There’s an interesting event coming up in Canberra for Science Week, a discussion around Science, Technology & Wellbeing that seeks to build engagement between government, scientists and the community around the topic of “How can we improve our lives? And how might science and technology help?” To be held as a free event on 18…
There’s been a lot of commentary this week in the media around the decision by the Australian Advertising Board (ASB) to rule that the comments of fans published on an brand’s Facebook page are actually advertisements and must comply with industry self-regulation and consumer protection laws. In face the ruling states that Facebook, and other…
While chatting with government folk in Victoria yesterday, the topic of printable PDFs in websites came up. Many agencies have them – large documents designed to be read on paper, rather than screen, and designed accordingly. It made me ask the question: How many households actually have working printers and are able (and willing) to…
This report was brought to my attention by Sandy Heierbacher in the Online Engagement Group at LinkedIn, and I thought it well worth sharing more widely. Also blogged about by Sandy at the US National Coalition for Deliberation and Democracy (NCDD), in the post The Promise and Problems of Online Deliberation, the report provides a…
It can be difficult to define the line at which organised responses to an online consultation or engagement change from being legitimate activity by an interest group to ‘gaming’ the system to influence the outcome. For that matter it can be just as difficult in a paper-based or face-to-face process. Just who does a lobby…
If you are one of the majority of public servants with a Facebook account, then it may be time to reconsider how you use the service. As discussed in ZDNet’s post, Is Facebook damaging your reputation with sneaky political posts?, Facebook is now posting messages in your timeline and saying you ‘Like’ the messages simply because…
As the world changes, so must our institutions – particularly government, including government agencies. Without getting into how hard or easy it is for government agencies to change (recognising there’s a diversity of views), any change should, necessarily be for the better. So how should they change? In which ways should they reinvent themselves to…
With the tools available today, influence over government policy is no longer the preserve of the wealthy, the well-connected or those people with a significant TV, radio or newspaper presence. While traditional media and interests still have significant influence, social media has allowed individuals to become far more influential. Blogs, forums and social networks give…
Refreshments at #pmtea Photo by @clementine_ford Last Friday Prime Minister Gillard sat down with a group of influential female bloggers, online women’s forum managers and journalists in, what I hope, is the start of an active engagement with online influencers by the Australian Government. As a blogger I have been on the receiving end of…
The UK Cabinet Office recently released Social Media Guidance for civil servants. The guidance goes far beyond the level and sophistication of material I’ve seen from many other jurisdictions, offering support and useful advice, not just rules and warnings. It also provides advice to CTOs and CIOs on how to oversome some of the technical…
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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