Coast Guard Moving Forward With Web 2.0

I mentioned elsewhere that the Coast Guard is moving to adopt Web 2.0 technologies. Our Commandant and other senior leaders have blogs and there are other external resources out there. We are also moving to put Web 2.0 technologies into our internal tools and culture. There was an announcement about this a while back (located here and pasted below). I know all caps is considered poor etiquette on the net these days, but this is the original text which is a holdover from the days of teletype and morse code.

ALCOAST 128/09
COMDTNOTE 2800
SUBJ: CG PORTAL UPDATE
1. CG PORTAL WILL BE THE ONE-STOP SHOPPING PLATFORM FOR MEETING CG
INTERNET, INTRANET, AND EXTRANET NEEDS. CG PORTAL WILL REPLACE CG
CENTRAL STARTING EARLY APRIL 2009 AND FUNCTIONALITY WILL BE
INTRODUCED IN PHASES. PHASE I WILL REPLACE CG CENTRAL MICROSITES
AND COMMUNITIES. PHASE II WILL REPLACE THE REMAINDER OF CG CENTRAL
CONTENT. SUBSEQUENT PHASES WILL REPLACE OUR WWW.USCG.MIL INTERNET
PRESENCE AND ADD NEW CAPABILITIES.
2. IN EARLY 2010, BOTH CG CENTRAL (INTRANET) AND WWW.USCG.MIL
(INTERNET) WILL BE RETIRED. CG PORTAL, WITH ITS NEW FUNCTIONALITY,
WILL PROVIDE EXCITING NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR COMMUNICATIONS USING
ADVANCED WEB PORTAL TECHNOLOGIES. ALL EXISTING FUNCTIONAL
REQUIREMENTS WILL BE REPLACED IN CG PORTAL PRIOR TO RETIRING THE
LEGACY SYSTEMS.
3. THE DECISION TO DEPLOY IN PHASES IS BASED ON TWO CRITICAL
SUCCESS FACTORS: DATA TRANSFER AND USER FAMILIARIZATION. FIRST, A
PHASED RELEASE FACILITATES CONTENT MIGRATION. THERE ARE 1,300 CG
CENTRAL MICROSITES, 13,000 CG CENTRAL CONTENT AREAS, AND 800
WWW.USCG.MIL WEB SITES THAT NEED TO BE MANUALLY MIGRATED TO CG
PORTAL. IN ADDITION TO MANAGING THE LOGISTICS OF MOVING SUCH A
LARGE AMOUNT OF INFORMATION, ACCURATELY MIGRATING INFORMATION TO A
NEW PORTAL IS PARAMOUNT. SECOND, A PHASED RELEASE ALLOWS END USERS
AND WEB PUBLISHERS TIME TO FAMILIARIZE THEMSELVES WITH THE NEW
PORTAL. YOU WILL BE ABLE TO SEE HOW IT FUNCTIONS, PROVIDE FEEDBACK
AND ASK QUESTIONS, RECEIVE TRAINING, AND BEGIN TO INTEGRATE THE
PRODUCT INTO YOUR DAILY ROUTINE.
4. THE PHASE I RELEASE OF CG PORTAL IS TARGETED FOR EARLY APRIL
2009. THE PRIMARY PRODUCT BEING DEPLOYED IS QUICKR, SERVING AS A
MUCH ANTICIPATED REPLACEMENT TO CG CENTRAL MICROSITES AND
COMMUNITIES. WHEN PHASE I OF CG PORTAL IS DEPLOYED, QUICKR WILL BE
FULLY FUNCTIONAL AND THE AUTHORITATIVE SOURCE OF INTERNAL COAST
GUARD COLLABORATION CAPABILITY. CG CENTRAL MICROSITES AND
COMMUNITIES WILL NO LONGER FUNCTION. QUICKR OFFERS A DIVERSE SUITE
OF WEB 2.0 FUNCTIONALITY THAT INCLUDES BOTH BLOG AND WIKI
CAPABILITY. WE ANTICIPATE QUICKR TO BE HEAVILY USED FOR TEAM
DISCUSSIONS, PROJECT TASK MANAGEMENT, AND INTERNAL COAST GUARD
COLLABORATION. ACCESS TO QUICKR WILL INITIALLY BE AVAILABLE AS A
LINK FROM CG CENTRAL.
