At the beginning of his term, President Obama charged the government with ushering in a new era of accessibility and transparency in American politics with the Open Government Directive. In January 2009, he said “we will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.” Learn about the Open Government Partnership and its global effort to raise accountability around the world by encouraging governments to: - Share details of consultations - Consult with the national community - Raise awareness and encourage public participation - Create a forum for multi-stakeholder consultation

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CROWDSOURCING AND SAVINGS IN GOVERNMENT
JESSICA DAY
IDEASCALE

2.
An Idea Whose Time Has Come
Ci1zen Buy-­‐In
We’re Not Kidding: Millions of Dollars
Engagement Challenges
Innova1on
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Crowdsourcing And Savings In Government

3.
An Idea Whose Time Has Come
Iceland tried an uncommon modern experiment in the year 2011. In the wake of a severe
financial crisis, protests and near-revolution, the country was clamoring for change. The result
of that outcry was Iceland’s first female prime minister and the first crowdsourced constitution.
Iceland’s existing constitution was based on the Danish model that had been in use since the
country’s independence in 1944. In 2011, by contrast, a council of 25 individuals convened to
draft a new version of the constitution. Instead of secluding the process from its public, the
council decided to take advantage of their citizens’ record 94 percent internet penetration level
and use social media as a forum for feedback throughout the process.1 The most recent draft of
the constitution was maintained on a government website while ongoing feedback
conversation threads were managed on Facebook and Twitter pages (with Twitter prompting
the conversations and Facebook logging away all of the comments). All told, the citizens made
nearly 3,600 comments and over 370 suggestions to amend the drafted constitution.2
A year later the proposed constitution was submitted to an electoral referendum that easily
passed public approval with a two-thirds majority.3 The draft will be submitted to parliament as
a truly democratic document. The first of its kind.
In a way. Because democratic values have always embraced and celebrated the will of the
people. Victor Hugo reminds us of this in his History of a Crime: “there is no weapon as
powerful as that of an idea whose time has come."4 The only stipulation, of course, is that that
idea must have the ability to surface.
In the business of citizen engagement, network intelligence, or crowdsourcing, ideas and
dialogue can indeed be powerful in two very important ways: citizen buy-in and also millions of
dollars of savings.
Crowdsourcing and Savings in Government
Citizen Buy-­‐In
Government is not a transactional business – it is a collaborative business. In the early days of
digital government, the focus was on creating self-service portals where citizens could renew
licenses and conduct background checks. Now that sort of solution is the bare minimum: portals,
platforms, and other forms of digital media are geared towards participation. Citizens can make
suggestions, report damage, complaints, or make suggestions and impact budgets or taxes year-
round (not just on election day). Not only does this generate great research and supporting
information for various government projects, it also improves the public sentiment.
3CROWDSOURCING AND SAVINGS IN GOVERNMENT

4.
Consider this:
A recent Pew Internet Research study showed that 48% of adult internet users
have looked for information about a public policy or issue online.5 Those users are
often looking to respond or engage on those particular topics and that level of
participation can make all the difference. People who can contribute and be heard
are far more likely to stick around and support their government the next time that
they need help.
NASA, one of the darlings of government organizations is leading the way for citizen
engagement. When the Mars Curiosity Rover launched in 2012, it was launched with
questions and dreams from an engaged public. In just three months, more than a
thousand citizens submitted hundreds of ideas for exploration and questions about
our presence on Mars to the Mars Program Planning Group’s IdeaScale community.
Users asked and answered each other’s questions and then NASA created a resources
page that directly responded to the questions and ideas of its community.
But what’s one of the most obvious ways that the public literally buys in to
government work? Taxes. And research suggests that citizens who feel heard and
considered have a higher level of tax compliance:
“Citizens are more willing to pay taxes when they perceive that their preferences are
properly taken into account by public institutions. Along these lines, the existing evidence
suggests the existence of a causal relationship between citizen participation processes and
levels of tax compliance.”6
Which leads into the most important bottom-line impact: millions of dollars of savings.
“Citizens are more willing to pay taxes when they perceive
that their preferences are properly taken into account by
public institutions.”
4CROWDSOURCING AND SAVINGS IN GOVERNMENT

