Staying Relevant on the Web Internet Bob Bunge Internet Dissemination Officer OCIO

Emerging Trends What trends, tools, technologies? Should we adapt, adopt, ignore or run away? Making the mission work What risks? Keeping policy relevant and providing guidance Legality of using some of this stuff

Emerging to Operation NWS Specific Issues to ponder –Concept of how NWS uses the tech Observation: if two regions strike out, their concept will be different. Merging is always difficult –Uniformity of services Ob: Workload rarely considered early on Ob: Differences in regions rarely considered –Lesson: Those first couple uses are VERY important!

Emerging to Partnership Look for trends that empower the partner –Seek out standards –Lower cost of entry to disseminate –Hit niche markets we won’t think of –Strengthens the enterprise –Broadens our reach Examine trends that exclude the partner –A web page only solution self-limits audience –Forces NWS to become an expert on the user

Pre-parsed Products Example: Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) Opportunities: –Lowers cost of entry for others to use data –Open doors for new ways to use our data –Stimulates the Enterprise to do new things Risks –Data used in ways we can’t foresee –Apparent loss of control over content

Syndicated Web Feeds (RSS/ATOM) Automated notifications of frequently updated content Opportunities: –Do more with RSS, XML/Web feeds. Expand reach. Pull content together across government. Authoritative source. Reduce duplication Risks: –Lack of authoritative source within RSS

Instant Messenger (IM) Near real-time collaboration tool Opportunities: –Near real-time collaboration employee to employee, employee to partner, and employee to citizen Risks: –Inability to authoritatively identify other party in IM exchange – leading to risk of spoofed conversations and constant distraction

Podcasting Multimedia content syndicated out for use on iPod TM, Mp3 players & computers Opportunities: –More ways to get message out. Build trust with conversational voice. Use for updates, live government deliberations, emergencies, how-to messages Risks: –Heavy user of resources for small audience –Small risk of having third parties copyright our material (because we can't) then charging us to use our own stuff

Widgets, Gadgets, Pipes Small applications & code in Web pages or for desktop use Opportunities: –Increase awareness, use, and usefulness of.gov sites, information, and service. Bring content to the user’s home page (iGoogle, netvibes, etc) Risks: –Widgets could provide a back door for access to government servers – which theoretically could allow code insertion as a vector to hack our databases

Blogs Journal or diary with social collaboration – may be internal only or external Opportunities: –Government info to new audiences. Puts human face on government using informal tone. Opens public conversations. Surface issues & solve them. Risks: –Use of site to distribute porn or popularize links to gambling sites –Review of content before posting –Option: turn feed back off

Wikis Collaborative authoring & editing Opportunities: –Workgroup or public collaboration for project management, knowledge sharing, public input. Contributions to 3rd party sites e.g. Wikipedia Risks: –Difficulty of quality control –Potential for posting of mis-or-dis-information –Wikipedia: ethical concerns with NWS editing content; it isn’t anonymous!

Third party provided services/applications Eg: Google Maps, YouTube, etc Partnership Policy – –Make sure it fits the mission of the agency –Do not show favoritism On-line sign ups are legal contracts! Have them reviewed by Office of General Counsel before signing up for an office/official account –Choice of jurisdiction/laws –Indemnification

Mobile Rapid changes in technologies Shaky standards Do we become experts is all types of devices? Bandwidth isn’t so much of an issue anymore

Video/Multimedia (outside hosted) Daily Wx briefings Public outreach, education, training, other communication for “connected” and on-line audiences. How To videos & audios to improve service and achieve mission. YouTube: Powerful reach to non-traditional audience –GSA/DOC attempting to get MOU –Architecture of information: structure of channels

Microblogging (outside hosted) Twitter – most common example Broadcast messages, emergencies, news, announcements. Real time reporting Limited audience of any given micro-blog creates false impression of wide dissemination

TechnologyOpportunities/Potential UsePerceived Risks Photo- Sharing Cost savings potential. New audiences. Awareness. Small risk of having third parties copyright our material Virtual WorldsPublic outreach & other communication for kids and niche Internet audiences. Virtual Town Halls, Education, Training. Ability to bring people together worldwide for meetings, lectures, etc. Overtaxing of web staff to monitor virtual interactions due to lack of 3-D avatars Social Networking Sites Improved government reach, service, usefulness, and functionality. Integrate external data. Get licenses, stay vendor neutral. Make content available to others who create mashups Employees could be lured to fake or mis- directed sites, and then be tricked into divulging sensitive or personal information

TechnologyOpportunities/Potential UsePerceived Risks MashupsLots of potential. Improved government reach, service, usefulness, and functionality. Integrate external data. Get licenses, stay vendor neutral. Make content available to others who create mashups Content “breaks” from dead links Social Bookmark &News (Sharing, Tagging) Sites Increase the popularity and use of “dot.gov” pages, information, and services. Viral marketing. Fake posts purporting to be from government employees lead instead to illicit websites