ICGFM 2.

0: Community,
Interaction, Collaboration

ICGFM Conference
Miami, Florida
May 18, 2008
Agenda
• ICGFM International Activities
• Existing Website Problems
• Web 1.0 Technology Issues
• “Social Computing” Platform
• Web 2.0 Recommendations
• Conclusions
 ICGFM International Activities

1. Collaboration and Communication among

public finance managers
2. Educational Events – advancement of GFM
principles and standards
3. Information Dissemination to professionals
and the public in general
4. Standards – promotion of standards to support
GFM
GFM Umbrella

Accounting Budgeting

Tax Administration
Debt Administration

Treasury Management
Auditing

Information Technology
Existing Website Problems

• Older web 1.0 technology = no community interaction

= limited knowledge transfer
– Conferences are only interaction venue
– People do not have effective tools to continue dialog
after a conference
– Presentations without notes lose context
– Public Fund Digest is an annual publication
• Stagnant Content - www.icgfm.org gets limited web
traffic and few visits
– Excellent content remains buried in PDFs
• Category (GFM) on an island– ICGFM does not show up
in the first 200 hits when searching for “public financial
management” (PFM), or World Bank/IFM terminology
Government Financial
Management

Collaboration and Communications

Educational Events
Information Disseminating
Promoting Professional Standards

Accounting
Audit
Budget
Debt Administration
Information Technology
Tax Administration
Treasury Management
Web 1.0 Technology Issues
• Site Navigation - current www.icgfm.org web site navigation
should be improved to facilitate information finding
– There is no search function by themes or category
– Materials are not presented by subject matter
– There are stale links, e.g. “Upcoming events”
– Confusing links on the left (Missions and Programs, Board of
Directors link but Publications does not)
– Some links are dead
• Usability
– Content naming unintuitive, e.g. “DC Forum” ?? What is it?
– Almost all content is in Word, PowerPoint or PDF
• Difficult to find via search engines
• Public Fund Digest is one big document, making it particularly
difficult to search
• Global English
– The website text content is confusing to many non-native
speakers, it needs to be adjusted to a global audience
 difficult site
no site search navigation ICGFM Web
Site

difficult to find

98% of Content:
Only
Valuable yet Buried
1,164 visits
April
April 2008 Statistics

46

414
35
32
143
New Web Technologies Provide Platform
for “Social Computing”

• “Social computing” (Web 2.0) is a new breed

of software that provides social interaction and
easy collaboration
• Social Networks - Facebook, Ning
• Photo/Video Sharing - Flickr, YouTube
• Blogs (web journal) – MovableType, Blogger
• Wikis (collaboration) – Wikipedia, WetPaint
• Community building + knowledge transfer
• Web 2.0 tools are an excellent vehicle for
achieving ICGFM mission goals
 Recommendation
Step 1: Website Update
Description • Navigation - make navigation more explicit, provide
subject orientation
• Content - break content up into smaller components
Advantage • Optimized, well-organized website
• Content more visible to search engines, visitors
• Eliminate stale information and inactive links
Disadvantage • Require a content management tool (e.g. Drupal)
• Moves away from “document” orientation – may be
difficult for some people initially
Implementation • Roughly 2 person weeks
• Likely 0 additional cost (depends on how site is
currently updated)
Maintenance • Relatively easy – may provide an additional burden on
content publishing to categorize new content
 Existing Website Navigation
HOPE PAGE
Event
Latest Presentation
En español

Mission & Programs Membership Publications Board of Directors

Happenings
and Officers

List of Members, Officers,

ICGFM Mission and
Upcoming Events Membership Newsletter Directors and
Programs
By-laws

Membership Presentations
DC Forum Application (+ Reports and
Notices)

Conference
Presentations

Pub Fund Digest

 Proposed Navigation
HOPE PAGE

ABOUT ICGFM PROGRAMS PUBLICATIONS

JOIN THE ICGFM COMMUNITY FORUM

Conferences
Mission (PFM) Membership Journal GFM Wiki

Membership
Board of Directors Meetings Presentations GFM Blog
Application

Members
Research
Members (link to Members Page) Annual Conferences Other Discussions
(IT)

By-laws Standards Reports and Notices Industry News

Jobs and Internships Newsletter

Contact us ICGFM Blog

New Home Page Wireframe
Recommendation
Step 2: Publishing to Web 2.0 Sites
Description • Online viewing – place ICGFM presentations at
www.slideshare.net
• Online reading - place ICGFM documents at
www.scribd.com
Advantage • Word-of-mouth marketing - could drive more
people to www.icgfm.org
• Communication - makes information accessible
to a wider audience
Disadvantage
Implementation • Less than a week (once Step 1 is complete)
• May require a cost to host large numbers of
documents
Maintenance • Some additional work or: content is provided on
these sites and linked at www.icgfm.org
Ideally
Even Better
Recommendation
Step 3: Wiki (+ Forum, e.g. WetPaint)
Description • Create a Governmental Financial Management
(GFM) wiki like Wikipedia
Advantage • Collaboration - Provides a place to capture the
knowledge of ICGFM experts and engage people
• Communication - links to detailed content,
makes ICGFM content more accessible
Disadvantage • Possible misuse, although ICGFM would have
editorial control
• Requires participation, otherwise will fall flat
Implementation • Would be best to start with some definitions
• Can be free (ad driven)
• Can be a hosted service
• Could convert www.icgfm.org into a Wiki style
Maintenance • Editorial maintenance required
Recommendation
Step 4: Social Network
Description • Create an ICGFM social network on Ning or
Facebook
Advantage • Provides an interactive forum for ICGFM
member interaction and knowledge transfer
• Enables ICGFM to tailor conferences to better
meet demand + word-of-mouth promotion
Disadvantage • Requires participation to prosper
• Could become dominated by “squeaky wheels”
or get outside the mandate of ICGFM
Implementation • 1 to 2 weeks to set up the social network
• Would require engaging some ICGFM people to
create content and create profiles
Maintenance • Social networks tend to be self-maintaining
Eventually
Conclusions
• Staged approach should work best
• Enable ICGFM to see the uptake of each
technology
• May 2008 proof-of-concept Blog will
provide insight
Additional Slides
Flickr image embedded in blog
Slide Show embedded in blog
YouTube embedded in blog