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Wiki Government: How Technology Can Make Government Better, Democracy Stronger, and Citizens More Powerful
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Collaborative democracy—government with the people—is a new vision of governance in the digital age. Wiki Government explains how to translate the vision into reality. Beth Simone Noveck draws on her experience in creating Peer-to-Patent, the federal government's first social networking initiative, to show how technology can connect the expertise of the many to the power of the few. In the process, she reveals what it takes to innovate in government. Launched in 2007, Peer-to-Patent connects patent examiners to volunteer scientists and technologists via the web. These dedicated but overtaxed officials decide which of the million-plus patent applications currently in the pipeline to approve. Their decisions help determine which start-up pioneers a new industry and which disappears without a trace. Patent examiners have traditionally worked in secret, cut off from essential information and racing against the clock to rule on lengthy, technical claims. Peer-to-Patent broke this mold by creating online networks of self-selecting citizen experts and channeling their knowledge and enthusiasm into forms that patent examiners can easily use. Peer-to-Patent shows how policymakers can improve decisionmaking by harnessing networks to public institutions. By encouraging, coordinating, and structuring citizen participation, technology can make government both more open and more effective at solving today's complex social and economic problems. Wiki Government describes how this model can be applied in a wide variety of settings and offers a fundamental rethinking of effective governance and democratic legitimacy for the twenty-first century.
"
Collaborative democracy—government with the people—is a new vision of governance in the digital age. Wiki Government explains how to translate the vision into reality. Beth Simone Noveck draws on her experience in creating Peer-to-Patent, the federal government's first social networking initiative, to show how technology can connect the expertise of the many to the power of the few. In the process, she reveals what it takes to innovate in government. Launched in 2007, Peer-to-Patent connects patent examiners to volunteer scientists and technologists via the web. These dedicated but overtaxed officials decide which of the million-plus patent applications currently in the pipeline to approve. Their decisions help determine which start-up pioneers a new industry and which disappears without a trace. Patent examiners have traditionally worked in secret, cut off from essential information and racing against the clock to rule on lengthy, technical claims. Peer-to-Patent broke this mold by creating online networks of self-selecting citizen experts and channeling their knowledge and enthusiasm into forms that patent examiners can easily use. Peer-to-Patent shows how policymakers can improve decisionmaking by harnessing networks to public institutions. By encouraging, coordinating, and structuring citizen participation, technology can make government both more open and more effective at solving today's complex social and economic problems. Wiki Government describes how this model can be applied in a wide variety of settings and offers a fundamental rethinking of effective governance and democratic legitimacy for the twenty-first century.
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247 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 28, 2024
Noveck makes some very powerful (and deceptively anarchist, I feel) arguments regarding how technology can produce a more participatory and collaborative government. For those working in government including myself, it really shifted my view on the relationship between agencies and the public. If the world that Noveck envisions came into being, I believe we would have a lot more faith in the government generally and see an improving society. There are some oversights in Noveck's theory, though. For instance, much of her theory relies on volunteerism from the Public, which itself is inequitable, considering poor and disabled folks tend to have far less free time than well-off and fully abled folks. Nonetheless, a great read, and I believe government agents should all read this!
August 29, 2013
Книга про демократию сотрудничества и методы её технического воплощения в Интернете.
Очень толковый кейс и экспертные рекомендации. Благодаря этой книге я смог более точно понять, почему попытки создания "электронного правительства" (с подключением к сотрудничеству активных граждан) в нашей стране такие неказистые :(
Рецензия на книгу в моём блоге: http://s-kalinin.blogspot.ru/2013/08/...
Получилось несколько эмоционально и на злобу дня :)
Очень толковый кейс и экспертные рекомендации. Благодаря этой книге я смог более точно понять, почему попытки создания "электронного правительства" (с подключением к сотрудничеству активных граждан) в нашей стране такие неказистые :(
Рецензия на книгу в моём блоге: http://s-kalinin.blogspot.ru/2013/08/...
Получилось несколько эмоционально и на злобу дня :)
June 23, 2009
(Disclaimer: Author Beth Noveck is a recent friend as well as a colleague of sorts with my wife.)
