Tag Archives: secondlife

Nov 5 2009

Social Media Policies: Leading Without Bleeding

As I continue to discuss government 2.0 with peers across the globe, I am happy to report that progress is being made! Specifically, I have noticed that the content of the dialog is changing.  For most of the past year, when I was asked to do a presentation on 2.0 for conferences or webinars, the vast majority of conference organizers asked me to focused on the “what” and the “why” of Web 2.0 in government:

“Please explain Twitter, tell me how to set up a blog,” etc.  I was happy to oblige because in order to understand the value offered by these toolsets, you have to have at least a basic knowledge of their general purpose and capabilities.

But in the last few months, I’ve noticed that the focus has shifted to the bigger picture of governance.  Now the conference/webinar organizers are saying “Okay, everybody gets it – Facebook has some viability for us in government.  But how do you control it? Who manages it? Who can post?” Last week, I participated (remotely via SecondLife) as a guest speaker at a conference organized by the Florida Institute in Government. The conference was focused on the challenges of social media in government. When planning the content of my presentation, the organizer asked me to focus specifically on policy development.  How did we work through the process here in Roanoke County? What were the essential components?  How did I “sell” the value of it to my administration and elected officials? And she was dead-on with this line of thinking: the session ran long with questions from the audience, the majority of which were focused on policy versus the specifics of a given technology. Next week, I am scheduled to speak (remotely via videoconference) to a Public Adminsitration graduate class at Syracuse University. Throughout the planning the content for the session, the professor has asked me to focus on “New media policies in the public sector…hoping that you could walk us through your county’s strategy, main elements, how you came up with the different elements, what potential implementation problems might be and adoption constraints that you might have encountered (security, cultural issues, identity management, public record creation, records management, etc.).”  She asked me to participate not just because of my MuniGov affiliation, but because I am just one example of how government are putting their money where their mouth is…not just talking the 2.0 talk but walking the walk.

Collectively, we’ve moved beyond the “what” and the “why” of govt 2.0 and into the stickier realm of “how”. I call it stickier because how we do this stuff – the controls, the process, the procedures – are a sign that we’ve moved beyond the R&D and into the acceptable use realm.  This means accountability, stakeholders and policies that have to be created and <gulp> approved.

macgyver1

Your Social Media Policy can do it all, just like my man Macgyver!

However, social media policies should not be feared.  Believe it or not, they are not that difficult to construct. I’ll grant you that although it can be an arduous process to get them fully vetted, when they are done, they can be used as a shield, a megaphone and a flashlight! They’re like the MacGyver of policies.

Now, my humble apologies here dear reader, but I am afraid that I won’t be able to tell you exactly how your policy should look.  There are too many variables involved (i.e. state laws, political climate, organizational size and culture, etc.) to develop a foolproof checklist for every organization.  However, I have discovered some common elements that seem to be inherent in the successful social media/2.0 policies that I’ve seen in government organizations. Here are a few tips to help you get started:

