Does it take a command from the top to create greater egovernment activity?

Does it take a command from the top to kickstart egovernment activity?

It surely varies across agencies and jurisdictions, but in the US there's a clear view that a top-down approach will help unclog some of the channels and create high level attention to generating significant egovernment activity.

On January 21, the new US President Barack Obama released the following executive memorandum Transparency and Open Government. While it does not specifically mention the online area, it is a large shot in the arm for advocates of government transparency and web 2.0 use.

My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.
Government should be transparent. Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their Government is doing. Information maintained by the Federal Government is a national asset. My Administration will take appropriate action, consistent with law and policy, to disclose information rapidly in forms that the public can readily find and use. Executive departments and agencies should harness new technologies to put information about their operations and decisions online and readily available to the public. Executive departments and agencies should also solicit public feedback to identify information of greatest use to the public.

Government should be participatory. Public engagement enhances the Government's effectiveness and improves the quality of its decisions. Knowledge is widely dispersed in society, and public officials benefit from having access to that dispersed knowledge. Executive departments and agencies should offer Americans increased opportunities to participate in policymaking and to provide their Government with the benefits of their collective expertise and information. Executive departments and agencies should also solicit public input on how we can increase and improve opportunities for public participation in Government.

Government should be collaborative. Collaboration actively engages Americans in the work of their Government. Executive departments and agencies should use innovative tools, methods, and systems to cooperate among themselves, across all levels of Government, and with nonprofit organizations, businesses, and individuals in the private sector. Executive departments and agencies should solicit public feedback to assess and improve their level of collaboration and to identify new opportunities for cooperation.

I direct the Chief Technology Officer, in coordination with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Administrator of General Services, to coordinate the development by appropriate executive departments and agencies, within 120 days, of recommendations for an Open Government Directive, to be issued by the Director of OMB, that instructs executive departments and agencies to take specific actions implementing the principles set forth in this memorandum. The independent agencies should comply with the Open Government Directive.

This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by a party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

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Do our internationally accessed government sites speak the right language?

Comscore's media release last week indicated that Global Internet Audience Surpasses 1 billion Visitors, According to comScore.

While this is probably an understatement, as it only accounts for those aged 15+, the release highlighted the increasing diversity of internet users, with China very clearly in the top spot with 179,100,000 users, compared to the 2nd placed US's 163,300,000 users.

Australia didn't even make the top 15 list, with the Netherlands scraping in at 15th spot with 11,812,000 users.

It is immediately clear than people with English as their first language are a minority on the internet.

Looking at the top 15 countries, the only ones with English as an official language were the US, UK and Canada (which has French as well). These countries only accounted for 221,173,000 of a total 711,488,000 internet users.

Extending this out to the full 1 billion internet users, only around 31% of internet users are likely to have English as their first language.

This means that for internationally focused government websites there is an enormous need to consider two options:

Rewriting websites to use extremely simple language and navigation for people who have English as a second language (or even as their first!) This is possibly the greatest need for most government websites - speaking to someone at a party last week, although they lecture at an Australian university, English is their second language and some government-speak in websites does not make sense to them.

The other, and harder, option is to co-publish in other languages, such as (written) Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, German, French, Hindi, Russian, Korean and Italian (by rough order of prominence).

Yes there's a cost to both of these approaches. However are you willing to tell your Minister that your internationally focused website is only accessible to 31% of its prospective audience in its current form - and you're OK with that?

Fortunately our tourism industry has gotten this message, Australia's official (government) tourist entry point Australia.com.au is available in eight languages and with localised content for more than 18 countries.

But what about people seeking business ties in Australia, those wanting to register their IP, anyone with a need to understand local laws or to claim benefits?

Over in Europe it is common practice to publish government and commercial websites in multiple languages - they are part of a European community as well as a global one.

How connected is Australia to our global community? Perhaps the languages we use on our websites indicate that we're not as connected as we could be - and one can only wonder at the value of this lost economic activity to Australia.

This is a whole-of-government issue, so perhaps we need a whole-of-government solution. A central team that works with agencies on a prioritisation basis (by economic impact) to convert their material into other languages - centrally budgeted of course.

Or should we rely on the audience to seek their own translators - either machine-based online ones, their employees, friends and families (with potential limited english understanding) or even paid services?

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UK to guarantee broadband access to all households

The UK has become the first country to take the step of placing broadband internet access on the same level as sewage, running water, electricity and a phone line as an essential utility service.

Foreshadowed in the Financial Times on 14 January, the Promise of universal UK broadband is detailed in the Digital Britain report.

It was announced by the UK Communications Minister, Lord Carter, who has previously stated that broadband was no longer seen as a

“niche service for the technologically keen”. “It is an enabling and transformatory service and therefore we have to look at how we universalise it,” he added.

With details to be revealed later this year, the plan would involve both wired and wireless access and is designed to be completed by the 2012 London Olympics (about the same time as the UK will complete their switch to digital TV).

The 86 page interim Digital Britain report was released on 29 January, heralded with a media release

The report makes the case for universal broadband access in the first sentence of the foreword,

The digital information and communications sector is one of the sectors in the economy, alongside energy and financial services, upon which the whole of the economy rests.

Also in the words of the report,

A successful Britain must be a Digital Britain.

The SMH has also reported the story in an article entitled, UK government unveils broadband-for-everyone plan.

Australia's current tender process gets a small mention on page 17 of the report.

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Vision of the future - 35% of US Adults using online social networks - 75% of 18-24yr olds

The music industry has a maxim - most people prefer to buy and listen to the music they listened to in their late teens or early twenties.

Of course they still listen to, enjoy and buy other music, but at the end of the day the Beatles, BeeGees, ABBA, the Rolling Stones and other bands would not have the continuing strength of following they have today if those who were teens in the sixties and seventies didn't continue to love and pay for their music.

This imprinting also holds for internet usage. While people of all ages use the internet, commonly those over the age of 35 or 40 are termed 'digital immigrants', while younger people are termed 'digital natives'.

This reflects how the internet is placed in their world view. There's a simple way to check to see which of these groups you're likely to be,

When you need to find the phone number for a restauant do you first think of the yellow pages or Google?

When you are booking a holiday do you first think of a travel agent or an online booking site?

If the internet is central in your approach, you're likely a digital native (whatever your age).

This is very keenly visible in the ages of people using online social networks. PEW Research recently released a review of online Americans' use of social networks (PDF), which demonstrates the age differences discussed above.

Most importantly this provides Australian government with an early warning as to how it needs to change its engagement and communications to continue to be relevant.

So what is going on in the US?

PEW reports that,

Young people are much more likely than older adults to use social networks.

• 75% of online adults 18-24 have a profile on a social network site
  
• 57% of online adults 25-34 have a profile on a social network
  
• 30% of online adults 35-44 have one
  
• 19% of online 45 to 54 year olds have a profile
  
• 10% of online 55 to 64 year olds have a profile
  
• 7% of online adults 65 and older have a profile
  

Also very interesting was usage by income level. PEW reported that lower income earners were more likely to use these networks than higher income earners, as follows,

The percentage of Americans in each demographic category who have a profile on a social media network,
Earns less than $30,000 - 45%
Earns $30,000 - $49,999 - 38%
Earns $50,000 - $74,999 - 30%
Earns $75,000+ - 31%

Perhaps more telling for government is what people are using these networks to do. When PEW asked, Do you use your online profile for..., the below were the results for adults,

• Stay in touch with friends - 89%
  
• Make plans with friends - 57%
  
• Make new friends - 49%
  
• Organize with others for an event, issue or cause - 43%
  
• Make new business or professional contacts - 28%
  
• Promote yourself or your work - 28%
  
• Flirt - 20%

So what does this mean for Australian government?
My research over the last twelve years of watching online trends closely indicates that Australians are much like Americans in their internet usage, but 18-24 months behind. Therefore if your agency needs to target people under the age of 35 then within the next 18 months it is likely that 60% or more of your customers/audience/clients/younger staff will be using social networks.

This gives Australian government 12-18 months to become proficient in effectively using these networks to engage with any and all of these audiences - for communication, consultation or employment.

That's a nice window to have - but it will pass quickly.

We need to begin now to align our communications and service delivery management with the mindset and skills required to deliver messages and engage audiences successfully through these channels.

We also need more agency experiments with social networks to build our practical expertise and IT skills.

The ATO seems to recognise this, with their e-Tax Facebook group.

While e-Tax isn't the most riveting subject for most of us, it's a tool with the potential to save both government and citizens significant time and money.

Facebook is the obvious place to find people who would choose to use an e-Tax package, and is full of people prepared to give their frank and fearless views on the current product, helping the ATO understand the improvements necessary to continue to broaden its appeal.

Canberra University is also actively using Facebook to seek new employees - quite a smart approach in my view, although I don't know how successful it has been.

So how is your agency planning to address the need to understand and adapt its communication and marketing to a mostly online audience?

What is it doing to build internal expertise in social networks and position itself to use these channels to reach audiences?

If instead you're waiting on the sidelines, what are you waiting for?

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OpenAustralia becomes first to provide the Australian Federal register of Senators' Interests online

While on the topic of OpenAustralia, on 5 January the site became the first website to make the (Federal) Register of Senators' Interests available online.

Quoting from OpenAustralia's news item, Read the Register of Senators' Interests here,

Today is a big milestone. We are the first website to make the Register of Senators' Interests available online. This important public document until now has only been available to the small number of people who were able to visit the office in Canberra where the documents are held. In the Register each Senator declares information of financial interests, stocks and shares held, gifts received over a certain value, and memberships of Clubs and Associations.

The site is also seeking access to a bulk scanner to help them make the register for the House of Representatives' Members publicly available online.

Contact them if you can help.

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