I've spent the better part of the last five years working at the confluence of public policy, people, and technology and can say with certainty that the experts in the field agree: the proliferation of digital communication technologies is fundamentally reshaping all sectors of society. While this may be most apparent in the newspaper, music, or television industries, to think that governments are somehow immune to the changing environment is irresponsible. Thus far governments have managed to operate under the radar, espousing collaboration as the new modus operandi of the public service while hiding in the murky rhetoric of ‘doing more with less'; but frankly it’s no longer a viable option for dealing with the coming change.

Digital is different, so let's do things differently

If you don't believe me, look at what is happening across the pond in the United Kingdom where budgets are being slashed on average of 20% but up to 35% in some cases. The harsh reality, as the Brits are learning, is that they can't even afford to do more with less. Being more collaborative isn't the same thing as being innovative. Similarly, all the collaboration in the world doesn't break you out of old mental models or help you re-imagine your role in a rapidly and ever changing society. We need to cut through the noise of ‘greater efficiency through greater collaboration’ and the rhetoric of ‘doing more with less’ and focus instead on doing things fundamentally differently. Given the profound impact of digital communication technologies on our society, I think that doing things differently starts with cultivating a better understanding of how digital is reshaping what citizens expect from their public institutions and how public institutions can best respond to those needs.

Citizens and governments have very different frames of reference

Part of the challenge is that governments have traditionally compared themselves to other governments, using measures like OECD or United Nations rankings. But for the most part citizens in the developed world don't care about the how their government stacks up against similar governments across the pond that they don't have to interface with. Instead citizens compare the service they receive from a government kiosk or call centre to that of market leaders in customer service; which is to say they compare the length of time it takes to get information via an Access to Information request to that of a Google Search, or the difficulty of accessing a government service online to ordering a book from Amazon.

Expectations are set by the market leaders

While governments may not be selling the same products and services that companies like Facebook, Google and Apple do, governments are nevertheless subject to the expectations set by those companies, and thus competing with them in some abstract way. Citizens through their consumer habits have adopted a taste for functionality, speed and elegance, but these are not terms usually used to describe government.

The rise of the single click

The evolutionary endpoint of this happy confluence of functionality, speed and elegance is the single click interaction. While the "Like", "+1" and "Retweet" buttons may all lower the barrier to participation they may also lower the overall quality of the interaction itself. Single click feedback is guttural and lacks the room for nuance, debate or provocation.

Giving way to single click citizenry?

One of the most profound questions that this line of reasoning leads me to is whether or not we want a single click citizenry. Some clever companies are already stepping into the space creating applications like "See. Click. Fix." a service that allows citizens to take a photo of a pothole, upload it to the city, and have it queued by city workers for repair. They have gone as far as calling it a gateway to greater civic participation. I hope so, because while it is undoubtedly a useful service it is also one of the lowest hanging of fruits.

Good government isn't a click away

Despite the trends and the richness of the technological solutions at the fingertips of governments, there is no simple solution to the challenge of good government. These are times of incredibly profound social change and there are no single click solutions to 35% budget cuts, debt ceilings, climate change or even net neutrality. My fear is that we may be getting so accustomed to a single click lifestyle that we forget the complexity of government. The truth is that there are a number of pressing public policy challenges ahead of us, and no amount of clicking is going to help us.