The Washington Post's Federal Player column on Monday highlighted the work of the U.S. Agency for International Development's Karen Turner in developing a global competition designed to spur innovative ideas for using mobile technology to solve problems in developing nations. What I found most interesting is that Turner, 53, has not only used the contest to improve the work and mission of USAID, but also to prove the value of Web 2.0 technology to many of her peers who are less tech-savvy than the agency's younger employees.
"The challenge that we found is that the decision-makers are different from the new staff coming on board - we understand the value of things like blogs, but we don't use them, so we had to persuade people that this is valuable to our development work when it's not something they do themselves, and let them know that this is a vital part of the agency's mission," Turner said.
This is just one of what I'm sure are thousands of stories about how technology is often the easy part of the equation; it's the culture at agencies that makes technological change difficult. It also seems that it often requires a more seasoned to worker to effect change. What's your story?
Brittany Ballenstedt
Brittany Ballenstedt writes Nextgov's Wired Workplace blog, which delves into the issues facing employees who work in the federal information technology sector. Before joining Nextgov, Brittany covered federal pay and benefits issues as a staff correspondent for Government Executive and served as an associate editor for National Journal's Technology Daily. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Mansfield University and originally hails from Pennsylvania. She currently lives near Travis Air Force Base, Calif., where her husband is stationed.
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