service called Servio, with an 80,000+ strong workforce where you can crowd source your content needs. Its software carves a given task into microscopically small pieces, and then farms it out to their community of workers, who get paid piecemeal to complete each section of the task.

So, what happens when a journalist crowd sources out background research? Is hiring a team of freelance reporters to research, report, and write a story on your behalf an ethical violation?

Social:

• New to Twitter? Check out this primer on the use of hashtags
• Twitter is selling and Facebook is marketing. Or, is it that Twitter is about connecting with the people you want to know, and Facebook is about re-connecting with everyone you have ever met?
• Did you know LinkedIn gave itself permission to use your image on its advertising? Don’t want to see yourself in a surprise ad? Turn off the option.

It may be trite to say, but laughing is good for you:

• A good laugh, smile, or giggle is essential to start out the week on the right foot. Make time for it, and pass it on.
• If you live in Ottawa, you’re gonna love this video of Bhangra in the Capital. Bhangra is a combination of dances from different parts of the Punjab region, and this video breaks it out.
• I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the use of gimmicks in communication. Check out this super creative ‘pomegranate’ smart phone ad, which is really an advertisement for Nova Scotia tourism.

This post has been a collaborative effort from Lee-Anne Peluk and Nicholas Charney.You can check out Lee-Anne's blog "In the Shuffle" at www.leeannepeluk.wordpress.com

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How Public Sector Organizations Can Learn from Quora

There has been a lot of hype around the not-so-new social network called Quora in the past few weeks. Quora describes itself as:

A continually improving collection of questions and answers created, edited, and organized by everyone who uses it.

Or as David Griner puts it:

It’s like the community side of LinkedIn, merged with the organic networking of Facebook, smashed up with the informative aspects of Wikipedia, topped with a dash of the “I just can’t see this catching on” from Plurk. With blog comments.

(note: I found that quotation in a piece written by David Armano called “Are Quora Votes A Viable Metric? Influence, Popularity, Expertise, Campaigns & Currency.”)


How can public sector organizations use Quora?

First, I think we need a similar ability to crowdsource questions (and answers) like the one in this Twitter thread somewhere within the government firewall (as opposed to externally):

Hypothetical: Can one deploy back into the core PS from a place like CFIA? Or are you considered "external" at that point? #gocless than a minute ago via TweetDeckColin H
otowncoho

@otowncoho It's not as simple as a deployment, and not "external." It depends on org's status as a separate employer/particular agreements.less than a minute ago via TweetDeckColin McKay
Canuckflack

@canuckflack any idea where I'd be able to find more info? Or is it one of those "call the agency" type questions?less than a minute ago via TweetDeckColin H
otowncoho

@otowncoho All your questions answered about deployments in the GoC PS http://www.psc-cfp.gc.ca/plcy-pltq/rfli-lirf/a-z-eng.htmless than a minute ago via TweetDeckColin McKay
Canuckflack

This question has undoubtedly played out hundreds, if not thousands of times within different pockets of the bureaucracy. Each question answered on a case-by-case basis. Think about the time saved if we actually started to codify some of the questions and answers that makes them reusable, easy to update, and endorsed by the members across the organization (the “crowd”).

Quora combines the search and add question feature, meaning that as you add a question it automatically starts to search the database for similar questions, resulting in a reduction of duplicate questions, thereby increasing the exposure of existing questions and perhaps ultimately improving the quality of the answers given.

In it's simplest terms, an internal Quora would be akin to an ever-evolving crowdsourced FAQ asked and answered in plain language. If we compare Quora to GCPEDIA, Quora wins hands down:

• greater sense of focus (without being too prescriptive)
• better information management
• better search
• no need to learn how to code

I'm not saying that GCPEDIA isn't valuable (I still think it is) but only that it is being pulled by users in a number of different ways. In fact, I've heard it described as the “Wild West” by a handful of public servants; and I have come to agree. I think the natural consequence of the environment is an incredibly high potential for small innovative uses at the expense of mainstream and/or systematic adoption. To be clear, I think GCPEDIA definitely has it's place within the tool belt, but I also think we need more than one tool to get the job done. The old adage about having only a hammer and everything looking like a nail comes to mind.

One of the other things I find fascinating about Quora is that many people are asking questions related to culture. A quick Google search of the site reveals 23,000 results for the word culture; moreover that doesn't include any of the implicit references to culture. I find this fascinating because, done internally, it could start to expose the workplace culture in some interesting ways. Think about new employees entering the enterprise asking questions or challenging answers for questions already answered. The structure creates room for conversations that drive workplace culture, connects like-minded individuals and creates institutional memory.

I should mention however that one thing Quora does (that most online services do really) is leverage your existing social networks in order to connect you to relevant users and questions. Any organization looking to bring Quora-like functionality behind the firewall would have to reconcile this in some way.


Is there also a place for external stakeholder engagement on Quora?

In a word: Yes.

There will undoubtedly be communications and marketing opportunities for government agencies on Quora. Think about people asking questions about service provision, grants and contributions, tourism, immigration, regulations around foreign investment, taxation schemes, etc. To be honest, I just haven't had the time to think them all through.

What about you? Have you checked out Quora yet? I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts.