Open government in Canada up to this point has been more about ideas, while the United States is now taking formative action. 

American President Barack Obama's recently released executive order, pushing local governments to further employ open government and open data initiatives, is enough for any municipal government staff member to take note. 

But what is happening in Canada?

The Federal Government's Open Data website is still in its infant stages although work is now underway to re-launch it with more innovative tools and an easier to navigate interface.  Furthermore, many Canadian local governments we speak to are still hesitant to become transparent and haven't yet warmed up to the concept of open data.  iCompass offers Council voting and attendance records publishing in our solutions, but often get asked to shut those features off because Council and staff aren't ready for that level of openness.   There's an underlying fear that more information equals more criticism.  In stark contrast, the majority of our American partners find the thought of not openly presenting Council information blasphemy. 

Social Media works best when information is free-flowing.  But that is easier said than done for local governments.  When I wrote this article for the International Institute of Municipal Clerks News Digest in February, I focused on 5 key factors local governments need to consider to ensure they are getting the most out of their social media presence.  The full details are in the article, but the 5 main points are:

• Create a Corporate Account & Have 1 Person Manage It
• Interact with the Community
• Get Elected Officials Involved
• Get Your Website Working For You
• Move To a Paperless Meeting System

But after reading this article in the Toronto Star, I’ve come to realize I didn’t address the foundation for social media implementation and success ­– training & policy.   

The Toronto Councilor featured in this article used Facebook and Twitter to promote an ‘unpaid internship’ causing all sorts of controversy about whether or not it was legal to actually employ somebody in this manner.   Social media is crucial for transparency, but there is some added pressure to get it right when employed by a local government.  A couple of points to remember:

When I sit-down with Secretaries, Superintendents, and Chief Administrative Officers I find the line of questioning when it comes to paperless meetings varies significantly.  Every organization is a bit different, but there are some crucial points to focus on, that will ensure your transition is seamless.  Almost every board secretary I talk to understands immediately how much money, time and paper can be saved by going to a Paperless Meeting Management Solution, the trick is making sure everyone else understands too.  Here’s a taste of what to expect from my upcoming presentation at the Association of School Business Officials of Alberta (ASBOA) Conference. 

5 Things School Boards Must Know Before Going Paperless

1) What are the benefits? – Do some homework and make sure everyone inside your organization knows what’s to gain. 

2) Getting the Board on Board – How to get board members to buy-in.

3) Own It – Know the Tools of the Trade.  Every organization needs an expert.  Some who knows the technology, and where to go for questions. 

4) Security & Privacy – If I don’t have paper, where will the info be located?

5) Keep it Simple Schools! – My number one rule for a successful implementation!

I’m excited to have Wolf Creek School Division Secretary-Treasurer Joe Henderson and Greater St Albert Catholic Regional Division Secretary-Treasurer Deb Schlag joining me to add some of their insights.

“Accessibility is the degree to which anyone can access and use a website using any web browsing technology.” – Unknown

As local governments rely more and more on their website to share information with the public, it’s important to understand that EVERYBODY needs to be able to this access content.  The biggest challenge of course is ensuring the visually and hearing impaired can get the same information on demand as people without those challenges. 

It’s important that someone within an organization, whether it be a communications professional or whomever manages your website, is an expert on this topic when questions are asked from people in the community.  I have listed a couple of FREE tools that I would recommend, which help those who are visually or hearing impaired access information on your website. 

ChromeVox:

ChromeVox is a screen reader for Chrome OS, intended to bring the speed, versatility, and security of Chrome OS to visually impaired users. Because ChromeVox is built by Google, it's optimized for the web. It supports the latest web standards and excels at accessing the most modern interactive websites.

VoiceOver:

VoiceOver is a screen-access technology, for the blind and visually impaired. This product is free and included with any Apple product such as iPhone, iPad, iPod, and Mac computers. No installation or setup required and is available in over 30 language voices, which are also included at no charge. 

As a member of the iCompass Customer Success Team I often get calls from people with similar issues that are easily fixed with a few simple preventative measures. Here are a few best practices to self-treat and avoid reoccurring problems:

1) Keep Your Browser Up-To-Date

Most browsers have plug-ins that recognize and show PDF files properly. However, regularly ensuring your browser is up-to-date can prevent a lot of major problems. 

How to: in the “Help” or “About” section of your browser you can find a link or a button to update or check to see if you need upgrades.

2) Clearing cache and cookies

This is temporary data that browsers keep for faster access to previously visited websites and to help improve performance. However, when iCompass provides a software update we see a variety of problems if people are regularly clearing their browsing data. 

