Posts
The title of this post reflects the key statement that stood out for me in the London.gov.uk blog's post Economic benefits of data release
This article puts some solid numbers behind the value of open data initiatives in government, from the US's Apps for Democracy mash-up competition (50 entries in 30 days, valued at $2.5m for a $50,000 prize outlay) to Canada's exposure of a $3.2 billion tax evasion fraud when public financial data was released in machine-readable form.
We've already had several examples of open government initiatives in Australia. Both the ABS and Geosciences Australia release significant amounts of data under Creative Commons licenses, and a number of state agencies do the same. We've also had three mash-up competitions, the first by the Gov 2.0 Taskforce last year, the others through the NSW and Victorian governments.
I've not yet seen any modeling of the value of these Australian public data releases, which is a shame as I'm sure they would demonstrate value for money, however the international experience is quite clear,
Actively engaging citizens and empowering them through machine-readable data adds value to government processes and initiatives.
Now how do we share that message clearly with senior decision-makers?
Friday, July 23, 2010
Engaging with and trusting citizens to participate in the democratic process leads to great rewards for the state | Tweet |
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Contribute to the draft Unofficial Australian Government Social Media Handbook | Tweet |
Lisa Howdin, who now works with me, has been compiling a set of guidelines and information around how to develop, write, manage and moderate social media tools in Government in the form of a wiki.
She's looking for contributions from people across Australian government who are working in this area and have learnings they can add.
If you've had experience operating a government social media channel, please consider sharing your ideas in this wiki so all of your peers across government can benefit.
If you're new to the area, the Handbook, whilst still in development, already has lots of useful information that might be useful to you.
Visit the Unofficial Australian Government Social Media Handbook at: http://government20bestpractices.pbworks.com/Unofficial-Aus-Govt-Social-Media-Handbook
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Blizzardgate - the perils of taking away user choice in online engagement | Tweet |
Vanessa Paech has written a post on a topic I was considering writing about recently - online identity and what can happen when an organisation decides to force users to use their real identity online.
As Vanessa's post is so good, rather than trying to do the topic justice, I shall take the lazy way out and simply commend her post to you, Online community identity and choice: Blizzardgate.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Vote for an Aussie in the Top 10 Who are changing the world of Internet and Politics in 2010 | Tweet |
PoliticsOnline and the World eDemocracy Forum have opened voting for the 11th Annual award for the Top 10 Who are changing the world of Internet and Politics in 2010.
I'm proud to have been nominated for a second year in a row, alongside Senator Kate Lundy. A third Australian has joined us in the nominations for 2010, Berge Der Sarkissian, the founder of the Senator Online political party.
To vote for one of the three Aussies, or for another of the fantastic nominees (such as Tim O'Reilly), go to the Top 10 Who are changing the world of Internet and Politics in 2010 page at Politics Online.
Senior executive learnings about social media | Tweet |
Marketing Daily has published an excellent article on the learnings of top executives about using and engaging via social media.
All of the realisations and strategies mentioned apply equally to the public sector.
You can read it at, Top Execs Dish About Social Media Strategies.
