Office of eDiplomacy

The Office of eDiplomacy acts as an applied technology think tank for the United States Department of State. As part of the Bureau of Information Resource Management, eDiplomacy serves as a liaison between Department of State IT specialists and Department of State diplomats and other employees / end users. Its mission is to support U.S. diplomats and American diplomacy through collaborative technologies, and to promote other technologies that assist this diplomatic work.

History

In 2002, Ambassador James Holmes started the eDiplomacy Task Force. In 2003, the task force was reorganized into the Office of eDiplomacy. Currently, eDiplomacy falls under the Deputy Chief Information Officer for Business, Management, and Planning.

Richard Boly is the current Director, and Scott A. Smith is the Chief of eDiplomacy's Diplomatic Innovation Division. ^[1]

Other previous eDiplomacy Directors at the U.S. Department of State include:

• Joe Johnson
• Gerry Gallucci
• Gary Galloway (acting)
• Thomas Niblock
• Stephen Smith
• Daniel P. Sheerin (acting)

Projects

eDiplomacy is actively developing a number of technologies which allow the diplomatic community to share and maintain institutional knowledge. A few of its current projects are:

• Diplopedia, a wiki space that is the encyclopedia of the Department of State, currently containing over 10,000 entries ^[2]
• Virtual Presence Posts (VPPs), a new approach which allows for U.S. diplomatic presence in important cities, regions and communities without buildings or permanent staff. The technique involves regular travel, programs, media outreach, and new technology. There are currently more than 50 VPPs worldwide.
• Communities @ State, a series of communities of practice using web log (blog) software that are designed to strengthen various types of communities within the Department.^[3] As of June 2009, there were over 70 existing and planned communities at State, with over 30,000 combined blog entries. ^[4]
• Virtual Work Environments: eDiplomacy is poised to play a leading role in the Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) adoption effort at State. The State Messaging and Archive Retrieval Toolset (SMART) program is heading the WSS deployment effort with deployment scheduled by September 2009.^[5]
• Remote access and teleworking.
• Classified web publishing for sharing diplomatic reporting and analysis with the U.S. Government's foreign affairs and national security communities.^[6]
• After developing and launching the State Department Sounding Board in 2009, Office of eDiplomacy staff actively contribute to this internal idea sharing forum, now managed by the Management Bureau and the Secretary of State's cadre.

Other Media Mentions

• Updates on the Office of eDiplomacy
• State Department using Collaboration and Social for Operational Effectiveness
• eDiplomacy Ushers In a New Culture of Collaboration at State
• eDiplomacy on Twitter
• eDiplomacy on Facebook

See also

• State Department Sounding Board
• Transformational Diplomacy
• United States Department of State

References

1. ^ http://www.state.gov/m/irm/ediplomacy Office of eDiplomacy
2. ^ [1]
3. ^ Burton, Bruce; Eric M. Johnson, Molly E. Moran (May 1, 2008). "Making It Happen: KM at the Working" (PDF). APQC 13th Annual Knowledge Management Conference. Chicago, Illinois, USA: APQC 
4. ^ Major Programs of the Office of eDiplomacy
5. ^ Bain, Ben (2008-06-23). "State Department will get SMART". FCW.com (Federal Computer Weekly). http://www.fcw.com/print/22_18/management/152919-1.html. Retrieved 2008-07-20. 
6. ^ Major Programs of the Office of eDiplomacy

• Office of eDiplomacy
• Chat room diplomacy