Rialtas.net - Government 2.0

The Global Information Technology Report is the world’s most respected assessment of the impact of information and communication technology (ICT) on the development process and the competitiveness across the planet. This year, after covering 127 economies across Earth, Denmark came out on top.

The report notes the importance and benefits of strong government leadership and vision in identifying the importance of ICT for government and governance in Denmark.

“Denmark, in particular, has benefited from very effective government e-leadership, reflected in early liberalization of the telecommunications sector, a first-rate regulatory framework and large availability of e-government services.”

The Report features four thematic parts.

Part 1 includes the findings of the Networked Readiness Index (NRI) 2007–2008, together with a number of insightful essays on selected issues of networked readiness, with a specific focus on how it can foster innovation.Topics covered stretch from the link between innovation and ICT to recent trends in innovation (such as Unified Communications) and e-skills and telecommunications regulation in emerging markets.

Part 2 focuses on country/regional case studies showcasing best policies and practices in fostering networked readiness.This year, Singapore, Qatar, and EU cases are analyzed in depth.

Part 3 provides detailed profiles for each of the 127 economies covered in the Report, presenting a comprehensive snapshot of each economy’s current networked readiness status and allowing for international and historical comparison on specific variables or components of the NRI.

Lastly, Part 4 provides detailed data tables for each of the 68 variables composing the NRI this year, with global rankings.

The NRI rankings for 2007–2008 confirm Denmark as the most networked economy in the world for the second year consecutively, as a culmination of an upward trend observed since 2003.The other Nordic countries also continue to show their prowess in leveraging ICT for increased competitiveness, with Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and Norway at 2nd, 6th, 8th, and 10th position, respectively. Among the top 20, Switzerland is up two places, at 3rd position, continuing last year’s notable upward trend, while the United States improves three ranks to 4th place. Korea, at 9th, realizes one of the most impressive improvements (10 places) from last year among the 127 economies covered by the Report.

The Networked Readiness Index
2007-2008 rankings (top 50 of 127) download full ranking.

Click here to view and download the report

From the Register:

Top boffins have given economic backing to a campaign to relax access restrictions on government-collected databases, such as the Ordnance Survey’s unrivalled stash of UK mapping information.

The Department for Business, Employment and Regulatory Reform (BERR, formerly DTI) released the analysis, commissioned from a team at the University of Cambridge, last week. It refutes the oft-cited government line that allowing free access and reuse of national data assets would harm the economy.

The Free Our Data campaign has been arguing against that line for two years, and now has the sums to back up its smack talk.

In fact, 147 pages of number-crunching led to the conclusion that opening up the data vaults at the Met Office, Land Registry and a host of other agencies could benefit the economy to the tune of net £164m. The vast majority of that sum would come from the Ordnance Survey, however.Subject to a policy review, charges for accessing and reusing reams of data should therefore be dropped, they argue.

It would mean developers could freely access mapping data to create their own location-dependent apps, rather than be reliant on Google Maps, for example.

The Report ‘Models of Public Sector Information Provision via Trading Funds’ is available online.

It’s the same situation in Ireland with the OSI ‘owning’ all of the governments mapping data and licensing it at substantial cost to other government agencies and to private industries.

One can only imagine the amount of innovation that would be unleashed were this data to be made available free of cost to businesses and entrepreneurs.

Another immediately obvious benefit would be public safety.

In Ireland all Counties have a ‘Major Emergency Plan’ in place (The Plan provides for a co-ordinated response to major emergencies arising, for example, from a major road, train, air or river accident; a serious fire; violent storms; flooding or a dangerous incident) , and for all counties GIS assets and mapping data are an essential element of this plan.

In an emergency the emergency personnel may need relevant map data which also displays things like the location of gas pipes , power cables, water hydrants etc. In addition to basic maps of the area.

At the moment it is not clear if a major emergency occurred on a border between two counties, how this would be handled, as each counties mapping assets (licensed from the OSI) literally stops at the county boundary.

This could give rise to a situation where emergency workers have only half a map or two half maps of the emergency area. There is also the possibility that the two adjacent county councils have different (and incompatible) mapping systems, so there may not even be the possibility of easily creating a compound map.

Were OSI mapping assets readily and cheaply available however, each county could also store relevant mapping of adjacent counties, ensuring that in an emergency mapping resources would be readily available.

