open government progress in australia
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Presentation given by Craig Thomler at the eGovernment SummitTRANSCRIPT
Open government in Australia
Craig ThomlerApril 2013
Who am I?
What is Delib?
What is open government?
• Citizens have a right to access government documents and proceedings to support effective public oversight
• Citizens have a right to have their views considered during government decision making.
Dates back to European Enlightenment in the 18th Century.
Traditional open government
Has been expanded to include:
• Citizens have a right to access, repurpose and reuse government open data (PSI)
• Expectation that government should develop and use open systems, sharing them across agencies and communities.
• Decision-making should be citizen-centric, government’s role is to coordinate, curate views & implement citizen decisions.
Open government today
The big change in openness…
PresentCitizens are (or wish to be) active participants in governance processes and decisions.
PastCitizens considered passive subjects of governments (albeit with some right to scrutinise decisions and processes).
Source: https://www.facebook.com/FatherPiotrWisniowski
Open Government is often confused with Gov 2.0
What’s the difference?
Open government is the philosophy (Why).
Government 2.0 is about the process & tools for achieving open government (How).
IMHO - the difference
Using tools and techniques enabled by digital technologies to bring citizens 'inside the tent'.
Empowering citizens to be active participants in government decision-making processes and supporting them to do for themselves.
Opening up public data for public reuse to inform and enable new insights, better decisions and more effective policy.
Initiatives from individuals and non-government organisations as well as government.
Government 2.0 includes...
Open Government Partnershipwww.opengovpartnership.org
Principles:
• Increase the availability of information about governmental activities.
• Support civic participation.• Implement the highest standards of
professional integrity throughout our administrations.
• Increase access to new technologies for openness and accountability.
58 countries participating already
Government 2.0(in my humble opinion) represents a fundamental shift
in the relationship between
citizens and governments,
to the benefit of both.
Source: Sensis Social Media Report May 2012
Australia’s internet use
Source: Sensis Social Media Report May 2012
Australia’s social media use
Source: Sensis Social Media Report May 2012
Australia’s social media use
What about Australian governments?
In mid-2012:
73% of Australian Government agencies reported using social media for official purposes
The social media majority
What the Australian Government is using social media for..Answer choice Response Share
For stakeholder engagement or collaboration 32 54.24%
Operating an information campaign 25 42.37%
Responding to customer enquiries/comments/complaints 25 42.37%
For engaging with journalists and media outlets 24 40.68%
For engagement or collaboration with other government agencies
24 40.68%
Monitoring citizen, stakeholder and/or lobbyist views and activities
17 28.81%
For a public consultation process 16 27.12%
For a stakeholder or other restricted access consultation 13 22.03%
Other type of activity (i.e. recruitment, crowdsourcing, staff) 11 18.64%
For policy or services co-design 7 11.86%
Over 1,000 online consultations in last four years
Over 860 Departmental Twitter accounts
Over 120 agency blogs
Over 250 Facebook pages
Over 300 agency mobile apps
Over 200 agency YouTube channels
At least 12 data competitions (13th in June)
At least 6 open data sites (7th coming in May)
All levels of Aus government
Growth in Twitter use
Open Government (through Government 2.0) allows governments to take on influential new roles
Government as media
Government as convenor
Government as platform
Crowdsourcing