Paperless.  It’s a buzzword you hear more frequently from local governments but what does it actually mean for your organization?  I’m going to outline some of what to expect when making the transition.  The bottom line is this ­– in a world that’s becoming more digital, mobile and environmentally conscious, it’s not a nice to have, IT’S A NEED TO HAVE.  The good news is the processes and solutions have been trialed now for years.  You’ll find that after making the move it’s going to be huge money saver and aid open government initiatives. 

1) Get Rid of Paper Agendas

Solutions have been developed that are basically like MS Word but tailored specifically for the creation, publishing and storage of agendas and minutes for local governments and school districts.   That means the approval process for a recommendation, and storage for reports are included and automated.  That means you won’t have to push paper around the office looking for signatures.  When it comes to elected officials, they don’t get a 300-page document in the mail, instead, the finished document is published to an application on their iPad, or other tablet for annotation.  Have you looked at your printing budget lately?  This process saves more paper then you actually probably realize and the job gets done way faster as well.  You can also still print out a few agendas for the public, should they want to follow along while attending a meeting. 

2) Paperless doesn’t mean goodbye to all paper

It’s one of the most common misconceptions local governments make and easily the most expensive.  Many organizations we engage with prefer ‘the comforts’ of an in-house service that has the software and servers on site. What they fail to realize is this decision is causing budgetary nightmares that cost local governments millions.

The number one fact organizations fail to recognize when comparing the cloud to enterprise systems is the maintenance and software development costs associated with the product are astronomical. 

This article does a great job of illustrating the impacts but here’s the overview of what you need to know. 

Rain or shine, blizzard or blue skies, there's a good chance a member of the iCompass team will be visiting you shortly.  Our 4th annual Lots of Love Tour, or LOL tour as we like to call it, begins February 18th.  Our pledge in 2013 is to meet with 150 customers in the first 125 days of the year and we look forward to officially getting that initiative underway.  Team members will be providing a new list of commitments, and showing the latest product updates to the organizations we work with.  We are also looking forward to meeting with many other municipalities and school districts that we hope will soon become part of the iCompass family. 

As we enter this time of year, our account executives always like to recount some of those stories from the road.  Driving through Saskatchewan in February has its share of challenges, as does trying to make it to 6 different communities in one day.  This year, you'll be able to follow along through our social media channels.  Look for constant updates on Twitter (@iCompasstech), Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/iCompassTech) and LinkedIn (ca.linkedin.ca/in/iCompasstech).

Now, starting off our first week Aaron Weiss (@iCompassAaron) will be touring Washington, Joel Neustaeter (@iCompassJoel) and Courtney Harris (@iCompassCourt) will be on Vancouver Island and Gareth Brunt (@iCompassGareth) will be in Alberta.  Search the hashtag #LOLTOUR2013 for the latest on their travels. 

One of the most interesting things about innovation is that people don’t realize what they were missing until they have it.  One of the best current examples is without a doubt the cellphone.  The concept of being able to communicate with someone while on the move is groundbreaking enough, but the emergence of smartphone technology has taken cellular communication to a place that few could have truly imagined.  So what are local governments doing with this technology?  And what needs to be done to keep up with the public’s demands?  Here are some tips.
 
1. Make Your Website Smartphone Friendly
 
Over half of people aged 18-44 now have a smartphone according to numerous studies you can find on the Internet by simply typing in ‘cellphone use’.  People want the ability to interact with government at their convenience, so obviously a smartphone has to be at the forefront of any website accessibility conversation.  In a nutshell that means your website has to be configured so that it’s mobile friendly and easy to navigate using any device.  HTML 5 is the latest technology ­– it­ makes websites more readable and accessible when being viewed on a mobile device.
 
2. Embrace Social Media

The goal of government transparency isn’t an easy one to accomplish.  The world is becoming increasingly digitalized and the public’s expectation that information from Town/City Hall is found online continues to grow.   But there are ways to leverage social media as a citizen engagement tool, while actually creating less work for staff.   It’s easy to say lets have a plan, but where do you really begin?  Here are 5 tips. 

1.  Create a Corporate Account & Have 1 Person Manage It

Turning your twitter account into a ‘news feed’ is a great place to start.  Council meetings, agenda postings and events can be easily mentioned, creating a “community billboard”.  Having 1 person provide those updates is ideal to ensure your government has one voice.

2.  Interact with the community

This may seem like a daunting task because it requires someone to be constantly monitoring and responding to positive and inevitably negative comments in the public sphere.  However, it can be a big time saver as well.  Budget 5-10 minutes a day for your designated ‘social media specialist’ to respond or interact with the public on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.  These updates, which are viewable by anyone, work to lessen the number of public requests.