Should government agencies embrace co-production for policy and services?

Ovum has published an interesting article by Steve Hodgkinson on Co-production: the new face of public services.

In the article Hodgkinson concludes that,

Agencies now need to nurture and embrace co-production by design, or risk either failing to harness this new resource or being left behind like old-style monopolists in an increasingly dynamic and competitive public services market.

What do you think, do government agencies need to integrate the wisdom of crowds in the design of public policy and services?

Or do agencies need to focus on developing their own internal design capabilities, using tried and true engagement, consultation and test processes to fine tune public policies and services to community needs?

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UK central government spending data released on data.gov.uk

data.gov.uk has dramatically revised its layout (for the better!) and recently released 557 datasets (1.8 million entries) representing all UK government spending over 25,000 pounds under the section Open Spending.

This represents a new milestone in open data releases around the world and provide a new range of insights into the financial decisions of the UK government.

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Gov 2.0 Canberra lunch with Margaret Manning on 'beyond social media' - 13 July 2011

July's Gov 2.0 Canberra lunch will feature a presentation by Margaret Manning, global CEO and co-founder of Reading Room, a digital communications agency with offices in London, Manchester, Australia and Singapore.

Margaret will be speaking about what comes beyond social media.

Full details are below.

Online Ticketing for Gov 2.0 Canberra Lunch - July 2011 powered by Eventbrite

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Twitter for newsrooms - useful for government media professionals

If you're not watching the #gov2au hashtag, you might be interested in the latest support information from Twitter - how to use the service effectively for newsrooms.

Twitter for Newsrooms provides information on using Twitter to search for news sources and breaking news, how to tweet effectively and engage an audience, branding, publishing via Twitter and support information.

It contains a range of examples of how media professionals and organisations are using Twitter for news-gathering, filtering and distribution.

I recommend passing on the link to your media people and Ministerial media advisors.

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Public Sector Innovation Toolkit released

Tonight the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research has released the Public Sector Innovation Toolkit website.

The website is part of the APS-wide innovation agenda, designed to help public servants develop and apply innovative solutions.

Published under a Creative Commons Attribution license, the Innovation Toolkit is being used to,

• provide information about the innovation process, tools and approaches that can support innovation in public sector organisations
• provide updates on developments in APS innovation
• provide links to relevant information and research
• discuss issues relating to public sector innovation
• ask for input
• highlight examples of innovation in the public sector.

 As a living resource I expect to see the toolkit growing and maturing based on the feedback of its users as a world-class tool for public servants.

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