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Consultation Response

Q. 1- How to make the IJ the best little journal on public sector innovation that it can be?

THE CRITERIA FOR "THE BEST LITTLE JOURNAL ON PUBLIC SECTOR INNOVATION" ARE SUBSTANTIVE CONTENT AND WIDE READERSHIP. TO THAT END, A COMBINATION OF SHORT ARTICLES WHICH ARE EMAILED (A LISTSERV OR WEB PUSH TECHNOLOGY) AND LONGER ARTICLES AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD WOULD WORK WELL. PERHAPS PEOPLE WHO SUBMIT ARTICLES COULD SUGGEST THOSE WHO MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN RECEVING A REGULAR "EMAILING". THE JOURNAL WILL BE AS GOOD AS THE ARTICLES THAT ALL OF US TAKE TIME TO WRITE AND SUBMIT -- BROADER AWARENESS WILL HELP.

Q.2 - Who are the readers we are trying to attract?

PEOPLE WHO MANAGE IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR, BOTH THOSE WHO ARE ATTEMPTING INNOVATION AND THOSE WHO SHOULD BE!

a. Public sector/alternate service delivery agency managers/policy/program public servants, PIPEs (Public Interest Private Enterprise), PINAs (Public Interest Non-profit Agencies), academics, students?

YES

b. Local, provincial, national, international government?

YES -- THOUGH WE MAY WANT TO LIMIT ARTICLES TO THOSE RELEVANT TO A NORTH AMERICAN AUDIENCE.

Q. 3a What should the IJ cover? - Only innovation, narrowly defined? Public administration reform more generally? Local, provincial/state, national, or international?

INNOVATION BROADLY DEFINED -- RESTRUCTURING, REENGINEERING, ASD, TECHNOLOGY IMPLEMENTATION.

- Articles, speeches by professionals, academics, students, management consultants?

IF THEY MEET THE CRITERIA, ANY AND ALL OF THE ABOVE.

- How should the agenda at the beginning be organized?
- Subject areas: the learning organization, the innovation process, examples of innovation, government subject areas e.g. health, criminal justice, defence...

I THINK THE AGENDA SHOULD BE ORGANIZED BROADLY AROUND THE TYPE OF INNOVATION, RATHER THAN BY SUBJECT AREA OR LEVEL OF GOVERNMENT. OBVIOUSLY, EXAMPLES OF INNOVATION AND MANAGING INNOVATION ARE OF BROAD INTEREST.

- One way/interactive?

PUSH -- WITH A NEWSGROUP OR LISTSERV TO SUPPORT INTERACTION IF THERE IS SUFFICIENT INTEREST.

b. Please provide suggestions for topics

EXAMPLES OF INNOVATION, AS NOTED ABOVE -- THE RANGE IS VERY BROAD. PERHAPS EACH OF YOUR RESPONDENTS HERE SHOULD PROVIDE AN ARTICLE FROM THEIR AREA.

c. Suggestions for authors

See above.

d. Suggestions for books/reports to review

NO IMMEDIATE SUGGESTIONS.

e. Suggestions for humour

WILL ROGERS SAID SOMETHING ALONG THE LINES OF "I DON'T KNOW JOKES -- I JUST WATCH THE GOVERNMENT AND REPORT THE FACTS". THERE IS LOTS OF HUMOUR IN THE WORK WE DO.

f. Suggestions for topics to debate and who could debate them.

PERHAPS IJ SHOULD POST SHORT NOTES ON INTERESTING DEVELOPMENTS AND ASK FOR COMMENTS/DEBATE -- THE TORONTO AMALGAMATION OFFERS ONE EXAMPLE.

g. Who could review articles on what subjects?

IF THERE IS A SUFFICIENTLY BROAD READERSHIP, IJ COULD POST CONTINUING NOTICES REQUESTING REVIEWS.

h. Which other sites (include addresses) should we link to?

GOVERNMENT SITES WHICH POST REPORTS AND OTHER RELEVANT MATERIAL. CITY OF VANCOUVER FOR ONE HTTP:\\WWW.CITY.VANCOUVER.BC.CA. THERE ARE LOTS, AND AGAIN ONE COULD ASK THOSE WHO VISIT TO SUGGEST LINKS. CAMA IS APPARENTLY ABOUT TO OPEN A WEB SITE -- OTHER PROFESSIONAL GROUPS WOULD BE APPROPRIATE.

i. How can we contribute to knowledge of best practices without staff?

THE WORK OF MAINTAINING A LISTSERV OR NEWSGROUP MAY BE CONSIDERABLE -- I DON'T KNOW. MATERIAL FROM VOLUNTEER CONTRIBUTORS, LINKS TO OTHER RELEVANT SITES. THE TECHNOLOGY SHOULD GET SIMPLER AND MORE WIDESPREAD, SO THAT MORE PEOPLE CAN CONTRIBUTE INDIVIDUALLY.

j. How would we weed out enthusiasm from genuine improvement?

I DON'T KNOW THAT THIS IS CRITICAL. TO SOME DEGREE, THE READER WILL HAVE TO APPLY THIS JUDGEMENT. IJ MIGHT NEED TO RESTRICT POTENTIAL LUNATIC FRINGE CONTRIBUTORS, BUT BEYOND THIS CONTRIBUTIONS FROM LEGITIMATE GOVERNMENT "INNOVATORS" SHOULD BE WELCOME.

k. Who is interested in innovation? names, addresses, phone and fax numbers and email addresses, please, if you have them.

THIS IS A CHALLENGE WHICH IS BEST MET INCREMENTALLY, BY CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LIST WHEN THE INDIVIDUALS ARE ENCOUNTERED.

Q.4 - How do we deal with barriers: not currently peer reviewed, no intellectual property rights, no permanent record, uncertain how many years it will last.

WHY WORRY. IF IT WORKS, IT WILL LAST. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS SHOULD NOT BE A CONCERN IF WE ARE CIRCULATING INFORMATION ABOUT INNOVATION. THE SUBJECT IS TO SOME DEGREE EPHEMERAL BY NATURE.

Q. 5 - What would constitute success?

A SITE THAT PEOPLE VISIT TO DOWNLOAD RELEVANT MATERIAL, A REGULAR IJ EMAILING THAT CREATES THAT INTEREST, THE SPREAD OF RELEVANT INFORMATION ABOUT GOVERNMENT INNOVATION.

Updated November 02, 1998