A taste of things to come… a web based virtual PC with 3GB email storage, 3GB file storage and access to a variety of productivity apps including a word-processor and spreadsheet and all for FREE…

This is an early example of Cloud Computing, an entire web based operating system. I’d guess that within 10 years most people will be accessing their OS and apps across the public web from similar systems and it seems to make sense for Enterprise and other large organisations to follow. Such an approach would undoubtedly make security easier to monitor, and ultimately, I believe, easier to manage. Infrastructure would also be much easier to manage with users requiring only a thin client with all the processing taking place on the server and with software and processing resources being served up on demand to a shared user base, upgrades taking place entirely on the server.

Sign up for an account at http://g.ho.st/ (but read the Terms and conditions first…)

see also DesktopTwo https://desktoptwo.com/

Raphael Phang, research director of Government Insights Asia/Pacific, a research and advisory firm predicts in the “Asia/Pacific Government 2008 Top 10 Predictions, January 2008″ Report:

In 2008, upcoming next-generation technologies, such as Web 2.0, virtualisation, mobile technologies and biometrics, will take centre stage.

Other top predictions presented and analysed in the study are:

• Infrastructure optimisation and IT resource re-purposing will pick up steam with virtualisation and consolidation strategies;

• “Gov 2.0” will replace “e-Gov” as governments seek to gain additional value from citizen interaction and business transactions;

• Governments will extend ICTs to strengthen national security while striving to ensure the privacy of citizen data. Technologies for disaster recovery efforts, citizenry surveillance and biometrics will still be key

Link to Cio Asia Blog Entry

Just thought I would draw attention to New Zealand’s E-Government Website
http://www.e.govt.nz/

The site is a resource for government agency people in New Zealand who need up-to-date, easily accessible and authoritative e-government information & resources to assist them to achieve their agency’s e-government goals.

The e-government goals:

• By 2007, information and communication technologies will be integral to the delivery of government information, services and processes.
• By 2010, the operation of government will be transformed as government agencies and their partners use technology to provide user-centred information and services and achieve joint outcomes.
• By 2020, people’s engagement with the government will have been transformed, as increasing and innovative use is made of the opportunities offered by network technologies.

The site contains information on the E-government Strategy, the history of the programme and the ongoing work programme.

This page outlines how the site can be of benefit to government agencies in NZ and can aid collaboration between agencies.

http://www.e.govt.nz/services/workspace/workspace-tools.html/view

The site also outline standards and best practices in a number of different areas from procurement to policy creation to online authentication.

It also hosts information on the NZ Government E-Government Strategy
http://www.e.govt.nz/about-egovt/strategy/nov-2006/index.html

The site also serves as a portal for access to the NZ public sector Intranet

http://www.e.govt.nz/services/psi

The Public Sector Intranet (psi.govt.nz) aims to provide a single point, accessible by all public servants, where they can share information with their colleagues. It makes it easy for people to find information they need for their work, and make contacts in other agencies. It enables a sense of community, shared interests, and cross-agency cooperation.

The Public Sector Intranet (PSI) is provided by the NZ State Services Commission. The Commission launched PSI as a full production system in mid-June 2006.

The homepage lists some outline information about the Public Sector Intranet:

Why do we need PSI?

To achieve shared outcomes and work across agency boundaries, we need tools which support cross-agency work. We can all use PSI to gather together useful information across agency boundaries.

Benefits of the PSI

We can organise and share information and resources for our colleagues to reuse, reducing duplication of effort and promoting collaboration. We can share good practice and specialised services designed for cross-agency use. We can find and access our online-communities and locate useful contacts.

There is no charge for joining or using the PSI.

What will be on it?

Information you can expect to access through PSI:

• news and links relevant to all agencies
• toolkits and good practice
• online communities and cross-agency projects.

How can my agency join?

• Most public service agencies, non-public service departments and Offices of Parliament have already joined
• State sector agencies that are interested in using PSI, are invited to contact the PSI Team.

The NZ ‘E-Government’ Strategy seems to have been recently expanded into an overall ‘Digital Strategy’ involving a large degree of public consultation

The Digital Strategy is about creating a digital future for all New Zealanders, using the power of information and communications technology (ICT) to enhance all aspects of our lives. It is an action plan for ensuring New Zealand is a world leader in using information and technology to realise our economic, environmental, social and cultural goals, more on the digital strategy…

It seems to me that New Zealand may be leading the way in developing an approach to formulating Government Technology strategy. Hopefully a few of the powers that be in Ireland are paying some attention…

A report carried out by sustainability consultancy Best Foot Forward shows that online council services in the UK can contribute to big cuts in CO2 emissions.

