From the Attorney-General’s media release, the reforms will include “tightening the rules on sending personal information outside Australia“, which may limit the use of overseas hosted consultation tools for councils, agencies and businesses.

Delib had already recognised how important it is for organisations to know where their data is, which is why we host our apps locally in Australia via Rackcorp.

For those who don’t know, Internet Explorer version 6 (lovingly known as IE6) is a web browser that Microsoft released over a decade ago.  Because it renders web pages differently (in some cases dramatically differently) from more modern browsers, web developers spend a great deal of time creating workarounds so that IE6 users can still access our websites.  Of course, this increases the cost of product development without necessarily offering any benefit to the majority of web users who don’t use IE6.  Coupled with the fact that IE6 now only receives limited support from Microsoft, almost everyone is in agreement that this ancient and decrepit browser must be phased out.

This morning, we had a comment on last year’s post from a reader who was interested in how Citizen Space’s browser stats had changed.  Thank you Perry – you reminded me that I’d been meaning to re-do this analysis soon.  So here are the graphs comparing the numbers 11 months ago with where we are today:

Central Government Citizen Space – all users (admin and public)

All users by browser, May 2011

All users by browser, April 2012

These statistics roughly follow the browser trends of the general internet population*, with IE8 and 9 increasing in popularity while the older IE versions decrease as expected. Pleasingly, IE6 usage has roughly halved since last May.

Firefox, Chrome and Safari have gained more of a stronghold in the past year, although interestingly, Internet Explorer as a whole has retained a far larger share of Citizen Space users than worldwide browser usage statistics* would predict.

Central Government Citizen Space instances – admin pages only

Admin users by browser, May 2011

Admin users by browser, April 2012

When looking at the statistics for our admin users, the most exciting thing is that usage of IE6 has crashed by 90% – from 35% down to 2.4% of visits.  This is a great relief to us, and shows the huge effort that has taken place in government IT departments to upgrade users away from this insecure, ill-supported browser.

It’s worth noting that overall, usage of Internet Explorer among our Central Government users is more than 90%, compared to 34% worldwide*.

What next?

The interesting question is what levels of support to provide for different browser capabilities.  We currently provide Level 2 support for IE6, which means that all content must be readable and navigable, but differences in styling and layout may exist.  This works OK for our products at the moment, but as web users come to expect a richer and more fluid experience, the likes of IE6 are going to lag further and further behind.  How small does the percentage of IE6 users need to be before we can stop supporting it at all?

To other web developers: when do you stop supporting ancient browsers and those with limited functionality?  How much can you rely on the presence of client-side technologies like Javascript, cookies, HTML5, CSS3..?

To government IT managers (thank you for phasing out IE6 btw!) what level of support do you expect for older browsers?  Do security constraints dictate that you disable features like Javascript or cookies?

As always, I’d love to hear your views.

*Worldwide browser statistics from statcounter.com.

The chat starts at 8:00PM Eastern time on Wednesday 2nd May for Canadians, or at the following times for participants around the world:

• UK – 1:00AM Thursday 3rd May
• New Zealand – 12:00 midday Thursday 3rd May
• Australia east coast – 10:00AM Thursday 3rd May
• Australia west coast – 8:00AM Thursday 3rd May

You can participate or watch the chat via your favourite Twitter client, or using http://tweetchat.com/room/GovChat

We’ll post a transcript afterward in the Delib blog.

The talk was held at the Municipal Association of Victoria’s offices in Melbourne. It involved a horizon scan of Gov 2.0 in Australia (from me), followed by a even broader view of several international online initiatives by government from Chris.

I have embedded the slides and also wanted to highlight a few key Gov 2.0 changes and successes I’ve witnessed in Australia.

The internet has had a profound effect on society and on government.

The origins of our Westminster system of government lie back around the time of the Magna Carta in 1215, where the power of the British King was first constrained by nobles and then led over time to a Parliament as we know it today.

That long ago the fastest form of communication was a man on a horse, so government had to operate very differently and nations were not tied together in the way we see them today.

Through the 19th and 20th century we saw the rise of high-speed communications systems – railways and telegraphs, then telephone, radio and television. These produced a different dynamic for societies and governments. Suddenly it was possible to collect information for decisions much faster and to then broadcast these decisions in hours or days rather than months.

However while these technologies provided enormous mobility for populations and intelligence for government decision-making, there remained a fundamental gap in capturing public views prior to and during decision-making processes.

