Citizen engagement and public service in the era of the IoT — GCN
There was a time when civic engagement meant encouraging citizens to walk into city hall to ask questions and file paperwork. Then when the internet became available in every home in America, citizens wanted on-demand access to municipal information and resources.
Soon, merely having a website was not enough. Local governments had to offer robust web-based self-service features that enabled citizens to simplify their government interactions by conducting transactions without ever leaving their homes. Then began the mobile revolution. Suddenly, civic engagement meant connecting to citizens on a personal, immediate and public platform, regardless of their location. Next, social media became a standard communication strategy, and local governments focused on building meaningful moments of engagement with social-minded citizens.
Today, technology is again redefining the terms of civic engagement and public service thanks to the internet of things — the proliferation of internet-connected devices.