The National Academy of Public Administration, like many of us, is encouraged by the Obama administration’s promise to transform the culture and the day-to-day functioning of the federal government into a much more transparent, participatory, and collaborative reality.

The academy sees three challenges that are inhibiting a truly collaborative federal government: an outdated 20th Century approach to technology where each agency has their own rigid IT environment; an inability to relate data to information, and information to decision making; and a bureaucratic culture where strong incentives exist to protect institutions as opposed to allowing cooperation and innovation.

The NAPA has issued a paper, "Enabling Collaboration: Three Priorities for the New Administration," which encourages the new administration to meet these challenges head on. They outline a collaborative model that brings citizens’ ideas and priorities into the process of decision making and governing. They suggest the administration create an open technology environment by building a modern communications infrastructure; treat data as a national asset by replacing the focus on controlling information with a focus on sharing it; and foster a culture for collaboration by revising laws, policies and habits that inhibit innovation and collaboration. By focusing on these priorities, the new administration can begin transforming federal agencies so that they are enabling a more open and transparent democracy. While there's nothing that's very new or radical about their suggestions it's great to see NAPA on board.  All of us working for transparency in government will have to work doubly hard to make sure candidate Obama's promises are fulfilled.

Elizabeth Newell, at GovExec.com, writes about how federal agencies are beginning to stick their toes in the social media pool. It’s beginning to dawn on agency leaders that when citizens search for government information, they will want to use the same systems they do in their everyday lives. But as David Herbert at the National Journal writes (reposted here by NextGov.com), many agencies still struggle to make connections online.

Newell cites the GSA’s GovGab, the Defense Department's roundtable with military bloggers, and she referenced the growing list of federal agencies that post on Twitter. Herbert points to the TSA is an agency that gets it. The Evolution of Security blog is an effort by TSA to explain the bizarre airport security system and offer tips for travelers. The agency realizes that in the online world, “if you build it they will come” is not the way things work. At airport security lines they advertise their site with signs saying “Got Feedback?” The site has been up for a year and posts average 3,000 page views and 100 comments.

NextGov.com has posted a "Best Practices for Government Web sites," where they highlight five agencies that pay careful attention to what their users want to see and do online. NextGov.com consulted with online experts who told them, that meeting the needs of the public will always be the foundation for any great government site. The five agencies they selected are: NASA, Library of Congress, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Social Security Administration, and TSA. They have an interactive "Best Practices" presentation where they explain why they picked each agency.

Despite this progress, bureaucratic barriers and inefficiencies still exist to further governmental embrace of social media. For instance, government agencies get hung up on terms of service agreements, legal jurisdiction and issues over advertising. And as Herbert reports, many agencies have put content online, but much of it is useless, boring and unable to attract an audience. He quotes Sheila Campbell, co-chair of the Federal Web Managers Council, "It doesn't make sense to be using Web 2.0 tools for the sake of using Web 2.0…(they need) to make sure they're developing compelling videos that resonate with their target audiences."

Newell quotes several agency communication and technology leaders as being encouraged by the rhetoric coming from the Obama administration about service, citizen engagement and transparency. And they are hopeful that the administration’s pro-new media attitude will further speed up the embrace of these tools by their agencies. As one observer is quoted as saying, "We really hope . . . the White House from its bully pulpit says, 'This is OK,' and gives agencies the comfort level to make that leap of faith."

Herbert quotes Micah Sifry, co-founder of the Personal Democracy Forum and senior technology advisor for Sunlight, about the federal government has a long way to go in embracing Web 2.0, but he remains optimistic. "Right now you can point to some failures of some interesting experiments, but six months to a year from now things will be very different," he said. "And it's about time."

Enamored as I am by Twitter these days, here's a useful item, a government twitter directory. BearingPoint, the McLean, Va., -based management and technology consulting firm, is compiling lists of Twitter links to state and local government, federal government, contractors , journalists and industry/academics. Might be nice to see this all in a widget.

And along the idea of sharing good information...over the weekend, John Wonderlich , Sunlight's Policy Director, wrote about several lists he and his team have been compiling. For instance, they've just posted at Congresspedia a list of access points for House of Representatives Web publications and primary source information that affects the House, with a description of the content each one provides. He's working on a Senate version too.