There are bigger issues surrounding the .gov review

The United States federal government is reforming its Internet strategy. In the context of looming concerns about the debt ceiling, high unemployment, wars abroad, rising healthcare costs, and the host of other issues that the White House and Congress should be addressing, that might seem like a side issue.

It's not. The federal government spends some $80 billion dollars every year on information technology. If you're paying any attention at all to government IT, you know that Uncle Sam is not getting his money's worth from that investment. Furthermore, the federal government has not been getting the kinds of returns in productivity or efficiency that the private sector has enjoyed over the past decade or so. Former White House OBM director Peter Orzag called that disparity the "IT gap" last year. So when the Obama administration launched a new initiative on Web reform this summer, it might have seemed a little overdue.

Citizens are turning to the Internet for government data and services in unprecedented numbers, and they're expecting to find answers, applications and, increasingly, people. While public servants can join the conversations on social networks to address the latter demand, delivering improved information and e-services confronts the federal government with some tough choices, given budget constraints. That challenge is one reason that they're looking to the general public and the private sector for some ideas on how they can improve their strategy.