What do you get when you combine the open information sharing of Craigslist.org and Wikipedia with a federal website that's up to Obama's transparency standards?" While it could end up a bizarre underground federal dontdatehimgirl.com site, the Office of Management and Budget instead created a highly successful Web 2.0 experiment called the MAX Federal Community.
MAX is a site for federal employees of all stripes looking to share information or just to pay their favorite budgetary earmarks a lunchtime visit. According to a recent case study of the site by the National Academy of Public Administration's Collaboration Project, "more than 7,000 people are currently using the site for everything imaginable - sharing information and approaches, collaboratively developing documents, discussing issues, posting training opportunities, conducting data calls, various council activities, and much more."
OK, so it might not be as addictive as the latest YouTube laughing baby video, but at least it serves a purpose.
The site allows users to browse information such as Congressional reports, the federal budget, or agency memorandums. But it is not simply an information warehouse. Users are encouraged to interact with one another as a means of exchanging ideas for improving not just the website, but the federal government as a whole.
An email recently sent to MAX users read, in part: "The new Administration wants ideas from those of us ‘in the trenches' about how best to meet these goals. Over the next 100 days, the Open and Innovative Government Community will convene a series of on-line conversations to brainstorm innovative strategies, evaluate their promise, and flag potential challenges (legal, technical, and operational) that must be overcome. If you have an idea - or an innovation you want to highlight - log in to MAX and let them know how you would make our government more transparent, participatory and collaborative."
If that doesn't sound like an invitation for a deluge of sarcastic responses from disgruntled public servants, nothing does. Perhaps that's just the cynic in me coming out.
Although it is still in its early stages, MAX appears to be an instant success story. According to a recent report in Federal Computer Week, new users are registering on the site at a pace of about 65 a week. The same article details some of the security features -- such as identity and computer verification -- in place to ensure that MAX is a site open to legitimate government employees only. Of course, an army of basement-dwelling hackers are doubtlessly working overtime to crack those security features, but hey you can't have everything.
MAX isn't just for government workers toiling in the 202 area code either. Anyone with the now sexy ".gov" email address can register for the site, opening it up to federal and state employees of all levels. If you're salary is taxpayer funded, then you're welcome to the MAX party -- unless of course you have offices in Detroit or Wall Street.
MAX is a first step, but an important one nonetheless, in the efforts to marry the twin goals of government transparency and technological innovation. It is such a simple concept -- nothing more than information and conversation really -- that it is a wonder no one implemented it until now. It will probably take some time to work out all the kinks, but MAX can prove the most indispensable tool to fall into the hands of the government worker since the advent of workplace instant messaging and colored file folders (we kid).
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