There’s lots of interesting debates going on about ownership at the moment. Are the products and content you buy and enjoy owned by you? Do you have the right to switch formats, modify hardware, install software or make a personal copy? Sony has been fighting for years to prevent customers from modding their Playstations, arguing…
After a fanfare opening around two years ago, the US government’s proposed budget cuts may force data.gov and seven other Gov 2.0 and data sharing websites to close down or dramatically curtail their activities. When first launched data.gov was the first national website for providing centralised access to government data in reusable formats. The website…
I’m a big fan of opening up as much public sector information as possible in easily discoverable and reusable ways (taking into account privacy, security and commercial-in-confidence considerations). The data allows citizens and organisations to build a more informed view of their government’s activities, a good accountability measure. It also allows the development of useful…
Joining the US, Canada, the UK, New Zealand and a host of other jurisdictions already leading the way around the world, the Australian Government has now launched its official government data sharing website, www.data.gov.au Announced by Special Minister of State, Gary Gray, in the post Release of data.gov.au on AGIMO’s blog, Minister Gray said that,…
Listening to the US’s National Public Radio (NPR) last week, I caught a story about how Chinese citizens are now using micro-blogging services (similar to Twitter) to communicate about missing or stolen children and, in some cases to locate them. According to The Guardian article, Chinese parents turn to microblogging in hunt for missing children,…
The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) in the US has released an excellent report, NASCIO: Friends, Followers, and Feeds (PDF), which looks at social media adoption by US states, identifying best practice and sharing knowledge on how tools are being deployed. To quote the report, The survey examined adoption trends, current applications…
The NSW government has introduced a new service where people can provide suggestions on what government information they would like to access via a web or mobile front-end. Thus far the eight suggestions focus heavily on public transport information – knowing when and where buses, trains and ferries may be found. You can add your…
Following on from our last exercise, Reasons for not releasing data in government, we’ve been discussing the benefits and risks of increasing (online) collaboration and consultation with citizens. Below is what the room came up with (and discussed). Please add your own in the comments. Note this is a raw dump – I’ve not sorted…
We’re in the first workshop of the day at the CEBIT Gov 2.0 conference. It is led by Andrew Stott, the Director for Digital Engagement for the UK government. The first exercise of the day has been to come up with reasons that government may give for not releasing data online. I don’t know if…
In this post-industrial society many of us are knowledge workers, using information as a key input to create new products, services and ideas. Particularly in government knowledge is critical. That’s why government departments invest a great deal of resources into research, stakeholder engagement and community consultation. Without a reliable and diverse flow of information government…
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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