People who use the internet to contact their local authority, instead of writing or driving to council offices, could help save the equivalent of millions of air miles in carbon emissions, according to research commissioned by Communities and Local Government.

The research was based on real life data supplied by Sunderland City Council which showed that increasing the number of online applications for five key local authority services - planning, schools admissions, registrar’s certificates, environmental services enquiries and council tax payments.

The results revealed the city council could save 80,000 kg of CO2 each year. Rolled out nationally this is the equivalent of over 14,000 tonnes of CO2 or 5,362 return air flights from Heathrow to Malaga each year.

Parmjit Dhanda, e-Government minister said:

“We know that driving to the Town Hall to carry out a transaction uses 20 times more energy than doing it online. That’s why it’s so important that we encourage people to talk to their local authority through the web.

“The Best Foot Forward study supports Government plans for a low carbon economy and debunks the received wisdom that increases in IT server capacity negate any CO2 savings arising from the Internet economy.Communities and Local Government News Release

Download the report here:

http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/localgovernment/carbonefficiencies

Since its establishment in 2003, Second Life has grown significantly and now has more than nine million registered users or “residents”, 1.6 million of whom use it regularly.  Dublin in Second Life and is a well established destination for live music and DJs - It occasionally makes  the top ten list of the most popular places to visit in the virtual world.  Tourism Ireland partnered with PickSL to leverage the success of virtual Dublin as a Second Life destination, to promote the message of holidaying in the real-world destination.

Tourism Ireland’s decision was influenced by the fact that 60% of Second Life’s users are from Ireland’s four biggest tourist markets - Great Britain,  the US, Germany and France, and half those are more than 30 - a key demographic for tourism to Ireland.

I was a regular SL visitor about two or three years ago but at the time found that there weren’t that many Europeans visiting the world, and no groups representing Ireland existed at all. At the time I used to meet up with one of the UK groups that met up every weeknight on an island in the virtual world, with group members taking turns to stand on a virtual soapbox and discuss , politics, history, sociology and other topics having an academic slant. I found it to be quite immersive and engaging and have no doubt that virtual worlds will form an important part of the future web, and will play an important role in enabling such important elements of our lives such as democracy, education and business. Its worth signing up for a free account and taking a walk (or flying over) some of this virtual world.. go skiing, scuba diving, shopping or perhaps attend a meeting or a class..

….or  attend a gig in virtual Dublin… http://www.dublinsl.com/index.php

Here also are some users photos from Second Life on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=dublin+second+life

Here is an article from today’s Irish Independent comparing Irish broadband speeds and cost with some of our European neighbours.

Link

Shane Ross blog entry and Sunday Independent Article 13/14thJan 2008

Senator Shane Ross writes in the Sunday Independent (13th January 2008) and on his blog of the desperate need to roll out cheaper and faster broadband across Ireland and of how in addition to this ‘e-government’ in Ireland is stillborn he also highlights that John Purcell reveals that there has been no official egovernment strategy at all since 2006. The full report is available online here. Purcell states that

“The momentum towards developing eGovernment that existed in the early years of the decade appears to have faded somewhat more recently. This is evident in the absence of a formal eGovernment strategy since the beginning of 2006. However, the Department of the Taoiseach is currently working with other departments and agencies on the development of a new strategy.”

The report goes on to say “In some areas of the public service – for instance Revenue, the Department of Social and Family Affairs, and the Department of Agriculture and Food, as well as in smaller agencies such as the Property Registration Authority and Ordnance Survey Ireland – the opportunities offered by the new technology for business transformation and for meeting consumer demand were well recognised and largely addressed. In some other public service providers, it was not clear that the opportunities were as well recognised.”

I am not sure I would totally agree with this as in my experience the Ordnance survey lags behind some of the local authorities in providing services and opportunities to business, they also seem to have a very restrictive licensing model and as a result of this a lot of other mapping providers are now entering the market and providing a platform to business that it could be argued should have been provided by the OSI for free as a public infrastructural service.

In my opinion one of the functions of government and state organisations in the Web 2.0 era is to serve as a platform for the development of business and industry by providing services and information to business which will allow them to effectively grow and deliver new services and products to the marketplace.

Steps are being taken in this direction for example the new Reuse of Public Sector Information (PSI) directive from the EU. There are a number of opportunities now for state organisations to utilise some emerging technologies to provide additional support and resources to businesses, opportunities for government organisations to serve as platforms for the development of business. This website will largely be about suggesting and highlighting these technologies and hoping that some organisations might consider the opportunities for enhancing government services which could be provided by these technologies.