[LINK] Lundy backs web 2.0 to cut costs

[Ivan Trundle]

How is Twitter going to cut costs for government? Just curious...

The business of community consultation should always produce high  
value if done properly, but Twitter etc does not mean that the  
consultative process will be improved. It's the process, not the tools  
used.

iT

On 04/08/2009, at 3:58 PM, Bernard Robertson-Dunn <brd at iimetro.com.au>  
wrote:

> <brd>
> (This my second attempt to send this to link. Apologies if it turns up
> twice)
>
> I don't think that Web2.0 or Gov2.0 is about cutting costs. To me the
> benefits are about improved communication channels.
>
> And I also don't agree that "if social networking tools became part of
> normal workflow in government processes, public servants wouldn't be
> overwhelmed with their workloads."
>
> It is more likely that they would get overloaded with masses of
> messages, many of which would be low value.
>
> </brd>
>
> Lundy backs web 2.0 to cut costs
> Fran Foo
> August 04, 2009
> The Australian IT
> http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,25878099-15306,00.html
>
> Labor senator and technology evangelist Kate Lundy has admitted that
> government service delivery fell short and social media tools like
> Twitter could help bridge the gap and even slash costs.
>
> The second Public Sphere event in Canberra found that if social
> networking tools became part of normal workflow in government  
> processes,
> public servants wouldn't be overwhelmed with their workloads.
>
> But Twitterers aside, Australians want to see unnecessary  
> technological
> barriers -- like the e-tax software only running on Microsoft Windows
> computers -- come to a halt.
>
> The tax office's 2009 e-tax program is compatible with IE6, IE7 and
> Firefox 3. It works on Windows 2000 Professional, XP and Vista.
>
> "Government service delivery has such a long way to go and, as a  
> senator
> for 14 years, I deal with a lot of constituents who have genuine
> complaints about that," Senator Lundy said.
>
> "For me to be involved, you can imagine that the level of frustration
> among my constituents must be pretty high," she said.
>
> Senator Lundy said there was a view that social media presents a
> "remarkable and unprecedented opportunity" to improve the relationship
> between government, government service providers and citizens.
>
> There was no immediate answer as to how exactly micro-blogging site
> Twitter or social networking website Facebook could solve these  
> issues,
> and she warned that there was no one-size-fits-all solution for
> government departments and agencies.
>
> However, open standards had to be embraced if Australia were to  
> succeed
> in the digital age.
>
> The government could take a lesson from the private sector; Telstra's
> BigPond arm takes complaints and offers customer service via Twitter.
>
> Senator Lundy is championing the Public Sphere event in Canberra which
> released its briefing paper last week on government 2.0 policy and
> practises in Australia. Nearly 200 people attended the event, while  
> 300
> people used Twitter. It gathered more than 100 comments on the main
> website and all feedback has been collated to form the backbone of the
> briefing paper.
>
> The findings will be handed to the Government 2.0 Taskforce, chaired  
> by
> Nicholas Gruen, which is looking at ways to engage citizens online and
> making government information more accessible.
>
> The taskforce will report on its findings by the end of the year,
> including whether to follow the example of Britain, which last week
> unveiled a 20-page guide on how to use Twitter for public servants.
>
> Key recommendations from Public Sphere include government agencies
> accepting all forms of data and an upgrade of all government
> web-browsers to a reasonable standards-compliant browser.
>
> "Where useful and possible, government agencies should facilitate
> accepting updates to data from the general public, such as updates to
> mapping information or to information sheets.
>
> "Where possible this could be streamlined through wiki style or
> automated revision systems to simplify the process of accepting  
> changes,
> while also tracking who contributed what and the ability to roll back
> changes," the paper said.
>
> The browser refresh was timely as many government agencies and
> Parliament House used Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6 as the standard.
>
> "All government employees should have access to a modern, secure
> web-browser in which they can actually use web 2.0 applications," it  
> said.
>
> The third Public Sphere will examine Australia's ICT and creative
> industries development. The first touched on high-speed bandwidth.
>
> -- 
>
> Regards
> brd
>
> Bernard Robertson-Dunn
> Canberra Australia
> brd at iimetro.com.au
>
>
> -- 
>
> Regards
> brd
>
> Bernard Robertson-Dunn
> Canberra Australia
> brd at iimetro.com.au
>
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