So the first part of my time in Brasilia is finished, the two day conference on eGovernment. I did my presentation earlier today, here is the updated version modified with suggestions from my last blog entry and tweet:
International Experiences with Integrated Services – United States
The conference has been very interesting. I have met a number of people supporting this effort who work for the Government, consultants associated with the project both from Brazil and other South American countries, and speakers from still other locations including a fellow panalist this morning from Korea who supported the Korean President for a number of years regarding their eGovernment effort and who spent the last three months in Paraguay working for the office of their president doing the same thing.
The power of the idea of eGovernment and its associated themes of empowerment and especially transparency are seemingly very strong everywhere.
At the same time, the issues are equally amazingly similar in each location. The biggest conclusions I draw are that it is very important to:
- have high level political support,
- well-defined goals plus if at all possible a credible supporting enterprise architecture, and
- a willingness to take small steps resulting in quick victories in support of the big rainbow in the sky that will occur when all this is implemented
That last point is the one that seems to be so often overlooked. People responsible for policy want to accomplish big results, which is a good thing. But if the first result is the big result often the end-point is a political investigation into why the whole project failed.
The other issue that has resonated with most people that I have talked to is the importance of exposing as much data as possible even when not in a final form, which is how I interpret one of Vivek Kundra’s big initiatives in the US. Allowing others to manipulate, create mash-ups and improve upon the data allows the government to have significant leverage in a time of tight funds.
The Rest of the Week
The next two days I will participate in meetings to talk in more detail about the current action plans and my associated advice.
The people here have all been extremely friendly. For those sessions or conversations which are not in English (and sessions which are not being translated on the fly into English), one or the other person will take their time to give me a rundown on the issues.
Around the Hotel
This evening I was tired so went to the hotel a bit before the final sessions concluded and then took a walk around the hotel including visiting a nearby shopping mall. I skipped past the McDonalds and Burger King, and of all things a Montana steakhouse, decided that ordering gourmet Chinese Food in Brasilia wasn’t a good idea, and instead ate at a place that seemed to have Brazilian food. I am not entirely sure what I ordered, but it tasted great.
Most important I found on the way back an open-air Shwarma restaurant a block away from the hotel. In the event that I end up on my own tomorrow night, I know how I will cap my time here. I hear that the best Shwarma in South America is in Brasilia (well, maybe I made that up).
Coming Home
So, I am scheduled to arrive at 6:30am Saturday morning at Dulles.
At approximately 3:15pm that afternoon, I and my younger daughter Tamar, get on a bus with a big group of Capitals fans and go up to Philadelphia to see the Ovechkin-less Capitals take on the Flyers, capping <bad choice of words I guess> my out-of-town Capitals hockey games.
I have a feeling that before and in particular afterwards on the way back from Philadelphia I might not be the life of the party on the bus regardless of the game result. No one call my house Sunday morning, please.