So to make this a bit interesting, try to include:
- What's your work or school background, and/or mission in life?
- What's one thing you'd like the government (any level) to change in the way it serves its publics?
One thing I'd like the government to change is the way it approaches problem solving. I think we shouldn't isolate ourselves and try to figure stuff out on our own, behind closed doors; we should build more nimble solutions openly alongside our peers as well as the people our services will impact the most and refine them constantly to meet users' needs.
So what are you all about? Hope to hear from some of you!
My name is Richard, and I'm not a public servant, but in the last year or so, I've come to meet public servants who are trying real hard to change the culture within government.
ReplyDeleteTo make it more open and adaptive...and I want to do my part.
The history of Civilization has seen Elected Representatives, Public Servants, and Citizens as three very separate groups of people.
Much like Melissa, I believe it is time that those walls be taken down...I believe it is time for us to work together, instead of working to undermine each other.
My name is David. My initial educational background is in English and Linguistics, with a diploma in TESL. After university, I wanted to travel the world teaching English.
ReplyDeleteA bit later, I went back to school to get a Masters of Library Science. I wanted to work in a public library.
Instead, I ended up in government about 20 years ago building websites and have been leading web teams ever since.
I think the future of public service is for government to do things "with" the public instead of "for" or "to" the public. Ultimately, I think that government is a tool for people to do things as a community. In these tight times when people seem unable or unwilling to contribute the financial resources to get what they want done, we'll have work with them to find other ways that they can contribute to the effort.
My name is Marc, and I'm coming from the education field (Math teacher, then Computer Studies teacher). My passion for computer science led me back to school to get the Bachelor and a MBA in the management of technology and innovation.
ReplyDeleteI've been working at the Ontario Public Service (OPS) for seven years. My first assignment was to review the Technological Education Curriculum, which we published in 2009. I've been the technology go-to person since then. I've been instrumental in developing the provincial K-12 e-learning strategy. I've also worked on several different files including provincial-wide procurement, and the first cloud computing RFPs, the review of the OPS Intellectual Property Directive, and other fun initiatives.
I am leading IT for Tomorrow's Ontario Public Service, a 4,000-member organization doing exciting things to modernize the OPS and to help staff grow professionally developing passion projects.
Most of all, I've been using, developing and teaching Free/Libre Open Source Software for 15 years (I worked for Mandrake/Mandriva Linux at some point). I strongly believe in the wisdom of the crowd. The future is one that we are going to design and to implement together!