On Blogging Australia

Matt mentions Gary Nairn talking about blogging. Gary Nairn is the current Australian Special Minister of State (SMOS) and is the Minister responsible for AGIMO, the Australian Government Information Management Office. As such, he is in a position to change the way we interact with government.

While Gary’s speech seemed to blur the boundaries between blogs, wikis and portals like australia.gov.au, it was significant that a key representative of what is otherwise seen as a conservative government is talking about blogging as a possibility at all, let alone recommending it to his peers.

I’ve spoken to people in the australia.gov.au team over the last year or two about their hopes and dreams for the site - they can see a future where a plumber from Rockhampton in Queensland can find out about government services in Broome, Western Australia - such that employment statistics, crime information, housing availability, school information, weather patterns, you name it - every possible source of information that the plumber might need that is available from government sources to allow them to make a decision on moving. This might be characteristic one of Government 2.0 - that information is available from where it is needed regardless of source.

The traditional model of government is a monolithic information silo-of-silos that grabs whatever information it needs and yet is very loathe to hand any out. With automation of the health/welfare systems and the Access Card project, a lot more information will be available to government. There are some privacy concerns based on the range and uses of this information. This will require a lot of mythbusting on the part of government. This could be characteristic two of Government 2.0 - that processes are transparent wherever possible.

If Gary’s speech is to be believed, blogs could form part of the “participative” end of “participative democracy”:

“Blogs could split up consultation and enable government and others to analyse and debate issues in reasonable detail,” he said.

“This could then lead to more informed policy and program development.”

Policy development through direct consultation with key stakeholders has gone on for a long time. What is unusual in this case is that it is talking about open blogs where anyone might comment - anyone who is interested can have their say, not just the important or the invited representatives. Normally, only the very persistent or the very relevant get to discuss their views in a setting that makes a difference - for the average person this chance only comes up at election time. This might be the third characteristic of Government 2.0 - that mass participation in policy development is not only possible but becomes practical, and eventually expected.

So here they are, my first-approximation analysis (i.e. my initial best guess) at some characteristics of Government 2.0:

1. that information is available from where it is needed regardless of source.
2. that processes are transparent wherever possible.
3. that mass participation in policy development is not only possible but becomes practical, and eventually expected.

Is this happening already? Looking at the first Australian Government blog, it looks like it is, at least in Victoria. VPSCIN looks to all intents and purposes like a real blog - a lot of open information, and yet it is responsible to the Chief Commissioner of Victorian Police.

This article was originally posted in Facibus Reviews.