Radio and television were great at sending messages out, however those messages were crafted by (and for) a small group of wealthy distributors, advertisers or governments.

The internet turned this on its head – giving every individual connected a platform for both receiving AND distributing information and opinion. As Clay Shirkey has said, “it’s as if with every newspaper you gave away a printing press”.

This allows for a fundamental shift in society and in government. Suddenly citizens are empowered to share their views widely without requiring the ear of a broadcaster. Suddenly interest groups can distribute uncomfortable facts that large companies didn’t previously have to address. Suddenly government and corporate statements can be tested, discussed, analysed and deconstructed in real time – limited the ability to spin and allowing citizens to, enmasse, become active participants in civic discussions.

For many organisations – including governments – this can seem a threat or a challenge, however it is also an opportunity – to bring citizens ‘inside the tent’, to educate them on why decisions are made and to empower them to be involved in decision-making, or even take control of decisions.

Australia, as one of the world’s most connected nations, has seen the impact of the internet, and social media, first-hand. The relationship between ruler and ruled has changed, and they are both trying to learn and adapt to the new roles.

I am glad to say that Australian governments have largely embraced the opportunities provided by the internet (though there remain some hanging back). From my research about 73% of Australian Government agencies are now using social media, for stakeholder engagement, communication campaigns, customer enquiries, engaging journalists, monitoring online commentary and consultation processes.

Across Australia there are over 440 government Twitter accounts, many blogs, Facebook pages, mobile apps, YouTube channels and more.

Victoria has been a leader in this and, by my count, has more Twitter accounts than any other state or territory jurisdiction and an impressive array of online initiatives.

With all of this change governments are taking on new roles, as media providers, as community facilitators, as collaborators and becoming a platform of services and data that people can tap into and reuse.

We’re only partway through this change and can expect the role of government – and the role of citizens – to continue to change as the Gov 2.0 environment matures. However it is also important to remember that Gov 2.0 is an enabler and an amplifier – it doesn’t replace existing channels, nor does it work for all audiences.

Most importantly, Gov 2.0 doesn’t solve problems – people do.

So we need to keep learning, experimenting and working with each other to realise the potential benefits of Gov  2.0 – from productivity to citizen empowerment, being mindful that, in the end, these tools and goals must align to serve people better.

What this means is that I normally don’t know where I’m going, and certainly never know what to expect when I get there.  The surprises normally come in the form of travel (e.g. finding out that the only way to get somewhere is by boat-plane), in the form of location (e.g. discovering the place has an amazing beach metres from the meeting location) or in the form of weather (e.g. discovering it’s so cold you can skate to your meeting!).

Today’s excitement has involved mostly the middle of those 3 surprises – i.e. discovering an amazing meeting location.  In this case the amazing location was *Mornington Peninsula*, an amazingly beautiful Coastal  Shire about 45kms North East of Melbourne.

Mornington’s very much a bit of a *not so well kept secret* of a place, where (apparently) wealthy Melbourne-ites decamp at weekends for sea-related activities (surfing or sailing) – and has similarities to parts of Cornwall in the UK, with its natural coastal beauty.

Beyond Mornington being a super beautiful place, it also has a pretty progressive Council who are interested in how the internet and wider Gov20 technologies can be used to better engage their widely dispersed and (partly) transient population.

Very kindly Jenni and the comms team had organised a big group of Council staff to come and listen to me talk about our varied work in the *digital democracy space*.  Possibly the most interest aspect of the talk (for me at least) was the audience, who consisted of a wide range of people involved in the Council – from the Mayor, the CEO, Councillors and a wide breadth of Council staff – all of whom seemed interested in ways to help improve their engagement processes online.

Anyway, huge thanks to Jenni and her Mornington colleagues for organising the meeting, and I look forward to visiting the Peninsula in the near future! (Hope you enjoy the photos – if you look closely at the photo below you’ll see the skyline of Melbourne in the distance, 40kms away!)

Here’s a selection of potential new office locations we trialled whilst meeting lots of great government people across Perth and WA . . .

Burford Lunch Bar.  Strengths: great sausage sandwich.  Weaknesses: poor internet.

VANS cafe, Cottesloe.  Strengths: great coffee.  Weaknesses: (too) good chocolate brownies.

St Georges Terrace (the street).  Strengths: mobility.  Weaknesses: high chance of collision.

