[LINK] Online Consultation with Australian Government

[Tom Worthington]

The Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) have 
released the report, "Consulting with Government - online": 
<http://www.finance.gov.au/publications/consulting-with-government-online/>.

This recommends an Australian Government online consultation forum 
for community consultation. They are now inviting agencies which are 
already using Web 2.0 for online consultation to come and talk about 
it. A later event will be held for agencies keen to use Web 2.0 for 
consultation.

AGIMO are not advocating scrapping existing agency consultation 
forums. They are to be commended for their cautious approach, 
compared with the UK Government's over hyped "Power of Information TaskForce".

The 32 page report is available in PDF and RTF versions. Curiously 
the PDF version is 2.3 MB, whereas the RTF version is only 138 KB. 
One of the practices I would like to see, and which AGIMO normally 
follows, is to produce small efficiently formatted electronic 
documents. In this case it appears someone pushed the wrong button 
when generating the PDF. A genuine web version (in HTML) would be 
better, but if the PDF could be made a reasonable size that would be 
good. I converted the executive summary and the recommendations from 
the report, to HTML 
<http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2008/07/online-consultation-with-australian.html#summary> 
and here is a text version generated from that:

---
     Executive Summary

     The convergence of broadband and Web 2.0 technologies is 
transforming the way people use the internet to communicate and 
interact. As people embrace the interactive internet they expect to 
be able to interact with the Australian Government (the Government) 
using these new technologies. The increasing use of information and 
communication technology (ICT) to enhance government service delivery 
provides opportunities for agencies to engage and involve citizens 
and communities in new ways.

     While traditional ways of engaging will continue, agencies are 
exploring online approaches for involving the community. To assist 
development in this area, the Australian Government Information 
Management Office (AGIMO), a business group of the Department of 
Finance and Deregulation, conducted a public consultation on the 
proposed development and functionality of an Australian Government 
Consultation Blog.

     The consultation sought the public's view on online 
consultations and aimed to identify the public's reaction to the 
concept of online consultation and whether people were interested in 
participating in such consultations. It also explored the 
motivational factors for participation and asked the public about 
general expectations of online consultations with government.

     The consultation was conducted in three phases; a public 
discussion paper, focus groups and an online survey. The consultation 
was also discussed in popular Australian blogs.

     In all three phases of the consultation there was overwhelming 
support for the concept of a Government consultation blog and 
discussion forum. Respondents expected that online consultations 
should form a part of the Government's policy consultation process. 
However, when it came to actually participating in a Government 
forum, there was evidence to suggest that people who are not already 
engaged in online and political discussions would not actually 
participate. Respondents who had a positive interest in an Australian 
Government consultation forum indicated they would read and 
contribute to a blog.

     Respondents provided a range of opinions on registration, 
moderation, the functionality of an online consultation website and 
privacy and security. The topic of moderation attracted the most 
debate amongst respondents. While the principle of automatically 
scanning comments for offensive language, and removing it 
automatically, was supported by the majority of respondents, many 
respondents rejected attempts to censor fringe but substantive 
opinions, however they were expressed. Respondents were enthusiastic 
about real time 'web chats' with Ministers, where people could pose 
questions and see them answered online. The idea of direct and 
immediate interaction with the top decision makers was of high 
importance to respondents.

     Generally the public consultation indicated support for the 
development of a government online consultation web space that 
includes blogs, online discussion forums and details of public 
consultations. The findings suggested ways that the Government could 
encourage the public's participation in online consultations. 
Respondents said they would be more likely to participate in 
government consultations if:

         * the discussion topic were relevant to their personal circumstances;
         * they had the opportunity to nominate the topics for discussion;
         * discussion forums included the participation of Government 
officials;
         * a range of registration options were available;
         * the site was well designed, easy to find and use;
         * participants were free to express their opinion without 
censorship; and
         * it were unbiased in its operation.

     Recommendations

     ONE: To foster greater citizen participation in government 
policy making, the Australian Government should consider establishing 
an Australian Government online consultation forum, to complement 
existing forms of community consultation. It should:

         * be accessible from a single online entry point - 
www.australia.gov.au; and
         * progress in a phased approach with a few initiatives as a 
trial of the proposed functionality and to test and address some of 
the issues around registrations, participation and moderation.

     TWO: Following an initial trial period, the Australian 
Government consultation forum should evaluate citizen and government 
participation and usage and, if appropriate, consider progressing to 
an interactive consultation forum. The interactive forum should:

         * include a range of consultation mechanisms like blogs to 
generate ideas to inform the shaping of public policy and discussion 
forums to generate discussion around specific topics;
         * include the ability for users to suggest topics for discussion;
         * be easy to find and use and be comparable, in 
functionality, to existing online forums;
         * include mechanisms that acknowledge contributions, allow 
users to rate other comments and provide email alerts of upcoming 
consultations;
         * include policies for acceptable use, registration, 
participation, privacy and moderation guidelines; and
         * include a feedback and evaluation section for users, both 
the community and government, to allow users to shape the site and 
for the continued improvement of the consultation forum.

     From: Executive Summary and Recommendations, Consulting with 
Government - online, AGIMO, 2008

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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/
Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Australian National University