[LINK] web information architecture - what are the issues you see?

Tom Worthington Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au
Fri Aug 17 09:08:16 AEST 2007


At 11:05 AM 16/08/2007, Janet Hawtin wrote:
>On 8/15/07, Tom Worthington <Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au> wrote:
>
>>As an example I propose we provide government, education and 
>>housing, in a "box" for remote indigenous communities ...
>
>I do not know enough about Tom's proposal to be able to comment on 
>that directly. ...

There are more details at the web address I 
provided: 
<http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2007/07/putting-australian-government-online.html>.

>... If this is pay to play access to a subscription to software then 
>that has some social implications. If it means there are less face 
>to face services available then that also has implications. ...

Yes. My assumption is that if you have to have the federal government 
interfering in your life, it will be less intrusive if it is done via 
a computer than face to face. Also it will be cheaper and the money 
saved can be spent on useful services. As an example the federal 
government now provides reports online. That saves on printing costs 
and makes the reports more widely available. For those without 
Internet access there is free Internet access at public libraries.

>... What do those choices mean for local people in terms of skills, 
>access, leadership, control, voice, local value, privacy and rights 
>to participation and access to services etc.

Given a choice between having a succession of highly paid public 
servants from the city come in, interfere in my local community and 
then leave (taking most of the government money with them), or a web 
based service, I think I would prefer the web based service.

>What do those choices mean for local people in terms of skills, 
>access, leadership, control, voice, local value, privacy and rights 
>to participation and access to services etc. ...

My thought was to provide tools which the local community could use 
to govern themselves and provide many of the services themselves. The 
local council could use a government approved web based system to 
administer local services using local staff, instead of having 
someone from elsewhere doing it to them. Local welfare organisations 
could provide services with the accounting done on-line, allowing 
automated remote auditing. Instead of having a welfare worker telling 
you what you could and couldn't spend your welfare payment on, an 
auotmated system would do you a budget and it would tell you what you 
could and could not spend money on.



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  




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