Government 2.0 collects the wisdom of crowds

Abstract

An emerging trend is noteworthy that government agencies tap on citizens' innovative ideas. Government 2.0 - governmental adoption of Web 2.0 technologies - enables and empowers citizens to participate in various functions and processes of government such as service provision, information production, and policy making. Government 2.0 is a tool for government to collect the wisdom of crowds, which helps improve service, information, and policy. Crowdsourcing is not only for businesses but is now being implemented in the public sector. Currently government agencies chiefly use four strategies for crowdsourcing: contest, wiki, social networking, and social voting. This paper takes a close look at how government agencies utilize those strategies. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.