Beach front at Cottesloe. Strengths: great view.   Weaknesses: no coffee.

Beach on Rottness Island.  Strengths: sun.  Weaknesses: none.

We’re still deciding which one we prefer best – though I know which I’ll be voting for . . .

There has certainly been some interesting reflections following the event. Here are 4 take home pointers from us:

1) There needs to be an appropriate time to use social media. Conditions need to be created in order to allow the conversation to flow rather than simply the content.  As one camper rightly pointed out:

“There is a balance between people having a voice and letting them use that voice”

2) Using social networking makes the face to face time more valuable. A case can be created for using social media both at the beginning of a consultation and at the end – to reach out and to pull feedback. However, let’s not forget the value of face to face time within this process.

3) There is more transparency online than often given credit for. Understanding who the community leaders are online and what they are talking about could be an invaluable channel of communication.

4) Adopting appropriate platforms for communication. Joining up various channels of communication and identifying crossovers, helps ensure consultations are relevant, focused and above all engaging for the end user.

Also Social Simulator is awesome. A personal highlight of mine was getting a mini taster of The Social Simulator, an innovative tool used to simulate how social media can help in a crisis. Taking on the role of a Local Authority in a crisis, I certainly learnt a few lessons about taking the lead, communicating, fact finding and above all ensuring a clear and informed response to the general public.

Social Simulator session at Bluelightcamp photo courtesy of event updates

Thanks to the event organisers for making this possible and I look forward to the next unconference soon

It’s important in any consultation that the respondents are informed about the topic at hand, which is why there is relevant information embedded within the online consultation.

At the top of each page of the consultation is an embedded PDF of the consultation document; this is also included on the initial overview page of the consultation. This makes it easy for respondents to read the document in context without leaving the consultation page.

When information from the consultation document is relevant to a specific question it has been provided as ‘More information’ under the question.

There are also text boxes at the end of every question to encourage respondents to justify their responses. This encourages deliberation, and gives the opportunity to provide any supporting evidence which could then be considered by the Department of Health when reviewing the proposals at the end of the consultation period.

More information can be found on the Department of Health’s blog. The consultation is open until July 10th 2012.

How Local Authorities in England Are Using Social Media

Dean Spurrell from Ashford Borough Council has shared some interesting insight into how local authorities in England are using social media. In terms of uptake, 96% of the 78 local authorities he surveyed are currently using social media with the remaining few who aren’t planning to do so next year.

Although these are promising statistics, he argues there’s room for improvement in how the local authorities are actually using their social media accounts. Although the majority (two thirds) use it for a mix of one-way and two-way communications, 15% of local authorities were only using it for one-way communications and thus weren’t using their social media presence to fully engage with citizens.

It should come as no surprise that the most popular social media platforms used by the local authorities are Twitter (97.5%) and Facebook (93.2%) but it’s interesting to see that a majority are using YouTube (62.7%) and nearly half are on Flickr (47.5%). It will be interesting to see how many local authorities choose to expand their social media strategies to accommodate the recent exponential growth of Pinterest.

Read the post on the British Politics and Policy at LSE blog.

23 Examples of Good Social Media in the Public Sector

Over on Governing People, Dan Slee has put together 23 examples of where the public sector are using social media effectively. The majority of the examples are from the UK, including how Birmingham City Council are streaming their council meetings whilst encouraging comments and feedback on Twitter through the #bcclive hashtag.

The post also highlights some interesting examples of how new social media platforms are being utilised by the public sector in the US. The US Army has its own page on the new social network Pinterest which is now the third most popular social network in the US.

The team behind it have clearly done their research into what gets shared by users (the majority of whom are female) by providing a board for patriotic food items, DIY decor and women in the US army.

Another interesting example is how the new Facebook Timeline is being used by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). They’ve structured it so that you can view footage from from the relevant year by selecting it on the timeline with the page including content dating back to NASA’s opening in 1958.

Learn more about all 23 examples on Governing People.

Got any other interesting stories or articles to share?

Complete Streets is a city-based crowd-sourcing project which asks participants to identify six key aspects of their perfect street of the future, which will then have a bearing on development. Aspects include economic costs, longevity of infrastructure and access and mobility.

Correspondingly they’ve started 6 discussions, for a two week period, which is being heavily advertised across social media platforms and good old fashioned print media.  It’s grown into a lovely example of community-based participatory governance.  Why not have a closer look here?