5. QUICKR PROVIDES COLLABORATION AREAS KNOWN AS CG PLACES. ALL OF
THE CONTENT FROM CG CENTRAL COMMUNITIES WILL BE AVAILABLE UNDER THE
SAME COMMUNITY HEADINGS. EVERYONE THAT ACCESSES QUICKR WILL SEE
THESE COMMUNITIES AVAILABLE IN THEIR LIST OF (PUBLIC PLACES) AND
HAVE PERMISSION TO VIEW THE CONTENT. A CORRESPONDING CG PLACE WILL
BE CREATED FOR EVERY MICROSITE. IF YOU ARE CURRENTLY A MEMBER OF A
CG CENTRAL MICROSITE THEN WHEN YOU ACCESS CG PLACES YOU WILL SEE AN
EXACT REPLICA OF THOSE SAME MICROSITES UNDER (MY PLACES). WHILE
EACH PLACE WILL BE AVAILABLE AND WILL ALREADY BE POPULATED WITH ALL
OF THE SAME MEMBERS THAT CURRENTLY EXIST IN THE MICROSITE THERE MAY
BE NO CONTENT IN THE NEW PLACE. CONTENT MIGRATION FOR CG CENTRAL
MICROSITES WILL OCCUR AUTOMATICALLY AS PHASE I IS IMPLEMENTED AND
IS DUE TO BE COMPLETED BY MID-APRIL.
6. CG CENTRAL STATIC CONTENT WILL APPEAR ON BOTH CG CENTRAL AND CG
PORTAL FOR A PERIOD OF THREE WEEKS AT THE BEGINNING OF PHASE II IN
LATE AUGUST 2009. MORE IMPORTANTLY, CG CENTRAL WILL REMAIN THE
AUTHORITATIVE SOURCE OF INFORMATION DURING THIS PERIOD. AS A
RESULT, ANY CHANGES TO CG CENTRAL STATIC CONTENT WILL NOT BE
AUTOMATICALLY UPDATED ON CG PORTAL DURING THIS THREE WEEK PERIOD.
DURING THIS TIME, UPDATES TO CG PORTAL MUST BE COMPLETED MANUALLY
BY THE END USER OR WEB PUBLISHER.  MORE DETAILED INFORMATION ON
THIS PROCESS WILL BE RELEASED AS WE DRAW CLOSER TO AUGUST.
7. FOR PHASES I AND II OF CG PORTAL DEPLOYMENT THERE WILL BE NO
IMPACT ON INTERNET SITES SUCH AS WWW.USCG.MIL. PHASE III WILL BEGIN
THE TRANSITION OF CONTENT FROM WWW.USCG.MIL. WE ANTICIPATE THIS
PHASE TO BE COMPLETED IN EARLY 2010.
8. THE HOMEPORT INTERNET PORTAL WILL REMAIN IN PLACE AND CONTINUE
TO SERVE AS THE CG COLLABORATION, COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION
SHARING PORTAL FOR THE MARITIME INDUSTRY AND PORT PARTNERS.
HOMEPORT USERS SHALL CONTINUE TO USE HOMEPORT AS BEFORE.
9. WEBMASTERS SUPPORTING INTRANET WEB SITES HOSTED ON CG WEB
SERVERS INSTEAD OF CG CENTRAL SHALL MIGRATE THEIR STATIC CONTENT TO
CG PORTAL BEGINNING IN PHASE II. ANY CONTENT THAT CANNOT
TECHNICALLY BE MIGRATED DUE TO FUNCTIONALITY WILL BE ADDRESSED IN A
FUTURE ALCOAST.
