chieftech’s blog

In 2010, the Gov 2.0 community needs to think harder about how this movement will bridge economic disparity. Open data, open source, social media, transparency and collaboration are great, but look around the room at the people it serves and ask yourself, ‘how is this bridging the digital divide?’

I’m not saying Gov 2.0 isn’t accomplishing this on some scale. I’m saying there needs to be more of a conscious effort to do so. There needs to be consideration as to how this is catering to more than just the iPhone-wielding, Twitter-tweeting community, or we risk further alienating those who need government most.

An important point. Its something I've talked about back at the Public Spheres on Government 2.0 in Canberra and Sydney. However, its also important to remember that Government 2.0 doesn't need to save the world - it just need to contribute to help saving lots of little bits of the world in ways that really count. Its one reason why Patient Opinion continues to be one of my favourite case studies for meaningful Government 2.0.

The National Broadband Network (NBN) will turbo-charge our digital economy and enable Australia to become a global leader in using the online world - the world of the 21st century. It will make possible new ways of delivering all essential services.

We need to start planning now for this new world to ensure we maximise the opportunities that the National Broadband Network will provide.

The Government is hosting the Realising Our Broadband Future forum to map the applications and business models that will thrive in Australia's high speed broadband future.

The Prime Minister, the Hon. Kevin Rudd MP, will open the forum and a number of key speakers, including NBN Co. CEO, Mike Quigley and Jeff Cole, Director USC Annenberg School, will outline the potential of the NBN for Australia's digital economy. The forum will be co-chaired by Dr Paul Twomey and participants will include leaders from all parts of Australia.

Participants will contribute to five discussion streams. Over two days, these streams will debate the possible new applications and business models that will emerge in an NBN-enabled world, conduct a reality check of where we are now, and map what needs to be done to take full advantage of our high-speed broadband enabled digital economy.

Forum participants and the general public can contribute to the discussion via twitter and collaboratively edit the map of our next steps. Plenary sessions of the forum will be webcast live, with audio streaming of other sessions.

Talking of the fact the government is already making attempts to engage online, the next big online engagement is the Realising Our Broadband Future forum later this week.

Unfortunately I'm still working on Taskforce Project 8 and won't be able to attend, but I'll be keep an eye on proceedings. Even if you can't participate on the day (in person or online), you can still get involved by submitting and voting on ideas (although I think you'll need a Google account since they are using Google Moderator).

The model for this event has been strongly influenced by Sen. Kate Lundy's Public Sphere approach.

These are my slides from NSW Public Sphere yesterday. Shortly after my presentation, the NSW Premier announced the apps4nsw competition and data.nsw.gov.au, which is exactly the kind of initiative I was advocating in my presentation.

Also, if you're interested in exploring this concept of public service co-design (or simply service design) that I mentioned, there are some links referenced at the end of this recent Headshift paper for the Centre for Policy Development.

There are a lot of pictures, so I'll post some notes later.

This is very brief summary of key points, based on my presentation notes:

Slide 2: Global competition:

• There are positives and negatives.
• I told a story about visiting CeBIT in Germany in 2005.
• However, consider Australia’s Olympic record - we rank 11th in the world total medal count, but are the 232nd most densely populated country on the planet.
• So how should we we compete in a global Web 2.0 industry? For a start, we have to accept that this is *NOT* Sillicon Valley.

Slide 3: "1.3 million downloads @ $1 each"

• This refers to Firemint’s successful Flight Control Game for the iPhone.
• It easy to dismiss Web 2.0’s value - but do the math! The FIremint examples shows there is room for Australia to compete.
• Web 2.0 is creating new business models. Built on ideas, bits.

Slide 4: The Web 2.0 industry is *different*

• This picture is from BarCampSydney5
• BarCamp, Hackfests, OpenSource - the industry has its own rules and culture, enabled in part by the technology itself.
• The industry has a low barrier to entry, but it can be hard to be successful - think of “superstar” companies and the Long Tail.

Slide 5: Mismatch!

• Government likes big funding models (no issue with that) - e.g. NICTA, CSIRO, Unis, CRCs, etc - and typically offer support on the basis of $1 for $1 funding or 3-way consortiums.
• There is a risk that this can create a dependency economy for business, but I don't believe the Web 2.0 industry is begging for handouts.
• Major mismatch between government and the Web 2.0 industry - process of gaining funding is too slow, its the wrong funding models anyway and most importantly they have very different cultures!

Slide 6: Recommendation #1: Open Innovation

• Example of TJam - Tesco’s shopping cart API. Held a design session with developers and customers in August.
• Government needs to start seeding innovation and proving in-kind support
• We can still make the process transparent (Gov 2.0).

Slide 7: Recommendation #2: Adopt Government 2.0

• Talked about the CityRail and iPhone app example.
• Government could actually help to directly seed opportunities without the need for direct funding - this will help drive innovation and allow local companies to gain real world experience, with real world applications.
• This could actually increase the participation of government in the Web 2.0 community

Slide 8: Recommendation #3: Support the Web 2.0 community

• I look at the community with a knowledge management perspective (as I do the ICT Illawarra cluster).
• We need to support the “Gardening” of this community
• This gardening would help with succession planning, increase its national effectiveness - not just Sydney, but states and regions, and also globally.
• We *don’t* just need big stands at CeBIT

Slide 9: Summary 

• What about measurement? I suggest we look at the network value not each project/initiative.
• What about value for money? The amount of funding that would help nurture the Web 2.0 industry could be so small (relatively speaking) that we should just do it.

The Public Sphere Camp will be in Wollongong, and we are planning to simultaneously have events in Brisbane and Melbourne to broaden the input.  This is to see whether multiple physical locations improve a Public Sphere Camp, and encourage meetings and discussions therein.

Why will this Public Sphere be in Wollongong and not a capital city? Because we want to recognise that our regional areas are an important part of this knowledge and creative economy too. The University of Wollongong has created an Innovation Campus to foster industry development in the area and local ICT businesses are being supported by a new local ICT industry cluster, called ICT Illawarra (ICTI).

With my *other hat* on (for those that don't know, I'm the president of ICT Illawarra), I'm really excited that Kate Lundy (with some help from Pia Waugh of course) is taking Public Sphere on the road and bringing it to Wollongong. I've travelled a couple of times to Canberra and of course get up to Sydney on a weekly basis, so hopefully I'll see a few people make the trip our way this! The new Innovation Campus, where we're holding Public Sphere, is well worth a look.