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Due to jetlag, work and other activities (such as TEDxCanberra) it has taken me longer than I anticipated to get around to write my impressions and review of the World e.Gov Forum I attended from the 13-15 October in Paris.
I attended the event as one of Top 10 Who Are Changing the World of Internet and Politics for 2010, along with Senator Kate Lundy and eight others from around the world. As 'Top 10' we were also nominees for the International eDemocracy Award.
Several Australians, Allison Hornery and John Wells (of CivicTec), flew in from London to support us on the second day of the conference, listening to the nomination speeches for the eDemocracy Awards, attending the prize giving, in which Senator Lundy won the International eDemocracy Award, and subsequent dinner cruise.
I self-funded my attendance (with support from the organisers), taking leave to do so - which is generally how I attend international, and some domestic Gov 2.0 events - and found it was an excellent opportunity to gain insights into how Government 2.0 is progressing in non-English speaking nations.
In Australia we have a tendency to pay most attention to the US, UK, Canada and New Zealand as they are all majority English speaking and have political systems with similar roots - making them more accessible to us.
I've consciously supported this tendency in this blog because it is easier to learn what is occurring in English speaking jurisdictions and easier to communicate it to Australians. However English speakers are not the leaders in many areas of eDemocracy, eGovernment or Gov 2.0.
This was demonstrated during my trip, which also reinforced for me that there are different 'flavours' of Government 2.0 thriving in different parts of the world.
English speaking countries are focusing on Government 2.0 initiatives, increasing the openness and transparency of governments and increasing the level of community and public sector engagement. These efforts are largely led by government itself, supported to varying degrees by information philanthropy through not-for-profits (almost none in Australia and New Zealand, quite a few in the US and UK), individual citizens and the media or independent entities (primarily in the US and UK again).
In Europe eDemocracy appears to be the leading area, aiming to deliver social goods, increase the accountability of politicians and the transparency of governance processes, but without a significant emphasis on public sector engagement. Not-for-profits lead the eDemocracy charge, largely funded through government grants, followed by governments themselves at political levels.
South America has made progress on collaborative eDemocratic approaches, with a number of governments providing direct avenues for the public to influence government spending decisions (collaborative budgeting). Due to greater digital divides in these nations, governments are investing in innovative ways to provide digital access to citizens - mobile kiosks, internet centres and similar public access facilities supported by training and education.
The Middle-East is concentrating on eGovernment, digital enablement of government services. The area hosts a number of specialised eGovernment conferences each year and is using mobile services to address otherwise unconnected constituents, some of whom still follow traditional nomadic lives.
Africa has a huge focus on mobile technologies, as fixed broadband is too expensive to roll out into many remote areas and can be difficult to defend in wartorn zones. Digital enablement through information, such as providing weather, market prices and efficient farming practices to farmers, is very important. Emergency and disaster management are also big topics, with two of the world's best emergency/disaster management internet platforms emerging from the continent. eDemocracy is also a major driver, largely enabled through not-for-profit civil right groups using SMS and, increasingly, mobile internet to allow individuals to report electorate fraud.
Asia is a very mixed bag. India and other relatively under-developed countries are focused on eGovernment, with an emphasis on increasing connectivity and citizen enablement through literacy and computer skills programs. More advanced economies such as Malaysia, Singapore, China/Hong Kong and Japan, are providing more direct routes for citizen engagement but in forms that are culturally relevant to the nation, quite different in detail from Gov 2.0 initiatives in English speaking nations.
Each of these different flavours has its own strengths and challenges - and we can learn from all of them.
Tomorrow I'll publish World e.Gov Forum review Part 2: Gov 2.0 case studies - detailing six case studies from Europe, the Americas, Middle-East and Asia that we explored in a Cisco telepresence session at the conference.
Monday, October 25, 2010
World e.Gov Forum review Part 1: Gov 2.0 flavours | Tweet |
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Liveblogging TEDxCanberra | Tweet |
What gets 280 attendees, 10 organisers and 14 presenters to the National Library of Australia at 8.30am on a Saturday morning on a beautiful spring day in Canberra?
The first TEDxCanberra, an independently organised TED event featuring sessions on knowledge, empowerment and change.
I'm liveblogging the event so keep an on this post and the links below.
Website: TEDxCanberra website
Twitter accounts: #TEDx and #TEDxCanberra
Flickr Account: TEDxCanberra
Twitterwall: Twitterfall
TEDx around the world: TEDx Events
The presenters from TEDxCanberra
The organising committee:
And the Twitter stats (timeshifted to US Pacific Coast time):
Friday, October 22, 2010
Bringing AIMIA to the ACT - plus AIMIA awards now open for entry | Tweet |
There's been a recent effort begun to bring AIMIA (the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association) to the ACT.
