I have been reading Wiki Government by Beth Simone Noveck (Brookings Institution Press, 2009). Stumbling across this book was pure serendipity. The “wiki” originally caught my eye due to my experiments with a SW community wiki for everyone to use to brainstorm ideas and share information around strengthening families, enhancing innovative citizenship education, and improving communication (http://swedmontonittakesavillage.wikispaces.com/). To say that my wiki has not taken off is an understatement – pretty much I am the only visitor! – so I thought there might be some good tips in this book.
The next thing that caught my eye was the subtitle: How Technology Can Make Government Better, Democracy Stronger, and Citizens More Powerful. So far the book has been a fascinating read and there is much food for thought in here. I thought I would share some of the ideas over the next couple of weeks and I welcome your ideas on how or if the ideas could be applied to school board governance.
Ms. Noveck has been part of President Obama’s drive to go “beyond improving citizen participation to address the emerging opportunity for meaningful collaboration — as distinct from participation – across levels of government and between government and citizens.” Her purpose in writing this book? “Knowing how to use technology to get all hands on deck and create more effective and efficient government institutions is the focus of the book.” Getting all hands on deck … mobilizing “the wisdom of the crowds” as per a book by James Surioweki… is something I have long been interested in.
The first half of the book describes in detail some work done within the auspices of the US Patent Office, called the Peer-to-Patent Process. Ms. Noveck then applies her learning to think about how technology could be applied in other ways to government. She states (p. 146), “Peer-to-Patent is not a panacea. The design is not the right design for all types of decision-making. This is because not all problems lend themselves to problem solving by a group. An institution must be able to articulate the challenge to which the wisdom of the crowd will be applied.”
So, any preliminary thoughts on what public education problems might be best resolved through collaborative thinking/work/action? Which would not be good?
I am in the process of completing the Inspiring Action “Transformation Guide on Shared Governance, Collaboration, School Boards and Natural Person Powers”. Your blog, twitter, Facebook have all helped me as my thoughts churn about on this one.
I think that there is not one model or template that works for each and every school district, but rather a set of best practices to be shared from which each local individuated governance emerges. Some boards are already well down this road; others have a journey ahead of them. I believe all boards can benefit from a study of Dr. Keith Seel’s work on generative governance.
My own board experience shows me that collaboration can create a sum which is greater than the individual parts but this quote: “…not all problems lend themselves to problem solving by a group. An institution must be able to articulate the challenge to which the wisdom of the crowd will be applied.” is exactly right.
What must also be applied is the filter or screen of the ‘vision’: is what we propose going to advance our progress? The ‘crowd’ also helps provide this analysis.
Esme, thanks for your comments. I totally agree that there is not one model or template that will work for every school district. This is why I am hoping the new Education Act will empower school boards with more autonomy to really work with their local communities and sitautions in terms of a best governance model, best policies, etc. to suit their needs. I missed Dr. Seel’s presentation at the PSBAA Spring Assemblyl due to being out of town, but trustees who were there spoke highly of “generative governance.”
If you have time to read the next post that I just about to put up, I would appreciate your thoughts (or anybody else’s) on where generative governance fits — does it fall within collaborative democracy or deliberative democracy or is it entirely its own thing? And perhaps, you could comment on where your experiences with Futures Visioning (did I get that right?) lies here…. Is it how your district developed the “vision” for public education within your community that now would help decide your board decide what challenges will be resolved through group work/deliberation?
By the way, I encourage everyone to fill out the Inspiring Action’s Transformation guide on “Shared Governance, Collaboration, School Boards, and Natural Person Powers” and if you can, to register to participate in the online session on this topic on August 19 in the afternoon. http://engage.education.alberta.ca/inspiring-action/become-involved