{
    "version" : "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1",
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    "title" : "Opening Government Through Federal Crowdsourcing |Digital.gov",
    "description": "Opening Government Through Federal Crowdsourcing",
    "home_page_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/","feed_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/12/30/opening-government-through-federal-crowdsourcing/index.json","item" : [
    {"title" :"Opening Government Through Federal Crowdsourcing","summary" : "Crowdsourcing is a critical corner of the digital government landscape, and our December theme articles have covered the topic from a variety of angles. Before we head into January, where we will discuss upcoming trends on the digital horizon, we sat down to learn more about the evolution and future direction of federal crowdsourcing initiatives","date" : "2014-12-30T10:00:45-04:00","date_modified" : "2025-01-27T19:42:55-05:00","authors" : {"awichman" : "Ashley Wichman"},"topics" : {
        
            "challenges-and-prize-competitions" : "Challenges and prize competitions",
            "crowdsourcing-and-citizen-science" : "Crowdsourcing and citizen science",
            "user-experience" : "User experience"
            },"branch" : "bc-archive-content-3",
      "filename" :"2014-12-30-opening-government-through-federal-crowdsourcing.md",
      
      "filepath" :"news/2014/12/2014-12-30-opening-government-through-federal-crowdsourcing.md",
      "filepathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/blob/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2014/12/2014-12-30-opening-government-through-federal-crowdsourcing.md",
      "editpathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/edit/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2014/12/2014-12-30-opening-government-through-federal-crowdsourcing.md","slug" : "opening-government-through-federal-crowdsourcing","url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/12/30/opening-government-through-federal-crowdsourcing/","content" :"\u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2014/12/600-x-400-Futuristic-technology-interface-Wavebreakmedia-Ltd-Wavebreak-Media-Thinkstock-482251177.jpg\"\n    alt=\"Futuristic technology interface showing a network of figures (people).\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eCrowdsourcing is a critical corner of the digital government landscape, and our \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/12/08/crowdsourcing-month-an-overview/\"\u003eDecember theme articles\u003c/a\u003e have covered the topic from a variety of angles. Before we head into January, where we will discuss upcoming trends on the digital horizon, we sat down to learn more about the evolution and future direction of federal crowdsourcing initiatives as a whole.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe spoke with \u003cstrong\u003eJenn Gustetic\u003c/strong\u003e, Assistant Director for Open Innovation in the \u003ca href=\"http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ostp\"\u003eOffice of Science and Technology Policy\u003c/a\u003e (OSTP). The scope of her position covers challenges and prizes as well as citizen science and crowdsourcing. Gustetic said that the promise of these interactive tools lies in their ability to unlock potential from new corners of the public. No longer do people need to work through organizations in order to get their voice heard.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“When we look at the purpose and potential of these tools, they are really unique ways to unlock new innovation like we’ve never been able to do before,” Gustetic said. “They provide ways to engage individual members of the public in agency missions. It also creates opportunities for entrepreneurs and small businesses in science and technology, and it stimulates entrepreneurship and job growth through challenges and prizes. These tools are also an effective tactic for opening government.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"challenges-and-prizes\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eChallenges and Prizes\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/03/31/get-started-with-challenge-and-prize-competitions/\"\u003eChallenges and prizes\u003c/a\u003e have existed in the government sphere since the mid-2000s. In the past four years, Gustetic noted an increase not only in the number of challenges and prizes but also in the size, complexity, and sophistication of competitions. Current challenges reflect the diversity of opportunities: the Consumer Product Safety Commission is asking middle school students to enter a \u003ca href=\"http://www.cpsc.gov/cocontest\"\u003eposter competition\u003c/a\u003e on carbon monoxide awareness, and NASA is seeking teams to \u003ca href=\"http://www.nasa.gov/cubequest/#.VJB79ivF-E4\"\u003ebuild small spacecraft\u003c/a\u003e that can carry out operations near the moon and in deep space.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMore agencies are taking concrete steps to institutionalize challenge and prize activities: several agencies have dedicated prize leads, and a number of agencies are working on common contracting vehicles to cut down on operational costs. Enthusiasm has also grown through the \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/communities/challenges-prizes/\"\u003eChallenges and Prizes Community of Practice\u003c/a\u003e, which has over 600 members.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“On a maturity spectrum, challenges and prizes are a middle schooler, in adolescence,” said Gustetic. “We’re not completely in our early development phase anymore, and we are starting to grow up, become institutionalized, and be evaluated.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"citizen-science-and-crowdsourcing\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCitizen Science and Crowdsourcing\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://scistarter.com/page/Citizen%20Science.html\"\u003eCitizen science\u003c/a\u003e and crowdsourcing are in an earlier stage of maturity in government. There are citizen science projects which have existed for many years, such as \u003ca href=\"https://www.usanpn.org/natures_notebook\"\u003eNature’s Notebook\u003c/a\u003e and environmental monitoring, but Gustetic said those projects were largely conducted in silos and contained to specific types of problems.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“In recent years, driven by new Communities of Practice such as the \u003ca href=\"http://www2.epa.gov/innovation/federal-community-practice-crowdsourcing-and-citizen-science\"\u003eFederal Community of Practice for Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science\u003c/a\u003e, as well as increased use of citizen science in specific areas like climate, we’ve seen a growth of interest in institutionalizing citizen science,” Gustetic said. “There is less policy than on prizes and challenges, and we’re looking to create additional strategy and support. We’re in an earlier stage of maturity, even though some of these projects have been happening for decades. What’s new is making them a more widespread tool in federal government.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn November, OSTP began developing an \u003ca href=\"http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/12/02/designing-citizen-science-and-crowdsourcing-toolkit-federal-government\"\u003eOpen Innovation Toolkit\u003c/a\u003e for citizen science and crowdsourcing, with the goal of empowering more employees to get involved in 2015 and beyond.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCurrent government citizen science initiatives include the \u003ca href=\"http://www.archives.gov/citizen-archivist/\"\u003eCitizen Archivist Dashboard\u003c/a\u003e from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Contributors can tag historical photos, transcribe documents, and contribute to articles.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"redefining-government-and-public-interactions\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRedefining Government and Public Interactions\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs digital initiatives continue to change the ways that the public interacts with government, Gustetic said she is excited about the ways public participation is evolving. Challenges and prizes as well as citizen science and crowdsourcing are important parts of that evolution.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The existence, prevalence and growth of the Internet has created an unprecedented opportunity to reach citizens where they are and bring them into problems of national importance,” Gustetic said. “It creates new ways for citizens to interact with their government: a new notion of volunteerism and citizenship. In addition to traditional ways like going to the voting booth and submitting petitions, this whole other way of civic involvement has the opportunity to reinvent the relationship between citizen and government.”\u003c/p\u003e\n"}
  ]
}