Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 09 December 2008 06:05
IT Policy -
Government Tech Policy
Page 2 of 3
The government is planning to develop a future directions paper for the digital economy, and has decided to use a blog to put forward some of the issues involved and solicit feedback before the directions paper is released early next year.
"Governments all over the world are experimenting and exploring Web 2.0 technologies," said Lindsay Tanner, Minister for Finance and Deregulation.
"The potential for these technologies to facilitate and enhance direct and open exchanges between citizens and governments is immense, and the Rudd Government is eager to tap into this potential to advance democratic processes in Australia."
Trials dealing with other issues are planned for the next six months, with the aim of developing a whole of government policy for consistent online consultation.
"Each of the online consultations has a different citizen focus and the trials are intended to test issues around registration, participation, levels of engagement, the use of blogs and ideas forums and different levels of moderation," said Tanner.
"We realise we're not trail blazers here - we know that there's nothing new about governments blogging, and that many jurisdictions have been doing so for some time," Tanner wrote in his first blog post.
"But instead of simply copying overseas models we are keen to gather as much evidence as we possibly can about how Australians want to engage online."
Perhaps bravely (in the Sir Humphrey sense), he added "We want real outcomes from online consultation, not a new channel to distribute a press release."
Some individuals are likely to object to the initial moderation policy, which will see all comments moderated during normal business hours - so if you post in the evenings or at weekends, don't expect your message to appear until the next business day.
So what are the rules anyway? Please
read on.
