GOVERNMENTALITIES OF GOV 2.0

Abstract

Web 2.0 technologies, denoted by their formation of social networks and the co-production of web content by users, have rapidly entered social and economic activities. Internationally, governments are racing to identify ways to utilize Web 2.0 in government. In addition to government reports and taskforces, there is a proliferation of business advice and academic papers variously conceptualizing what so-called ‘Gov 2.0’ might look like. Such deliberations seek to mobilize a range of different political and economic agendas, and as such view government's use of Web 2.0 and associated objectives differently. This paper utilizes a Foucaultian-inspired governmentality analysis to identify the main political discourses and rationalities embedded within government reports, as evidenced in Australia, Canada, the European Union, New Zealand, the UK and the United States. The paper concludes by critically analyzing this Gov 2.0 governmentality and suggesting alternative governmentalities that might be mobilized.

Keywords:

• e-government
• Web 2.0
• social policy

Acknowledgements

The author acknowledges the thoughtful feedback from Albert Meijer, Elizabeth Strakosch, conference attendees and anonymous reviewers on drafts of this paper, and the permission of Wordle.net to reproduce images produced by its tool.

Notes

I say ‘authoritative’ not because of reference to some denoted expert, but internally authoritative from the Web 2.0 perspective that wisdom and knowledge are collectively constituted. In this way, what could be more authoritative than Wikipedia?

This identification process occurred in late 2010. It was informed by Google searches using appropriate keywords as well as advice from knowledgeable academics at the Oxford Internet Institute and the international conference, Internet, Politics, Policy 2010: An Impact Assessment.

To ensure commensurability and comparability, clouds were generated with identical settings and references from the documents were excluded to ensure that only the main text was captured in the generated cloud.

The Australian report does however state that ‘Web 2.0 offers an unprecedented opportunity to achieve more open, accountable, responsive and efficient government’ (Gruen 2009, p. x, emphasis added).

The link between government use of Web 2.0 and ‘participation’ is especially evident in the New Zealand document.

Most reviewed documents do not deal with the issue of free public sector information for profit making, although the UK documents clearly demarcate between free access for not-for-profit purposes, but with a preference for making commercial usage as cheap as possible.