Online Consultation with Australian Government

The Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) have released the report: "Consulting with Government - online". This recommends an Australian Government online consultation forum for community consultation. They are now inviting agencies which are already using Web 2.0 for online consultation to come and talk about it. A later event will be held for agencies keen to use Web 2.0 for consultation.

AGIMO are not advocating scrapping existing agency consultation forums. They are to be commended for their cautious approach, compared with the UK Government's over hyped "Power of Information TaskForce".

The 32 page report is available in PDF and RTF versions. Curiously the PDF version is 2.3 MB, whereas the RTF version is only 138 KB. One of the practices I would like to see, and which AGIMO normally follows, is to produce small efficiently formatted electronic documents. In this case it appears someone pushed the wrong button when generating the PDF. A genuine web version (in HTML) would be better, but if the PDF could be made a reasonable size that would be good. Below is the executive summary and the recommendations from the report, converted to efficient HTML:

Executive Summary

The convergence of broadband and Web 2.0 technologies is transforming the way people use the internet to communicate and interact. As people embrace the interactive internet they expect to be able to interact with the Australian Government (the Government) using these new technologies. The increasing use of information and communication technology (ICT) to enhance government service delivery provides opportunities for agencies to engage and involve citizens and communities in new ways.

While traditional ways of engaging will continue, agencies are exploring online approaches for involving the community. To assist development in this area, the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO), a business group of the Department of Finance and Deregulation, conducted a public consultation on the proposed development and functionality of an Australian Government Consultation Blog.

The consultation sought the public’s view on online consultations and aimed to identify the public’s reaction to the concept of online consultation and whether people were interested in participating in such consultations. It also explored the motivational factors for participation and asked the public about general expectations of online consultations with government.

The consultation was conducted in three phases; a public discussion paper, focus groups and an online survey. The consultation was also discussed in popular Australian blogs.

In all three phases of the consultation there was overwhelming support for the concept of a Government consultation blog and discussion forum. Respondents expected that online consultations should form a part of the Government’s policy consultation process. However, when it came to actually participating in a Government forum, there was evidence to suggest that people who are not already engaged in online and political discussions would not actually participate. Respondents who had a positive interest in an Australian Government consultation forum indicated they would read and contribute to a blog.

Respondents provided a range of opinions on registration, moderation, the functionality of an online consultation website and privacy and security. The topic of moderation attracted the most debate amongst respondents. While the principle of automatically scanning comments for offensive language, and removing it automatically, was supported by the majority of respondents, many respondents rejected attempts to censor fringe but substantive opinions, however they were expressed. Respondents were enthusiastic about real time ‘web chats’ with Ministers, where people could pose questions and see them answered online. The idea of direct and immediate interaction with the top decision makers was of high importance to respondents.

Generally the public consultation indicated support for the development of a government online consultation web space that includes blogs, online discussion forums and details of public consultations. The findings suggested ways that the Government could encourage the public’s participation in online consultations. Respondents said they would be more likely to participate in government consultations if:

• the discussion topic were relevant to their personal circumstances;
• they had the opportunity to nominate the topics for discussion;
• discussion forums included the participation of Government officials;
• a range of registration options were available;
• the site was well designed, easy to find and use;
• participants were free to express their opinion without censorship; and
• it were unbiased in its operation.

Recommendations

ONE: To foster greater citizen participation in government policy making, the Australian Government should consider establishing an Australian Government online consultation forum, to complement existing forms of community consultation. It should:

• be accessible from a single online entry point - www.australia.gov.au; and
• progress in a phased approach with a few initiatives as a trial of the proposed functionality and to test and address some of the issues around registrations, participation and moderation.

TWO: Following an initial trial period, the Australian Government consultation forum should evaluate citizen and government participation and usage and, if appropriate, consider progressing to an interactive consultation forum. The interactive forum should:

• include a range of consultation mechanisms like blogs to generate ideas to inform the shaping of public policy and discussion forums to generate discussion around specific topics;
• include the ability for users to suggest topics for discussion;
• be easy to find and use and be comparable, in functionality, to existing online forums;
• include mechanisms that acknowledge contributions, allow users to rate other comments and provide email alerts of upcoming consultations;
• include policies for acceptable use, registration, participation, privacy and moderation guidelines; and
• include a feedback and evaluation section for users, both the community and government, to allow users to shape the site and for the continued improvement of the consultation forum.

From: Executive Summary and Recommendations, Consulting with Government - online, AGIMO, 2008

We are pleased to announce that the report, Consulting with Government - online , has been released this week and is available from

http://www.finance.gov.au/publications/consulting-with-government-online/index.html

The report presents findings and recommendations of our public consultation and research work on the Australian publics interest in consulting with Government online.