This book will never be widely read.
So why did I give it five stars? Not because I like Beth but because I think what she has done both in her creation of the Peer to Patent program and in writing this book is unusual and has the chance of making a genuine difference in how government can work.
She understands the power of the new technologies. Although she's one of 'those academics,' she has actually done something with her knowledge, not just written about her theories. She writes from her experience of having created a program that most folks would dismiss if she presented it as an idea to be considered.
The subtitle of her book - 'How Technology Can Make Government Better, Democracy Stronger, and Citizens More Powerful' - sounds naive. It is anything but, and that's a pretty strong statement for a sometimes cynic such as myself.
'Wiki Government' tells the story of how Beth and others were able to use the power of the internet to assist patent examiners in their usually isolated often difficult, and sometimes impossible work. She brought 'together' folks from the public sector, from government, from business. She got lawyers talking with techies, policy makers working with scientists and experts in disparate fields. She had students and retired folks involved with each other. And most of these folks never met and never meet face to face.
If it all sounds a bit far fetched, it was. At first. But if you are interested in how technology and citizens can work together to strengthen democracy, at least read the chapters on the Peer to Patent program. You will be pleasantly surprised.
And I bet you'll want to read the rest of 'Wiki Government,' which is also worthwhile as Beth explores how the ideas and/or variations of the ideas used in Peer to Patent can be used in many other areas of our society, in federal, state, and local government.
It's beyond refreshing to know that the new Administration in Washington embraces and is pushing ideas such as those found in 'Wiki Government.'
Wiki Government shows how to bring innovation to government. In explaining how to enhance political institutions with the power of networks, it offers a fundamental rethinking of democracy in the digital age. Collaborative democracy-government of the people, by the people, for the people-is an old dream. Today, Wiki Government shows how technology can make that dream a reality. In this thought-provoking book, Beth Simone Noveck illustrates how collaborative democracy strengthens public decisionmaking by connecting the power of the many to the work of the few. Equally important, she provides a step-by-step demonstration of how collaborative democracy can be designed, opening policymaking to greater participation. "Wiki Government" tells the story behind one of the most dramatic public sector innovations in recent years - inviting the public to participate in the patent examination process. Patent examiners usually work in secret, cut off from essential information and racing against the clock to master arcane technical claims. The Peer-to-Patent project radically transformed this process by allowing anyone with Internet access to collaborate with the agency in reviewing patent applications. "Wiki Government" describes how a far-flung team of technologists, lawyers, and policymakers pried open a tradition-bound agency's doors. Noveck explains how she brought both fiercely competitive companies and risk-averse bureaucrats on board. She discusses the design challenges the team faced in creating software to distill online collaboration into useful expertise, not just rants or raves. And she explains how law, policy, and technology can be revamped to help government work in more open and participatory ways in a wide range of policy arenas, including education and the environment.
This book will never be widely read.
So why did I give it five stars? Not because I like Beth but because I think what she has done both in her creation of the Peer to Patent program and in writing this book is unusual and has the chance of making a genuine difference in how government can work.
She understands the power of the new technologies. Although she's one of 'those academics,' she has actually done something with her knowledge, not just written about her theories. She writes from her experience of having created a program that most folks would dismiss if she presented it as an idea to be considered.
The subtitle of her book - 'How Technology Can Make Government Better, Democracy Stronger, and Citizens More Powerful' - sounds naive. It is anything but, and that's a pretty strong statement for a sometimes cynic such as myself.
'Wiki Government' tells the story of how Beth and others were able to use the power of the internet to assist patent examiners in their usually isolated often difficult, and sometimes impossible work. She brought 'together' folks from the public sector, from government, from business. She got lawyers talking with techies, policy makers working with scientists and experts in disparate fields. She had students and retired folks involved with each other. And most of these folks never met and never meet face to face.
If it all sounds a bit far fetched, it was. At first. But if you are interested in how technology and citizens can work together to strengthen democracy, at least read the chapters on the Peer to Patent program. You will be pleasantly surprised.
