CANCELLED- Creating a Culture of Collaboration: The Example of Virtual USA

The Department of Homeland Security initiated Virtual USA a little over a year ago to enable seamless information sharing and collaboration among the emergency preparedness and response community. Despite the fact that the program is only a little over a year old it has already demonstrated its impact. During the Gulf Coast oil spill 4 states are using vUSA to actively share information and collaborate in real time to improve the planning and response.

While there is a strong technical element to vUSA the key to its success has been its focus on creating a culture of collaboration among the participants in the initiative. The methodology that has been used to accomplish this has applications beyond the homeland security community and can be a great benefit to those trying to implement Government 2.0 initiatives. This session will review the essentials of vUSA and provide attendees with lessons learned that they can use for their own projects.