Wiki Government: How Technology Can Make Government Better, Democracy Stronger, and Citizens More Powerful (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Wiki Government shows how to bring innovation to government. In explaining how to enhance political institutions with the power of networks, it offers a fundamental rethinking of democracy in the digital age. Collaborative democracy-government of the people, by the people, for the people-is an old dream. Today, Wiki Government shows how technology can make that dream a reality. In this thought-provoking book, Beth Simone Noveck illustrates how collaborative democracy strengthens public decisionmaking by connecting the power of the many to the work of the few. Equally important, she provides a step-by-step demonstration of how collaborative democracy can be designed, opening policymaking to greater participation. "Wiki Government" tells the story behind one of the most dramatic public sector innovations in recent years - inviting the public to participate in the patent examination process. Patent examiners usually work in secret, cut off from essential information and racing against the clock to master arcane technical claims. The Peer-to-Patent project radically transformed this process by allowing anyone with Internet access to collaborate with the agency in reviewing patent applications. "Wiki Government" describes how a far-flung team of technologists, lawyers, and policymakers pried open a tradition-bound agency's doors. Noveck explains how she brought both fiercely competitive companies and risk-averse bureaucrats on board. She discusses the design challenges the team faced in creating software to distill online collaboration into useful expertise, not just rants or raves. And she explains how law, policy, and technology can be revamped to help government work in more open and participatory ways in a wide range of policy arenas, including education and the environment.

About the Author

Beth Simone Noveck is a professor of law and director of the Institute for Information Law and Policy at New York Law School and a visiting professor at Stanford University. She is a Senior Advisor to the Technology, Innovation, and Government Reform Policy Working Group for the Obama-Biden Transition and advised the campaign on innovation in government. She pioneered the creation of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Peer-to-Patent: Community Patent Review pilot, the federal government's first social networking initiative that has inspired similar projects in the U.K. and Japan.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press (April 30, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0815702752
• ISBN-13: 978-0815702757
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #76,521 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Required reading for improving government, November 5, 2009

By	Andy Nash (Vienna, Austria) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

Anyone interested in using the Internet to help improve the way government works should read this book. Noveck presents an excellent background describing the problems with existing government decision-making processes, a case study of the Peer-to-patent process she helped develop and recommendations for developing effective Internet based applications.

The book is well written and edited, easy to read and full of examples that will spur your creativity. I read it quickly and thought it was very good, but as I go back and re-read sections I think it's extraordinary.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intellectually Deft and Passionate, May 24, 2009

By	G. Wechsler "Minneloushe" (New York, Etats Unis) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Beth Noveck has written a clear, cogent, practical "self-help" book for society as a whole.

"Wiki Government" delineates how technology can be leveraged to move us from wishful thinking concerning the myriad problems facing society to focused action. Noveck goes beyond analysis of the world's ills; she uses current Internet capabilities to focus the vast resources of the many on tasks traditionally the purview of a tiny handful of government employees. The expertise of specialists in any given field, as well as the insights of serious lay people, can successfully confront problems that currently overwhelm government resources. At the same time, online collaboration, by linking people into a problem-solving team, can create feelings of shared responsibility and achievement that enhance mutuality and community, and thus strengthen society as a whole.

Noveck has accomplished something very rare: She has taken our dreams and shown how to render them real.