The Secretary of State's Sounding Board

Guess I missed this story (http://bit.ly/49Saqj). Someone at the ACT/IAC ELC 2009 conference yesterday mentioned that, like the terrific TSA Idea Factory, the Secretary of State has something called the Sounding Board, where people can essentially upload suggestions that are then taken seriously and sometimes implemented.

Anyone at State using this that can mention how it's going? Only curious. I think it's a great notion if it's used the right way, as TSA has been using it. TSA did such a good job that Idea Factory is now expected to spread DHS-wide, which sounds terrific to me.

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Comments (6)

Oct 28, 2009
Tammy Gordon said...
is that for internal comms or anyone? (the TSA model)
Oct 28, 2009
Mark Drapeau said...
It sounded like anyone from inside State could make suggestions. But honestly I don't really know much more than that.
Oct 28, 2009
dkrape said...
It is for internal communications. Basically, if a person in State has an idea, they fill out a form, which includes sections like: description, impact, obstacles and so on, submit it to the site and people then comment on the suggestion. In most cases, the office responsible for that change (such as from the CIO's office if it is a technology question) will weight in on the idea.

It looks to be working rather well. A good number of the ideas have actually been implemented and more are under active review. The site has also provided a great place for the internal community to discuss what is or isn't working at State and how we (and I work at State) can make improvements.

Oct 28, 2009
Mark Drapeau said...
Thanks Darren. Sounds though like the Idea Factory model is a lot more formal and serious, whereas Sounding Board is more like Digg (?)
Oct 28, 2009
dkrape said...
The Sounding Board is more of an open, collaborative suggestion box. Users don't actually vote on the suggestions as with Digg (or, I presume, The Idea Factory). The most they can do is comment on on the addition. If anything, it has become much of an open discussion space where staff members can debate the merits of the various proposals.

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About

Dr. Mark Drapeau is a biological scientist, government and private-sector consultant, and prolific writer on science, technology, innovation, government, and society. He is currently an adjunct faculty member in the School of Media and Public Affairs at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and until recently he held the position of Associate Research Fellow at the Center for Technology and National Security Policy at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., where he is still engaged part-time in a number of activities. Mark is currently a regular writer for Washington Life, Federal Computer Week, and numerous high-profile blogs. He is a co-founder of Government 2.0 Club and is the co-chair of the O'Reilly Media / TechWeb-produced Gov 2.0 Expo. Mark has a B.S. and Ph.D. in biology and has held postdoctoral fellowships from the NIH and AAAS. His research has considered many topics, from the origin of insect behavioral instincts to the honeybee genome to government operations during pandemic flu to the uses of biological metaphors in national security.