Recently, I was asked: "What is Gov 2.0?"

How do you define it? How does Microsoft support Gov 2.0?

Well, there are many articles and in-depth answers, but what I thought would be helpful is to give a consolidate answer using a table from the government itself.

The following table was extracted from a Gov 2.0 Whitepaper which I co-authored and was derived from USA.gov definition of Gov 2.0.

If you are interested in Gov 2.0, I would encourage you to read the Gov 2.0 Whitepaper for the full-story, but here is a consolidated answer:

Technology

Simple Definition

2007 Office System Technology

Microsoft Product(s)

Blogs

Journal or diary with social collaboration (comments)

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 OR

 SharePoint Online

Office SharePoint Server 2007 with Microsoft Office Word blog post template and/or

Business Productivity Online Standard Suite

Office Word 2007 (blog creation)

Wikis

Collaborative authoring and editing

Office SharePoint Server 2007 OR

SharePoint Online

Office SharePoint Server 2007 and/or Business Productivity Online Standard Suite

Video and Multimedia Sharing

Videos, images, and audio libraries (YouTube, Soapbox)

Office SharePoint Server 2007 with Interactive Media Manager OR

SharePoint Online

FAST audio and video search

Interactive Media Manager for SharePoint Server OR

Podcast Kit for Office SharePoint Server 2007 (download)

FAST ESP Search for Office SharePoint Server 2007

Photo-Sharing

Photo libraries

Office SharePoint Server 2007 OR

SharePoint Online

Office SharePoint Server 2007

Photosynth

Podcasting

Multimedia content syndicated for use on MP3 players and computers

Office SharePoint Server 2007 OR

SharePoint Online

Podcast Kit for Office SharePoint Server 2007 (download)

Virtual Worlds

Simulation of environments (Second Life)

N/A

Microsoft Simulation solution

Social Networking Sites

Connecting people globally

Office SharePoint Server 2007 OR

SharePoint Online

Office SharePoint Server 2007 People, Expertise, and Communities

Syndicated Web Feeds (RSS)

Automated notifications of frequently updated content (RSS)

Office SharePoint Server 2007 OR

SharePoint Online

Office SharePoint Server 2007 (search and all lists)

Clients: Office Outlook®, Internet Explorer®, and Windows Vista®

Mashups

Combine content from multiple sources for an integrated experience

None

Built-in SharePoint Server web parts for data visualization data from the Business Data Catalog

Popfly™, Silverlight, Web Sandbox,

Virtual Earth, Visual Studio

Widgets, Gadgets, and Pipes

Small applications and code in Web pages or for desktop use

Office SharePoint Server 2007

SharePoint Server Web Parts, Windows Live Gadgets

Social Bookmark and News (Sharing, Tagging) sites

Ways of sharing content with others

Office SharePoint Server 2007

SharePoint Server with community kit (download)

Micro-Blogging, Presence Networks

Form of blogging which allows brief (instant message–sized) text updates

Office Communications Server

Office Communications Server R2, persistent chat, and chat gateways

Gov 2.0 Data Mining and Aggregation

New!

Making sense of all the data to allow responsiveness, trend analysis, and the ability to deliver targeted information to users

FAST ESP Search for Office SharePoint Server 2007

Microsoft Office PerformancePoint™ Server 2007 and SharePoint Enterprise

FAST ESP Search for Office SharePoint Server 2007, Office PerformancePoint Server 2007, Social Streams, and Entity Extraction, and

Microsoft Vine New!

 

The one thing that was added to the USA.gov definition was “Gov 2.0 Data Mining and Aggregation.” In my discussions with customers, one of the key success factors is its ability to use Gov 2.0 to improve services. However, there is no component in the definition that gives a direction.

I think that “Gov 2.0 Data Mining and Aggregation” helps quantify how to make Social Networking actionable.

As I become aware of new technologies, I will continue to update this posting since I don't have a hosted Wiki....yet ;)