4.3: Strategic Plan for Participation and Collaboration

Test, develop, and deploy an array of media, tools, and approaches to communicate with the public

Other Information:

HHS Strategic Plan for Participation and Collaboration - In an effort to enhance the ability for HHS employees to identify opportunities to participate in the Open Government initiative, an initial action plan has been developed. With the advancement of Internet tools and the use of other communication technology, HHS is testing, developing, and deploying an array of media, tools, and approaches to communicate with the public. Across HHS, agencies are exploring new approaches to foster participation by the public and promote collaboration across government and with non-governmental organizations. Looking forward in 2010, HHS will deploy a Strategic Plan for Participation and Collaboration, based on four core elements: 1. Founding an HHS “Community of Practice” for Participation and Collaboration The first step toward progress is enhancing awareness and experience across HHS regarding the use of new technologies and approaches to enhance Open Government. Another aspect of importance in this plan is to provide new venues and opportunities for HHS employees, its partners, and the public to obtain experience and learn from others. To accomplish this, HHS is establishing a “Community of Practice” for Participation and Collaboration. This community of practice will enable HHS Open Government innovators to share experiences, policies, and tools, and will increase dissemination of best practices and knowledge throughout the HHS workforce. The community of practice will focus on activities being developed in actual ‘laboratories’ or other facilities that allow testing in developmental Internet spaces and evaluation of results. The community of practice approach will enable many new concepts and applications of technology to flourish in helping “connect” HHS with the public and its partners. 2. Development of an HHS Workplace Menu of Innovative Tools for Participation and Collaboration One of the first orders of business for the new HHS “Community of Practice” on Participation and Collaboration is developing a “menu” of tools and techniques would encourage participation and collaboration within and without the HHS community. Within the department, several Operating Divisions have expressed interest in deploying an ideation tool to enhance internal operations and boost employee morale. The menu will list common tools and information resources available that agencies may wish to use in participation and collaboration activities. HHS employees and other members of the community of practice will use this menu to share their experiences and lessons learned from using the tools in the menu. Such a feedback mechanism will ensure that the menu and its content remain dynamic and relevant over time. 3. Evaluation of HHS Participation and Collaboration Efforts Evaluation of the effectiveness of current and planned participation and collaboration efforts will serve as an important component of HHS’s Open Government Plan. Evaluation efforts will be expected to inform near-term activities such as community of practice discussions and the development of the participation and collaboration tools menu, as well as future strategic planning efforts regarding the use of participation/ collaboration activities across HHS. The evaluation activities will focus on three broad components: 1) evaluation of the effectiveness of the methods/techniques utilized in a sampling of featured HHS participation and collaboration activities (we will aim to select a diverse sample of initiatives so that we can evaluate not only the technical tools and management approaches applied to the use of these tools, but also the settings or issues for which participation and collaboration issues are best suited); 2) stakeholder evaluations of the effectiveness of engagement approaches; and 3) an assessment of the effectiveness of the participation and collaboration methods/techniques in supporting agency priorities. With regards to this third component, the evaluation will pay close attention to the extent to which public inputs garnered through participation efforts have contributed to the HHS priorities, as well as any best practices with regards to the handling of and responding to public comments. 4. Addressing Barriers to Participation and Collaboration at HHS HHS leadership has designated the promotion of innovation across HHS as major priority. In our approach to implementing new ways to work together, HHS has identified barriers that impede new methods of participation and collaboration and is now working to overcome them. One area that has represented a barrier to participation and collaboration has been the lack of knowledge about what technology platforms and services can be used in the workplace and what privacy and security concerns and protections are involved. HHS is working to inform workers on how to utilize Web 2.0 technologies responsibly and safely and promote their use to promote participation and collaboration activities. Another source of difficulty impacting working with the public was identified as restrictive policies related to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1984. Currently, research activities to collect information from the public require many layers of project review to comply with management controls introduced as a consequence of the statute. Now, HHS is working with the Office of Management and Budget to eradicate unnecessary obstructive practices and bureaucracy that will enable more effective and efficient data collection. An important consideration for the future of communication and deployment of advanced collaboration and participation tools is the informatics infrastructure and technical support in HHS. Being such a large organization, HHS has an array of decentralized information systems, and the interactions among users and movement of important data can be inhibited by lack of connectivity or technical support. HHS is studying options through the Chief Information Officer Council to optimize sharing of experiences and improving connections across information systems. New policies and technical infrastructure will be a target of HHS work in the future to ensure that technology can be used effectively in the workplace.

Stakeholder(s):

• Members of the Public

Indicator(s):

Indicator:1

Content