Mike Nelson's campaign for County Commissioner is demonstrating leadership on tech issues the likes of which we have not seen before in Orange County. I have proposed to Mike (and to other candidates) that Orange County should sponsor a technology summit for municipal staff and county residents to discuss how technology can serve us better.
The County Commissioners should look for a new manager who ‘gets it' when it comes to using technology in new and creative ways to deliver services more efficiently. In my experience, you have to have a leader at the top who understands what questions to ask and who understands that innovations can be put to work to improve public service and to reduce the costs of delivering those services. Additionally, technology can be used to provide our citizens with more information in a timelier manner.
- Nelson for Commissioner: Using Technology in New and Better Ways
In my professional work, I see the same problem in nonprofits. When it comes to new technology and new tools, it's the blind leading the blind. One need not be a super-geek to be able to tell the dfference between jargon and a good idea.
Several candidates and elected officials before him haved blogged (starting with Sally Greene, I think), but Mike's the first local candidate I know of to experiment with online audio and video as well. It will be interesting to see how that turns out and what kind of impact it has.
And while I'm on the subject, I do plan to compile some information for our 2006 election guide soon. If you know of any candidates' websites, please add them in the comments below, or contact me. Thanks!
Issues:
Comments
AMEN! One good reason to
AMEN!
One good reason to have a tech aware manager is because they'll hire competent IT managers, CIOs, information managers, tech staff, and know how to talk to them.
And let me tell ya... it's more than having a good website! :D
Ex. Open document standards, e-democracy, municipal networks, information security, increasing technical literacy among citizens, tech for public safety, etc., etc.
Do the consultants who will be advising the town and county on hiring new managers understand technology? Have they ever helped a town hire a CIO or CTO?
While I applaud Mike's
While I applaud Mike's desire to make technology an issue in the campaign, I disagree with his assessment of the county staff. They have a very competent CEO and tech staff even though they are understaffed (they especially need a good webmaster). They also had the foresight to hire a business analyst to help them determine where the low-hanging fruit is in the absence of funding for larger initiatives.
The technology problems at both the county and town level are as much about elected officials having the political will to finance basic infrastructure at the cost of other services as anything else. The county and Chapel Hill are so far behind in infrastructure funding that anything they do now is going to come at enormous cost. Personally, I'd rather see them hire managers who are creative financiers and knowledgable about economic development.
I agree that the county
I agree that the county needs to move forward in useful technology adoption and I have been publicly calling for this for quite some time.
I also agree with Terri's points. I have been to the budget hearings and technology spending has taken a hit. One example is that decisions were made to leave allocated IT positions unfilled to save money over the last couple of years. I would also point out that OC does make a fair amount of useful information available.
So the trick is going to be going for low hanging fruit. I agree that audio of meetings is one low hanging fruit.
A technology summit with the county might be useful, but until there is a commitment to invest, then the results may be less than satisfactory. It might be useful to have a joint summit with the towns also since they all face similar content management and process automation challenges.
It would be useful to find out what the public's pain points are with the OC technology as well as the staff's pain points in advance of a forum.
On the positive side, we have more information online than many other similarly sized counties. The GIS and related information is well done. The election info is all on one page, but is quite useful. The BOCC meetings and meeting results are available online.
Many of my pain points have more to do with the way that business is conducted than technology. For example, the public has no clue what topics are on the BOCC agenda until one or two business days before the meeting. And even then, it is common for the PDFs for major items not to be available in a timely fashion.
I would like to see committee minutes and other public information made available, as well as campaign finance data.
M
Terri and Mark The point
Terri and Mark
The point about having a leader, or leaders, at the top who 'get it' when it comes to technology, is simply that it's helpful to have a manager who knows what questions to ask when it comes to technology. Personally, I think we need a manager who has an appreciation for how technology is changing the way we communicate and receive information. But my comments should'nt be read as a criticism of the current manager, or even the current Board of Commissioners. Rather, I'm just laying out a vision for future.
I also understand the funding issues, which we faced that in Carrboro as well. But it's important to have a manager who can make a strong case to the public and elected officials for spending money on technology improvements.
Additionally, I think it's also important to talk about how innovations in technology are leaving behind signifcant segments of our community. As we move to an internet based society, shouldn't we also have a thorough discussion of how to bring along folks at all socio-economic levels?
On a final note, I've taped 4 emailable campaign videos--two are issue oriented and two are fundraising appeals.
They will be rolled out, one by one, between now and the primary. The first of these is now on my website, http://www.electmikenelson.com/