Over the last few decades, government technologies have gotten faster, cheaper, and in some ways have changed the industry as a whole. In the early 2000’s we saw government agencies replacing mainframes with personal computers. This saved a lot of money and allowed them to work on targeted programs to take on things like document management.
So where did the government evolve from there?
The Rise of The Internet:
The internet has been around for more than 20 years but If you think back to 20 years ago, could you have imagined carrying around essentially a mini computer in your pocket or purse? That is our currently reality. Virtually anything you want is at your fingertips. From 2000 to 2010, the number of Internet users increased 500 percent, from 361 million worldwide to almost 2 billion. Now, close to 4 billion people throughout the world use the Internet. And while the internet has seen mostly positive impacts, it also has a darker side. The
government has had to protect themselves from cybercriminals lurking to steal data or even spread racist ideologies online.
Introducing… The CIO:
With the reliance on the Internet growing and growing, government agencies found themselves needing someone to keep track and be on top of the new tech to ensure it stays up to date and running properly. That’s when the Chief Information Officer was introduced into the government sector. Early goals for CIOs were to put everything online. Have a bill to pay? No need to wait in line. CIOs thought of this as early form of automation. But not everyone saw that as a ‘great’ labor saving idea, some workers viewed it as killing jobs.
Electronic Voting Became a Reality:
Within the last two decades we have essentially said ‘goodbye’ to the old paper system and hello to electronic voting methods. During the 2016 election, according to the Pew Research Center, 47 percent of voters across the U.S. voted with optical scanners, 28 percent with touchscreens and 19 percent with a combination of both, with only a small handful of jurisdictions using paper only methods. Great, right? Well, questions regarding ensuring the integrity of elections has resulted in many jurisdictions are going to utilize paper trail backups- so some may view that as two steps forward one step back.
Social Media Is King:
Social media has helped the government seem more accessible and keep them more accountable. Not only are citizens utilizing social platforms, jurisdictions are using it as another way to communicate with the public. Notifications about local events, natural disasters, and PSAs are just a few ways they are utilizing social. You are also now seeing running and elected officials using it as a channel to talk with their supporters.
Surveillance Went Digital:
In the early 2000’s you probably saw police officers roaming the streets, both by car and on foot. The main goal? To get to know the community- the good and bad players. Now, they still have the same goal, only police departments are getting some help with tech like facial recognition, cameras/microphones, and drones. Tech like gunshot detection allows officers to more precisely locate gunshot calls and body cams on officers help the department with internal investigations.
While we have come a long way in the last few decades, technology in the government sector is going to continue to grow and evolve. What are you imagining the government looking like in 10 or 20 years? Will we see self-driving cars? Voting on mobile phones? Only time will tell.
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Sources:
https://www.governing.com/columns/tech-talk/gov-technology-government-history.html
https://www.govtech.com/computing/2000-vs-2020-How-Far-Has-Gov-Tech-Come-in-Two-Decades.html
About the Author: Taylor Genter Taylor is the Marketing Specialist at Extract with experience in data analytics, graphic design, and both digital and social media marketing. She earned her Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Marketing at the University of Wisconsin- Whitewater. Taylor enjoys analyzing people’s behaviors and attitudes to find out what motivates them, and then curating better ways to communicate with them.