And I bet you'll want to read the rest of 'Wiki Government,' which is also worthwhile as Beth explores how the ideas and/or variations of the ideas used in Peer to Patent can be used in many other areas of our society, in federal, state, and local government.
It's beyond refreshing to know that the new Administration in Washington embraces and is pushing ideas such as those found in 'Wiki Government.'
Wiki Government shows how to bring innovation to government. In explaining how to enhance political institutions with the power of networks, it offers a fundamental rethinking of democracy in the digital age. Collaborative democracy-government of the people, by the people, for the people-is an old dream. Today, Wiki Government shows how technology can make that dream a reality. In this thought-provoking book, Beth Simone Noveck illustrates how collaborative democracy strengthens public decisionmaking by connecting the power of the many to the work of the few. Equally important, she provides a step-by-step demonstration of how collaborative democracy can be designed, opening policymaking to greater participation. "Wiki Government" tells the story behind one of the most dramatic public sector innovations in recent years - inviting the public to participate in the patent examination process. Patent examiners usually work in secret, cut off from essential information and racing against the clock to master arcane technical claims. The Peer-to-Patent project radically transformed this process by allowing anyone with Internet access to collaborate with the agency in reviewing patent applications. "Wiki Government" describes how a far-flung team of technologists, lawyers, and policymakers pried open a tradition-bound agency's doors. Noveck explains how she brought both fiercely competitive companies and risk-averse bureaucrats on board. She discusses the design challenges the team faced in creating software to distill online collaboration into useful expertise, not just rants or raves. And she explains how law, policy, and technology can be revamped to help government work in more open and participatory ways in a wide range of policy arenas, including education and the environment.
August 9, 2012
Three stars might be a bit generous here, but I'm in a generous mood. Noveck (Former NYU Law Professor and member of the Obama Administration) came up with, and helped to implement, the idea for Peer-to-Patent; an innovative idea for outsourcing patent office research to "self-appointed, real world experts", that has been successful in limited experimental testing done in tandem with the US Patent Office. Based on this experience, Wiki Government examines what she thinks works right about Peer-to-Patent, and how she feels it could be implemented more broadly to facilitate citizen interaction with government. If done properly, she argues, this could both improve the functioning of government and improve citizen participation (which is a good in and of itself). And Noveck clearly has some innovative solutions to some of the problems of direct democracy that have repeatedly cropped up over the centuries.
My problem with the book, however, is that Peer-to-Patent has been successful as a limited program (dozens or even hundreds of patents a year)--but is a long way from demonstrating that it can be successful on the massive scale that the patent office has to deal with (tens of thousands of patents every year). (Just ask any employee at a successful online game how difficult it is to manage an online community that large and handle an online database of that magnitude.) Noveck, however, never really addresses that problem; she starts with the assumption that Peer-to-Patent has been proven an unqualified success, and that therefore its lessons should be implemented throughout the governmental process to solve a wide variety of problems. Perhaps she is right; but the devil is in the details, and this book is long on big ideas and short on details.
Two other notes. First, she cites Scott Page's book, "The Difference," repeatedly, but seems to misunderstand his conclusion; Noveck is arguing for a model in which experts self-select themselves into small groups to solve problems. Page was arguing that diversity in group settings (small or large) is more important than expertise--so we shouldn't care about expertise, and should care more about differentiation in most decision making settings. There is a key difference there. Second, I guess because she used to work in the Obama Administration, she takes a number of pot shots (largely unnecessary, even if some of them may be deserved) at the Bush Administration, while the actions of the Obama Administration are universally lauded. I understand her loyalty to her former boss--but those kind of pot shots simply distract from her point, and unnecessarily narrow her audience. Some conservatives will find themselves offended, even though they otherwise might agree with everything she's saying--it's exactly the kind of counter-productive political sniping that inhibits real dialogue and should be avoided.
My problem with the book, however, is that Peer-to-Patent has been successful as a limited program (dozens or even hundreds of patents a year)--but is a long way from demonstrating that it can be successful on the massive scale that the patent office has to deal with (tens of thousands of patents every year). (Just ask any employee at a successful online game how difficult it is to manage an online community that large and handle an online database of that magnitude.) Noveck, however, never really addresses that problem; she starts with the assumption that Peer-to-Patent has been proven an unqualified success, and that therefore its lessons should be implemented throughout the governmental process to solve a wide variety of problems. Perhaps she is right; but the devil is in the details, and this book is long on big ideas and short on details.
