The Mosher Pit

Not an 80s set! Been broadening my horizons lately, and these are some relatively new tunes (modern alternative, I think) I’ve been digging of late, put together into a somewhat coherent set. Enjoy!

Posted in Music, Playlists by: Helen
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I haven’t been blogging much lately, have I? I’m too distributed, madly tweeting at @helenmosher and very active catching up with old friends at Facebook. Please note: Anyone can follow me at Twitter, but if you want me to be your Facebook friend, please introduce yourself with your request. That reminds me, I need to close out my old “work” Facebook account. Gah. Anyhow…

I’ve been tagged recently by Geoff Livingston to write about my thoughts on social governance, participated in the “rename government 2.0″ thread in which I posited that “social governance”–specifically, netsocial governance (because of objections to “social government” sounding too much like socialism, and the need to make the tech connection)–is a segment of a shift in public administration management theory that’s been called digital governance, and then, finally, yesterday, was identified as a “reporter” (which I’m not) at Bearing Point’s dubiously named govtwit directory, which, more importantly, pegs me on the Gov. 2.0-meter as nothing short of.. I guess influential. Perhaps.

Let me start by underlining the fact that this is my personal blog, and I tend to write about any number of topics that have absolutely nothing to do with what I do for a living and certainly aren’t endorsed by my employer. But I don’t want there to be a misconception as to what I do for AFCEA International and SIGNAL Magazine: The reporters more dialed into the phenomenon of Gov. 2.0 include Maryann Lawlor, Robert K. Ackerman, Henry Kenyon and Rita Boland. They are amazing writers and editors and I learn from them every day. What they learn from me, and what the association in general learns from me, is how to put these 2.0 tools to use in their environment. But as this knowledge begins to extend to our members, I’m increasingly visible as a Gov 2.0 advocate, rather than the faith, humor and music blogger I’ve been for going on 10 years now. (OK, the faith thing was more recent, but even that started in 2003.)

But I saw this coming. It’s a significant part of the reason I applied to the Master’s in Public Administration program at George Mason University, even though I’m also there to get a better handle on organizational management in general, since I do so much communications strategizing at this point in my consulting and vocational work.

I find myself making connections between the twitter buzz on Gov 2.0 and the foundation undergirding the past half-century of public administration. As “new public management” or NPM shows, calling something “new” anything has zero semantic agility once it’s not “new” anymore, and NPM is aging badly, deteriorating as new models emerge and we struggle to name them. It’s my thought that 2.0 is similarly semantically handicapped, and that we can do a better job of implying that we are entering an era of tech-centric collaboration without resorting to buzzwords that are meaningless once the concepts they are meant to convey achieve wider traction.

Good grief, now I’m confused. But it’s a good discussion to have. And not the discussion I was tagged for, for which I admit I do not have the expertise attributed me.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t have expertise. I come from an association and academic background, and what these orgs have in common with government is their inability to change quickly. All large organizations suffer from this kind of cultural lethargy (hence its opposite in the wonkabulary, “agility”). Where I see this change happening successfully is where someone internal is in charge of levelling the learning curve associated with new technology–Andy Carvin at NPR springs to mind, and hate to toot my own horn but that’s what I do for AFCEA. There might be an entire conversation over whether this is something you bring in a consultant to do or whether you hire someone full-time to build that bridge, but I suggest that the latter shows more commitment to long-term change. (Alternatively, bringing in a consultant to do the education pieces and the strategizing, and then hiring someone to implement the strategies can work as well. I find now that I’m in charge of populating the twitter stream and the blog and the web site I have less time for the next phase of strategizing, and it can’t really end, now, can it?)

Now, all that aside, the results of the election crystallized for me how significant it is that I chose to enroll in the MPA program. I think that there is a robust future for 35-and-up leaders to take on high-level strategy positions in public administration. I’m still processing what that future will be, but I’m quite sure we’re key players in the shift to digital and netsocial governance, and you’ll see a lot more from us in the years to come as we continue to advocate for government that is not just of, for and by the people, but WITH the people. Should be interesting to see how it continues to play out.

Posted in government by: Helen
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