A Must for elected leaders and public managers wanting to master the art of Web 2.0 and Civic Media aimed at better engaging citizens and government. This handy, easy-to-read book is an excellent resource for better understanding how social media tools can be used by government.

This book lays out an impressive, well-articulated set of trends that have affected or will soon affect local governments throughout the nation through technology. Amazingly, as Dr. Shark points out, all of this massive change has occurred within the past 12 years. While technology trends continue to play out in the local government realm, public managers, mainly city and county managers and assistant city and county managers, have experienced quite a number of challenges in navigating the brave new world. Dr. Shark chose local governments as the primary focus because their jurisdictions are...

This a must-read for all managers seeking to better understand the latest trends and practices in the public technology field and how the issue of governance and technology leadership can best be addressed. Do not be fooled by the term "CIO Leadership" in the book's title, as this book is as much about public safety communication leadership as it is about technology and the evolving nature of governance. Technology, regardless of its sophistication, is nothing more than a set of tools requiring some form of leadership to take advantage of what it does and how it can be best used. Someone,...