E-government bulletin
ISSUE 329, 22 February 2011
A Headstar Publication www.headstar.com/egb
#s

IN THIS ISSUE:

Social networking

NEWS: Report Tracks Surge In Municipal Tweets.

More than two thirds of UK local authorities now have at least one Twitter account (314 councils - 73%) and a similar number have a Facebook account (267 - 67%), according to a report due to be published next week by the Society of IT Management (Socitm)....

Read full story here, Councils keep Twittering...

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NEWS: Online Word Games Restore Finland’s Archives

Online gaming techniques are being used by a project in Finland to collate and digitise huge volumes of historical documents from the country's national archives....

Read full story here, Public help protect cultural history...

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Making a Difference with Data site

NEWS: Public Resource Aims to ‘De-Specialise’ Open Data.

A website providing guidance on obtaining and reusing public authority data for the benefit of local communities is being launched today, in an attempt to ‘de-specialise’ and encourage public use of the ever-increasing amount of free public information which is being made available....

Read full story here, Spreading the open data message...

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NEWS IN BRIEF:

Free Datasets: A proposed amendment to the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act contained in a new Protection of Freedoms Bill would mean public authorities would be obliged to release new datasets requested by members of the public in an electronic format capable of reuse. Introduced to Parliament earlier this month, the bill is due for a second reading in the House of Commons on 1 March:

Quick link: Free Datasets:

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Cloud Phase: A series of detailed documents on phase 2 of the government's 'G-Cloud' programme - a proposed project to host information and resources in a government-wide cloud computing project - have been released by the Cabinet Office. Documents available include an overall G-Cloud Vision, and the programme's proposed commercial and implementation strategies, as well as its technical architecture:

Quick link: Cloud Phase:

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Video Democracy Finalists for the 2011 Reinhard Mohn Prize awarded by the Bertelsmann Foundation, a German think-tank pursuing reform and social improvement, have uploaded videos onto YouTube demonstrating their activities aimed at giving under-represented groups a political voice, and strengthening political participation. Selected projects up for the prize - worth 150,000 euros, and awarded to public sector bodies - include participatory budgeting in Recife, Brazil, and a 'deliberative governance' model adopted by the council of the US city of Hampton, Virginia:

Quick link: Video Democracy

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David Cowan

The EGB Masterclass:
Data security - controlling the risks.

Public sector information security breaches often hit the headlines, but are public bodies really any worse than private sector in this area? What are the main risks, now and in a future of ‘any time, any place’ access to systems through cloud computing, and how can they best be tackled? Dan Jellinek asked David Cowan (pictured), Head of Consulting at IT services provider Plan-Net....

Read full story here,
Maximising your organisation’s data security...


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ISSN 1476-6310