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