WASHINGTON -- Gov 2.0 Summit -- The federal government is wild about Websites, with its latest being Challenge.gov, a site for crowdsourcing solutions to problems.
Challenge.gov debuted here yesterday, on stage at the Gov 2.0 Summit, as a way of incorporating prizes and competitions into the government's open strategy.
"Challenge.gov engages the American people to be co-creators in creating solutions to some of the toughest problems this country faces," said Vivek Kundra, federal CIO.
The site launched with 36 challenges across 20 agencies, though according to Bev Godwin, director of new media and citizen engagement at the General Services Administration (GSA), there are many more challenges in the works.
Some challenges offer monetary prizes, some offer eligibility guidelines for those interested in submitting solutions, and some have a limit on how long submissions will be accepted. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA), for example, currently has its Recipes for Healthy Kids -- or Let's Move -- challenge up on the site, which is taking recipe submissions until December 30, 2010, and is offering $12,000 in prizes to create nutritious school lunches that kids will actually eat. Fifteen semi-finalist teams will have their recipes evaluated by judges, and the top three teams will compete in a national cook-off for the grand prize.
Other challenges offering cash prizes include one from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for creating mobile health applications (which has $2,500 in prizes to give away), and one from the Consumer Product Safety Commission offering $2,750 in prizes for those who come up with a poster to help prevent carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning deaths.
The money for the prizes, said Godwin, is mostly coming from the individual agencies' funds as well as from agency partners.
"As an outsider working with the government it feels like challenges are here to stay," said Brandon Kessler, founder of ChallengePost, whose technology powers Challenge.gov, in an interview with Internet Evolution. "There's a tremendous amount of enthusiasm around the government and the desire to do more with less."
"This platform will bring together our government and the public around the nation's most complex and exciting challenges," said Godwin. "We wanted to create a place where people feel they can come together and bring along their best ideas."
Godwin also noted that they're considering adding new features to the site, like an option to suggest a challenge, and a Challenge.gov widget people can add to their own Websites.
So is this the answer we've all been waiting for?
The whole challenge/prize thing isn't new. Godwin pointed out on stage that, for example, in 1919 the $25,000 Orteig Prize was offered (and eventually awarded in 1927 to Charles Lindbergh) for the first non-stop flight between New York and Paris.
Which is proof that, yes, great things can come from offering competitions and prizes. But it's curious whether the many small projects on Challenge.gov will get the attention they need, considering how many messages are lost in the noise of the Web, and also considering that participation on government platforms hasn't exactly been overwhelming. How much attention each cause gets, said Godwin, will depend on the type of outreach each agency does.
The offer of cash prizes may be enticing enough to get more of the American people involved in the whole participatory government thing. But it remains to be seen whether Challenge.gov will attract enough submissions and voters to truly get the best ideas, or just the best of the few shared solutions.
Natalie's mommy, I hope my post was not too cynical and did not make health concerns like school lunches seem unimportant! I agree that the government should listen to everyday folks - it's what I teach my students every day when I encourage them to advocate - and think it's great to use technology to do it.
it's about time that the government actually listened to us every day people!!!! I am personally a huge fan of the school lunch program being changed for the better, and i love that people are excited to input their idea's for these projects!
Though I am not sure it's the role of the govt to be giving out prizes for recipe contests, I am more impressed with the effort at encouraging group participation than I thought I would be when you first mentioned this Gov 2.0 Nicole. I had thought the govt would try to get ordinary folks to help address weighty matters like scientific and technology advances etc. While these are important endeavors, I did not think they would get much input/interest from the fickle, self-interest driven American public. Things like healthy recipes or child safety actually may pique the public interest because if something's about me and my family and my interests I am going to pay attention, right? As long as its marketed the right way and people know it is happening.
I've worked for a team swarming or crowd sourcer now for quite sometime off hours as an intellectual diversion from the 25 years of Information Technology I've been grounded in, its been a phenomenal experience.
Look, do you volunteer? Hey its a personal choice I understand, I personally do, I also view this as another aspect or a way to volunteer some of my intellectual capital to solve for a cause that happens to currently be the baine of the project sponsors existence, or mankind for that matter.
Intellectual captial is so undervalued, most companies have a billion dollars or more in this asset and are tapping it for usually very focused efforts. Why, becuase that's what you get hired to do, but what about the other 99% of the knowledge one possesses, you might just have something to say.
I've tried to get corporate team swarming/crowd sourcing to take off, we'll see how that goes, but that next big thing, that liquid paper, 3M sticky note, out of the box cure for one of mankinds many ills, is out there.
Think beyond the scope of just the dollar figure, think of the greater good. Think of the people who win the nobel peace prize, most donate the money. It's not about that, its about making a difference.
Tnieusma, you're right when you say "we never really know where a great idea may come from."
How on earth can the information about these opportunities be communicated out to the broader public in a meaningful way? Full-page ads in newspapers don't really work anymore, since readership is so spotty in print. Radio stations, with the exception of public-radio stations, aren't clamoring to air ads about these opportunities. I suppose niche organizations - e.g., professional development groups, guilds, associations focused on a topic or trade or profession - would be well placed to disseminate news of these opps to many qualified entrants. But how do we reach the broadest swath of problem-solvers? Maybe public schools receiving federal dollars, as a condition of receiving those monies, can be asked to spread word of these competitions among their teachers, administrators, students and families to truly engage the largest possible complement of idea-generating folk.
You are absolutely right Paul. What happened to the VC's who used to foster innovation by taking the risk to develop a great idea? Well govt. killed that. Do we now suddenly depend on govt. yet again to stimulate our creativity? Where does it stop? No...this is not a good idea since the prize money comes from govt. and thus us the taxpayer. Where is the return on this investment? If it is a private investor or a VC, ideas ultimately can reap a healthy reward for all. Govt. needs to stop poking its head directly into business and just free things up to foster innovation before America loses its technological edge for good.
The examples you give, with the exception of the mobile health apps one, sound like they're aimed at problems that should have been solved in 1932. We all know what a nutritious school lunch should be, don't we? Really? And as for avoiding CO2 poisoning -- haven't we established the basic rules on that as well?
Granted, I haven't taken the time to peruse Challenge.gov, and I should and will do so, but surely the departments you cite could have come up with something more pertinent to our times -- perhaps recipes that combine multinational foods or something.
Paul, I see what you're saying, but I guess that would be your prerogative as a top-class innovator. The prizes vary from challenge to challenge, so for some people they might be enticing enough. And I do think there are some people out there who would be interested in participating for the benefit of the country, and whatever prize money they might get out of it. Though I don't doubt that there are people that fall under the category you describe.
The concept here is fantastic. It's a wonderfully democratic platform; provided it is administrated properly.
It reminds me of suggestion boxes in the workplace...as long as someone is actually reading the suggestions and even implementing a few ideas, they are a great way to keep employees involved. On the other hand, if it turns into a "black hole", it creates frustration and resentment. It will be interesting to see which this becomes.
I certainly hope it turns out to be a good thing. If nothing else, it may give citizens a positive place to express themselves. We never really know where a great idea may come from and empowered citizens can do great things if given a real opportunity.
the offer of cash prizeds may not be good enough to attract top class innovators if the various government agencies involved in challenge.gov insist on retaining proprietary right to the solution. Why should I settle for a prize of a few thousand bucks when in truth my solutuion has the potential bring in millions of dollars in returns?
Why should not a good solution to a problem be well rewarded rather than cheap "gift cards"?
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