Posted by: Ken Fischer on: April 14, 2009
Conclusion.
Governments should clearly prioritize distribution and accessibility options which do not pose barriers which would result decrease the amount of information distribution. At the same time some consideration to disabled users, users without high bandwidth and high cost devices, as well as devices, platforms and websites with smaller audiences should be taken for high priority information as well as possible on-demand conversion services. A low-barrier method which could serve as a base from which to achieve these accommodations would be a central text-based multimedia index feed containing hyperlinks to content in open formats. This feed would be searchable from both text based mobile and internet browsers and contain context information which would allow replication of the content posting which were created on non-government websites by government officials. If possible this central feed would facilitate posting of content to websites by those website owners, so that the websites themselves can opt in to the distribution.
This is my rough draft in my work with the W3C
E-Gov Interest Group. I wanted to get comments from those working on social
media in government as we work to finalize our recommendations. Please keep in
mind this is for an international standard, so I have no assumed that 508
compliance is required but rather wrote about what compliance policies in
digital age should take into consideration.
Multi-Channel Distribution Standards.
Distribution to Non-Government Websites and Platforms
In an age of connected data, standards are not just about the format of
information but are also about accessible and fair distribution. That having
been said, a balance must be achieved so that distribution of information does
not become a barrier limiting the amount of information which is distributed.
In the digital age, information is key to both economic and social
development of societies. Therefore, governments need to prioritize making the
most information available through broadly distributed channels over limiting
information in order to make it most broadly available and distributed. This is
a classic 90/10 effort issue, where the last 10% of effort to broaden
distribution and availability to near perfection would take 90% of the effort.
Too often governments have opted for an all or none method in information
distribution and it has resulted in less distribution and a lesser good for the
public as a whole. The amount of information is too vast given the current
state of information storage formats and technology to make all information
accessible through all conceivable methods and channels. Accepting this fact
and opening up government data needs to be the priority.
That having been said wide-spread availability should not be discarded but
rather a system should be in place to determine which information warrants the
broadest, most accessible distribution and which information should be posted
but does not warrant extra effort to increase availability. (Of course in
both cases, the format chosen should be a non-proprietary one so that the
public may redistribute the information if it chooses.) Concern for
availability to all may be handled by providing a government sponsored service
which can provide specific data in alternate formats on demand.
This is not a radical departure from traditional accommodations but rather
a continuation of choices which have become routine. An excellent example to
understand how this is an extension of existing policies is to consider library
books and the blind in the US. Library books for the sighted are more widely
available and more easily available at libraries across the country, but
Braille versions of books can be accessed on demand through the Library of
Congress’ National Library Service for the Blind and Handicapped. A similar
program could be developed for on-demand access of multimedia material for the
handicapped. That having been said, basic accommodations which can easily be
built into websites to promote accessibility should be addressed with social
media providers by encouraging broad accessibility to their material and links
should be provide on multimedia home pages on how to request more accessible
versions such as closed captioned videos.
Availability in Social Media and Across the Digital Divide
Availability is determined by 3 factors which form a digital divide in most
countries: device, bandwidth or connectivity, and user disability in using the
device (commonly known as 508 standards in the US). Device availability varies
because interoperability standards but also based on lifestyle, screen size,
audio clarity and raw processing power. (My blackberry can play audio and some
video but I am not going try to access a lot of that content in reality even if
there is a way to squeeze it onto the device.) Both wider broadband
distribution and availability of information on mobile devices can help to
solve this issue. One of the ways in which governments are broadening broadband
access is through free internet enabled computers at libraries and kiosks. The
type of access which is made widely available to citizens for free at public
locations as well as the connectivity and devices available at the lowest price
points should be considered when choosing data standards, platforms, devices
and websites for the bulk of information. If broadly available public access is
not compatible with how the majority of a country’s citizens use the internet,
then clearly public internet access is not adequate.
Fair distribution on Non-Government Portals.
The lower costs devices and the lower costs access in most countries means
that whether a website or platform makes text based information available on
low cost mobile platforms should be taken into account. While most platforms
are multimedia, there is still often the opportunity to provide some
information in text form for mobile access.
