Podcasts
1st December 2010
Episode 9 - Episode 9 - eGovernments: How governments are using the web
Hello and welcome to another edition of The Business Plan, brought to you by LeasePlan. I’m Jackie Allender. This week, we’re looking at how governments are using internet technologies.
You often hear the term egovernment bandied about – but what are governments doing on the internet? And are they more advanced in their use of the technology than business?
Like most large organisations, governments in Australia and around the world have long had a presence on the web. And over time, that presence has evolved.
In the case of governments, that’s meant the creation of portal sites like australia.gov.au, which organises the wealth of government information so that it can be accessed in a variety of ways, for example by clustering information around user-centric headings such as Services and Life Events – that reflect what people might want to find out about, rather than adhering to the structure of government departments.
Most government sites these days are making an increasing amount of content available. For example, Australia dot gov dot au enables people to do things like quickly find their local Medicare office, and search websites from all tiers of government – federal, state and local. While you’re online you can also get help with filling out government forms, and there’s plenty of advice about everything from setting up a business to travel and health tips.
So the focus of government websites has changed from merely putting information online to making it easier for people to access and use it. And that’s led to improved search abilities and better cross-functional linking of information.
Now for a look at what the future holds.
Not surprisingly, just as in the private sector, the key concept is ‘engagement’. Enabling people – indeed encouraging them – to engage with government is now starting to make an impact on the way governments utilise web technologies.
And while marketers may spend their time thinking of creative ways to get people to ‘engage’ online with a particular product or service, governments by and large don’t have too much of a problem. They have information – data – and that’s a major driver of engagement. People need to use government services at least sometimes, and they often make use of government information. Innovative government sites are working out how best to deliver the information to them.
One award-winning site that comes to mind is the British government website www.direct.gov.uk, which not only provides access to government services online, it makes online services available via mobile. And as well as accessing the site by mobile browser, users can text the name of the service they want and get sent the relevant information. For example, texting TRAVEL provides details of public transport and road delays as well as train arrival and departure times.
And just as in the private sector, evolving technology is driving the development of applications – apps – for mobile phones and social networking sites. The directgov site has launched a travel advice app aimed at iPhone and Android phone users. It’s free to download.
As well as giving information to people, governments are beginning to grasp the possibilities for other types of interactions that are made possible by these new technologies. Call it collaboration, or getting input, or government 2.0 – whether it’s submissions to a public consultation or comments on a government blog site, this sort of interactivity is becoming more common.
Governments are also becoming more adept at using social networking platforms. A notable success has been the Australian Government’s ‘Don’t turn a night out into a nightmare’ campaign, which has more than 86,000 fans for its Facebook page, with many of them providing brief insights into how drinking affected them or their friends and family.
Another notable example is the NSW MP, Paul McLeay, who ‘crowdsourced’ ideas for spending $300,000 worth of funds that were available to his electorate from a government community-building program. Individual community groups used his social networking site to contribute ideas about how to use portions of the funding, while local residents were able to register with the site and vote for which projects they thought most worthwhile.
We’re likely to see more use of this sort of activity by government in coming years.
Late last year, the Australian Government released the report of its taskforce into Government 2.0 – that is how governments can use the new collaborative technologies of wikis, blogs and social networking platforms. The report’s focus is firmly on how collaboration and open access to information can transform government and citizenry. By embracing government 2.0, it says we can make our democracy more participatory and informed, improve the quality and responsiveness of services, and unlock the massive economic and social value of information and content held by governments, which in turn will help spur innovation.
But all this is not without some challenges. One of the biggest challenges to realising these benefits, according to the report, is the culture of the public sector, which often doesn’t encourage engagement. And of course there are issues of privacy, confidentiality, copyright and security to be negotiated.
Australia is not the only country to be looking at how the new web 2.0 technologies can be used. Since 2007, the New Zealand government has been steadily implementing a range of government 2.0 projects, including using a wiki to get new ideas for overhauling its Police Act, and having its Companies Office get involved in Twitter and podcasting.
In the United States, the Obama administration very early announced its intention to create more accountable, transparent, collaborative and participatory government using new technologies. And in the UK, there’s been plenty of activity, too. Just recently a new test site was established to provide access to UK government data.
As the government 2.0 taskforce report points out, government 2.0 is really about a new approach to organising and governing, rather than about technology itself. Over the coming years, we’ll see just how ready our governments are to embrace that change.
Well, that’s it for this week. I hope you’ve enjoyed this edition of The Business Plan. If you want to explore this issue further, have a look at some of the links that you’ll find on the transcript. To get to the transcript, go to the LeasePlan website – that’s leaseplan dot com dot au – under the About Us and Media section. In that area there’s also a section where you can make a comment. Next week we’re going to wrap up this series with a look in more detail at who is using the web well. I’m Jackie Allender, thanks for listening.
LINKS RELATED TO THIS STORY
http://australia.gov.au
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Hl1/Help/YourQuestions/DG_069492
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dont-turn-a-night-out-into-a-nightmare/282333472138
http://www.finance.gov.au/publications/gov20taskforcereport/index.html
http://www.paulmcleay.com.au/
http://twitter.com/CompaniesOffice.
http://data.gov.uk/ (Beta site)
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The Business Plan - Series 2
| Episode 10 | Episode 10 - The Innovators |
|---|---|
| Episode 8 | Episode 8 - How the web is driving business innovation |
| Episode 7 | Episode 7 - Is the future cloudy? |
| Episode 6 | Episode 6 - Don't forget your change! |
| Episode 5 | Episode 5 - e-Commerce Trends |
| Episode 4 | Episode 4 - Should employees have access to Twitter and Facebook? |
| Episode 3 | Episode 3 - Developing an online strategy for your organisation |
| Episode 2 | Episode 2 - Opportunities for business in social media |
| Episode 1 | Episode 1 - Data Security |