Nextgov has published a very insightful piece on the US’s cyberwar endeavours, including their use of it as an offensive tool to locate and knock out the organisational capabilities of their enemies and even kill foes. The article, The cyberwar plan, not just a defensive game, also covers the Russian attacks on Estonia and Georgia…
In my experience, where possible, Australian public servants avoid controversial topics when consulting with the public. Controversial topics are messy, unpredictable, raise high emotions and draw out divergent viewpoints – making discussions difficult to manage and control. They also often edge into political matters which are outside the scope of the public service, who strive…
When I stepped into the public sector just over three years ago, in terms of workplace collaboration it was like stepping back twenty years. I found that staff directories were merely lists of names, titles and phone numbers – without listing people’s expertise, qualifications, experience, current projects and interests. The only way to get to…
Government runs on rules. Policies, processes and procedures designed to address every contingency and plan for every possible risk in order to provide equity, stability and certainty. However, as experience has shown time and time again, we cannot predict the future. While we continually attempt to plan ahead, largely these plans are based on extrapolating…
Dr Crispin Butteriss of Bang the Table gave the presentation below at the IAP2 Conference in Perth October 2009. It provides an excellent view of how governments can use forums to engage communities, including unveiling what types of feedback you can expect. Thanks to Matthew Crozier who brought my attention to this over at Ozloop….
The Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) in the Department of Finance has launched its first externally facing blog, the Web Publishing Guide Review Project Blog. As detailed in its About page, the blog is designed to serve two purposes, consultation and demonstration, 1. The team needs to consult with site visitors to ensure the…
The ABS’s Customer Insights Team, in conjunction with AGIMO, is holding a Web Analytics in Government forum on Tuesday 24 November in Belconnen. To quote the ABS, Our aim is that the forum will allow participants to learn from others and share practical knowledge and experience in: pitfalls of implementing web analytics in a government…
The NSW government has launched the Transport Data Exchange (TDX) Program to provide access to NSW transport routes, timetables and stop/station/wharf information for download and reuse in third party applications. It’s been provided as part of the data available for the Apps4NSW competition. launched by the NSW Premier at NSWSphere. Unlike similar initiatives in the…
In a recent submission (PDF) to the Federal government’s Inquiry into the effectiveness of House Committees, I C Harris, the Clerk of the House, suggested that Technological developments offer tremendous potential to extend the reach of communities work in times of community participation. The submission provided an example of how one government committee had successfully…
Not all projects completely succeed. For a variety of factors some do not meet some or all of the original goals laid out for them. There is a tendency to label these projects as failures, to totally write them off and be more cautious when initiating similar projects in the future. In the web space,…
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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