[LINK] [OZTL_NET] Competition to free-up government information

[Antony Barry]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Dianne McKenzie" <diannecm at gmail.com>
> Date: 7 July 2008 9:36:29 AM
> To: stephen at melbpc.org.au
> Cc: link at anu.edu.au, oztl_net at listserv.csu.edu.au, oz- 
> teachers at rite.ed.qut.edu.au
> Subject: Re: [OZTL_NET] Competition to free-up government information
>
>
> Interesting reading Stephen,
> The Uk government seem to be quite innovative in their use of  
> technology to enhance services - I attended a presentation in  
> second life where the UK government - Health department was leading  
> a push for second life support for people who have disabilities,  
> chronic illnesses to form support groups in second life and even  
> set up consultations with their medical professionals on second  
> life as the patients were housebound. Allowing for a visually  
> enhanced discussion rather than just on the phone.
>
> Even the presentation itself was mind blowing - with a live video  
> feed into second life, where participating Avatars in second life  
> could watch what was happening in the real life session and the  
> avatars could be seen by the participants in the real world, and  
> there was free exchange between the two group with questions. Very  
> interactive and blending of the two worlds.
>
> Cheers
> Dianne McKenzie
> Hong Kong
>
> On Mon, Jul 7, 2008 at 3:33 AM, <stephen at melbpc.org.au> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> As a result of a U.K. Cabinet Office initiative, one year ago the U.K.
> Government announced, "The Power of Information Review, looking at how
> non–personal public sector information can be re–used and  
> reinvigorated
> outside of the U.K. government to generate public and economic  
> value .."
>
> In other words, make gov public data free and available to search/ 
> mash-up,
> and thus referenced in all sorts of new ways.. imagine science  
> alone would
> love spotting all the health macro trends (isn't that how they  
> spotted the
> cause of the black death, narrowing it down to specific city water  
> wells?)
> Whatever but imagine all the information just waiting to be  
> computer-mined
>
> The UK government established a Wordpress website (..they are way  
> ahead :)
>
>  http://powerofinformation.wordpress.com/
>
> five days ago, and to ask for ideas regarding mash-ups of the  
> Gigabytes of
> newly freed government data, they've just today announced this new  
> website
>
>  http://showusabetterway.com/
>
> which reports that Australia, and Queensland, and the Queensland  
> University
> of Technology, are currently a world leader regards free public  
> information
>
> Rah QUT :-)
>
> Anyway, here's the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/ 
> 7484131.stm
>
> The UK government has launched a competition to find innovative  
> ways of
> using the masses of data it collects. It is hoping to find new uses  
> for
> public information ..
>
> The Power of Information Taskforce - headed by U.K. Cabinet Office  
> Minister
> Tom Watson - is offering a £20,000 prize fund for the best ideas.
>
> To help with the task, the government is opening up gigabytes of
> information from a variety of sources ..
>
> This includes mapping information from the Ordnance Survey, medical
> information from the NHS , neighbourhood statistics from the Office  
> for
> National Statistics and a carbon calculator from the Department for
> Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
>
> None of the data will be personal information, the government is  
> keen to
> stress.
>
> Mr Watson is hoping to attract a wide range of people from "the  
> technology
> community we already work with, to hard-core coders to adolescents in
> their bedroom".
>
> He admits that throwing open public data could be a risk but he  
> believes
> that it will yield results.
>
> "If someone comes up with a great idea we will make a prototype and  
> then
> hopefully a fully-fledged piece of technology that will make peoples'
> lives better," he said.
>
> "I strongly believe in co-design and in the digital age it makes  
> sense to
> work with citizens to make public service better," he added. "It's  
> great
> to see a government department with enough sense to realise that it
> doesn't have all the good ideas .."
> --
>
> Just a thought, what if the Australia2020 Summit had been a  
> wordpress site?
>
> Cheers people
> Stephen Loosley
> Victoria Australia
>