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The Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts has become the first Australian Federal Government agency to my knowledge to appoint a New Media head.
I've previously commented on the rising trend in governments overseas to acknowledge the importance of online and new media by appointing New Media and Social Media Directors, and the US President has renamed the Public Relations Office as the a Public Engagement office, however up until now no Australian Federal Department to my knowledge had recognised the importance of the medium in this fashion.
Both Forrester and Nielsen have reported that they are the most used media for Australians, as has AGIMO's Interacting with Government Report, which found that online was the preferred channel for engagement with government and in 2008 the internet became the number one channel last used by the Australian public to interact with government.
Friday, May 29, 2009
DEWHA appoints a New Media head | Tweet |
New book - What every intranet team should know | Tweet |
Step Two Designs has released the book, What every team should know written by James Robertson.
The book is designed as a 'quick start' for intranet teams and provides practical advice on how to plan, design, manage and grow intranets.
Combining over 13 years experience in intranets and building on the free reports available from Step Two's website, I reckon the book is well worth a look.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Department of Broadband consulting teens and pre-teens online | Tweet |
Around four weeks ago the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE) launched its first online consultation with 11-17 year old children on the topic of Cyberbullying.
Announced via the Australian Labour Party's website back on 4 May, Youth to advise on cyber-bullying and cyber-threats, the consultation involves 15 schools and 305 students from across Australia in a secure moderated forum.
I haven't seen this consultation get much attention from the media or across various government sources, which is an enormous shame given how groundbreaking this work is for Australia.
If the Australian government is now able to consult minors online, surely we're able to establish online consultative forums for other groups in the community.
Hopefully a case study on this consultation will be released and provide other departments with details on how the DBCDE has gone about securing and moderating the forum.
Twenty theses for government 2.0 | Tweet |
Following the style of the ClueTrain Manifesto, Steve Radick has developed twenty theses for Government 2.0.
To quote his post,
Just as the Cluetrain laid out 95 theses that described the new global conversation taking place via the Internet, here are 20 theses (I’m not nearly as ambitious as the Cluetrain authors) for carpetbaggers, gurus, civil servants, contractors, and anyone else interested in Government 2.0.
A number of the theses are very pertinent for the egovernment area in Australia and, in my view, demonstrate in practice the difference in thinking between 'digital natives' and 'digital immigrants' (or 'digital convicts' as a colleague from the ABS typified people who are being forced into the online world).
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
NSW Police now officially on Twitter | Tweet |
Encouraged by the success of a imposter claiming to be the NSW Police on Twitter, the NSW Police have now taken over the account and are using it to constructively communicate information to the public.
Reported in the Sydney Morning Herald, Twitter con gives police tweet idea, the NSW Police Twitter account is being used for awareness raising, to issue warning notifications and appeal for public assistance.
Anyone in Sydney who wishes to learn more about the NSW Police's decision should consider attending the next In the Public Interest event on the evening of Wednesday 17 June where Strath Gordon the Director of Public Affairs for NSW Police will be discussing the initiative.
The NSW Police join a range of other state and local government agencies in Australia using the platform for real-time public communications.
As yet no Federal government agencies are using the service, but based on the widespread use in the US, Canada and the UK this is only a matter of time.
