1. Engaging Citizens
Information technology and new media
Martin Stewart-Weeks
Internet Business Solutions Group, Sydney, July 2011
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2. “Our processes should allow the
community to provide input
throughout the policy and service
delivery process. Information
technology can play a crucial role
facilitating communication between
citizens and governments.”
Mr Terry Moran AO
Secretary, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
Address to the Graduate School of Government, University of Sydney, May 2011
Surfing the next wave of reform
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3. Propositions
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4. Control? Resilience?
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5. Rapid, unpredictable change…risks and opportunities…transitions
Resilience
Growth, inclusion, sustainability…
Innovation Productivity
The art and practice of connectedness…
assets, culture, capabilities
“Embracing the new instincts, cultures and capabilities of ‘connectedness’ is central to the ability of governments
and the public sector to meet the new demands they confront. It is increasingly the human networks of
knowledge, people and communities that will drive innovation for economic resilience, social inclusion and
environmental sustainability.” The Future Course of Modern Government, IPAA, April 2011
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6. From PUSH to PULL…
The Big Shift in
Three Waves
1 Infrastructure
2 Knowledge flows
3 Institutions
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7. A new theory of the business
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8. “Edge organizations are characterized
by the widespread sharing of
information and the predominance of
peer-to-peer relationships. Edge
organizations have a fundamentally
different power topology from
traditional organizations. ...
Edge organizations are, in fact,
collaborative organizations that are
inclusive, as opposed to hierarchies
that are authoritarian and
exclusive....Edge organizations are
organizations where everyone is
empowered by information and has
the freedom to do what makes sense.”
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9. Examples
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10. #actvcc was great! Please do so again.
Appreciated some humour and there
seemed to be less spin, more honesty.
#actvcc Interesting experiment - feed polluted
with 2 many "is this a good idea" tweets, hiding
real questions. Analysis can come afterwards!
Disappointed to catch only the very end of the
#actvcc - I had lots of questions to ask.
Looking forward to the next one :)
ACT Chief Minister Katy Gallagher says she is a bit nervous, and is
not sure how well it will work.
"I don't know whether you can summarise answers to questions in 140
characters, in fact that will probably be hard for many politicians," she
said. "But it's just another way of opening up government processes
and the mystery of government processes to a larger group of people."
Ms Gallagher says they may do it again if is successful.
"I'm not sure what we're going to get out of it at the end of the day.
We've never done this before. I've never participated in a group Tweet
session before, so it is with some nervousness," she said. "But what I'm
#actvcc 665 tweets generated 541,305 trying to do here is show that there are different ways that the
impressions, reaching an audience of community can engage with their elected representatives.“
104,686 followers according to
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-07-26/act-twitter-community-
@hashtracking
cabinet/2810294/?site=canberra&source=rss
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12. .
Cure Violence takes a 21st-century approach to “meeting people where they’re at” and invites the messengers to
‘communicate with the tools they’re already using like social networking utilities and SMS technology to
distribute firsthand text and multimedia responses to violence in their own cities. Users can comment and
connect with one another and affect change through actionable content submitted by Cure Violence partners and
local and national organizations who adopt it to organize and mobilize. Cure Violence content will be accessible
via web, mobile device, broadcast, public projection and exhibitions.
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15. NATO’s
Policy
Jam
4,000 participants
10,000 logins
124 countries
5 days
10 streams
26 online hosts
75 facilitators
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20. βetaWorks is a website that gives ABS designers a place to showcase what
they're working on, in order to gain feedback from the public and make sure
what we're doing is what the public needs
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23. http://agimo.govspace.gov.au/page/gov2register/
https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ah41IAK0HzSTdGZ4dkFaQ0E3VHl
NRDFZQzk0NzEyQkE&authkey=CMu-9f8E&hl=en_GB#gid=0
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24. Possibilities
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25. The network knows
more than we do...
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26. Invitation to engage...
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27. Dispersing power,
authority and control
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28. Communities and
networks, as well as
organisations and
institutions
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29. Coherence, Scale,
Accountability
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30. Ten Ways E-government can Strengthen Democracy
(Peter Shergold, AMPlify2011 Can eGovernment Save Democracy)
1. Make government more accessible
2. Enable the public to become more participatory
3. Take wider soundings of public opinion
government can Strengthen Democracy
2011 Can eGovernment Save Democracy)
4. Strengthen political advocacy
5. Improve public amenity
6. Influence socially-responsible behaviour
7. Empower the coproduction of service delivery
8. Hold governments to account
9. Create democratic dialogue
10. Engage the public directly in policy
development
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32. Convivial technology
Co-operation
Promotes collaboration between people and institutions
Transparency
Its origins and ownership are clear. Its workings are intelligible to nonexperts. There is no
asymmetrical advantage of knowledge to some of its users
Decentralisation
Its ownership, production and control are distributed. It is not monopolised by a
professional elite
Flexibility
It is easy for users to modify, adapt, improve or inspect its core. Individuals may freely
choose to use it or give it up
Redundancy
It is not the only solution, not a monopoly, but one of several options
Efficiency
It mininises impact on ecosystems. It has a high efficiency for energy and material and is
easy to reuse
Kevin Kelly, What Technology Wants, Viking, 2010 p264
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37. Mypolice does direct, open conversations between YOU and the police.
MyPolice is a neutral space where you can tell your story knowing the
people who count will read it and it will make a difference
http://www.mypolice.org/
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38. Dialogue Cafe
Lisbon Rio de Janeiro Ramallah Tel Aviv
Toronto Amsterdam London Berlin
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