UAPP 689 was it worth it?

Having a computer programing diploma, I thought this course will be useless and I’ll be wasting my time. Apparently I was wrong.  Technology is changing very fast and it’s changing people’s lives with it. Almost everything that I learned during this course was new for me. The most interesting parts of this course that I really injured were:

·         Creating a bolg and a website, which I previously thought they are a job of an IT specialist only. With all the available free and easy to follow websites like Google Bloger & Site everyone can create a blog or a website. Almost all government agencies currently have websites to provide the citizens with the service that they need in a fast and convenient way. Therefore, learning how to use these tools is necessity for any MPA student.

·         The group project was an interesting experience. I really injured working with intelligent and creative team members. Our project (311 Newark) was a great example of how to use information technology to advocate for a government project and how to make an agency’s mission easier.

·         E-government & e-democracy are growing dramatically, and the last U.S. presidential campaign is a great example of how information technology can influence country’s decision. Information technology really gives us a chance to be creative when making decisions. People should think out of the box to maximum the advantages of using Information technology.   

·         The most useful tool that I learned from this course is how to use social media. My area of interest is human resource management, and using some kinds of social media could be helpful when helpful during the employment proves. For instance, HR manager can use the social media to attract some intelligent candidates to work in the organization. It also (as I learned from this class and the HR class) can be useful to check the candidate background. 

·         I believe I can use most of the methods that I learned from this class in my job. As a trainer at the Institute of Public Administration my responsibility is to provide government employees with the knowledge needed to succeed in their work, and definitely the IT tools can make their jobs easier.

Nowadays using websites, social media, and other IT tools is necessary for all sectors to be able to compete in the modern competitive world. Information technology is changing our lives on almost every level, and we should be aware of that and pay more attention to the important investment in IT.

Thanks for my professors and for all my classmates for this experience.

Hanadi Alqahtani

The risks of IT innovation in government

The reading from the first week of class by Dawes explains some of the major risks of IT innovation in government. According to Dawes a report published in 1995 stated that “more than 80 percent of systems development projects fail in whole or in part. Most projects cost more, take longer than planned, and fail to achieve all of their goals. One-third are canceled before they are completed.”  Some of reasons behind the failure of using IT are:

·         Unrealistic expectations

·         Lack of organizational support and acceptance

·         Failure to evaluate and redesign business processes

·         Lack of measurable alignment between organizational goals and project objectives

·         Failure to understand the strengths and limitations of new technology

·         Projects that are too specialized or ambitious to manage successfully

In addition public sector faces more challenges that could lead to failure in using technology:

·         Limited authority to make decisions

·         Multiple stakeholders and competing goals

·         One year budgets

·         Highly regulated procurement

·         Little capability to design or operate integrated or government-wide programs

·         Extreme risk aversion

The author provides three types of analysis minimize the risks of the IT investments:

·         Thoroughly understand both the problem to be solved and its context

·         Identify and test possible solutions to the problem

·         Evaluate the results of those tests against clear service and performance goals.

The other chapters of the soured sited below is worth reading and highly recommended in order to make a smart IT choice.

Dawes, S., et al. (2003). '''Making Smart IT Choices: Understanding Value and Risk in Government IT Investments'''. Retrieved Jan. 5, 2011, http://www.ctg.albany.edu/publications/guides/smartit2

E-Democracy

During the last presidential campaign, the online political users play a great role in the selection of president Obama. The study shows high level of online involvement were 59% of voters had used the internet to learn about politics, donate money to their candidate political campaign, share their opinions, and join online groups to support of their candidate. A survey conducted to exam the online voters’ expectations about the levels of engagement and activism when Obama assumes the presidency. The survey findings show that Obama supporters have greater expectations than others (e.g. McCain supporters) about the continuance communication when the new administration takes office. To illustrate, 46% of Obama voters expect to hear directly from Obama and the officials at the new administration at least occasionally over the presidential term. Voters expect to hear from the new administration via social networking (37%), email (34%), mail (38%), phone calls (17%), and text messaging (11%). Furthermore, 62% of 62% of Obama voters expect to press others to support the new administration's policies in the coming year. Prospected candidates should pay more attention for using the internet to engage these online political users, who can dramatically affect the results of the election.

