I’ve had a long involvement in the energy industry, having cofounded two startups in the sector, one that is now listed on the ASX. Why energy, when my background is digital? Because the industries are extremely similar – far more similar than archaic regulations environments allow them to do. Like the media, for most of…
The International Space Station (ISS) orbits Earth about 15 times a day. As the largest human-built structure in orbit, it is visible to the naked eye when it passes over, only 330-430 kilometres overhead. The ISS serves an important purpose as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which crew members conduct experiments in biology, physics, astronomy, meteorology and other scientific fields. It…
With the change in Prime Minister to Malcolm Turnbull there was always likely to be a shift in the prominence of digital and IT within government. The new administrative arrangements released earlier this week demonstrated this clearly, with the Digital Transition Office moving from the Communications portfolio to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet…
Rudd & Gillard could work the Twitters. Abbott understood the need to engage digitally, if not the tech, the value or the full impact (and mistakenly thought one of his Ministers had invented the Internet). Even Howard got onboard the digital express with a few YouTube videos. However Australia has never before in its history…
I’m seeing something that disturbs me happening in the innovation space across government. Something that suggests that ‘innovation’ is becoming more of a buzzword than a real change in organisational culture. On one front, as agencies ‘buy into’ the innovation mantra, they are developing processes for fostering innovation – systems designed to fast-track innovative ideas…
Around the world governments are struggling to understand and adopt social media and other digital tools into their business operations. In Australia many agencies are quite advanced in adopting social and Gov 2.0 tools – with digital firmly integrated into communication programs and, to a lesser extent, into program delivery and policy development. In fact…
It’s been a tough week to resume blogging about digital government, egovernance and Gov 2.0, with the attention of the media, public, public service and politicians fixed on politics rather than the operations of government. However the nature of government, and of humans in general, is that politics is always a key element in getting…
In 2011 an IBM computer, Watson, beat human competitors at Jeopardy! This was a new landmark in artificial intelligence – a computer capable of correctly responding to plain English questions, in real time, by figuring out their intent. At the time Watson was a computer as big as a room, and it was the only…
Having centralised systems for voting is the standard approach for countries around the world. In most places it is simply accepted that the government funds the system for election and referendum voting – funding the polling places, ballot boxes, officials and vote counting systems, whether this be directly or at arms length via a body…
Back in 2009 I started telling communications professionals that they had ten years to understand digital channels and integrate them into their thinking, or there would no longer be jobs for them in the industry. I also blogged about this in February 2010. At the time this was highly confronting to a number of experienced…
This archive mirrors the original eGov AU blog — Craig’s professional commentary on AI, digital government and technology in public life, running since 2006.
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