10. LOW BANDWIDTH TESTING HAS BEEN INCORPORATED INTO THE
IMPLEMENTATION OF CG PORTAL. WE WILL BE WORKING WITH A FEW OF OUR
LOW BANDWIDTH UNITS TO ENSURE THAT THE CG PORTAL APPLICATION
PROPERLY SERVES THIS AUDIENCE.  WHILE WE WILL ENSURE COMPATIBILITY
WITH THE APPLICATION IT WILL BE NECESSARY FOR THE PUBLISHERS IN THE
FIELD TO USE THE TOOLS PROVIDED PROPERLY WHEN ADDING CONTENT. AS WE
EXPAND THE USE OF WEB 2.0 TOOLS IT WILL BE POSSIBLE FOR PUBLISHERS
TO ADD A LARGE VOLUME OF CONTENT THAT CAN MAKE VIEWING DIFFICULT
FOR SOME OF OUR AUDIENCE. IT WILL BE AN ON-GOING EFFORT TO STRIKE A
BALANCE BETWEEN PERFORMANCE AND USABILITY.
11. TRAINING REMAINS A TOP CONCERN FOR ALL OF US. CG PORTAL IS
COMPRISED OF INDUSTRY BEST PRODUCTS THAT ARE BOTH EASY TO USE AND
FLEXIBLE. CG PORTAL WILL RELY ON WEB 2.0 TECHNOLOGIES AND
TRADITIONAL MULTIMEDIA FORMATS TO DELIVER HELP GUIDES, JOB AIDS,
VIDEO DEMONSTRATIONS, AUDIO INSTRUCTIONS, FAQS, AND POTENTIALLY
MICROSOFT LIVE MEETING WEB CONFERENCES. CLASSROOM TRAINING WILL BE
DEVELOPED AS NEEDED AND COORDINATED WITH REGIONAL TRAINING
CONTACTS. INFORMATION ABOUT CG PORTAL CAN BE FOUND IN THE CG
CENTRAL - FEATURED ITEMS - NEW CG PORTAL INFORMATION CONTENT AREA.
THIS INFORMATIVE BLOCK CONTAINS FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ), A
RECENT ARTICLE FEATURED IN ENGINEERING, ELECTRONICS, AND LOGISTICS
QUARTERLY, AND A VIDEO DEMONSTRATION. AS ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND
DOCUMENTATION FOR CG PORTAL IS DEVELOPED IT WILL BE POSTED TO CG
CENTRAL.
12. THE FOLLOWING IS A LIST OF KEY DATES AS WE LOOK AHEAD TO THE
FIRST TO PHASES OF CG PORTAL:
A.  13MAR09 - NEW CG CENTRAL MICROSITE CREATION REQUEST NO LONGER
ACCEPTED
B.  13MAR09 - NEW CG CENTRAL COMMUNITY REQUEST NO LONGER ACCEPTED
C.  27MAR09 - CG CENTRAL MICROSITE AND COMMUNITIES ENTER READ-ONLY
STATUS
D.  APR09 - PHASE I DEPLOYMENT
E.  AUG 09 - PHASE II DEPLOYMENT
13. THE COAST GUARD WEB PRESENCE IS RAPIDLY MOVING TOWARDS AN
EXCITING FUTURE AND EACH OF YOU PLAY A ROLE IN ITS SUCCESS. PLEASE
TAKE THE TIME TO LEARN THE SYSTEM, QUESTION ITS CAPABILITIES, AND
PROVIDE FEEDBACK. TOGETHER WE CAN DEVELOP A PREMIER WEB PORTAL.
14. CG-6 POC FOR THIS PROJECT IS: LT FELTNER AT 202-475-3580 OR BY
EMAIL AT KERRY.A.FELTNER2(AT)USCG.MIL.
15. RADM D. T. GLENN, ASSISTANT COMMANDANT FOR COMMAND, CONTROL,
COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, SENDS.
16. INTERNET RELEASE IS AUTHORIZED.

I have a feeling I will be involved with this either as a project during my studies, or in my assignment next year after graduation!