Aug 1, 2011 3:18 PM, By Glenn Bischoff (glenn.bischoff@penton.com)

The explosion of smart devices and social networking has spawned an era of citizen engagement in government unlike ever before

The notion of citizens taking an active hand in governing themselves is nothing new. In the United States, it dates back to the late 18th century, when “no taxation without representation” became the rallying cry of the movement that eventually sparked the revolution that spawned a new nation.

What is new is how citizen engagement in government occurs today. While people still attend town-hall and city-council meetings to express their frustrations and concerns, many more people — by an order of magnitude — now interact with their local governments without ever stepping foot into municipal buildings. Instead, they use their smart devices to lodge a complaint or to alert public safety and public works about an incident or problem.

It’s a phenomenon that is expected to grow, fueled in part by the continuing proliferation of smartphones. According to a study released last month by the Pew Research Center, 35% of American adults currently own smartphones; of those in the 25–34 age bracket, 58% own smartphones. There is little reason to believe that those numbers won’t continue to grow in an aggressive fashion.

Social networking also is fueling this new era of citizen engagement, according to Michael Armstrong, CIO for the city of Corpus Christi, Texas.

“Almost all politicians now have Facebook pages, and they’re becoming very comfortable with connecting to people that way,” Armstrong said. “We also have a group of young people coming up who communicate entirely differently than the past several generations. They are connected all the time, and they are social. But they don’t connect face to face — or even voice to voice — anymore. Instead, they’re using the technologies that are available to them on their computers and, increasingly, on their phones.”

Corpus Christi joined numerous other cities in making available to its citizens a downloadable application for Android, iPhone and Blackberry devices that was developed by Los Angeles–based CitySourced.

Dubbed CC Mobile, the app lets citizens report potholes, graffiti, traffic accidents, open manhole covers, abandoned or illegally parked cars, trash problems, and more as they witness them.

“They’re now invested in helping to operate their city and, in a lot of cases, contributing to the decision-making process,” Armstrong said. “That has been real difficult up to this point. You had to show up at council meetings, which takes a lot more time than people were willing to devote. Now, they can do this very quickly, without changing their daily schedules.”

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