  • If you are still in the “justification” mode, don’t start with a policy.  You need to do some controlled experiments and test the waters first.  Policy development before establishing value will be a death knell for 2.0 in your organization.  Start with some hands-on value development.  (See my earlier post “Incorporating Web2.0 in Your Organization Part 1 – MIX IT UP! ” for some suggestions on how to do this).
  • Once you are ready to start on a policy, be sure to think high level. Do not focus your policy on specific technologies or procedures.  One of the biggest values of 2.0 is its nimbleness.  If you tie a document with the weight that a policy holds to a specific tool, you will never be able to keep up with the technology times.  Yes, Youtube might be ideal for your organization now, but you might find something more effective in the future.  Use your policy as a general “big picture” guide to the sanctioned use of 2.0 in general – leave the specifics of use to a separate procedure.  For example, here in Roanoke County we do not mention Twitter at all in our policy.  Yet we have separate procedures that dictate the details like background images, whom we will “Follow”, and our avatar design requirements. Keep it high-level – avoid acronyms, specific technology names or processes used for only a single purpose. Make your policy flexible.  It is not intended to be an engraved headstone but rather a dry-erase board. Expect – heck, plan ahead – to make changes to it on at least an annual basis to keep up with the times and the “organizational acceptance” of it all.
  • From the beginning of policy development, you need to involve your organization’s key players.  At a minimum, every policy should govern a workflow process that includes public information/marketing, information technology and legal counsel.  These are the three legs of the 2.0 stool that have to be rock solid for it all to truly work.  Anything new you want to implement on a permanent basis should be approved by these departments.  I know that my colleagues have at times considered me (IT) to be a bottleneck. But IT, like the others mentioned above are here to support and protect you and your organization from harm. So my advice is to get them on board early.  It may take some gentle cattle-prodding to get them to focus on it. Provide them with information.  Answer their questions promptly.  And I have found that providing doughnuts and/or cookies at meetings often helps to grease the skids as well!
  • The policy itself is simply a document.  Don’t let it sit on a shelf in a dusty binder.  Exercise the policy by developing a cross-departmental workgroup to keep things moving along.  Start with the three legs mentioned above, but add representatives from your departments that have a direct connection to your citizens (Libraries, Parks and Recreation, Public Safety, Human Resources, etc.)  There are typically folks within these departments that get this stuff, that want to be operating in this space.  A policy, coupled with this workgroup will ensure a balance of governance and innovation within your organization…a true key to success and longevity for your govt 2.0 efforts.
  • Next, dress that policy up and take it out on the town!  Don’t let your policy get bored.  Use it as tool of advocacy. By promoting a social media plan that is backed up with the quintessential “big guns” of policy approval, you’ve got a much better chance of making things work across your organization.  The policy is the firm foundation from which you can launch a comprehensive communications plan.  Use it to help you tell your organization, your elected officials and your constituents that “this stuff is here, we are using it (the right way) and it is a good thing!”

I hope these thoughts above give you a jumpstart on your own policy development.  Below are a few examples of social media policies for government organizations that may help even more.  By no means is this a comprehensive list of governments that have policies in place. This is just a sampling to show you that organizations engaged in social media come in all shapes and sizes. Please feel free to shoot me a message and let me know if I’ve missed one you’ve found particularly helpful.

Arlington County, VA Social Media Policy and Guidelines

Arvada, CO Social Media Policy

Chandler AZ Social Media/Social Networking Administrative Regulation

Fairfax County, VA Social Media Policy

Hampton, VA Social Media Policy

Roanoke County, VA Social Media Policy

Suwanee, GA Social Media Policy

State of Delaware Social Media Policy

State of Utah Social Media Guidelines

Virtually Yours,

Greever

Sep 2 2009

“Yeah, But Do You Have to Be a Wolf?”

That’s a question I get asked with Metamucil-inspired regularity as more and more of our government peers take the plunge into the unknowns of virtual worlds.  For those unaccustomed to the freedoms and idiosyncrasies of virtual worlds, the initial adventure can be quite a sensory overload.  Although most virtual worlds have major characteristics that are rooted in the real world (i.e economics, social interaction, timespace continuum), these worlds do often reject the notion that one needs to be restricted by such trivial things as physics, physical appearance and other such nonsense.

For instance, in the virtual world of SecondLife, where MuniGov has established its Virtual World Domination HQ, your virtual self is free from the shackles of gravity and the restrictions of conventional humanity.  Sure, there are humans every where you look, but they are not alone.  Here humans intermingle freely with dozens of various and intricate subcultures of furries, nekos, dragons, vampires, tinies and many more.  Sounds like a video game, not work, right?  Well, in a sense, you are correct.  Virtual worlds, particularly SL, look and act like a video game in many ways.  You interact with the online world through an avatar that is completely customizable.  You can get a job and get paid with currency that can then be spent on new customizations, new clothes, furniture, etc.  This is much like “leveling-up” after completing a particularly hairy quest in a video game.  But is probably the point at which SL and video games diverge.

