Last week, the U.S. State Department sent a technology delegation of so-called "dreamboats" to Russia. There's a good writeup about this at The New York Times. It's unconventional to have actors and Silicon Valley startup CEOs on a public diplomacy mission, to be sure, but there is some merit in the tactic. Among other reasons, the delegation of non-professional diplomats learns a tremendous amount about citizens in other countries, the technologies they have access to, and ideas about the problems they're grappling with.

 

So, in the middle of a period where the federal government is dealing with ramifications of the Open Government Directive (OGD), and trying to engage citizens to get their feedback and ideas, what I wonder is whether tech delegations to every state would be useful. This is not the State Department's responsibility, but maybe some of their unconventional tactics could serve as a model for the White House, the General Services Administration, or other groups to do something similar, domestically.

 

Creating open government websites, providing more data, and asking for citizen feedback are all necessary but not sufficient for innovative social engagement with communities. Proactive, real-life engagement with constituents is also necessary (politicians know this well), but nearly everyone involved with the OGD seems to be very concerned about technology, and not very concerned about meeting the people who will supposedly benefit.

 

Open government isn't just about what the government is doing with check boxes, time lines, and roadmaps. It's also about understanding an audience and what they truly want and need. I don't know if the average citizen cares much about data.gov information. What do they want from the OGD, then? Someone should send a delegation and find out.