[LINK] High Bandwidth for Australia

[Pia Waugh]

Hi all,

<quote who="Bernard Robertson-Dunn">

> Ivan Trundle wrote:
> > On 08/05/2009, at 9:06 AM, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote:
> >   
> >> Can someone post something about the content, preferably a summary and
> >> analysis. I'm not interested in all the gory details of what everybody
> >> said, but I am interested to find out if anything meaningful was
> >> achieved - other than the use of technology.
> >>     
> >
> > I'm in the same boat as Bernard: unable to attend or even focus on the  
> > event, yet desperately seeking to know what actually happened and what  
> > was said...

The current data available includes the blog post, the blog comments, the
twitter feed, and the liveblog post. All, including our initial trial
process for Public Spheres are documented on the blog post here, and I will
continue to add links to other data there:

  http://www.katelundy.com.au/2009/04/29/public-sphere-1-high-bandwidth-for-australia/

> To expand. I assume the process is something like this:
> 
> 1 Data/opinion/information gathering
> 2 Analysis
> 3 Formulation of position and/or conclusions
> 4 Communicate/publish position and/or conclusions

This is what we are looking at, except for to some degree the conclusions
bit. We see Public Spheres as a way of public consultation, and as people
can comment on each others comments (threading soon to come on blog) and
through  Twitter we get a very rudimentary form of peer review, we end up
with perspectives, and other people's responses to those perspectives. We'll
collate all the data into a briefing paper which we then of course publish
(for public comment) and feed through to the appropriate government
channels. We're going to make this process as open as possible, and are open
to new ideas and suggestions to make it even more open.

In fact, we also have a post up about feedback to the first Public Sphere
format, which already has some suggestions:

  http://www.katelundy.com.au/2009/05/07/the-right-recipe-for-the-public-sphere/

> So far we've had some or all of 1. I'm just as much, if not more, 
> interested in 3->4. I'd like to know that the info gathered from step 1 
> has been "properly" represented in the later stages.

In the short term future, I believe we'll integrate a wiki into the mix for
that part of the process. For this first event, we'll just put a post up for
public comment. We anticipate that wiki's could help with Aus Government
processes like legislation and such, as they have done in several other
countries.

> And relating the later steps to current technology crazes, I can't see 
> much of a role for twitter type communications. IMHO, these steps 
> require reflection and contemplation rather than instant decision making.
> 
> Does anyone do reflection and contemplation any more?

There is a role I believe for many different communication methods.
Currently the blog comments is where the contemplation and thoughtful
comments go, and Twitter is a great *addition* to the mix, nott replacement,
for a different type of communication, that in my opinion is largely
valuable as a) a way to rapidly gather ideas, links, feedback and such from
people who likely are already somewhat savvy in the topic area, and b) a
basic sanity check for other ideas raised through the peer reactions.

Anyway, as mentioned, it is an experiment. One that will require fine tuning
and adapting both now and into the future.

Cheers,
Pia

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