5.
5
We’re Not Kidding: Millions of Dollars
In Massachusetts, the city’s 3-1-1 service is tied in with the city’s Facebook page. When residents
report vandalism or ask questions in Facebook, all of that information is logged into the same
3-1-1 system. As a result the city has reduced calls to its call center by 15%. Other call centers in
other cities have been able to reduce their call center costs by more than half when introducing
digital forms of engagement. If every city in the U.S. implemented this type of engagement, the
savings would be millions of dollars.
One of the greatest examples of government collaboration and innovation, however, is the
President’s Save Award. Over the past four years, more than 85,000 ideas have been shared
through IdeaScale in this single project. Each year, Federal employees are invited to submit
ideas that they think would save the government money and the public can vote those
suggestions up and down. Each year a winner is selected from the thousands of submitted ideas
that have increased efficiency and minimized expenditures.
• The first year’s winner, Nancy Fichtner suggested that medications and supplies used to
treat VA patients be sent home with the patients rather than destroyed. A simple
suggestion, perhaps, but one that will save the American people an easy $14.5 million
before 2014.
• The second year’s winner, Trudy Givens, proposed that the government end mailing
physical copies of the Federal Register to employees (and instead opt for emailing it). That’s
another $4 million saved every year.7
With just two ideas the government saved more than $42M by the year 2014 while using
IdeaScale technology. And each SAVE Award idea is another potential millions of dollars of savings.
CROWDSOURCING AND SAVINGS IN GOVERNMENT
“With just two ideas the government saved more than $42M
by the year 2014 while using IdeaScale technology.”

6.
Engagement Challenges
Launching an innovation program or a citizen engagement project presents its own set of
questions and challenges. In a recent study by e.Republic’s Center for Digital Engagement, the
following findings were reported:
• 35% of agencies and departments surveyed do not have a budget for citizen
engagement initiatives.
• 50 % of respondents said that their biggest obstacle to ge]ng ci^zens engaged was lack
of ^me and staff to dedicate to new techniques.
IdeaScale is a tool specifically designed to respond to these challenges. The company offers a
flexible pricing model that can be suited to each campaign’s goals and budget requirements and
every community can support unlimited ideas and comments. There is no penalty for a successful
community.
IdeaScale communi^es have also gone live in as liale as one day from the start of a license
agreement. The product is designed to be accessible and intuitive for users who are looking to
moderate the stream of commentary. It takes a minimal amount of support to run and the public
continues to collaborate by helping to prioritize the dialogue.
6CROWDSOURCING AND SAVINGS IN GOVERNMENT
Innova1on
Forrester Research projects that spending on cloud services and innovation software will grow
significantly in the next decade. The report predicts, “spending on these services is to grow from
approximately $28 billion today to $258 billion in 2020.”8
IdeaScale presents a unique opportunity to governments seeking to truly democratize a citizen’s
experience. IdeaScale technology allows citizens to submit ideas to a site and then vote on their
favorite ideas. The ideas that have the most favorable votes bubble up to the top. Agencies and
other departments can then join in the discussion by commenting on ideas and posting updates,
effectively creating a community throughout the innovation process.
For the American experiment to proceed, the public must always be engaged, but the added
benefit of bringing them in now in the digital age is that citizen buy-in will improve while also
impacting the bottom-line of budgetary savings. It’s just a question of getting there.

7. FOR MORE INFORMATION
sales@ideascale.com
Global / Americas
+1 800-­‐549-­‐9198
New Zealand
+64-­‐080-­‐099-­‐5088
Australia
+61-­‐02-­‐9037-­‐8414
United Kingdom
+44-­‐0-­‐808-­‐189-­‐1476
1. Morris, Harvey. "Crowdsourcing Iceland's
Constitution." Rendezvous. New York Times, 24 Oct. 2012.
Web. 12 Dec. 2012. <http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/
2012/10/24/crowdsourcing-icelands-constitution/>.
2. Kerr, Dara. "Icelanders 'like' Their Crowdsourced
Constitution." CNET News. CBS Interactive, 22 Oct. 2012.
Web. 12 Dec. 2012.
3. Koetsier, John. "Icelanders Show Us That Democracy Is the
Original Crowdsourcing."VentureBeat / Social. VentureBeat /
Social, 22 Oct. 2012. Web. 12 Dec. 2012.
4. Hugo, Victor. The History of a Crime. New York: Athenaeum
Society, 1909. Print.
5. Smith, Aaron. "Pew: Government Online Study." Pew:
Government Online Study. Pew Internet Research, Apr. 2010.
Web. 12 Dec. 2012. <http://www.slideshare.net/govloop/
pew-government-online-study>.
7CROWDSOURCING AND SAVINGS IN GOVERNMENT
6. Torgler, B. and F. Schneider (2009) “The impact of tax morale
and institutional quality on the shadow economy.” Journal of
Economic Psychology, 30(2). pp. 228-245.
7. Day, Jessica. "Four Years of SAVE
Awards." Crowdsourcing.org. MassSolution, 22 Aug. 2012.
Web. 12 Dec. 2012. <http://www.crowdsourcing.org/
editorial/four-years-of-save-awards/18313>.
8. Gliedman, Chip. "Industry Innovation: U.S. Federal
Government." Forrester Research. Forrester Research, 31
May 2011. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. <http://www.forrester.com/
Industry%20Innovation%20US%20Federal
%20Government/fulltext/-/E-RES57539?
objectid=RES57539>.
CROWDSOURCING AND SAVINGS IN GOVERNMENT
IDEASCALE STATISTICS
62,430
IDEAS POSTED
1,051,482
VOTES
70,455
COMMENTS
132,281
USERS