To further our work in this area we will be organising some roundtable events for agencies who are already consulting online using Web 2 technologies. If your agency is one of those and we have not yet spoken to you and you would like to participate please let us know.

It is anticipated that a second event will be held later in the year for agencies who are exploring the use of web 2 technologies and online consultation. If you are interested in attending this event we would also like to hear from you.

Please feel free to pass the report onto anyone you think may be interested....

Web Policy & Online Technologies
Australian Government Information Management Office
Department of Finance & Deregulation
Minter Ellison Building
25 National Circuit
BARTON ACT 2600

UK eGovernment Task Force Using a Blog

The UK Government has established the "Power of Information TaskForce" to come up with innovative ways to make government information more accessible. To demonstrate they are in earnest, they are using a blog to communicate and the ShowUsABetterWay.com competition with £20,000 in prizes.

While an admirable effort, I found the exercise a bit chaotic and lacking in focus. Also it may be hard for many to believe this is an officially endorsed UK Government activity. Research on emergency web sites has shown that official sites need to look credible by having a government logo and the traditional government (dull) format. The taskforce may have tried to be a little too trendy for their won good.

Ed and Tom’s report set out the social and economic gains that be achieved from better use of the data that government holds, as well as setting out how much further the government has to go to capitalise on these.

The Power of Information Task Force was established by Cabinet Office Minister Tom Watson MP in March 2008. We will be rising to this challenge over the coming months. We have broken the work down into two strands:

• Exemplars; and
• Enablers.

The exemplars will be small projects demonstrating the Power of Information principles in action broadly in the fields of:

• Criminal Justice;
• Health; and
• Education.

We shall stray out side these areas when interesting opportunities arise.

As these exemplars develop progress will be discussed on the blog. We are aware that we won’t have a monopoly on good ideas, so please come and share your thoughts and ideas in the comments. If you’re shy please email us at poi@cabinet-office.gov.uk

We see the enablers as being the structural barriers to innovation that exist at the moment. A good example would be the guidance to civil servants on use of social media. Before this was published on 18th June, then civil servants didn’t have a clear interpretation of the civil service code for finding a voice online - so.were impeded from blogging or participating on forums in a professional capacity.

We shall be discussing progress as we make it and sharing our emerging thinking. We are looking for a lively discussion in the comments so please share your thoughts.

Our Terms of Reference are:

To advise and assist the government on delivering benefit to the public from new developments in digital media and the use of citizen- and state-generated information in the UK, including those identified in the Power of Information Review.

The Taskforce will report to the Minister for Transformational Government at the Cabinet Office but work with public sector bodies where it sees benefit to the citizen or workforce. The Taskforce will operate in an open and transparent manner using modern media.

In the light of early progress since the Government responded to the Power of Information Review (Cm 7157 and the Interim Report) the Taskforce will consider the following sub questions:

• How can government further catalyse more beneficial creation and sharing of knowledge, and mutual support, between citizens?
• What more can and should be done to improve the way government and its agencies publish and share non personal information?
• Are there any further notable information opportunities or shortfalls in sectors outside government that those sectors could work to rectify?

The Taskforce will examine information created both by citizens and government and, like the Power of Information Review, is not about individuals’ private information, such as medical or credit records.

For further information, please contact the Task Force secretariat by email ...

For press enquiries please contact Alex Marklew on 020 7276 0436.

From: About the Task Force, Power of Information Task Force, 2008

Australian ePassport with embedded smartcard

My new Australian passport arrived only 13 days after I applied for it. This is an e-Passport or Biometric passport,with an embedded RFID chip in it with my digital photo. The cover of the passport has a symbol of a circle between two parallel bars, to indicate it has a chip, but otherwise looks like an ordinary paper passport.

There is a page about 0.5 mm thick in the middle of the passport which feels like heavy cardboard. This has the chip in it. When I hold it up to the light, I can see a credit card shape embedded in the page. The way this appears to have been done is to take the same mechanism as used in a contactless smart card and embed it in the page.

The data on the chip is protected with encryption, but the key is contained in the optically readable text in the passport. This is intended to prevent someone reading your passport electronically without opening it.

The wzMRTD free software can be used with wzPASS, to read electronic passports

Here are some of the data items wzMRTD supplies:

• fullName
• Document number
• nationality
• dateOfBirth
• sex
• dateOfExpiry
• facial image

Apart from the biometric data (facial image), these are the same items of data from the Machine Readable Passport Standard.

Applying for an Australian passport online

My passport was about to expire and I found I could fill out the application for a new one online. A web search on "password renewal" brought up up the Australian Passport Renewal Application Form.

The interactive online application did not work with the Firefox browser, but it worked with MS IE. Having Google maps to verify I put in addreses correctly helped, although the passport system seems to have its own address check. Also I used the wikipedia entry on average human height, to see I got mine about right.

