Allison Hornery – Insights@Cofluence

MAPPING THE PUBLIC INNOVATION ECOSYSTEM

Allison Hornery — Wed, 19 Aug 2015 08:53:21 +0000

The recent GovCampAU Innovation Dialogues kicked off a process of enquiry to better understand the current landscape and nature of public sector innovation. Using the work of Christian Bason in his book Leading Public Sector Innovation, public purpose practitioners from around Australia workshopped the following questions:

What are the current TRIGGERS for public sector innovation – and what perhaps should be?
Where are TYPES of public sector innovation happening – and where should they?
How do we VALUE public sector innovation – and how should we?

While a preliminary analysis of this exercise shows some useful trends within individual cities as well as across the country, we see value in extending this social knowledge process into a deeper understanding of the dynamic ecosystem that exists within this landscape.

So, we’re kicking off a national, open initiative to comprehensively map the public sector innovation ecosystem. The initiative will be supported by a national advisory team including the Australian Innovation Research Centre and the Behavioural Insights Group, and offers an opportunity for public sector practitioners to take part in an ‘action research’ program with practical, tangible value to their day-to-day work.

Interested in being part of the team? Let us know soon – we’ll be starting to scope the program in the countdown to the national GovCamp LiVE event at the end of November.

data.gov.au – a year in the life

Allison Hornery — Tue, 19 Aug 2014 07:56:16 +0000

Listen to a live GovCampus recording to celebrate the first anniversary of the re-booted data.gov.au portal. Hosted by John Wells, the podcast conversation features (pictured below from left-to-right):

John Sheridan, Australian Government Chief Technology Officer
Pia Waugh, Director Coordination and Gov 2.0, Australian Government Department of Finance

During the podcast recording John and Pia were joined remotely by international special guests:

Prof Sir Nigel Shadbolt, co-founder Open Data Institute, UK
Jacques Mailloux, CIO, Elections Canada / #OGT14 Ottawa champion
Richard Pietro, host, Open Government Tour 2014 (#OGT14), Canada

This event was recorded in front of a live audience as part of Australia’s national Innovation Month in 2014 convened by the Canberra-based Public Sector Innovation Network.

About the Australian Government’s data.gov.au portal

Data.gov.au provides an easy way to find, access and reuse public datasets from Government. The main purpose of the site is to encourage public access to and reuse of government data by providing it in useful formats under open licences. It was created following the Government’s Declaration of Open Government and response to the Government 2.0 Taskforce Report.

The purpose of this online service is to encourage public access to and reuse of government data by providing it in useful formats and under open licences.

data.gov.au was originally launched in 2010. In subsequent years open data technologies matured rapidly leading to a relaunched in 2013 using best of breed technologies and techniques adapted from data.gov.uk and around the world. The new platform (CKAN) has proven to be extremely flexible, scalable, extendable, easy for data custodians to publish data and easy for the community to discover, reuse and visualise government data. More on the state of open data in Australia can be found at http://data.gov.au

Open Gov Tour 2014

Allison Hornery — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 11:37:48 +0000

On 2 July, Richard Pietro will start an epic journey of 20,000 kms, riding a motorcycle across Canada to start a series of city conversations about Open Government.

We’re excited to be a social communication partner for the Open Government Tour 2014. In the countdown to Richard’s departure, and throughout his journey, we’ll be producing a special series of interviews with Canadian leaders and practitioners of open government, as well as local city event organizers from across Canada.

Check out the Open Government Tour 2014

Knowing What To Look For: international Privacy Awareness Week

Allison Hornery — Fri, 02 May 2014 04:21:26 +0000

Privacy complaints and enquiries are on the rise. We talk with Timothy Pilgrim, Australian Privacy Commissioner in the countdown to the international Privacy Awareness Week (PAW) 2014.

Australian survey results suggest that 60% of people have chosen not to deal with an organisation because they were concerned about their privacy. Australia commenced new privacy reforms on 12 March 2014 requiring organisations to be more transparent about their information handling practices. This means organisations have to include more information in their privacy policies. But do consumers know what to look for in corporate privacy policies?

PAW is an initiative of the Asia Pacific Privacy Authorities Forum (APPA) and participating Pacific Rim nations circle from South through North America, through Asia to Australia.

About Timothy Pilgrim

Timothy was appointed as Privacy Commissioner in 2010 after holding a number of senior management positions in a range of Australian Government agencies, including the Small Business Program within the Australian Taxation Office and the Child Support Agency.

Timothy has also played an important role in the implementation of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) Privacy Framework, which aims to promote a consistent approach to information privacy protection across APEC member economies. Timothy has also been closely involved in developing a framework for privacy regulators around the world to cooperate on cross-border enforcement matters.

