
Dr. Justin Longo

I've been interested in government use of computer technology for connecting citizens to governance processes since I was the guy who knew enough about web services and html in the early 90s to create our department's first web site. More recently, I completed my phd at the University of Victoria where I turned that perspective inward to look at the use of Facebook-like platforms inside government policy analysis settings. Combining insights from things like my doctoral dissertation (focused on the policy analyst as a knowledge agent inside government) and the "Digital Fishers" science-oriented crowdsourcing project, I group these interests under the heading "Towards Policy Analysis 2.0". Whether it's inside processes of knowledge sharing and collaboration, or outside proceses of citizen engagement, it never ceases to surprise me how much it comes down to trust and social capital, and how much it's not about the technology. And regardless of what it's called, this challenge exist in any organization or community: how to bring together the knowledge needed to solve complex problems.