In one of the more misguided approaches to internet regulation, the UK government banned the majority of UK citizens from editing Wikipedia earlier this week. This was done, according to the SMH article, Wikipedia added to child pornography blacklist, due to the identification of a photo in one article (of the more than 2.6 million…
The World Internet project recently released its Australian report (PDF), providing a mid-2007 view on how Australians access and use the internet. The report indicates that, at August 2007, 72 percent of Australians used the internet (increasing to 86% when considering those in full employment), and highlights known divides in usage based on income and…
The Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) in the US is investigating the legalities of website linking, putting forward a policy proposal stating that companies should be held liable for linking to other sites containing information related to their share value. Basically, if a link from a company’s website pointed to false or misleading information about the…
As a law-maker, governments are often more attuned to making the laws and being in the position of controlling and defining the terms of engagement with communities. Agencies and departments often consult external stakeholders, but on their own terms – choosing the place, the medium and the scope of discussions. There’s good reasons for this,…
It can be very daunting for communications professionals to build an understanding of the social media landscape, grasping its scope and diversity and use this knowledge to select the right tools to meet their communications needs. On occasion I’ve spoken to other marketers and PR professionals who have said that the sheer diversity and complexity…
Traditional media tends to talk at consumers rather than talking with them. This is often due to the one-way mediums used and is also a reflection of the self-centric world view people and organisations tend to develop. Humans tend to carry over existing ideas, approaches and methods into new mediums, and then figure out how…
A few months ago a PR agency representing the National Australia Bank (NAB) made a series of comments on AFL blogs advertising NAB services. This incident has been discussed in publications such as Marketing Magazine, NAB spamming: maybe it’s time to take dance lessons and Crickey, NAB spams blogs to spruik its SMS banking, which…
An area where I’ve achieved limited traction (so far) in my agency is over integrating online channels into our service delivery contact centres. Phone is a primary customer engagement channel for our agency and will continue to remain important as a way to reach customers who are financially unable or choose not to use online….
I’ve set myself a personal challenge this financial year to support innovation within my agency at all levels. There have always been innovative people throughout organisations. Their challenge has been distribution and access – promoting their ideas to the people that could champion and introduce them. Being the custodian (not the owner) of our website…
A theme I often hear in Australian web design circles is “make the website less crowded”. It’s accepted wisdom that a website should have plenty of white space, clearly separated parts – and as little text as possible – particularly on the homepage. Similar to Google’s 28 word limit, Australian communicators seem to consider the…
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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