Public service renewal: the weekly round-up

Fellow govvies,

Here're the must-reads of the week. Stay warm and dry!

Snip snip:

•  Death by a thousand cuts: a compelling argument that a disaster-in-the-making is unfolding across government. 
•  And a more positive analysis to balance things out, the Delta Partners argue for a radical cultural shift.
•  It seems that the saga at DND is continuing … is it just media speculation that DND is facing an exodus of public affairs staff?

Remaking public service culture:

• An out-of-the-ordinary, short read on how and why bureaucracies can amplify psychopathic behaviour
• Got a youth network in your department? New to the public service? Then don’t miss this post on The Rise and Fall of Public Sector Youth Groups
•  Worth checking out: Transport Canada launched the new look for government web sites

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

Round Up: A Little Self-Help, Improving Access to Government, a Lesson On Social Media from the Private Sector and more!

Here is a very quick round up, I am fairly busy this week and it will show.

A Little Self-Help

1. Interview your legend and other advice
2. Ask yourself questions so the whole team learns

Improving Access To Government

Here is a paper by W3C on Improving Access to Government through Better Use of the Web. Here is the abstract for those of you whom are interested:

eGovernment refers to the use of the Web or other information technologies by governing bodies (local, state, federal, multi-national) to interact with their citizenry, between departments and divisions, and between governments themselves. Recognizing that governments throughout the World need assistance and guidance in achieving the promises of electronic government through technology and the Web, this document seeks to define and call forth, but not yet solve, the variety of issues and challenges faced by governments. The use cases, documentation, and explanation are focused on the available or needed technical standards but additionally provide context to note and describe the additional challenges and issues which exist before success can be realized.

Lesson On Social Media from the Private Sector

This video contains valuable insight for those of us looking to use social media behind the firewall.


Blogs We Like

David Eaves blogged on why GCPEDIA will save the Public Service.

Doug blogged why information policy in need of an update. He also provided a link to a paper that I have since added to my pile of to do reading.

While Peter blogged about boring government and social media using a "nugget" from Seth Godin as a starting point....

... and Amanda gives you 4 easy steps to get stuck in the web of rules. If you are interested in a more serious discussion on the matter, she also wrote an article in GCPEDIA that you can contribute to here.


MSM

1. Turnover at top threatens PS reforms
2. The Vancouver police are using Facebook to recruit.
3. Twitter, blogs and other Web 2.0 tools revolutionize government business

Round-Up: October 8

News

Here is an article about public servant pressure. [h/t to Chamika]

The EX's column.

Here is some neat info, apparently the Ontario Public Service is recruiting on Second Life.

Blogs

Etienne talks straight about straight talk and points to Gilles Paquet's and Ruth Hubbard's publication Cats Eyes (which if you recall I sat as a panelist with Gilles Paquet at an HRSDC knowledge talk a little while back), I encourage you to read the article and my speaking notes from the panel.


Call to Action

As always we want to hear from you, please feel free to leave a comment on any of our posts (we love reading them) or send us an email (you will always get one back from us).