Wiki Government

How Technology Can Make Government Better, Democracy Stronger, and Citizens More Powerful

By: Beth Simone Noveck

Narrated by: Susan Eriksen

Collaborative democracy - government with the people - is a new vision of governance in the digital age. Wiki Government explains how to translate the vision into reality. Beth Simone Noveck draws on her experience in creating Peer-to-Patent, the federal government's first social networking initiative, to show how technology can connect the expertise of the many to the power of the few. In the process, she reveals what it takes to innovate in government.

Launched in 2007, Peer-to-Patent connects patent examiners to volunteer scientists and technologists via the web. Patent examiners have traditionally worked in secret, cut off from essential information and racing against the clock to rule on lengthy, technical claims. Peer-to-Patent broke this mold by creating online networks of self-selecting citizen experts and channeling their knowledge and enthusiasm into forms that patent examiners can easily use. Peer-to-Patent shows how policymakers can improve decision-making by harnessing networks to public institutions. By encouraging, coordinating, and structuring citizen participation, technology can make government both more open and more effective at solving today's complex social and economic problems.

Wiki Government describes how this model can be applied in a wide variety of settings and offers fundamental rethinking of effective governance and democratic legitimacy for the 21st century. The book is published by Brookings Institution Press.

©2009 Beth Simone Noveck (P)2010 Redwood Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"The internet has taught us that good ideas come from everywhere. With a compelling blend of high theory and practical know-how, Beth Noveck explains how political institutions can directly engage the public to solve complex problems and create a better democracy." (Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO, Google)