"If you think about when individuals have to interact with their government, it's usually the government's way or the highway," Gregory said. "It's usually, 'Here's a service, you're going to engage it, and you're going to like it and that's the only way we're going to provide it to you.'
"The notion of citizens being able to manage their own credentials when they interact with government is a game-changer."
The conversation was part of this week's Digital Summit, hosted in Sacramento by Government Technology, Techwire's sister publication.
Melton said that transparency is the first step in developing the public's trust, but just putting data out there is not enough.
"Government has more data than anybody, and people spend about 80 to 90 percent of their time gathering the data and about 10 to 20 percent of their time actually doing something with it. Let's flip that narrative," Melton said.
Melton said that putting data out and allowing for collaboration will solve problems -- and that government should be doing that.
"Governments need to work together. It's not California versus the other 49 states," Melton said.
Gregory's Office of Digital Innovation is looking into programs including:
- A repository for open code developed in government programs
- A central emergency response site that could lead to more local information, including citizen-led question-and-answer sessions
- Single sign-on dashboards for services across the state
- A user testing platform
- A voice-to-assistance prototype
- Blockchain-based records
"That's what we need to get to in government, is the change management piece and the change in culture," Cruz said. "We need to come to a common culture."
