There’s been a fascinating conference that I’ve been following for the past couple of days- the Gov 2.0 Expo in Washington D.C. It’s a really interesting topic- especially for those in the government. Singapore’s civil service is pretty efficient (compared to what I’ve seen overseas), but there is always immense potential for improvement- particularly when it comes to the adoption of technology.

I’ve been on-off interested in this subject for quite a bit of time- great blogs that covers this topic is GovFresh, and Gov 2.0 Radio. There’s been a flurry of recent activity on the topic as well, with Obama’s OpenGov initiative sparking a lot of applications built on government data. Conferences such as Gov 2.0 LA (for Los Angeles), and the Gov 2.0 Expo have brought a lot of renewed interest to the subject. I’ll blog about some key ideas from these conferences after my exams, which end next week.

iLink@Aljunied: Feedback

I wrote earlier on open helpdesks and idea aggregators and how they could help the government. This is already starting to happen in Singapore- iLink@Aljunied (what a name!?) is somewhat of a open helpdesk, for Aljunied GRC, and you can find a really good review of it at e27. It should be interesting times- I’m working on something in this field, and will write about it soon.

He talked about how his experiences in the army had shaped him, and many of themes he touched on were those I fondly remember from my OCS days; he talked about life post-public service, and he talked about America in relation to the world: “We are still the nation people look to”. He talked about Obama’s victory, and why he voted for Obama instead of long-time friend McCain.

It is always incredibly enlightening for me to hear retired public servants talk. In their words you hear the thoughts that shaped the current realities, and in their voices you hear the weariness of a veteran, mixed with the optimism that what they have done and the successors they have appointed will make things better. Powerful stuff for the new generation.