IN THIS ISSUE:

• ‘G-cloud’ could save public sector ICT
• ‘Sim City’-style consultation game for schools
• Global corruption tackled by online project
• Giant map wins ‘GeoVation’ award
• EDem10 call for papers
• UK ranked fourth for e-government
• PITCOM Meeting report: Cloud Computing - Opportunity or threat?

NEWS: Government Cloud ‘Could Alleviate Supplier Dependence’.

The UK government's move towards ‘cloud computing’ heralded by its new ICT strategy could address many of the major problems faced by large-scale public sector ICT projects, according to one leading analyst....

Read full story here, ‘G-cloud’ could provide the answer...

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NEWS: ‘Sim City’-style game allows students to ‘govern’ borough.

A unique citizen participation exercise in which young people ‘govern’ a virtual simulation of their borough through an online platform echoing the popular computer game ‘Sim City’ is being used to help shape policy in Croydon Council, E-Government Bulletin has learned....

Read full story here, Unique online consultation exercise...

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NEWS: Global Survey Tracks Anti-Corruption Projects. A three-month online survey has been launched to index and track technology initiatives aimed at improving government transparency and tackling corruption in countries outside Western Europe and North America.... Read full story here, Online transparency project... Back to index

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NEWS IN BRIEF:

Giant Success: A giant floor map of the British Isles aimed at helping school pupils learn about geography has won the first prize of £11,000 in the GeoVation Awards, a project to recognise innovative uses of geographical data (see E-Government Bulletin issue 304: http://www.headstar.com/egblive/?p=384 ). The prize money from the Ordnance Survey-supported awards will fund further development of the ‘MaxiMap’, designed by Welsh entrepreneurs Rowena Wells and Ann Jones:

Quick link: MaxiMap Success

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Krems Calling: A call for papers for EDem10 - the fourth international conference on e-Democracy hosted by Danube University in Krems, Austria - has been extended to 1 March. The conference, part of the PEP-NET European e-participation network series of events, takes place on 6-7 May:

Quick link: EDem10, Krems:

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Global Exemplars: The UK has been ranked fourth in the world for e-government and online services by a United Nations (UN) survey, rising six places from its previous ranking and being outscored only by South Korea (in first place), the United States and Canada. The rankings form part of the initial findings of a wider report - '2010 United Nations e-government survey: leveraging e-government at a time of financial and economic crisis' - which is soon to be released in full:

Quick link: UN E-Government Survey

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PITCOM Meeting report: Cloud Computing - Opportunity or threat? UK public sector IT is now being shaped by a confluence of three powerful forces, Richard Kemp, Senior Partner at Kemp Little Solicitors, told January's House of Commons meeting of PITCOM, the Parliamentary IT Committee (http://www.pitcom.org.uk). The first stems from an increasing recognition that many flagship public sector IT projects over the last ten years have not lived up to their promise, Kemp said. "There are many IT projects in the UK public sector that do work, and work well. But these big projects are really demanding and very, very difficult to bring in on time, on budget and to the right standard." Dan Jellinek investigates some of the government's cloud computing plans.... Read full story here, Government cloud computing... Back to index