The passport system asks a series of questions. The process is reasonably complex and I found it needed my full attention: I could not fill it in while chatting to some one at the same time. The system gives you a code so you can save your work part way through and come back to it later.

At the end the system provides a PDF file of the passport form. The applicant has to print it out in a very specific way (A4 paper of a specific weight paper). There is a system to track the progress of the application.

More difficult than filling out the form was locating a post office with the Australia Post system, so I could lodge the form. The interview at the post office was straightforward, with the details in my old passport being checked.

What took a lot of time was having a suitable passport photo taken. The post office was using an old Polaroid camera. There are very stringent rules for passport photos. It took three attempts to get a suitable photo, with three minutes between photos for the photograph to develop. This process is a lot easier when a digital camera is used.

The Department of Foreign Affairs uses facial biometric recognition software to check people against passports. Perhaps they could provide a simplified version of this as a web application, which checks if passport photos are suitable. The software could check if people were looking in the correct direction, not wearing hats or sunglasses, which are common reasons why photos are rejected for passports.

Japanese eGovernment Researchers in Australia

Researchers from the Center for Global Communications (GLOCOM), International University of Japan, are in Australia looking at e-government strategies. As well as government agencies , such as AGIMO and DCITA, they are dropping in to visit me at ANU. Suggestions as to who else they might talk to would be welcome.

Itinerary:

• 9 Oct: Canberra.
• 10 Oct: Canberra.
• 11 Oct: Melbourne.
• 12 Oct: Sydney.

They are interested in how e-government has developed in Australia and what is planned:

1. Current federal and state government strategies on e-government, such as the NSW Government's People First ICT Strategic Plan.
2. History implementation of e-government strategies and issues.
3. One-stop services for citizens and businesses and the response to these. As an example, the Australian Government Online Service Point (AGOSP) Program, which I set as an assignment at ANU.
   
4. Roles os state and federal governments in implementation.
5. Staffing for the procurement of information technology.
6. Open-source software.
7. Current state of e-government in Australia.

E-voting for Australian Elections

In August the Federal Government announced trials of electronic voting for the vision impaired and military personnel. The the legislation for this, the "Electoral and Referendum Legislation Amendment Bill 2006", has been passed by the Senate:

The Bill contains provisions that will:

• provide for a trial of electronically assisted voting for sight-impaired people;
• provide for a trial of remote electronic voting for Australian Defence Force (ADF) members and defence civilians serving outside Australia; ...

The Australian Government will provide additional funding to the AEC with a fiscal balance impact of $5.0 million over five years from 2006-07 (including $2.7 million in capital). The majority of the funding is being provided in 2006-07 ($3.8 million).

The funding will be used for the purchase of computer hardware and software related to the trial of electronically assisted voting for sight-impaired people and for the trial of remote electronic voting by ADF personnel serving overseas. Funding will also be used for the delivery of postal voting material to postal vote applicants by means other than post. ...

From: Explanatory Memorandum, Parliament of Australia, 2006

I have suggested the same electronic voting system could be used for disabled users, military personnel and the general public.

Oil-for-Food Inquiry Report On-line

In February I attended a hearing of the "Inquiry into certain Australian companies in relation to the UN Oil-for-Food Programme" and made some comments on its use of IT. The final report of the inquiry has been released on-line. This report consists of five PDF files (with a HTML version promised "soon"):

1. Summary, recommendations and background 346 pages 3231 KB
2. Negotiations and sales, July 1999 - December 2000 463 pages 1791 KB)
3. Sales, allegations and inquiries, January 2001 - December 2005 432 pages 2590 KB
4. Findings 396 pages 1417 KB
5. Appendices 428 pages 21960 KB
   

These are very efficiently encoded PDF files (about 10 to 50 kbytes per A4 page) and downloaded very quickly. A table of contents has been included for fast access to sections.

Unfortunately the inquiry chose to turn on the PDF security option which stops content copying or extraction. The effect of this is to make it difficult to copy sections of the report for reporting and analysis. They have allowed content extraction for access by the disabled. Attempting to stop coping sections of the report provides no real security and will just make harder accurate reporting and analysis. I have suggested to the Inquiry that security should be removed, especially if an unsecured HTML version is to be provided "soon".

This is one of the first major inquiries of the Internet age. Many of the revelations occurred due to email messages discovered by the inquiry staff and the word "email" occurs 68 times in Volume 1. The evidence is available on-line in electronic format and should provide a very useful resource for scholars, as well as journalists.

Curiously the word "Internet" only occurs once in the summary of the report and the inquiry seems dismissive of its importance saying "All they has was a database of prior contacts and the capacity to use the internet to make any other inquiries". Even at the time referred to (1999), the Internet was a powerful open source intelligence tool.