Friday, September 18, 2009

Gov 2.0 Taskforce announces second project round - asks for quotes

The Gov 2.0 forum has released a second round of projects for quotes including for a Whole of Government Information Publication Scheme, Online Engagement Guidance and Web 2.0 Toolkit for Australian Government Agencies, Framework for Stimulating Information Philanthropy in Australia and Hypotheticals — Ethical and Cultural Challenges of Digital Engagement by Government - amongst other projects.

Full details of the projects are available at the Gov 2.0 Taskforce's blog in the post, Submit a quote for our round two projects.

If only I didn't have a full time job already :)

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Encouraging government departments to embrace accessibility standards (WCAG2)

Some things are better communicated by song than words, for example the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.0 (WCAG2).

If you're struggling to get your department to understand the importance and detail of the WCAG 2.0 standard, why not send them this video.



Note that WCAG 2.0 has not, to my knowledge, been endorsed yet by the Australian Human Rights Commission, whose latest World Wide Web Access: Disability Discrimination Act Advisory Notes dates back to 31 March 2009.

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Google launches site for Australian public sector

Google has launched a Google Public Service site for Australia showcasing some of the tools they provide and how they can and are being used by government agencies around the world to engage with citizens and empower public servants and politicians.

If it interests you, you may also find Google's public sector blog worth reading.

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Thursday, September 17, 2009

Vic government releases report on Australian Gov 2.0 initiatives and online take-up

Information Victoria, in the Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development for the Victorian Government has released a report, Web 2.0: The New Tools for Democratic Conversations – A snapshot of Initiatives in Government.

Available at Victoria's eGovernment Resource Centre (using the link in last paragraph), the report provides an excellent snapshot of many of the different Gov 2.0 initiatives currently in operation across Victoria and Australia, plus a couple of prominent international examples.

The report also provides a great overview on Australian use of online social media - demonstrating how it is permeating our culture.

If you're seeking examples to justify that your proposed Gov 2.0 initiative has local precedents, or that there is a large and growing audience for the online medium, this report is an extremely useful reference.

I was alerted to this report by David, who posted a comment on my post on Tuesday about the New Zealand Draft Open Access and Licensing Framework.

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Monday, September 14, 2009

US Army to launch Apps for Army Competition

In the style of the Apps for America competitions, the US Army announced at the Gov 2.0 summit that it would hold a competition for soldiers to develop software to help the army fight wars and carry out its missions.

Reported in Information Week Government, Gov 2.0: Army Announces Apps For Army Competition, the Army views the approach as a way to break down silos and create cheap and effective software, helping reduce the cost of having military-grade applications developed.

All entries will be hosted on the Defense Information Systems agency's open source code repository, Forge.mil.

Given the massive savings reported by Washington DC when it ran a similar district-based competition, it will be interesting to see the level of value that can be achieved within the armed forces.

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