Government pressure for councils to increase their competitiveness could lead to a conflict of interest with its separate drive to boost openness of public sector data, an e-government specialist has told E-Government Bulletin.
Speaking in a personal capacity, Carl Haggerty, enterprise architect at Devon County Council, said local authorities face two conflicting agendas. “One of ... Read More
Archive for the ‘News’ Category
Open Data/Competition ‘Conflict of Interest’, Specialist Warns
Monday, July 12th, 2010UK To Oppose UN Control of Internet, Minister Pledges
Monday, July 12th, 2010Moves by some member states to bring the technical systems governing the global internet within formal United Nations control could result in the network splitting in two, a UK government minister has warned.
Internet development should continue to be overseen informally by the international Internet Governance Forum (IGF) – a multi-stakeholder partnership between government, industry, Parliament ... Read More
Government ‘Must Be Prepared’ For ‘Crowdsourcing’ Response
Monday, July 12th, 2010A ‘crowdsourcing’ website launched by the UK’s coalition government, encouraging citizens to voice opinions on legal reform, will only have value if the government is “equipped and prepared” to deal with the huge amount of responses, one analyst has told E-Government Bulletin.
‘Crowdsourcing’, a term coined by technology writer Jeff Howe, refers to the acquisition of ... Read More
Young People Helped To Create ‘Apps for Good’
Tuesday, June 29th, 2010A mobile application allowing people to access information about their rights when being stopped and searched by police, and to rate and share their experience, is among the results of a recent pilot project to encourage young people to develop social ‘apps’ for smartphones.
The ‘Apps for Good’ programme ( http://appsforgood.org/ ) allows young people ... Read More
Online ‘Echo’ Grassroots Deliberation Seeks Critical Mass
Tuesday, June 29th, 2010Prototype software for online multilingual deliberation, grassroots networking and civil engagement has been released by its German creators for public testing at http://www.echologic.org .
The software, ‘echo’, is being developed by publicly-funded Berlin charity ‘echo source’. The charity aims to create the infrastructure for people and organisations to build their own projects linking into a ... Read More
Budget Realises ‘Worst Fears’ For Public Sector IT
Tuesday, June 29th, 2010Many of the public sector information technology sector’s worst fears about cuts were realised in last week’s ‘emergency Budget’ from the UK’s new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government, one IT policy expert has told E-Government Bulletin.
Martin Ferguson, head of policy at the Society of IT Management (Socitm), said that some of the cuts announced in ... Read More
Alun Michael Chairs Parliamentary IT Committee
Tuesday, June 15th, 2010The Right Honorable Alun Michael MP has been named as new Chairman of the Parliamentary IT Committee (PITCOM), a non-partisan group formed in 1981 to build links between Parliamentarians and the technology industry.
The appointment came as something of a surprise as PITCOM was reconstituted last week following the election of a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government: ... Read More
Coalition Cuts Becta, Web Institute But Boosts Open Data
Monday, May 31st, 2010Becta, the UK government’s agency for information and communications technology in education, is to be closed as part of the new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government’s plans to save an initial £6.2 billion through cuts in non-front-line public services.
Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announced the closure, which he said will save £80 million, last ... Read More
Online Debate Experiment To Unite 10,000 Random Citizens
Monday, May 31st, 2010An innovative pilot project to involve 10,000 randomly-selected German citizens in political debate and policymaking, one of the largest programmes of its kind ever undertaken, was launched this month.
BürgerForum (Citizens’ Forum) 2011 is aimed at devising ideas to promote and strengthen social cohesion and equal opportunities in an increasingly diverse society. A total of ... Read More
