“A plea for geeks and fails in public services” for Brussels Regional Informatics Center

Don’t tell people what to do, use small interventions to help them make the right decisions. It sounds a bit like Kim-Jong-Il-style manipulation, but it’s the basic concept behind nudge (and it’s token gamification). And I believe it’s the way to go for (semi-)government. More than communication campaigns. More than using social media for the sake of social media. How can government really change people’s behavior for the better.

I’ve been spending a lot of time working on nudge projects lately (and that’s why I love Hivos’ recent experiments). It’s about managing expectations, acts not ads and failing and creating momentum.

So, when I was asked to do a presentation for Brussels Regional Informatics Center Conférence Annuelle/Jaarlijkse Conferentie 2011, it was a pretty easy choice to do a plea beyond social media alone. A plea for feeks, fails … and nudge.