We hear a great deal about the number of people in Australia that are of voting age, but haven’t registered to vote, however we don’t hear a lot about how Australia compares to the rest of the world in this regard. I sought out some data from the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral AssistanceRead… Read more »
One of the interesting aspects about open data is how creatively it can be used to generate new insights, identify patterns and make information easier to absorb. Yesterday I encountered two separate visualisations, designed on opposite sides of the world, which illustrated this creativity in very different ways. First was the animated visualisation of 250Read… Read more »
The Queensland Government is currently running their first Premier’s Award for Open Data, a competition designed to encourage and support the use of data released by the government and raise awareness of how it can add value to the community. Open data competitions are no longer new for Australia, however it is great to seeRead… Read more »
CSIR Mk 1 with Hollerith equipment, Sydney 1952 Source: Museum Victoria The Australian government was one of the earliest adopters of computers and computerisation. CSIRAC (or CSIR Mk1), the first computer in Australia (and now the oldest surviving first-generation electronic computer), was used by scientists within CSIRO, by the Snowy Mountains Hydro Electric Authority andRead… Read more »
I’m pleased to note that CEBIT, whose Gov 2.0 Conference has been a great event over the last few years, has recognised the growing innovation agenda in government and broadened this annual conference into GovInnovate. Now including Gov 2.0, Cyber Security, Service Design and mobile Government (mGov) streams, the GovInnovate conference looks like it willRead… Read more »
One challenge organisations may face with social media is designing their account pages to reflect their common look. I’ve seen many organisations place graphics poorly – stretched logos and unintentionally pixelated images – due to not having the specifications to hand when instructing a graphic designer. Fortunately someone has come up with the below veryRead… Read more »
About eighteen months ago the APSC released updated guidance for the use of social media by public servants. Designed to cover personal and professional use, the guidance was widely criticised at the time by traditional media and former public servants for its imprecise language and broad reach. I criticised it as well, and it wasRead… Read more »
Whether we call today the information age, the digital age or the internet age, it is very true that society today has changed radically from the society we saw fifty years ago. Massive personal access to information, entertainment and communication means this is the crowded age – every person has a plethora of choices andRead… Read more »
Opening up data is one thing, but using it in a productive way is another. Data may be released in formats that are hard to reuse, data may be ‘dirty’ (with mistakes) or incomplete. However when organisations release data in machine-readable formats, with a reasonable level of completeness, it can be surprisingly easy for evenRead… Read more »
As an advocate for Gov 2.0 and open data I frequently encourage government agencies to work more closely with communities, tapping their expertise and experience to improve the operations of government. However I’m not blind to the risks of community involvement. Welcoming the crowd risks welcoming individuals, groups and organisations with agendas which may includeRead… Read more »