Smith, A. (2008). From BarackObama.com to Change.gov: Those Active in the Obama Campaign Expect to be Involved in Promoting the Administration. Retrieved April 18, 2011 from  http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1068/post-election-voter-engagement

The 1st state has the 1st E-government

One of the readings for the topic "E-government" was the report “State and Federal Electronic Government in the United States, 2008”, which assesses about 30 government websites in each state across the three branches of government. The ranking was based on 18 criteria: publications, databases, audio clips, video clips, foreign language access, not having ads, not having user fees, not having premium fees, W3c disability access, having privacy policies, security policies, allowing digital signatures on transactions, an option to pay via credit cards, e-mail contact information, areas to post comments, option for e-mail updates, allowing for personalization of the website, and PDA or handhelp device accessibility. Some of the most interesting findings were:

* Delaware was the top ranking state with 83.7% score.

* Most of federal and state websites have databases, provide access to publication, and offer online services.

* 40% of government websites provide some choice of foreign language translation.

* 25% of federal websites and 19% of state websites are accessible to disabled.

* Only 2% of government websites have commercial advertisements.

Resource:
West, D.(2008). State and Federal Electronic Government in the United States. Retrieved 21 March, 2011 from http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2008/0826_egovernment_west.aspx

Social media reports

When reading some articals in "Pew Internet & American Life Project" website, I found two intresting reports. Bothe reports are talking about the social media tools, and how they changed the interaction between the government and the citizens

How the Public Perceives Community Information Systems
Mar 1, 2011   by Lee Rainie, Kristen Purcell
 http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/08-Community-Information-Systems/1-Report.aspx?view=all

The Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy stated that  "A healthy democratic community depends on a strong information system and engaged citizens who take advantage of that information" Therefore, it asked the Monitor Institute and the Pew Internet Project to used some surveys to examine the components of local information systems.
Some of the findings were unexpected. Forinstante, the findings show that social media are affecting people’s interactions with civic life, and that about o1/3 of the internet users in thses communities get local news from social networking site. The Commission members said they believed there were several key indicators of information systems that performed well. One of the most important indicator is "Government transparency". Government transparency is associated with residents’ feelings of efficacy and empowerment and satisfaction with other aspects of civic life

Government Online
Apr 27, 2010    by Aaron Smith
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Government-Online/Summary-of-Findings.aspx?view=all

In 2009, 3/4 of internet users looked for information or completed a transaction on a government website. This report also shows that 1/3 of online adults use online platforms such as social networking sites to get government information. Not only they are look for information, 1/4 of internet users participate in the online debate around government policies or issues. Some of the other findings from this research: minorities as likely as whites to use these tools to keep up with government, and that social media have changed how citizens interact with elected officials and government agencies.

Using Skype in public and nonprofit agencies

The general Skype features that many people know are:
1) Audio calling (skyep to skype calls, skype to phones and cellphones, conference calls, and people from around the world can call a Skype number with a minimum cost))
2) Video calling (peer-to-peer, group)
3) Messaging (instant messaging, sending files, and sending SMS)
All these features can help an agency to build and maintain strong relationships with thier clients and employee. The bask Skype is available for free for every one. However, in order for an agency to improve their work there are some other tools that Skype provides for buseniss :
- Skype Connect: which provides connectivity between the agency and the Skype community. This can save on communication costs with little or no additional upgrades required.
- Skype Manager is an easy-to-use web-based tool to create Skype accounts, manage features, monitor usage and control costs in real-time.
These are a great tools that can help nonprofit organizations to improve the services and reduce cost. On the other han,Many government banned the use of Skype for security concerns. The United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has interpreted the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) as requiring digital phone networks to allow wiretapping if authorized by an FBI warrant,
in the same way as other phone services. However, Skype stated that, it is exempt from CALEA and similar laws which regulate US phone companies because it is not a telephone company owning phone lines.
The Obama administration and the FBI are pushing legislation that would ban online communications technologies like these unless their developers make it easy for the government to wiretap them. Therefore, I am not sure that Skype is used in public agencies.

resource:
http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/welcomeback/
http://www.fcc.gov/calea/
http://act.demandprogress.org/act/calea/

my 1st blog

Creating a blog is an easy process that will take only one minute, even for a beginner like me. There are many website that anyone can use to create a free blog like weebly, createblogfree.com, etc. It was really easy to create my own blog. I just had to open my gmail account to create my first blog using blogger.com. I followed the the three clear steps (create account, name blog, and choose template) that blogger guide me through.