Greetings from day two of the Open Government and Innovations Conference

Today was another great day of panels and presentations. My focus today was on social media, particularly what DoD is currently doing, where they are going, how we can measure it, and how to improve the process. Already in DoD social media has established a foothold.

It is opening silos and breaking down stovepipes: The key today is no longer withholding information but to share it with as wide an audience as is feasible. Social media is not a passing fad and DoD leadership has come out strong in support of it. The public trend toward openness and increased collaboration support this decision too.

Consider this trend put forth by Michael Nelson, Georgetown University professor, "Currently there are approximately 1.5 billion devices connected to the Internet, by 2020 the estimate is that number will be over one trillion." One trillion devices! Think about that number and what it means. Think about the opportunities and challenges that will bring.

The social media tools that are currently being used, like wikis, blogs, social networking sites, podcasts and the tools of the future are not meant to replace relationships and processes but to complement and enhance them. It becomes a new way of doing work, a better way to collaborate and to share information. There will be challenges, no doubt, and it will require a change in culture, but the end result will allow us to better accomplish our mission and be relevant tomorrow.

I will have one more entry tomorrow on OGI, a summary of the conference.
Before I close here is one more bit of food for thought, a quote by William Gibson cited during the conference, "The future is here, it is just not evenly distributed yet."

For a more detailed account of the day check out the Twitter stream @armyimcom.