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Web 2.0 Helps Protect Californians Against Toxic SubstancesWeb 2.0 Helps Protect Californians Against Toxic Substances
Shell Culp, CIO of the California Department of Toxic Substances, describes how the agency uses blogs, message boards, and wikis to help protect California's citizens against dangerous chemicals. The agency uses Web 2.0 tools to support programs including the new Green Chemistry Initiative requiring manufacturers to provide a list of potentially hazardous chemicals included in products, similar to food product labeling.
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Shell Culp, CIO of the California Department of Toxic Substances, describes how the agency uses blogs, message boards, and wikis to help protect California's citizens against dangerous chemicals. The agency uses Web 2.0 tools to support programs including the new Green Chemistry Initiative requiring manufacturers to provide a list of potentially hazardous chemicals included in products, similar to food product labeling.The agency uses Web 2.0 tools both for internal communications between employees, and to collect public comment, according to an interview with Culp in Government Technology.
The initiative was driven by recent problems with imported manufactured goods, including pet food and children's toys.
The agency initially used an older technology, WebBoard, for internal communications:
It's on our intranet, but it's not pretty. Because it wasn't pretty, our Office of Human Capital felt like we wanted to do something different -- a suite of tools to let people attach pictures, videos and that sort of thing. So we switched up and started using TypePad and moderated it. But that didn't really sit well with the employee base, and we didn't get any participation on it like we did with the old, funky WebBoard that provided a fair measure of anonymity. For a five-month period, we had TypePad and people had to log in and identify themselves -- and nobody used it. So we scrapped that and went back to the old WebBoard last month, and people are back letting us know what they think.
The department uses an internal blog to help educate employees about the Green Chemistry Initiative, which proved to be a "disruptive event," Culp said. And it's using a wiki to collect public comment on the initiative.
Check out the article for further discussion of the Green Chemistry Initiative, how manufacturers are taking to it, and how the agency is building a massive data repository to cover all "chemicals of concern."
Blogs and wikis have gone from revolutionary to mainstream in a few short years. I sometimes talk to IT managers who complain about their employers being slow to adopt new social media technology -- but even at those companies, they have blogs and wikis. What's the next cutting-edge social media technology that's going to go mainstream?
information will be highlighting innovative government IT organizations in an upcoming issue. Nominate your agency by submitting an essay on your most innovative IT initiative completed in the last year. Find out more, and nominate your organization by May 1.
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