The US has had a watershed year for government and political use of the internet. The Obama campaign has triggered a series of initiatives both at public sector and political levels by demonstrating that millions of people are willing and able to engage and mobilise online. Now the US is beginning to talk about the…
The US’s Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) has launched the Forge.mil site supporting software developers to collaborate online in developing open-source software for engineering applications. The goal is to cut software development cycles from years to weeks, saving costs and improving time to market enormously. Reported in Nextgov in the article, Defense launches online software…
I’m a keen PC and console gamer, as are many of my friends around the same age. In fact I’ve been playing electronic games since about the age of 8 – which means I’ve been playing for about as long as the average Australian gamer is old (30 years old). While my parents feel I…
Over in the US Microsoft is running a major campaign targeting government which aims to collect best practice videos from senior IT leaders in the public sector. Based on the premise that shrinking government budgets means that IT has to achieve more with less, the Bright side of Government site aims to, spotlight the “bright…
Marketing just isn’t the same anymore – customers are harder to reach, they trust brands less and spend their time listening to each other rather than to media or to corporate or government marketers and communicators. Yet many comms and marketing people are still stuck on the ‘shout louder and longer‘ theory. If someone isn’t…
I’ve been engaged in an interesting discussion in GovLoop regarding the definition of Government 2.0 and Web 2.0. Initiated by Jeffrey Levy, who managed the official blog of the EPA, the discussion is around the proposition that Gov’t 2.0 is a set of ideals. Web 2.0 is a set of tools. Jeffrey contends that, Gov’t…
I was recently alerted to the Queensland government’s Share My Story website, which invites individuals to share their stories of road tragedies in order to help others rethink their conduct on the road and avoid future traffic injuries and deaths. In my opinion Share My Story is an amazingly good website and a model for…
The UK has announced 11 winners and 10 highly commended initiatives in its annual eGovernment awards. Selected from 68 finalists, there are many interesting initiatives that could be adapted and used by Australian governments to deliver better and more cost-effective services.
In possibly the most innovative use of the internet by an Australian political party (please tell me if you’ve seen better), the Australian Democrats have launched the site Bastardwatch, building on their motto, ‘keeping the bastards honest‘. The site supports Web 2.0 features such as the ability to Nominate a prospective bastard, add comments to…
Edelman Digital has published a paper that really drills into the strategy and tactics used by Barack Obama in his campaign to be nominated and then elected as US President. Entitled, The Social Pulpit: Barack Obama’s Social Media Kit, the techniques used by Obama’s online campaign staff, led by one of Facebook’s founders, are useful…
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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