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I've spent about four hours putting Google Chrome through the wringer and overall are impressed with the browser, despite some rather large functional gaps.
In checking a range of Australian government sites I did not observe any significant usability or display issues - none more than users of Safari (which uses the same renderer, WebKit) already experience.
I did notice a security issues with Medicare Australia's forms, such as the example below. However this crosses into other web browsers as well.
This is a beta - like many of Google's products - and I expect some of these issues to be resolved before they announce the first final release.
However some of the gaps are larger than I would have expected, making me feel that Google rushed out the browser to address the threat Internet Explorer 8 posed.
For instance, java, shockwave and silverlight do not work within the browser as yet, making a number of sites unusable or severely limited (including the Microsoft site).
Also it's not possible to search within text boxes inside web pages - a far more major issue if, for example, you're editing HTML in Blogger (another Google product).
I've not managed to crash the browser as yet and found the way it renders Web applications in standalone windows very effective, particularly when using Gmail, Google Analytics or Last.fm (which isn't Google owned!)
On the plus side, texts have demonstrated that Chrome is significantly faster at running Javascript than other web browsers - making it an effective operating system for the web.
And if you're not convinced that Google is aiming Chrome straight at Microsoft Windows (rather than Internet Explorer), try typing about:Internets into the Chrome Omnibar.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Review of Google Chrome beta | Tweet |
California considering allowing online voter registration | Tweet |
Online voting has already become reality in some parts of the world, with the Estonian online election heralding the possibility of using the speed of online to expand citizen franchise from electing representatives every three to eight years, to voting on major legislative changes on a far more regular basis.
As reported in a Sign On San Diego article, Calif. may allow online voter registration, California is considering the first step of the shift to online elections, looking into allowing online voter registration, at least for voters who have signatures on file with the Department of Motor Vehicles for driver's licenses or identification cards.
Given the low participation in US elections, California sees this as both a cost-saving and a participation raising activity.
Here in Australia, where compulsory voting has resulted in an complex and increasingly expensive voting framework (which does work very well), we've not yet taken a serious step into online voting - however I expect it will only be a matter of time.
Collaboration doesn't have to equal cost and complexity | Tweet |
A mistake I've seen many organisations make when considering online staff collaboration systems for staff is trying to achieve perfection at the get go - building systems from scratch or investing in high-cost branded technologies that requires significant time to implement and can be expensive to operate and develop.
More prudent, in my view, is to find a cheap way of satisfying the basic requirements while delivering quickly.
This helps get collaboration (the goal) underway and allows the organisation to progressively develop its understanding of what staff need with a low upfront investment and instant benefits. In other words, a low cost pilot - helpful in the development of detailed business requirements for a future system.
So how can organisations achieve this without expensive servers, months of development and hordes of testers?
In many cases organisations have strict 'environmental' rules - restricting the applications staff can use and websites they can access. These rules are in place partly to protect internal data and partly to protect an organisation from its own staff and their possible activities, introducing malware or other nasties into the organisation.
Using a web environment it is possible for even business users to configure several low cost servers and provide access to tools - within or outside the firewall - while shielding the network from harm.
The tools themselves are low cost or free, drawing from open source communities (tools such as MediaWiki and PhpBB), public online tools (such as Blogger and Ning) and fully featured solutions (such as Wordpress or Confluence - available via Govdex).
So if your organisation needs a quick solution for a blog, wiki or other collaboration tool, consider whether it is possible to run a low cost pilot before investing in a long-term solution
Building online employee communities | Tweet |
Trevor Cook has posted a great summary of the benefits of online employee communities, as discussed in a presentation by Alexei Fey, Senior Manager eBusiness, Savings & Loans Credit Union at the Enterprise 2.0 for Information Professionals conference in Sydney on 14 August.
Entitled Building online employee communities, the post covers many different ways of engaging online, from a CEO blog to Facebook.
US election goes Google | Tweet |
Reflecting and building on the approach taken for last year's Australian Federal Election, Google has developed a comprehensive election coverage site for the upcoming Presidential race between Barack Obama and John McCain.
Looking at how the site presents public interest information, I cannot help but wonder why this type of material is being provided by commercial entities - who could choose to push an agenda - and is not yet available from a public entity.
As a way to generate voter interest, support participation, provide supporting information and put candidates in front of the people, I hope that we see this approach continue to grow over time.
Given the influence the internet now has, and the impact of effective online use by political candidates, I can see any politicians that choose not to embrace online participation being as a severe disadvantage in future elections.
Turning that question back on public sector organisations - if your department or agency isn't adequately investing in the online channel there is also the risk of becoming increasingly less able to engage, be influenced by and influence your constituents.
My view is that online needs to begin to be treated as more of a customer service channel than as a media channel and be internally planned, managed, supported and funded accordingly.
