GCpedia

Screenshot of GCpedia

GCpedia is an internal wiki used by the Government of Canada, for collaboration and knowledge sharing. Its slogan is “People & Knowledge“. GCpedia is only accessible via the Government of Canada network and contributors must be on a computer on a government (.gc.ca) network to be able to access it. The user base is potentially 250,000 people, from over 150 departments and agencies. Users must be registered if they wish to add or modify content, so that all contributions are attributable.^[1] GCpedia has been used as a platform to take, publish, and distribute meeting minutes, to create project status dashboards, to collaboratively author interdepartmental papers, to brainstorm, and to create wiki-based briefing books.

Launch

GCpedia is an initiative of the Chief Information Officer Branch, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, with support from members of the GCpedia Web 2.0 Steering Committee and participants throughout the federal government.

GCpedia was formally launched as a government-wide pilot by Ken Cochrane, former Chief Information Officer for Canada, at the annual Government Technology Exhibition and Conference (GTEC) in Ottawa, Canada on October 28, 2008.^[2][3]

Potential uses

This is a list of existing and possible uses on GCpedia:

• Collaborate openly (within the Government of Canada) on a specific policy, document or subject
• Create and share meeting agendas, minutes, documents, project status dashboards, or wiki-based briefing materials
• Author interdepartmental papers collaboratively
• Organize interdepartmental working groups and communities of practice
• Share information, research, etc. that may be of interest to others
• Organize via individual’s User Page links to their work on GCpedia and elsewhere, contact information, interests and experience, etc.
• Discover existing work that provides a head start to current projects

GC2.0 tools

The Government of Canada's internal Web 2.0 environment currently comprises two collaborative tools, collectively referred to as the GC2.0 Tools, which were developed and are operated by the Treasury Board Secretariat for use amongst Government of Canada employees:

• GCpedia, a wiki;
• GCconnex, a professional networking platform

These tools are run on open source software and are accessible and available to all employees in the Government of Canada who have access to SCNet, the central Government of Canada network and are not available externally. They are the only internal collaborative tools freely available to all Government of Canada employees. A third tool called GCforums was closed as an active platform in early 2015 and activity has migrated to GCconnex.

Infrastructure

GCpedia runs on MediaWiki software.^[4] It is hosted on the Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) Mid-Range Application Hosting Service.

Adoption history

According to the August 2009 content review, government of Canada public servants were using GCpedia primarily to share information and gather project/performance feedback; and build collaborative and interdepartmental communities of practice; establish terms of reference for interdepartmental committees; and as support networks across a wide range of topics.^[5]

Canada's CIO, Corinne Charette, said in October 2009 of the success of GCpedia: "Clearly this is a community that is ripe for collaboration".^[6]

In March 31, 2010, the Clerk of the Privy Council, Wayne Wouters, officially joined GCpedia with both a personal user page and a page inviting ideas and feedback from government employees.^[7]

In April 2010 Wouters stated that deputy heads within the Government of Canada must advance Public Service Renewal in their departments by various means including public servants "experimenting with Web 2.0 technology, including GCpedia".^[8]

In a September 2010 article, Marj Akerley is quoted as stating, "As government employees become more comfortable with new technology and seek mechanisms for collaboration, their confidence in the effectiveness of the tools is increasing".^[9]

"The federal public service utilizes GCpedia...to facilitate collaboration and the sharing of information." - Maclean's magazine, September 16, 2010^[10]

GCpedia is "a key medium for our staff in the regions to learn what's available, what's happening, in the National Capital Region and other regions, and it has helped tear down bureaucratic barriers between departments." - quote from Corinne Charette, CIO of Canada - Ottawa Citizen October 6, 2010^[11][12]

"GCpedia has demonstrated that public servants have an interest in sharing information and collecting feedback on their projects."^[13]

Usage

As of August 31, 2015, there were:

• 60,021 registered users^[14]
• 27,243 content pages^[15]
• 45,365,714 page views^[16]
• 25,702,394 page edits^[17]

See also

• GCconnex another GC2.0 Tool used by Public Servants of the Government of Canada
• Govdex is an Australian government collaboration site
• Diplopedia is the internal collaboration site of the US Department of State

References

External links

• GCpedia website (available within Government of Canada only)
• Web 2.0 will change the way you work (PowerPoint by Jeff Braybrook, Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Canada) - FPTT 2009 National Meeting - June 18, 2009