[LINK] The ACS, TIPI and ICT in Australia

[Karl Auer]

Dear Ms Bligh.

The following is in response to a media release from the ACS regarding a
document delivered to you on Monday 18 August. The media release is here
and appears to contain the gist of the document:

http://www.acs.org.au/index.cfm?action=notice&temID=noticedetails&notID=673O

I hope you will treat that document with the contempt it deserves.

> TIPI identified a need to:
> 
>      * Capture public trust and business confidence;
>      * Establish governance, integrity and ethical frameworks;
>      * Create a clear identity for the ICT industry and profession; and;
>      * Take ICT industry performance to a higher level of maturity.

Someone needs to read more Don Watson.

"Capture" trust? That contradicts itself in two words. "Capture"
confidence? Another contradiction in terms. You get trust by being
trustworthy OR by lying to appear trustworthy. I wonder which meaning is
intended here? Same with confidence - people are confident in you if you
do your job consistently well OR is you can fool them into believing
that. Which is meant here?

Using the word "capture" doesn't make me likely to trust those who wrote
this, rather the reverse. That word makes me think that they intend to
lie about, put spin on and market themselves as trustworthy and
confidence-deserving.

"Establish governance"? Please - someone tell me what that means in
plain English, because what it sounds like to me is rubbish. What,
specifically, does one do to establish governance? It sound suspiciously
as the authors want to see yet another regulatory body set up.

"Establish integrity"?!? You don't "establish" integrity. You behave
with integrity. Is that the plan? Or is the real plan just to make it
look that way? Or perhaps just to tell people so often that one is
behaving with integrity that they start to believe it?

How does one "create a clear identity"? Does that mean "lie"? An
identity is what it is; only by changing the thing can you change its
identity. Doe sthe above mean "change the ICT industry and profession"?
Somehow I don't think so. Somehow I think it means craft the appearance
of an identity, and present it as if it were real, perhaps in the pious
hope that life will imitate art.

"Take ICT industry performance to a higher level of maturity". Oh,
please. What is "maturity"? What constitutes "performance"? And who
says?

The release contains sixteen "Statements". "Statements"? What does that
mean? Are they recommendations, instructions, commands, questions,
suggestions... who knows?

All except one of these "statements" begin with "partner with the ICT
community". By which they mean - what? Is there an ICT community to talk
to? Or is it just something that sounds plausible? What does "partner"
actually mean? Who exactly is supposed to talk to whom?

The deeper you go, the less sense any of the document makes. As it
stands, it is nothing but weasel words, jargon-filled, obfuscatory and
valueless.

Perhaps there are good ideas in it, buried in the sludge. Send it back
to its authors and ask them, if they can, to present those good ideas in
plain English. Preferably with concrete, practical ways of actually
implementing them.

Regards, K.

PS: The media contact given in the release is a public relations flack,
whose bio shows no trace whatsoever of experience with any facet of
information technology. Nice one.

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Karl Auer (kauer at biplane.com.au)                   +61-2-64957160 (h)
http://www.biplane.com.au/~kauer/                  +61-428-957160 (mob)