The movement to create a more open and responsive government using the Internet as a medium has been successful to a large degree because there have been champions in all branches of the state government that have supported it. Legislative leaders such as Steve Urquhart and John Dougall started blogging as a way to share their thoughts with constituents and receive valuable feedback.
In 2007, Rep. Urquhart launched Politicopia, a wiki with the goal of increasing citizen involvement in the political process. Into the second week, he announced:
One week into the experiment, Politicopia is working. Citizens are participating and citizens are being heard. Legislators are talking to me about things they’ve read on Politicopia. Because of input I received, I have changed a position I’ve held for years.
The Utah State Senate has also been very progressive in its adoption of new methods for involving the public. The Senate Majority introduced SenateSite.com, which leverages YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Gcast, and blogging in various experiments to involve the public. The Senate has held online town hall meetings where citizens can interact with and ask questions of the senators in real time. These experiences have resulted in a continually evolving and increasingly open setting where the business of government is conducted (see Figure 34-2).
The Utah State Legislature meets in open session for six weeks each year beginning in January. During this short period, more than 600 bills are considered, many of which make significant changes to state law. At the same time, the Legislature must review and approve a multibillion-dollar budget that covers state government as well as public and higher education. The tools of Web 2.0 now make this process much more understandable and open to all interested parties and the public at large. These users can subscribe to custom RSS feeds of any bill and get notified in real time anytime there is a change in content or process. This capability along with the ability to provide direct feedback through multiple channels is a huge change to the entire scene.
Utah bloggers have been participating in the Utah openness debate. In the last legislative session (February 2009), Rep. Urquhart held a press conference specifically for bloggers where he introduced a new bill. We have also witnessed significant growth in blogger participation in traditional press conferences which has added to a diversity of coverage and opinion on public issues. The bloggers have brought a new perspective to the debate that is different and unique from the traditional media. Often they are more intent on expressing an opinion or viewpoint that is frequently representative of a community within the state.
The Utah judiciary has also been involved in accepting new media tools for sharing information. The Utah Supreme Court has sought ways to make the courts more efficient by adding online services, self-help resources, and multimedia to their website. Citizens and attorneys are able to subscribe to the latest court opinions with a simple-to-use RSS feed. Citizens can prepare for jury service by accessing the online Jury Room. Utah state courts even facilitate access to these services by providing free wireless access in many Utah courthouses.
To a significant degree, the growth in the number of Government 2.0 advocates within an organization correlates to the amount of success generated in areas related to the goals of digital government, social networking, and open government. As successful initiatives are completed, promoted, and recognized, others within the organization will see that success and naturally want to replicate it (see Figure 34-3).
Former Utah CIO Phil Windley now runs Utah Politics, a private sector site that aggregates blogs and microblogs discussing the Utah political scene.