Thought leaders gathered at the New America Foundation yesterday to discuss the role of technology in social innovation and civic participation.  Based on two recent National Science Foundation workshops, panelists explored the advantages and challenges that the world of new digital tools opens for participation.

University of Maryland Professor and Dean of the College of Information Studies Jenny Preece kicked off the discussion by exploring the social, human side of what motivates people to participate, citing egoism, altruism, collectivism, and principlism.  It’s these motivations combined with the technology infrastructure that, she explained, are advancing our design of social participation.  Additionally, the government transparency movement is providing even more opportunities to engage the public.

Sonal Shah, Deputy Assistant to the President in the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, added that technology is also making data go a long way.  But she cautioned that metrics are just the beginning.  She believes we need to assess actions and outcomes and then get that information out to all communities.   “It will be an interesting opportunity to make information usable, like trends.”

Shah urged that the government and the public identify success stories and then elevate and scale them, in order to optimize success.  On the other hand, she reminded the audience, agencies still use old technologies too to ensure a diversity of response.  “It’s not just access to technology, but access where they are comfortable and can ask questions.”

I also had the opportunity to talk with Lucas Cioffi, a leader in the civic participation movement and the founder of http://www.onlinetownhalls.com/.  Watch the video below to learn about how Cioffi is educating the government and the public about using broadband technology to further participation.

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Earlier this week, a diverse group of forward-thinking policymakers met with several experts who are leading the way into the new digital era.   The intimate group enjoyed a full day of presentations and discussion on the latest and greatest broadband-enabled technologies.

Check out NextGenWeb’s coverage:
 ·         Wireless Broadband Improving Society
 ·         Digital Political Activism

Also, enjoy the full presentations of John Horrigan, Director of Research for the Pew Internet & American Life Project, and Dr. Jay Sanders, CEO of The Global Telemedicine Group.

John Horrigan:

Dr. Jay Sanders:

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Innovation Generation began with a presentation by Dane Snowden, Vice President of CTIA. Snowden showed several videos, each one demonstrating the impact of mobile technologies to a different segment of society:

Business and Economy
The video showed a trash truck driving around a San Diego community.   The truck was equipped with a wireless transmitter that guided the truck’s arm as it reached out and picked up the trash.   The system also allows the business to determine how many homes the truck passed, as well as its speed and location.   The trash company also saved money on fuel by routing trucks more efficiently thanks to broadband.

Law Enforcement
This video showed how rural law enforcement in Mississippi is embracing mobile technologies by equipping squad cars to wireless data systems.   This allows police to more efficiently inspect commercial vehicles and gives them instant access to criminal history and outstanding warrants.   This technology not only improves public safety, but the safety of law enforcement as well.

Education
The video showed how Montclair State University in New Jersey is using Blackboard.com to connect students and faculty outside of the classroom.   Blackboard provides 24/7 access to course schedules, podcasts, feedback and discussions. Snowden notes that although some schools are embracing technology others are banning it and made the analogy to the old debate over whether it’s OK to bring calculators into the classroom.

Telemedicine
This video showed a real medical exam taking place in rural Oregon.   Only the doctor examining the patient was in downtown Idaho and performing the exam via robotics.   The patient, who was at risk of a rare pregnancy complication, was able to have access to a top specialist despite her rural location.

Civic Engagement
This time, Snowden presented a single image, but he was confident that the photo said it all. The picture was of President Obama on election night.     Broadband played an instrumental role in Obama’s win and over 20% of people were engaged in the election via cell phone.   Snowden predicts ever-increasing roles of broadband technology in future campaigns.

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Lenny MacAllister, co-founder of the Hip Hop Republicans, and Navarro Wright, the founder of Global Grind and former CTO of BET, discussed political activism in the digital age.   Their remarks can be summed up in three powerful words: interaction, participation and personalization.

MacAllister said that Hip Hop Republicans began as a site, but became a movement thanks to a viral migration to many social networking sites.     He shared three things that he believes technology means for politics.
1)     Increased activism.
2)     Redefinition of politics as the easily digestible online format makes for more informed citizens.
3)     Harder working politicians and more responsive elected officials

Navarro believes that social networks give everyone’s voice equality.   Obama was able to connect one-on-one with everyone because he had profiles on every major social network, including BlackPlanet and Hi5 alongside Facebook and MySpace.   Navarro believes that policymakers need to get more educated about the social networking landscape.

I repeat — Interaction, participation, and personalization!

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