The Office of eDiplomacy is an applied technology

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmental o ...

for the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nat ...

. The Office of eDiplomacy is staffed by

Foreign Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United S ...

and

Civil Service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

Officers, as well as contract professionals. There are four branches, the Diplomatic Innovation Division (DID), the Knowledge Leadership Division (KLD), the Customer Liaison Division (CLD), and the Business Requirements Unit (BRU). The unit was formed in response to recommendations from the 1999 Overseas Presence Advisory Panel that the State Department improve its ability to communicate and share knowledge. eDiplomacy's Customer Liaison Division facilitates and enhances communications between the

Bureau of Information Resource Management The Bureau of Information Resource Management (IRM) is a component of Department of State's management family of bureaus, which provides the information technology and services the Department needs to successfully carry out its foreign policy miss ...

and its domestic users. With a mandated goal of providing customer satisfaction with products, platforms and services developed by the IRM Bureau. In addition, the CLD collaborates with other U.S. Government agencies and multiple other entities to provide information services that advance U.S. security, emergency preparedness, and communications objectives.

History

In 2002, Ambassador James Holmes started the eDiplomacy Task Force. In 2003, the task force was reorganized into the Office of eDiplomacy. Currently, eDiplomacy falls under the Deputy Chief Information Officer for Business, Management, and Planning. David L. McCormick is the current Director, Tristram Perry is the Chief of eDiplomacy's Knowledge Leadership Division, Veronica Branch is Chief of the Customer Liaison Division, and the position of Division Chief of the Diplomatic Innovation Division is currently vacant. Other previous eDiplomacy Directors at the U.S. Department of State include: *Joe Johnson *Gerry Gallucci *Gary Galloway (acting) *Thomas Niblock *Stephen Smith *Daniel P. Sheerin (acting) * Richard Boly *Ambassador Eric G. Nelson *Kathryn Cabral *M. Andre Goodfriend *Rahima Kandahari

Major programs

The Office of eDiplomacy runs several knowledge management and new media technology programs for the

U.S. Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other na ...

. Among the most active are: *

Diplopedia Diplopedia, billed as the Encyclopedia of the United States Department of State, is a wiki running on a State internal Intranet, called "OpenNet". It houses a unique collection of information pertaining to diplomacy, international relations, and ...

, the State Department's internal collaborative online

wiki A wiki ( ) is an online hypertext publication collaboratively edited and managed by its own audience, using a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages for the subjects or scope of the project, and could be either open to the pub ...

. * Communities @ State, an initiative enables State Department personnel with shared professional interests to form internal online communities to publish information, connect with others, and create discussion. *The

Virtual Student Federal Service The Virtual Student Federal Service (VSFS), formerly known as the Virtual Student Foreign Service, is a U.S. Department of State program that offers opportunities for American college and university students to virtually intern at U.S. federal agen ...

(VSFS) program, part of a continuing effort by the State Department to harness technology, encourage a commitment to global service among young people, and to facilitate new forms of diplomatic engagement. After developing and launching the State Department Sounding Board in 2009, Office of eDiplomacy staff supported this internal idea sharing forum, now managed by the Management Bureau and the Secretary of State's cadre. Virtual Work Environments were initiated by the Office of eDiplomacy with

Windows SharePoint Services SharePoint is a web-based collaborative platform that integrates natively with Microsoft Office. Launched in 2001, SharePoint is primarily sold as a document management and storage system, but the product is highly configurable and its usage v ...

(WSS), and used in many units at State. The State Messaging and Archive Retrieval Toolset (SMART) program leads the WSS deployment effort.

Criticism

In November 2013 Ukrainian MP Oleh Tsariov demanded a criminal investigation into the activities of TechCamp in Ukraine because he believed it was "preparations for inciting a

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policie ...

" because during training "instructors share their experience of Internet technologies, which are aimed at shaping public opinion and enhancing the protest potential and which were used to organize street protests in Libya, Egypt, Tunisia and Syria".. Note: The TechCamps program is no longer a part of the Office of eDiplomacy and is currently operated under the State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.About Tech Camps

Bureau_of_Educational_and_Cultural_Affairs The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) of the United States Department of State fosters mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries around the world. It is responsible for the Un ...

(19 December 2022)

Other media mentions

Advancing U.S. Foreign Policy through eDiplomacy

References

{{authority control eDIP

History

Major programs

Criticism

Other media mentions

See also

References