[LINK] Government Announces Principles for ICT Enabled Citizen Engagement

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

Thanks for your work, Tom. 

This is an important government initiative via the ACS Canberra Conference

"The OECD1 has developed a three stage maturity model for government 
engagement with citizens using ICT:

Stage 1: Information stage: A simple one-way relationship in which 
government delivers information to citizens   Government » Citizen

Stage 2: Consultation stage A two-way relationship in which citizens 
provide feedback on issues defined by government. Government »« Citizen

Stage 3: Active participation stage A collaboration in which citizens 
actively shape policy options, but where government retains the 
responsibility for final decisions. Government « » Citizen .. "

This seems an excellent modus operandi. One hopes for a speedy maturity.  

Relevant legislation reguiring all Members in both Houses, at both State 
and Federal levels, to run a Seat Website, with five or so public forums
(mailing lists or whatever) and a mandatory requirement for participation
would jump all Aussie to Stage 2 almost overnight. We have the technology.

Stage 3 <<Government Citizen>> might be more of a technology challenge :-)


At 11:48 AM 15/03/2007, Tom Worthington wrote:

Greetings from the ACS Canberra Branch Conference 2007 
<http://www.acs.org.au/act/2007conference/>. In his presentation this 
morning, Gary Nairn, Special Minister of State announced 
eight "Principles for ICT Enabled Citizen Engagement".

The idea is the principles will be used to guide agencies services. This 
doesn't appear to have made it to the Miniser's web site yet 
<http://www.smos.gov.au/speeches/>,  so I hunted down a draft on the  
AGIMO web site <http://www.agimo.gov.au/>. Here is a summary (more in my 
blog at <http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2007/03/government-principles-for-
ict-enabled.html>):

---
The Australian Government's 2006 e-Government Strategy, Responsive 
Government: A New Service Agenda, commits the government to "establish 
Principles for online engagement to support a consistent experience for 
everyone engaging with the government electronically."

The Principles have been developed in collaboration with the cross-
jurisdictional public sector community of practice group (the e-Democracy 
Community of Practice). They are intended to guide agencies considering 
engaging with citizens using information and communication technology 
(ICT). ...

The Principles are a best practice guide for agencies wishing to engage 
with citizens using Information Communication Technology (ICT) as part of 
their policy making processes.  'Citizens', in this context, refers to 
individuals, business, community and other organisations and sectors.  
These principles are the result of research of existing national and 
international principles and with input from agency representatives from 
all levels of Australian government.  The principles may need to be 
updated from time to time with the advent of emerging technologies, 
citizen demand and from lessons learnt. ...

What do we mean by engagement?

The OECD1 has developed a three stage maturity model for government 
engagement with citizens using ICT:

Stage 1: Information stage ... Government » Citizen ...
Stage 2: Consultation stage ... Government »« Citizen  ...
Stage 3: Active participation stage ... Government « » Citizen ...

One example of citizen engagement using ICT is online engagement.  Online 
engagement can include online forums, Web Logs (BLOGS) on nominated 
discussion topics or e-mail discussion groups.  For an existing example 
of online engagement, visit Queensland's Get Involved website 
(www.getinvolved.qld.gov.au) ...

Principles

1. Commitment
2. Community Focus
3. Community Capability and Inclusiveness
4. Mutual Respect, Confidence and Trust
5. Interactivity and Flexibility
6. Responsibility and Accountability
7. Security and Privacy
8. Evaluation and Efficiency

Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington at tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150
Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd            ABN: 17 088 714 309
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617                http://www.tomw.net.au/
Visiting Fellow, ANU      Blog: http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/atom.xml
--

Cheers, Tom
Stephen Loosley
Victoria, Australia