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Category: Government

Government gets to grips with social media

Government gets to grips with social media

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For any twitter users that were not already aware, a press release advising that Gordon Brown (No10 Downing St) now has a twitter account. Not sure if I should worry but I’m one of the 472 people mentioned as being followed. I’m sure he’ll lose interest in me very soon! Also of interest, the announcement by Cabinet Office Minister Tom Watson about the creation of a “Power of Information Task Force”, which will drive forward the Government’s pledge to meet…

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New Gov website fails accessibility standards

New Gov website fails accessibility standards

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Just picked up from Public Sector Forums (PSF) – the Cabinet Office have launched a new ‘Customer Service Excellence‘ website, which apparently fails the government’s standards for web accessibility, breaches the guidelines for government websites and contravenes the COI’s ‘Inclusive Websites’ guidance. The website claims to be ‘AA’ compliant, but accessibility expert Dan Champion described the site as “shockingly bad…. a catalogue of serious failings. Every page on this site fails WCAG level A on multiple checkpoints and requires significant…

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Civil Serf Cornered

Civil Serf Cornered

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For anyone following the story in the UK press, and the churn in the blogosphere, it would seem the internet blogger who published accounts of life as a civil servant at the heart of the Brown Government has been identified and suspended, as reported in the Daily Mail. Known by the pseudonym Civil Serf, she is a middle manager in the Department for Work and Pensions. All a bit sad really; it was certainly one of the more entertaining blogs…

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International e-Participation Symposium

International e-Participation Symposium

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The Empowering Citizens Through Technology and Participation Symposium has posted a couple of webcasts of the two-day event. I was presenting on the first day on the topic of building communities in the local government sector, using metaphors to describe how village communities developed around meeting places such as the village hall in by-gone years, and how communities of practice can flourish once a domain of interest is established (I used the Gosport Allotment Holders association as a contemporary example,…

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International ePaticipation and Local Democracy Symposium

International ePaticipation and Local Democracy Symposium

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I will be attending (and presenting) at the International eParticipation and Local Democracy Symposium on 28/29 February. I will be joining Diane Downey (Assistant Corporate Head of ICT – Delivery, Sunderland City Council), Richard Wilson (MD of Involve) and Matt Rhodes (Head of Research, FreshNetworks) in a joint session entitled “Citizen Empowerment: Where do we begin?” Full agenda here Symposium Agenda.  I’m anticipating (nay – hoping) the session will stimulate some discussion on the apparent dichotomy between empowering citizens to…

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ID cards and the database state

ID cards and the database state

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Anyone who believes that the UK government is doing a sterling job in protecting our personal information, and that the recent lapses at HMRC, the NHS, the MOD, the ONS, The Driving Standards Agency….etc. are just unfortunate ‘one-off’ mistakes, or if you’re gung-ho about having a shiny new biometric ID card, then you probably shouldn’t visit NO2ID. I’m sure you’ll make up your own minds though!

Gov 2.0: Truly Transformative Government

Gov 2.0: Truly Transformative Government

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I attended the “Gov 2.0, or Truly Transformative Government” seminar held at Portcullis House yesterday afternoon. The event was sponsored by the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) and in partnership with the Oxford Internet Institute. The purpose was to look at how Government can exploit the success of the contemporary Internet. The event preamble stated:“Usage of government websites is on the rise but has yet to take off like Facebook, iTunes and many other spectacular examples. In this…

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HMRC loses personal details for 25million people

HMRC loses personal details for 25million people

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So, we wake up today to the news that our favorite government agency – Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has been responsible for the loss of personal data for 25 million people. The data included names, addresses, bank details, national insurance numbers etc., so possibly of mild interest to the criminal fraternity out there. What I can’t get my head around is why the Government spends so much time, effort and money on developing standards such as e-GIF, which…

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Government report: The Power of Information

Government report: The Power of Information

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The Cabinet Office have commissioned a report – The Power of Information – from Ed Mayo (chief exec of the National Consumer Council) and Tom Steinberg (the man behind mySociety and PledgeBank) to look into the ways government can benefit from user-generated sites, particularly with a view to creating APIs to allow mash-ups with public sector data (like the Ordnance Survey). Press announcement here. Good to see the that the power of Social Media has penetrated to the heart of…

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Road Pricing Petition

Road Pricing Petition

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I assume that like me, anyone who signed the road pricing petition (see earlier blog)  got their ‘personal’ email from  Tony Blair today. For anyone   interested in seeing what Tony has to say about it, you can find a copy of the email here: Download epetition_response_from_the_prime_minister.htm .