2012 FaHCSIA Information Awareness Series: Social media in action – what’s happening in Australian Government, 24th May 2012

If you've interested or involved with social media in government and have some free time on 24 May, a useful way to spend it might be attending the 2012 FaHCSIA Information Awareness Series forum - Social media in action – what’s happening in Australian Government

I will be giving an updated chat on Gov 2.0 adoption across government and other speakers will include:

• Communication and media expert, Madeleine Clifford, on the successful campaign, The Line; and
• Government digital records management leader, Katharine Stuart, on the responsibilities and challenges for Government record keeping with social media

Details for the forum are below:

When? 
10.00 – 12.30, Thursday 24th May 2012

Where? 
FaHCSIA Auditorium,
B Block Tuggeranong Office Park
Cnr Atthlon Drive and Soward Way,
Greenway.

How? 
RSVP to the 2012 Information Awareness Committee

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Participate in Melbourne Knowledge Week 2012

The City of Melbourne was recognised in 2012 as ‘Most Admired Knowledge City’ in an award from the World Capital Institute and Teleos, an independent management research firm.

The city is building on this with the annual Melbourne Knowledge Week, designed to engage both the knowledge community and the wider public in a range of events and opportunities that help promote Melbourne's identity as global knowledge city.

I reckon there has to be a place for Gov 2.0 in this mix and wanted to flag to all my Victorian readers that an expression of interest is now open to businesses, organisations, educational institutions, networking groups, community groups and individuals who wish to showcase knowledge-related projects, thinkers and capabilities as part of this year's event.

Melbourne Knowledge Week runs from 26 November to 1 December. More details on the event, and the expression of interest, are at http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/enterprisemelbourne/events/KnowledgeWeek/Pages/KnowledgeWeek.aspx

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Guest post: Request for Participation in Research Survey - Current Government use of Twitter in Australia

I've published the following guest post because I think the research Aletha is doing is important and useful for agencies.

Please let the right people in your agency know about it.

Guest post

My name is Aletha and I am a Communications Master's student currently completing a short research project as part of my personal study through Griffith University about the current use of Australian Government Twitter Accounts.

The objectives of this project are to determine how Federal, State and Local governments/agencies within Australia are currently using Twitter to communicate with the Australian public. Mainly the project will focus on:

• determining the reasons governments/agencies are engaging with this new media;
• determining what information government/agencies are using this communication mechanism to display;
• outlining the differences in use between various types of departments/agencies;
• determining to what extent governments/agencies believe it is an effective communication method; and
• discovering what tools governments/agencies are using to measure its effectiveness.

The project will consist of a short survey of approximately 20 short questions relating to the above objectives.

If you manage a Federal/State/Local government/agency Twitter account I would love to hear from you!

Before commencing the survey you must have completed the Informed Consent Template as the results of this survey will be distributed with participants in the hope that the findings may inform government departments and agencies about how others are using Twitter as a communication tool and whether it is effective.

Please contact me at aletha.nightingale@gmail.com if you have not been provided with this form and I can email this to you.

If you have completed this form then please go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/useoftwitterausgov to complete the survey.

Data collected via the survey will be de-identified. The only identifiable section of the survey will be an indication of what type of department/agency and whether this is at State or local level. The survey will not identify any specific local areas or states/territories.

If you have any further questions or comments that you wish to raise with me individually please contact me at aletha.nightingale@gmail.com

Thanks again for your time!

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Share in over $30,000 worth of prizes by participating in GovHack 2012

With a strong focus on government data, GovHack is inviting teams of programmers and designers to invent new and better ways of delivering government data to Australians and will be rewarding the best apps, data mash-ups, and data visualisations with a share of $30,000 in prize money.

The event, being held in Canberra and Sydney from 1st - 3rd June, will challenge teams to answer the question and develop solutions for 'how can government data be better used to benefit Australians?'

The organisers have secured over thirty thousand dollars in prize money through sponsorships, although Pia Waugh, the chief organiser is tight-lipped about the prize categories, "We want people to come with fresh ideas and concepts and to build them at GovHack using publicly released data from government agencies. To keep the playing field level, we won’t tell anyone the prize categories until the event."

In previous years GovHack winners have found ways to compare government lobbying with the results of successful tenders, and designed mobile apps to help people find the nearest public toilet.

"This is a unique opportunity to be a part of generating ideas for how government can better use and re-use the wealth of information hidden away in its databases. By being a part of this event the participants get to, in a small way, directly influence how government data managers will look at and manage their data stores" Pia said.

GovHack is being supported by organisations including Adobe, MailChimp, Palantir and some of the biggest data holders in the Australian Government are providing prize money and data, including the National Archives of Australia, the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO), and the Bureau of Meteorology.

GovHack is an official part of 2012 APS Innovation week, with the support of the Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education.

You can now register to participate, review the competition rules, or see an outline of the data to be made available on the GovHack site (http://www.govhack.org).

Prize categories will be announced at the event's opening on Friday 1st June.

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GovChat transcript now available

If you missed #GovChat last week (where I was the guest), @PSLeader now has put the transcript online at http://www.psleader.org/wp-content/uploads/CraigThomlerGovChatChangingTheWorldWithGov20.html

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