Last weekend (31 May – 2 June) was a big weekend for Government 2.0 in Australia, with the first truly national GovHack held across eight locations, including seven of Australia’s eight major states and territories. With over $170,000 in prizes, and around 100 national and local prizes on offer, GovHack 2013 attracted 900 participants, whoRead… Read more »
In the run-up to GovHack this weekend, Australian governments have been hard at work preparing new or updated open data sites, many using CKAN as their base technology. This includes the new Australian Government beta data.gov.au site, the new South Australian government’s data.sa.gov.au and the NSW government’s new data.nsw.gov.au/data/. We also have Queensland’s data.qld.gov.au, Victoria’sRead… Read more »
I’ve long lamented the speed at which academia was embracing the internet, social channels and 2.0 approaches – with limited courses available on modern online techniques for under and post graduates, old fashioned-approaches to research and publication. There’s been hints of brilliance overseas – with US universities placing courses online and UK universities embracing socialRead… Read more »
It’s not unusual for agencies to spend millions of dollars on a new program supporting some group in society and hundreds of thousands of dollars on consultants and research to ensure that the new program is designed to be successful, to track its progress and audit it over time. It’s not unusual for agencies toRead… Read more »
As reported in Peter Timmins’ Open and Shut blog this morning, the Attorney-General, Mark Dreyfus, has announced that Australia will be joining the Open Government Partnership (OGP) – the leading global organisation for states working towards more open government. Australia is the 59th country to join the OGP, following Ireland (who sent a letter ofRead… Read more »
I was reading a tweet yesterday from Australia’s CTO, John Sheridan, and it raised an interesting question for me. #opendata a new goldmine? RT @theeconomist: Making official data public could spur lots of innovation econ.st/111Wy4x #gov2au — John Sheridan (@sherro58) May 19, 2013 Is government open data really a new goldmine for innovation? The Economist’sRead… Read more »
Delib UK has taken my thoughts on crowdfunding within government and researched a number of other examples where local governments are using innovative ways to engage citizens in paying for communal facilities. Worth a read at How councils are crowdfunding community projects. eGov AU Craig Thomler’s personal Gov 2.0 and eGovernment thoughts and speculations fromRead… Read more »
I’ve realised I’d not yet blogged about this month’s Gov 2.0 event in Canberra, which is being run by the Department of Finance and combines the Gov 2.0 crowd with the Australian Government’s Cross Agency Social Media Forum. The event – which is coming up next Thursday, 23 May at DEEWR’s auditorium on Marcus ClarkeRead… Read more »
Everyone has a comfort zone. Whether it is a favourite book/movie/restaurant that you return to again and again, that old pair of shoes you’ll never throw out because you’ve worn them in, or the route you take to work each day, we all like to follow familiar patterns, and avoid potentially unsettling, discomfortable, change. SoRead… Read more »
GovHack is on again this year and it’s gone national, with eight locations across Australia. With over $160,000 in prizes, the organisers anticipate over 400 participants in 150 teams – and due to venue sizes, entry is limited. If you’re interested in mashing up open government data for prize money, or simply interested in watchingRead… Read more »