Gettin' Wiki With It

As a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, I feel I am entitled to take a gentle poke at the group now and then, and goodness knows, I have. Sometimes it has seemed to me more like a cigar-smoke-filled gentleman's club home to endless arguments about the "M" in OMB than a leader in public service innovation. But lo and behold, along comes NAPA's new Collaboration Project to blow a hole in my misconceptions.

NAPA officially kicked off the project in February, but it was born at a dinner table. NAPA president Jenna Dorn had just pushed back after a pleasant meal with old friend Kip Hawley, Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration, when Hawley said he had one word for her, ala "The Graduate." "Wiki," he said, and Dorn was off. "He's always been cutting edge," says Dorn. "I read everything I could about it."