Coordinated by Reading Room, this is quite important to help improve education and standards in the interactive services being developed by government agencies and their agencies.
To find out more, and to get involved, visit AIMIA in Canberra.
Also the 17th AIMIA awards are now open for entries - including a Government and not-for-profit category.
If you want to improve the recognition of your Gov 2.0 and other online interactive initiatives this is one of the best recognised awards in Australia.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Adapting to change isn't easy | Tweet |
I thought I'd share this quote. It was sent to me by a colleague who read it on a social networking site:
Isn't email, intranet databases/webs and phones enough? Sounds like bureaucracy to me. Or is it another step toward the "nanny state" - sorry but I don't agree with large organisations/governments using social networking to communicate with their employees where does it stop? Next they will want camera's in the homes of employees! (sounds like a novel we all read once).
I don't condemn or scorn this view. It reflects the mindset of those who are familiar and comfortable with existing paradigms and don't see the need, or value, in change.
Right now, across the world, we are seeing an unprecedentedly large and rapid shift in how people communicate, organise, create and disseminate information.
From a media landscape dominated by a few large content producers with a mass market of consumers, we have shifted to one that is increasingly dominated by a mass market of content producer/sharers/consumers (the people formerly known as the audience).
We are still only in the early stages of this shift. New industries are forming, old ones are being destroyed - new jobs are being created and old ones are being replaced. Today only 25% of the world's population has access to the internet on a regular basis - what happens when this reaches 80%?
This shift scares some people, seems unnecessary to others and empowers and excites many more.
Every change process in every organisation needs to address those who are not convinced that the changes will necessarily be for the better.
The 'internet revolution' is no different. We need to educate, demonstrate, encourage, train and support those who do not see the benefits. Bring them along wherever possible - and move them out whenever it is not.
However given that even the doubters, such as the author of this quote, use social media to share their views about the lack of value in social media, the change is probably already irreversible. All that will vary is the timing.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Australian Senator Kate Lundy wins the International eDemocracy award for 2010 | Tweet |
In Paris, on Thursday 14 October 2010, Senator Kate Lundy became the first Australian and 10th annual winner of the World e.Gov Forum and PoliticsOnline's International eDemocracy award - the equivalent of the Academy awards for eGovernment and Gov 2.0 practitioners.
In an award ceremony at France's Department of Foreign Affairs, in front of more than 250 conference delegates and officials, Senator Lundy was presented with the judge's selection International eDemocracy award by Phil Noble of PoliticsOnline.
The peoples' choice International eDemocracy award, based on over 3,000 votes, was won by Ralph Benko, writer of the Webster Dictionary, a textbook for using the web to transform the world.
Senator Lundy was selected from a global field of 12 nominees including the Top 10 changing the world of internet and politics for 2010, as determined through an online nomination and election process managed by PoliticsOnline, and several French entrants into France's eDemocracy award.
The nominees included another Australian who was selected as one of the Top 10, Craig Thomler (me), for the eGovAU blog.
The judging panel included an international group of eDemocracy luminaries.
Final award selections were based on short presentations and question and answer sessions with the 12 nominees at Issy-les-Moulineaux's Town Hall just south of Paris.
Senator Lundy was nominated for the award based on her work convening three Public Sphere events.
UPDATE 18/10/10: Senator Lundy's media release: Senator Lundy wins International Top 10 People Changing the World of Internet and Politics
Post from the forum organisers: The winners of the e-Democracy Awards 2010
Photos
Here's a link to a set of photos from the event taken by CivicTec: WEGF 2010.
Below are photos of the event taken by Senator Lundy and me
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| Senator Kate Lundy and Craig Thomler at the award ceremony, with Senator Lundy holding her International eDemocracy Award. Photo courtesy of Kate Lundy. |
The below photos are taken on my iPhone - better quality ones should be available soon on the World e.Gov Forum site.
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| Senator Lundy being presented with the 2010 International eDemocracy award by Phil Noble of PoliticsOnline in the reception hall of France's Department of Foreign Affairs in Paris. |
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| All of the winners of the 2010 eDemocracy awards in the reception hall of France's Department of Foreign Affairs in Paris. |
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Senator Lundy presenting to the judging panel and assorted guests in the council chamber of Issy-les-Moulineaux's Town Hall |