Two other notes. First, she cites Scott Page's book, "The Difference," repeatedly, but seems to misunderstand his conclusion; Noveck is arguing for a model in which experts self-select themselves into small groups to solve problems. Page was arguing that diversity in group settings (small or large) is more important than expertise--so we shouldn't care about expertise, and should care more about differentiation in most decision making settings. There is a key difference there. Second, I guess because she used to work in the Obama Administration, she takes a number of pot shots (largely unnecessary, even if some of them may be deserved) at the Bush Administration, while the actions of the Obama Administration are universally lauded. I understand her loyalty to her former boss--but those kind of pot shots simply distract from her point, and unnecessarily narrow her audience. Some conservatives will find themselves offended, even though they otherwise might agree with everything she's saying--it's exactly the kind of counter-productive political sniping that inhibits real dialogue and should be avoided.
May 15, 2013
n the private sector the concept of crowd sourcing has revolutionized the way the industry think and the concept of open innovation has been widely accepted. The book introduces this concept to the area of government and how they can embrace this to improve their decision making. Democracy has to change as technology evolves but government is not seen as embracing the latest technology to improve their performance. The government believes that a selected group of people (mostly political position) have all the knowledge needed to create all the policies. The author has the goal to show how a collaborative democracy can be implemented and disrupt the way the government operates.
Carefully explain the development of the project Peer-to Patent, Noveck shows the benefits of collaboration in patent approval. With this she provides a foundation on how much a government process can improve if it lets a group of motivated citizens participate. The book constantly shows how the Peer-to-Patent project disrupted a government office and how similar collaboration tools can do the same in different aspect of government. The book shows a lot of different examples on how crowdsourcing has been applied to the government (both federal and local) and the positive outcome that it has had.
Throughout the book we can appreciate the inputs that a community has and the importance of it for a collaborative effort in the government. Even though the author understands the importance of the community it doesn’t carefully explain how the community was built. If briefly mention how when the Peer-to-Patent started they had some problem getting new users because of the broad scope of patents to be revised, it still doesn’t give much reference on how they fix it or how others can work around this. The book is not focus on how to build community, but it would have been nice to see this concept better explained.
The book point to a new future of government and shows how good a government can be if it collaborates more within itself as well as with other actors of society.
Carefully explain the development of the project Peer-to Patent, Noveck shows the benefits of collaboration in patent approval. With this she provides a foundation on how much a government process can improve if it lets a group of motivated citizens participate. The book constantly shows how the Peer-to-Patent project disrupted a government office and how similar collaboration tools can do the same in different aspect of government. The book shows a lot of different examples on how crowdsourcing has been applied to the government (both federal and local) and the positive outcome that it has had.
Throughout the book we can appreciate the inputs that a community has and the importance of it for a collaborative effort in the government. Even though the author understands the importance of the community it doesn’t carefully explain how the community was built. If briefly mention how when the Peer-to-Patent started they had some problem getting new users because of the broad scope of patents to be revised, it still doesn’t give much reference on how they fix it or how others can work around this. The book is not focus on how to build community, but it would have been nice to see this concept better explained.
The book point to a new future of government and shows how good a government can be if it collaborates more within itself as well as with other actors of society.
March 7, 2010
The book is an inspiration for what government COULD be -- an effective, participative democracy -- if only collaborative systems were to be adopted with principles Noveck used in launching Peer-to-Patent. However, the text often strays far away from practical application into laundry lists of technologies and distant star gazing.
September 25, 2012
Yawn. The author is far too taken with her previous work in pushing Washington to crowdsource patent applications. As nice as Peer-to-Patent may be, it does not define the totality of how the open-source movement can rebuild the way democracy works.
May 24, 2011
I reviewed this for Public Administration Review: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10...
February 8, 2016
Начал читать очередную книгу. Любопытно, о чем тут?)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews