Improving access to government through better use of the web

The W3C has published an excellent paper named Improving Access to Government through Better Use of the Web. I commend it to anyone developing egovernment policy.

As stated in the foreword,

This document is an attempt to describe, but not yet solve, the variety of issues and challenges faced by governments in their efforts to apply 21st century capabilities to eGovernment initiatives. It provides examples of existing, applicable open Web standards. Where government needs in the development of eGovernment services are not currently met by existing standards, those gaps are noted.

I found the paper extremely insightful and deserving of several reads. It accurately depicts the issues governments face when engaging online, provides insights into why governments should engage citizens online and details strategies for enabling effective government engagement.

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Do you plan your online strategy in the same way you plan your media strategy?

Typically government and commercial media teams spend time identifying publications and journalists that have the most appropriate audiences for an organisation's products and services.

They commit energy to building constructive relationships with those that have influence over the members of the public they are trying to engage, tailoring stories to suit their individual needs.

Why do media teams spend time building relationships with parts of the media? Because it works.

Good working relationships improve outcomes for all of the parties involved - the organisation, the media team, the journalist, media outlet and the ultimate audience.

So if this approach works for offline media, does it work online?

My answer is an unequivocal YES.

If organisations cultivate relationships with key bloggers and forums, tailor information for websites that attract appropriate audiences and commit to ongoing research to identify where they should concentrate their efforts, they will achieve better communications and engagement outcomes.


Conversely, few organisations would follow their current online strategy in offline media. This would involve the organisation producing their own departmental or company newspaper or radio station for the public, then refusing to engage with any other news media.

Unfortunately this is the thinking and approach many government and commercial organisations follow with their websites.

They invest large resources into developing a single 'owned' destination where they expect their customers to come for information and discussion.

They invest little into reaching out to other websites, forums, blogs and social networks - even where these 'media outlets' already attract the audience that the department or company wishes to reach.

This approach is unsustainable and impractical in the long run and will fail to meet organisational goals.

Monitoring audiences, build relationships and engaging with appropriate outlets works for online media at least as well as it does for offline.

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Creating appropriate guidelines for Twitter engagement

Mosman council has published information and guidelines for how their organisation will engage citizens via Twitter.

It's very clear and well-constructed, providing a model for how other government agencies can represent a Twitter channel publicly, building on my post on Getting started with Twitter in Australian government.

By the way, if you were wondering how many Australians used Twitter, there are indications that the figure is over 1 million based on extrapolation from this analysis by Lucas Ng, How Many Australian Twitter Users Are There? And What Clients Do They Use?.

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Us Now released free online - film about government, citizens and mass collaboration online

Earlier this week Us Now film Ltd announced that Us Now, its documentary on how the Internet is changing how citizens engage with and what they expect of government, was available online for free viewing, download and distribution.

What is the film about? In the words of its creators in the UK,

In a world in which information is like air, what happens to power?

New technologies and a closely related culture of collaboration present radical new models of social organisation. This project brings together leading practitioners and thinkers in this field and asks them to determine the opportunity for government.

The movie has already taken the public sector in the UK and the US by storm as it provides a close look at what is occurring online, busting many of the myths and uncovering some simple, but profound, truths.

I recommend this movie to public servants engaged in, or developing policy including, the online sector.

It is also vital viewing for politicians seeking to understand the shifts occurring in the community and how they will affect future campaigns, political processes, policy development, citizen engagement and service delivery.

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Government 2.0 paper released

Cisco's global strategic consulting arm (IBSG), has released an interesting white paper on Government 2.0 (PDF).

It takes a long hard look at the opportunities for the public sector in using online media to engage the public, arguing that,

In a world where sharing information is so easy, public agencies should aim to improve citizens’ ability to access information, provide feedback, and view the feedback of other citizens. Ultimately, we should move toward a world where the background information, the thinking, and the options for every public sector decision and action are easily available to citizens.

There are numerous case studies of activities being taken by governments around the world - even one from Australia.

It's a good read for senior executives in the public service who are looking to understand how the world is changing - and the opportunities and risks for their departments for embracing the changes versus hanging back.

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