Twitter opened door on Iranian election (while offline media stayed silent)

The events of the past few days in Iran have demonstrated the capability of Twitter to circumvent controls on traditional media, allowing people to communicate and provide images of what is going on on the ground.

In case you've not yet heard through television, radio or the press, there have been a series of massive protests in Iran over the election results, with loud claims that the election had been rigged.

These protests, punctuated with vivid images, have been documented using Twitter as a media channel. Coverage via traditional media, which has been tightly controlled by the state, has been delayed and impeded by prohibitions such as not being able to leave the capital, Tehran, to witness events elsewhere in the country.

Iran is well-known for being a country with a high level of social media use across its population, sometimes called the third largest nation of bloggers.

This is another demonstration of the shift in power from central administrations towards individuals, it is becoming more and more difficult for governments to control real-time message flow - particularly when there are widespread dissenting views.

If you want to follow it yourself, try these Twitter searches

• Tehran within 15 miles
• #IranElection

Or these news report,

• Iran situation highlights strengths, weaknesses of Twitter - The Inquisitr
• '#CNNFail': Twitterverse slams network's Iran absence - CNET
• The day Twitter kicked CNN’s behind & @ev bought me a whisky - Scobleizer
• Live-Blogging The Uprising - The Huffington Post
• Activists Launch Hack Attacks on Tehran Regime - Wired

Read full post...

View summary...

US reports on open government brainstorm - do Australians share these views?

The US government has been running an online consultation on the topic of open government via the OpenGov suggestions market.

A summary analysis report on the first stage of the brainstorm has now been released, outlining the main suggestions and topics US citizens found critical for open government.

Some of the highlighted recommendations included,

• each agency should appoint a senior representative to lead transparency initiatives;
  
  
• government should adopt common data standards;
  
  
• all open meetings should be webcasting;
  
  
• online government services should be made reusable by the private sector - if citizens own the services they should be able to build on top of them;
  
  
• Post all FOIA request responses on the web so everyone, not just the requester, has access and impose penalties on agencies not following FOIA, or creating excessive delays (such as in India where public servants can be fined);
  
  
• Digitize all government research reports and make them available free;
  
  
• Use well-designed feedback systems instead of central control to improve web design;
  
  
• Make government websites mobile platform-ready;
  
  
• Government should communicate a governmentwide strategy for using social media tools to create a more effective and transparent government;
  
  
• Allow government employees to engage in social networking.

I wonder if Australians would have similar views if the Australian government ran a similar consultation.

Here is the complete summary analysis report (PDF)


Also of great interest is the reason the US government used online consultation rather than having internal policy experts develop an open government policy,

Traditionally, proposed policy is crafted by government representatives—who though knowledgeable, do not always have access to the best possible expertise and information—and subsequently posted to invite public comment. The challenge lies in the fact that this process is designed to engender incremental rather than transformational change. Creating a transparent, participatory and collaborative government, however, is a foundational shift, and success requires that we are able to access the best and most creative ideas for accomplishing this goal, wherever they reside.

The vision for this exercise, therefore, is to invert the policymaking process by enabling informed public dialogue to inform policymaking at the front end. The collaborative three-phase process employed opens up tremendous possibilities for real-time innovation. People are invited to:

1. Brainstorm—share ideas on how to make government more open, participatory and collaborative, discuss and vote on the ideas of others;
2. Discuss—dig deeper on the ideas and challenges identified during the Brainstorm phase; and
3. Draft—collaboratively craft constructive recommendations for an Open Government Directive.

Read full post...

View summary...

Nominations sought for global award, The 10 Who Are Changing the World of Internet and Politics

As reported in the Victorian eGovernment Resource Centre, nominations are open for The 10 Who Are Changing the World of Internet and Politics.

This is a highly prestigious international award designed to recognise the ten individuals, organisations and companies having the greatest impact on how the Internet is changing politics.

Last year the Victorian eGovernment Resource Centre was the only Australian nomination to make the final list of ten, which included the Mybarackobama site.

Read full post...

View summary...

Catch me at the eGovernment conference

I'll be attending (and speaking on behalf of my Department at) the Canberra eGovernment Conference next Monday and Tuesday.

If you're also be attending please come and say hello.

Read full post...

View summary...

Which Australian pollies are tweeting most?

tweetMP, which lists Australian politicians using the Twitter service, has expanded its functionality to include statistics on which parties and politicians are the most active Tweeters.

Now listing 22 Federal politicians on Twitter, the take-up rate seems to be accelerating towards the level of activity in the US and UK.

Read full post...

View summary...