Ten Trends Shaping Government Today
Futurist Jack Uldrich has posted an item to his website looking at Ten Trends shaping Government today. Although each item is arguable and may be context specific depending on ‘which’ Government you’re looking at, it’s a good overall take suggesting things to do with data, the interenet, crowdsourcing and the like. However I think Jack is missing one HUGE trend, the rise of what I call MOGRA’s
What’s a ‘MOGRA’ I hear you ask? A MOGRA is a: Massive, Organised, Grass-Roots, Activist group. Examples of MOGRAs can be see in the likes of MoveOn.org, Getup.org.au, 360.0rg, AVAAZ,org.au and many others. Here’s what I posted to Jack’s site in response to his article:
Jack I think you’re missing perhaps one of the more critical elements changing the face of Government and Governance, what I refer to as MOGRA’s – Massive Organised Grass-Roots Activists which are increasingly seen to by pass entrenched Government barriers, or force the awareness of Governments into a new perspective space. The tech, without the action element, will be unlikely to shape Governments
I see MOGRAs as different from previous activist groups that have been around for signficant periods of time – say Greenpeace, World WildLife Fund, SeaShepherd and so on in that MOGRAs tend to ebb and flow based on a variety of issues of importance to their membership, where as a World Wild Life Fund would typically care only about issues affecting animals. MOGRA’s leverage online spaces in an organised and fast paced manner. They understand that people will drop in and out of campiagns and focus areas as both suits their time and interest levels.
This adds to their dynamic nature as much as it does risks their longevity. But what they do well, is spread a message quickly, widely and targeted to ramp up awareness and gather support. The approach may seem impulsive but it is almost ALWAYS organised, relying on crowdsourcing to carry the workload.
Expect to see more MOGRA’s influencing Government policy in the future
Sometimes when you look at enough assorted pieces of information a clear pattern emerges. In a previous role I was tasked with looking at the Future of Education, a topic I delved deeply into for almost 3 years. And in 2003 in a piece titled ‘The Future of Commercial Education’ I predicted that by 2015,…
Read More >Tomorrow I’ll be at the State Library of Victoria as part of the #V21 Digital Summit. In my futurist, pragmatist role I’ll be presenting few ideas about why ‘Your Future is NOT an App’, then later in the day facilitating an onstage debate about Disruption’s role in Innovation. And if it is anything to go…
Read More >I’ve been having a think lately about whether the use of Interest Rate movements by the Reserve Bank is actually too clumsy an instrument for effective economic management. The potential weakness has emerged only in recent times as the signs of a world-wide economic melt down have begun to expose one of the limitations of…
Read More >There’s a few problems with the successful leadership lists that bounce their way around the internet. In my opinion they lack context – the reality check that only comes by having a full appreciation of an individual organisation’s particular circumstances. Unfortunately many of these lists of ‘required leadership behaviours’ offer shallow quick fix advice that…
Read More >There’s no doubt that coal has a legitimacy problem with large swathes of the public around the world. Once a darling of energy and still in relative abundant supplies, Coal provides significant levels of energy per gram consumed. Yet the end outcome is now known to be incredibly harmful to localised communities needing to breathe…
Read More >At almost every stage in a shift in the way societies and organisations operate, there comes a period of extreme ‘unsettled-ness’. This period may show itself in the form of the doldrums (where things seem unusually calm but nothing seems to be happening) or in busyness (where there’s lots of activity but nothing seems to…
Read More >Sometimes when we have the chance to say something, we don’t. About two years ago one of my uncles died and I should have spoken at his funeral. This personal post is what I should have said to the public gallery that attended ‘Hi everyone. I’m Marcus and Jim was one of my three uncles.…
Read More >I’ve just posted a quick overview on LinkedIn called The ‘Loud Secret’ – Underestimating your internal skill sets which you can find at the link below The ‘Loud Secret’: Underestimating Your Internal Skill sets. If you have any troubles accessing the story let me know and I’ll see what I can do
Read More >Health Care costs in Australia are rising and are likely to continue doing so as our population both grows and ages. Which means attempts to address this issue are warranted. Equally warranted is an assessment of the impacts for addressing or ignoring the issue. If, as has been mooted, the Australian Government introduces an $8…
Read More >We’ve been getting far more effective at understanding the way our brains work especially as they relate to the idea of ‘mind’. Simply, the idea that we make decisions based on our conscious understanding, appears limited at best and highly flawed at worst. And now, the step towards longevity, perhaps even the fountain of youth,…
Read More >