In SL there are no defined quests.  There is no beginning point and there are no end credits to strive for.  SecondLife in and of itself is what you make of it.  If you are there to socialize, you will find people who are content to do nothing but hang out, perhaps dance a bit and talk about whatever strikes their fancy.  If you are here to explore and discover new cultures, you will be very happy in SL.  You will find authentic representations of the modern day world, cultures out of history, literature, popular culture and the sheer imaginations of SL’s inhabitants.  And if you are here to learn, you are also very much in luck.  Dozens of universities, hospitals, scientific entities and libraries are deeply invested in SL as a tool for education, knowledge transfer, recruitment and research and development. They have invested time and expertise and they are seeing the payoffs.

Our federal government has an extensive presence in SecondLife. In your SL travels you can find all branches of the military using Second Life for recruitment, modeling and simulation and the like. In fact, the University of Southern California’s Institute for Creative Technologies recently created a new area in Second Life, known as Coming Home, designed to assist returning veterans and “ease their return to civilian life”.  NASA, the CDC, NOAA and many other govt agencies have committed to exploring and investing in new methods of delivering services and information.  The state of Missouri uses SecondLife as a recruiting tool for its Information Technology Department.  Ontario,British Columbia uses it to simulate the skills needed to be a firefighter, medical technician, civil engineer, economist, and traffic analyst.  I recently attended a detailed, comprehensive paramedic training simulatordeveloped by St. George’s University of London.

The beauty of SecondLife is that is a participant-driven solution.  When LindenLabs constructed Second Life, they made their “grid” as wide open as possible.  Essentially, they constructed a giant sandbox, brought in a megaload of sand, and invited us all to come over and play. They provided the tools and the medium but the constructs were the products of their users.  In many ways, the possibilities are limited solely by the imagination.  From the smallest details – the texture of the floorboards or the shine of your bling – to the expansive training simulations developed by the military, the functionality offered by an easy-to-use scripting language makes nearly all things possible. In SL, you can create complex training scenarios, attractive and appealing recruiting stations or even functional and practical meeting spaces.  And because doing all this is simply pushing around ones and zeros in this pixilated universe, your cost of entry is literally zero and with a small time and financial investment you can build a substantial, practical and user-friendly presence to meet the business goals of your organization. Think complete customization!

Greever Wemyss in Second Life

Greever Wemyss in Second Life

And I am here before you today and proudly admit that it is this customization that drove me to lycanthropy. I confess that when I first got into SL, I was human for a time.  I spent much of my first few visits exploring several different cultures.  I even managed to pick up a few lines of Elvish when I spent time with them in their forest home.  Trivial?  Perhaps.  But it quickly taught me that a different appearance, while it may appear superficial at first glance, was actually more indicative of the existence of extensive, complex hierarchies.  SL has its own sets of rules, connections, communications and these form a conglomeration of factors ripe for the harvesting of new avenues of two-way communication, immersive information sharing, training simulators, teleconferencing opportunities and much, much more.

So after a few months in world, I made a conscious decision that I was no longer going to be human.  I decided that it was very important to make a strong first impression on the new govt types that came in world to see what things are all about.  I wanted to convey that you can get both things in world.  That is to say, when new govt users speak to me, they hopefully hear and feel the conviction in my voice and see the practical potential of SL.  I want them to see that someone who is extremely serious and committed to exploring the real world potential of virtual worlds can appear as a wolf; call it going for the “shock value” I suppose. If they see that if I can be a wolf, I could just as easily wear turn out gear and learn how to fight a fire, design a 3D tourable mock-up of a new library or sport my scrubs and learn how to perform an appendectomy. So yes, I my friends, am an admitted canis lupus.  Mind you I am not frequently prone to scratching for fleas or howling at the moon, but there is definitely a distinctive furriness to my face.

No doubt my appearance will turn away some of the less visionary members of my government peer group.  But I am okay with that.  In my mind you have to start with a certain amount of open-mindedness to consider virtual worlds or any 2.0 tools in general for that matter. So, if you are perhaps interested, I would encourage you to try it out.  Come to one of our weekly virtual govt meet-ups in SecondLife. (Wednesdays at 7PM EST on the Public Works Island). Mingle with your govt peers from across the globe and see what  an open mind and a blank (and free) canvas could do for your organization.  And although I find mine to be a great conversation piece, the tail is completely optional!