Departments

City of Grand Rapids

City of Grand Rapids

Government 2.0 is an approach to the transformation of government, enabled by the advances made in technology. It provides a road map to enhanced democracy and efficiency leveraging technology to make government more transparent and responsive to its citizens.
Citizen Participation A Government 2.0 enable system allows citizens to interact with government officials to make their voices heard. Through online surveys and citizen response tools, the public can report a problem as soon as they discover it themselves. Social Networking offers an opportunity for citizens to interact with officials and is an entry point within the citizens environment where engagement is on their terms. A Government 2.0 system also means greater transparency within the everyday operations of the government. With real time information combined with the internet, citizens can see how well the city is performing on a broad scale all the way down to a very small scale. A complete Government 2.0 system allows the public to be a direct and prominent member of the government's operations.
Speed, Efficiency & Convenience Citizens can interact through computers, to their government at any time, at any location. Public sites can be a powerful tool. With surveys, the government has the opportunity to follow citizens to monitor satisfaction about the services they recieve. Access to files and information can be stored in databases versus hard copies stored in various locations. Individuals no longer have to be mobile to be active in government and can be in the comfort of their own homes. See the links below for information about what the City of Grand Rapids is doing to evolve into a more transparent and efficient government where citizens can be a prominent contributor to the government that is there to server them.
2013 IT Executive Update	Connected Government: A Framework for Local and Regional Government	A Platform for Local Governments	GIS: Geographic Information Systems