Guest Post: Gov 2.0 x Reality TV: Brick City

The Imagination Age is pleased to welcome a guest post from our collaborator, Josh Asen, CEO and Co-Founder of Hip Hop Diplomacy.

In response to the recent Gov 2.0 event in Los Angeles, Mark Drapeau wrote, "Does the Public Currently Need to Know What Gov 2.0 Is?" Drapeau's points about jargon and the traditional idea that the public is the unwitting beneficiary of policy and behavior change are well made, but raise a larger question: What happens when the public, through strategic use of social media, becomes the driving force behind change in Gov 2.0 instead of waiting for change to occur? This post highlights a great example of that model.



Gov 2.0 x Reality TV: Brick City

By Josh Asen

If you haven't already seen the new Sundance channel reality/doc series, "Brick City" (Sundays at 9PM EST), then you haven't experienced one of the best examples of the use of new media to create better, more transparent governance, or what is now popularly referred to as 'Gov 2.0'. President Obama, in his "Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government", explains:

My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.

Over months of shooting and 5 hour-long episodes, Mayor Cory Booker of Newark (@CoryBooker on Twitter, another great example of Booker's commitment to Gov 2.0) opens up his office, his city, and his own life to the Emmy-deserving cameras of Marc Levin and Mark Benjamin ("The Last Party", "The Blues"). And not only Booker, the energetic, Ivy league-educated, community organizer (remind you of anyone?) 1st term mayor, who defeated longtime incumbent Sharpe James (see Oscar-nominated doc "Street Fight"), and has made it his mission to rebrand Newark as a city on the rise. But also the Police Director, who is fighting not only the gangs on the street but his political opponents within the Department; a former gang-member turned women's activist, who is pregnant with her second child (by her boyfriend from the rival gang) and also facing multiple years in prison for an assault in 2004; the principal of one of the city's underfunded public high-schools, who is trying to put pressure on the school board to make good on their promise of a new school building; even the governor, former Goldman Sachs CEO Jon Corzine, makes a few cameos.

So, how does this all add up to a case study of effective use of Gov 2.0 strategies? It's all in the way each character uses the power of the camera to connect with the virtual community that has grown around the show, from its fans, watching live, streaming clips, commenting, tweeting, retweeting, and in other ways multiplying the impact of the show's content and various change-agenda; the way those characters use the show as part of a multi-platform social media campaign to promote their individual causes. This allows Cory Booker to be tweeting about Newark's "achievements" as they unfold on the screen and in the online forums and episode guides. It allows ex-gangmember Jayda to promote her peer group, Nine Strong Women, and provide professional video content to its website. It allows Central Highschool Principal Ras Baraka to make an impassioned speech to his students about the abnormalcy of gang violence and have it reach audiences across the state and country, even the world (see below).



Please notice the posting by a Youtube member (unaffiliated with the school or the show) of Facebook and Twitter links for "OurBrickCity" and "CoryBooker", as well as the positive comments from actual students and supporters of Principal Baraka. I would call that a very effective partnership between Education, Media, and Government, and the public to rally wide support behind a change-initiative. It's transparent, it's open, it's participatory, it's collaborative, and it aims to build trust between partners. In fact, the Producers Guild of America recently hosted a panel to discuss "Brick City" as a 'New Media Marketing Case Study'.

But more than just the effectiveness of increasing visibility for the show and, ostensibly, support for the various causes that it champions, "Brick City" introduces a whole new way to (literally) look at governance: as a fully transparent, interactive, publicly-accountable system of leadership.
Just think how this model could transform other troubled cities in the US, such as DC, Detroit, and Chicago, where crime and corruption have devoured the city from the inside out. Or foreign cities locked in interminable battle, such as Jerusalem, or countries like Afghanistan. What if all leaders were compelled to conduct their affairs in front of the lens of a documentary camera, and forced to confront their constituents on the Internet and rally their support through grassroots campaigns? Maybe I'm drinking too much of the Kool-Aid, but it's a natural question to ask after watching the full first season of "Brick City" (thanks to my good buddy, Dan Shear, of the agency formerly known as William Morris), in which Mayor Booker brings the circus to town, Principal Baraka gets his new school, Jayda gets off on probation, and the Police Director touts an unprecedented 32% reduction in murder. Looks like Gov 2.0 is working for Newark.

Here's a little promo reel. Many more clips at the Sundance site.

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The Evolution of the Virtual Workplace: Manpower in Second Life

Linden Lab, the company that owns Second Life, just posted this video, "The Evolution of the Virtual Workplace." I collaborated on this video with Linden Lab and ILL Clan Animation Studios.

My company, Dancing Ink Productions, has been collaborating with Manpower Inc. on issues related to virtual work since 2007. DIP produced the event depicted in this video. The exploration of Second Life is one aspect of Manpower's work in this area. I've been consistently impressed with the senior leadership at Manpower's adaptive and visionary approach to virtual work.

I also collaborate with Linden Lab on advancing awareness of what can be accomplished in Second Life for business enterprise groups. For the past year I've been working on case studies to document projects like Northrop Grumman's Cutlass Robot, which disarms real-world bombs, the National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration's simulated ocean from equator to poles, and the Children's Memorial Hospital Chicago, which conducts full scale evacuations in a mirror build with health care practitioners training in a variety of lifesaving ways. The number of sophisticated, creative projects in Second Life with real world benefit is staggering.

I couldn't have imagined in November 2006 when I first went into Second Life to track down IBM scientists and researchers around the world that I'd still be working in this platform and still amazed in 2010. As Innovator-in-Residence at the Analytics Virtual Center, directing the Smarter Work project, I am committed to virtual work for the benefit of a new global culture and economy in the Imagination Age. Virtual work is not about stepping away from the physical world. It's about including the people with the skills necessary to create new opportunities, systems and careers.

And it works.