Government Bits

Tracking how technology is transforming interaction between governments and citizens.

The key to creating a stirring conversation at an early morning meeting – aside from fuelling the participants with copious amounts of caffeinated beverages – is tabling a topic of shared interest in front of a vibrant group of professionals.

Such was the case when an impressive array of marketers and communicators from the Canadian Federal Government, Crown Corporations, and non-profits were brought together to discuss the challenges they face when attempting to engage citizens through digital marketing at a breakfast think tank held in conjunction with the 2013 Adobe Government Assembly.

With no fewer than 18 government departments represented at the table, the discussion commenced following introductions. Session moderator Mark Emond of Demand Spring kick-started the conversation by asking the group what digital marketing and the associated outreach meant to the departments in attendance.

An enthusiastic exchange of ideas

Very quickly, the group’s interest in the topic was evident and an enthusiastic exchange of ideas was under way. From a historical perspective, the initial mandate of government on the web was to move every print-available communication online – automatically – regardless of suitability. But, did we still need printed communication? And what of Canadians without online access to digital resources?

What was clear was that digital marketing wasn’t the end game, but a means by which the government could ensure its greatest reach and be inclusive to all its constituents, a notion tabled by Adobe VP of Brand Marketing John Travis and seconded by the group in its entirety.

Bell Canada’s Private Cloud
Powers Adobe Connect

- outside of the reach of the US Patriot Act

I spent a few days working in the Bell Canada’s Private Cloud infrastructure, (Infrastructure as a Service from Bell Canada), setting up virtual machines, networks and firewalls. I setup the environment after meeting with some Canadian Government agencies where I quickly learned how important it would be to Adobe Connect available in the private cloud – all in Canada.

Now, the Canadian government will be able to test out this Adobe Connect deployment that is “all in Canada”. I’m pretty sure other governments around the world (and some individuals) will also be very interested in this new deployment option.

Many times I refer to Acrobat as a Swiss Army Knife? Why? Like a Swiss Army Knife you need to have it with you always, it can help you in emergencies, and is a tool you can use daily. I use Acrobat daily in my work, even prior to joining Adobe. Many times it has been my life saver as I needed to edit a PDF file that no one could find the original document. Enter Acrobat, as my emergency rescue, I just export the PDF to Word and begin editing.

In state and local government, I find they use Acrobat the way we sometimes use a Swiss Army knife. We get out the knife blade or in Acrobat’s case the Create PDF blade and we forget there are other tools in Acrobat. In our post today I would like to explore some of the other uses of Acrobat or its other blades.

“Bringing the show to all 50 states!”

You may or may not have heard the “buzz” around your state agency…maybe you just have felt the energy…maybe you just stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night!  Either way, I want to share with you what is coming or has come to your town.