Dr Mark Elliott's (Collabforge) presentation to the Web 2.0 in Government conference held in Sydney on Wednesday 24 June 2009. This presentation details how Collabforge worked with City of Melbourne to map the existing city planing process to develop a re-engineered process that leveraged collaboration and utilised cutting edge 'Web 2.0' solutions. Most notably, an open source wiki-based collaboration environment was developed in order to enable collaboration amongst the many City officers and stakeholders, as well as members of the general public during the public consultation period. The Future Melbourne project (www.futuremelbourne.com.au) recently won the Planning Institute of Australia (Victoria Division) Awards for Excellence, Local Government.

1. Public consulta-on, wikis &
internal collabora-on
Dr Mark Ellio7, Director, Collabforge
Web 2.0 in Government
Sydney, June 2009

2. [Future Melbourne home]

3. David Mayes, Manager Strategic Planning and Sustainability
mandate for a collabora-ve city plan
inspired by Wikipedia as collabora-ve process
Collabforge mapped the planning process
re‐engineered the process for a collabora-ve outcome

4. shiG away from exclusive focus on
tradi-onal public consulta-on

6. Stay within the box.
Ap
pr
ov
ed

9. collabora-on
is more complicated than
commen-ng

12. 12

18. 18

19. Post Implementa-on Review ‐ Learnings
Support for the collaborative process
Critical to adequately assess, engage and address
the state of the collaborative capacities & orientations
that are native to the organisational culture.
Important to develop processes, behaviours & norms
designed to compliment collaborative technologies &
processes in conjunction with an organisation's
objectives.

20. Post Implementa-on Review ‐ Learnings
Support for the collaborative process
Leverage the energy of tug-of-wars, but support
with face-to-face collaborative facilitation.
Establish clarity with regard to editorial
oversight during the collabora?ve process.
Establish process/norms regarding the closing of
editorial revision at end of fixed -me period.

21. Post Implementa-on Review ‐ Learnings
Resourcing for staff in regard to time &
availability to engage
Many internal participants surveyed felt the did not have
enough time to participate to the level they wanted to.
Common shortfall: adding new tools &
processes to already time-poor workers
without commensurate resourcing.

22. Post Implementa-on Review ‐ Successes
Identifying & implementing leading
edge collaboration technology
When interviewed, majority of internal participants
found the wiki and effective tool for document
collaboration:
• "the way of the future",
• that it was easier to find, add and edit content than
with standard websites or the corporate intranet,
• that increased buy-in and quality of input was
achieved from internal participants through use of
the system, and
• that it had help bridge organisational silos through
increased communication, sharing of ideas and
information, and facilitating knowledge transfer.

23. Post Implementa-on Review ‐ Successes
Identifying & implementing leading
edge collaboration technology
Participants also strongly agreed that the platform
was appropriate for internal project collaboration:
• had advantages over email communication,
• it was advantageous to use during external
presentations,
• it was less costly that other project management
platforms, and
• that its ongoing use would likely improve their
collaboration skills in general.

24. engagement
resourcing
buy‐in
accessibility
user‐led innova-on
collabora-on on a global scale

26. challenges
common fears

27. You mean anyone can edit my work?!!

29. Who guarantees quality?
community modera-on
Future Melbourne Team
City of Melbourne
Stakeholders
Public

30. dear sir/madame,
i am sorry to find a spelling mistake in the third
last paragraph, second line. the second word is
mis‐spelled as 'knoweldge'. please check.
thank you for your a7en-on.
with faith from, john tam, chinese in hong kong.

31. EDIT

32. arbitra-on
may be needed for rare cases of disagreement
expert input

34. 34

36. risk analysis
risk management strategies
daily, mul-level monitoring of every single edit

39. not a single instance of
spam
off‐topic
offensive contribu-on

40. there are risks
but the benefits far outweigh them
understand what they are
be upfront about them
addressed them through appropriate
policies and monitoring

41. local postcodes

42. female to male registrants

43. age groups

44. page views

45. public edits

46. Future Melbourne covered on 40+ interna-onal
blogs & websites
“Could this be the beginning of par-cipatory governance?”
“Kudos City of Melbourne! A7en-on Melburnians: be sure
to have your say and take advantage of this excellent site so
what you think and feel the city should be like in the future is
accounted for in policy development“
“It's not hard to imagine why Melbourne has a reputa-on as a
vibrant and progressive city”
“I'd love to see the Mayor of my city on the front page of a wiki
asking for contribu-ons!”

53. organisa-on
online public

54. organisa-on
online public

55. Learnings
Build it, & they won’t necessarily come.
strategic design ‐ addressing & communica-ng
mo-va-ons & incen-ves for par-cipa-on
Web‐relevant promo-on is a must!

56. Learnings cont.
Web communi-es for par-cipatory planning & policy
development take (-me) & engergy to cul-vate.
purpose‐built Web communi-es are a resource
that should be protected as an investment
an investment into the organisa-on’s human
resources *&*
your community’s digital literacy

57. Reduce ‐ the need to start from scratch
Reuse ‐ the input for other ini-a-ves
Recycle ‐ community members for other projects

60. 60

63. New Collabora-ve Tools &
Social Processes
Par-cipatory Democracy
(extending representa-ve democracy)
Ci-zen
Innova-on
in
Government

64. this type of innova-on can happen anywhere
needed:
awareness of opportunity & interest on part of
project sponsor
experienced prac--oners ‐ either internally or
externally sourced
naviga-ng virtual community dynamics
needs careful, expert a7en-on
‐ this is a key risk
commitment, courage & crea-vity on part of
everyone involved

65. Where is this all going?
How will it get there?
Who will get it there?

66. Self evident:
the Web (in some form or another) is here to stay
‐ be it seman-c, mobile, ubiquitous...
Web development is fast, cheap, easy
& replicable
‐ this puts power in people’s hands

67. if government at all levels does not
step up to the plate, & lead,
leadership will come from elsewhere

68. what does this ‘elsewhere’ look like to you?

69. www.Collabforge.com
Mark.Ellio7@Collabforge.com
Twi7er: @MarkEllio7
Phone: +61 421 978 501
Dr Mark Ellio7, Director, Collabforge
Gov 2.0 in Government
Sydney, June 2009