Online engagement that captures the excitement and spirit of innovation I see in the GoC's OpenGov champions.

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Submitted By
Joseph Thornley
Votes: 5

I attended an Open Gov consultation run by Thom Kearney, Alex and Jeremy at the IAP2 Canada Skills Symposium. And it was a home run event. Smart. Open. Interesting. I came away excited at the prospect of being able to provide my input to decision makers.

Then I arrived at this site and I felt an immediate let-down, As I do with so many GoC online engagements. Either they are simple, single text-based boxes like this, devoid of context (unless I break away to search in mid-comment) and not at all an experience equal to what we just saw on our social media app on our mobile phone, OR they are multi-question guide-rail surveys that remind me of what Martin Goldfarb did back in 1979. Smart for its time, but as outdated as the Model T Ford. 

As more and more people are coming here via mobile phones and social media, please create an input experience that feels like a natural extension of what we experience every day in 2018.

Full respect to the people who are asking these questions. I hope that my Sunday evening ramblings do not come across as too cheeky. I just know you can do much, much better online.

Disclosure: I'm in the online engagement business. And I believe that online engagement can strengthen the relationship between citizen and government. So, I'm really keen to see you take a big step forward in this area during OpenGov Plan 4.

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