The availability of multimedia information should be announced and
searchable through text based services so that users who have limited access to
multimedia enabled workstations, can find out about resources they need and go
to a kiosk or library which better connectivity or devices are available. To
prevent those without full access even to discover what is available would
effectively block its use, since time and context when accessing the public
internet is limited.
Fair distribution becomes an issue when government distributed content
through selected websites, platforms or devices creates an unfair advantage for
a particular device, platform, distribution network, or website or
disadvantages a defined demographic among the citizentry. It seems appropriate
for governments not have to expend resources on wide distribution if the bulk
of the intended audience is on one platform or website, but some consideration
should be taken so that governments do not become unintentional monopoly makers
through their social media distribution choices. Again this consideration
should not take priority over wide distribution of the bulk of information but
be a factor in making policy choices.
Posting Information on the Social Web
The nature of social media information is that it is posted on locations
which are not on government servers under its control and is distributed though
social connections not through formal organizations. Social media information
is distributed on websites which choose whom to allow access to the website and
which behaviors are acceptable for participation. Also a user’s activity and
connections on a social media website determines to some extent how much
exposure they receive to information available on that site. For instance,
someone is who is a friend of a person who participates in government
discussion boards will be more likely to be exposed to government distributed
information than someone who is not similarly friended. Likewise, people who
belong to communities who choose to participate in smaller online venues will
not be exposed to the government distributed information on the larger venues.
For instance, what about the parent who blocks Youtube on the household
computer because of objectional material? Some consideration to the unevenness
of social media distribution should be made.
Multimedia central feed.
Therefore a government using social media to distribute multimedia, should
create a public location which announces distribution of documents and content
with links to their openly accessible location.
A central text feed of all distributed info will serve four purposes:
1. Provide the public with a completely open and highly accessible index to
content provided through social media channels.
2. Provide the government content in a form isolated from other content to
broaden distribution to those who prefer to avoid mixed distribution sources.
3. Provide other smaller content providers and websites methods to have the
same content as larger providers.
4. Provide a central reference location for any on-demand accessibility service
requests for government sponsored or partnered services such as closed
captioning or braille.
This media index feed could be in the form of a searchable text feed which
link to the original documents. The text feed would be searchable from text based
mobile devices as well as web browsers. Search would be provided through a
tagging mechanism which at the least allows those posting the information to
create new search tags and categories. It also may allow the public to tag
items to create a folksomy based search. Documents would be in a freely
accessible format, so long as that format allows for the same distribution both
in context and content to other websites as was carried by government
officials. For instance, if a document was associated on a social media website
with certain search tags, titles and description attached, those tags should be
indicated in this feed. If a document had hyperlinks or embedded
content placed in it by government officials, those hyperlinks and content should
be preserved in this centrally stored format.
Video and audio should be available from a link on this central feed in an
instantly playable format such as a progressive player linked to cloud based
storage so high demand will not slow distribution, as well as a downloadable
format which can be used to replicate the distribution on other websites. Again
the meta or context data which allows for duplication of the original post to
the primarily distribution site should be stored in the feed or the linked
files.
In the case of virtual world information distribution, some capture of the
virtual world experience would be attempted to replicate the primary message in
some way such as a video of the experience. If it is possible to store in an
open format 3-D objects or actions, that content maybe also be considered for
placement in this central data store.
To the extent that an industry standard is developed to allow easily
subscription or importing of documents and audio/video content to alternate
media websites and platforms, governments should adopt these methods to support
their central feed.
Conclusion.
Governments should clearly
prioritize distribution and accessibility options which do not pose barriers
which would result decrease the amount of information distribution. At the same
time some consideration to disabled users, users without high bandwidth and
high cost devices, as well as devices, platforms and websites with smaller
audiences should be taken for high priority information as well as possible
on-demand conversion services. A low-barrier method which could serve as a base
from which to achieve these accomodations would be a central text-based
multimedia index feed containing hyperlinks to content in open formats. This
feed would be searchable from both text based mobile and internet browsers and
contain context information which would allow replication of the content
posting which were created on non-government websites by government
officials. If possible this central feed would facilitate posting
of content to websites by those website owners, so that the websites themselves
can opt in to the distribution.
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Tags: Viral Distribution, government 2.0, distribution, social media content
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