How you can use this episode

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Episode links and resources

Privacy Awareness Week
Asia Pacific Privacy Authorities forum (APPA)
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) Privacy Awareness Week
Privacy Awareness Week Australian partners
Privacy reforms (from 12 March 2014):
- What the new reforms mean for business and government.
- Australian Privacy Principles (APPs)
A sampler of OAIC privacy resources
- What to look for in a privacy policy poster
- Privacy fact sheet 24: How changes to privacy law affect you
- A quick summary of what is covered by privacy and who is covered by privacy laws
- Summary of key findings in the OAIC survey report (+animated infographic)
- OAIC quarterly statistics updates
- OAIC Community attitudes to privacy survey (including a summary of key findings)

60-second snapshot

Tips for consumers, government and business about privacy:

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Twitter hashtags: #2014PAW #opengov #privacy

GTEC 2013 and the landscape of GovTech in Canada

Allison Hornery — Sat, 19 Oct 2013 03:06:08 +0000

Government Technology Exhibition and Conference (GTEC) is widely regarded as Canada’s pre-eminent Gov-Tech Conference. Thom Kearney and Richard Pietro talk to us about their experiences with the 2013 conference in October and, against that backdrop, discuss how the govtech landscape is shifting in Canada.

About Thom Kearney

Thom is a public sector strategist with Rowanwood Consulting. He is the the founder of #govchat weekly twitter chat as well as GCPEDIA. He describes himeself as a “Digital strategy guy, helping executives get the most from technology and their organizations. Occasional storyteller. Facilitator of solutions. Information jungle guide.”

About Richard Pietro

Richard is a former political candidate who has chosen to enter the world of civic engagement by joining the ranks of the Open Government and Open Data community. After representing the Green Party during the 2006 Federal, 2007 Provincial, and 2008 Federal elections, Richard recognized that although elections may be the fundamental element of a Democracy, the opportunity to participate in your government is the Spirit of a Democracy.

This led him to become a founding member of CitizenBridge, a not-for-profit Democracy 2.0 platform that “allows the public to become active participants with their government, instead of being passive observers of their government.”

How you can use this episode

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Episode links and resources

GTEC 2013

GCPEDIA

Richard Pietro’s blog

CitizenBridge

Open Data Workshop “Imagine your own perfect civic application”

TEDxToronto Talk – Dave Meslin “Redefining Apathy”

Treasury Board of Canada Open Source Project: Web Experience Toolkit

Thom Kearney’s GTEC 2013 tweets: http://www.twissues.com/thomkearney/GTEC13

60-second snapshots

On the new language of GovTech in Canada:

On the idea that “Business is from Mars, and IT is from Venus:

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@ThomKearney
@RichardPietro
@GTEC
@citizenbridge

Twitter hashtags: #gtec13

Connecting citizens to civic performance in Edmonton

Allison Hornery — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 21:21:09 +0000

The City of Edmonton has launched a Citizen Dashboard on top of their open data catalogue. Ashley Casovan, Edmonton’s Strategic Coordinator for ICT, explains how the initiative is creating new insights for citizens as well as city officials about how the city is performing on delivery of a selection of key services.

The Dashboard enables Edmonton-ains (and others) to use simple visualisations or dig deeper to look at performance measurement data as well as the legislation underpinning them.

I think this has really set a precedent for making performance measures really understandable.

About Ashley Casovan

Ashley is the Strategic Coordinator for the Chief Information Officer at the City of Edmonton. Passionate about creating open government and enhancing community engagement, she is currently working on several innovative projects within the Information Technology Branch, the City of Edmonton and beyond. Prior to working with the City of Edmonton, Ashley was a political organizer in Canada and the United States. Outside work, Ashley is an active board member with Next Gen, Equal Voice Alberta North, and the Institute of Public Administration, Canada’s New Public Servant Committee.

How you can use this episode

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Episode links and resources

City of Edmonton Citizen Dashboard

Transforming Edmonton strategic plan

60-second snapshots

On gaining organisational support for open data activities:

On lessons learned from the citizen dashboard so far:

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@AshleyCasovan

Twitter hashtags: #opendata #yeg

Connecting the communicators with CommsCamp

Allison Hornery — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 12:24:44 +0000

CommsCamp 2013 brought together practitioners from across UK Government to Birmingham for an unconference about all things communication in the public sector. Ann Kempster from the UK Government Communication Network, and one of the co-organisers of the event, shares some of the key themes and insights from the event.

Photo by Paul Clarke

The whole concept of unconferences and participant-led events is just so mind-bogglingly amazing that it’s hard to put into words – just to see people coming together and start talking to each other who possibly wouldn’t have before… that’s why I do it, and that’s what touched me most about the day.

About Ann Kempster

Ann Kempster is Digital Communications Manager for the Government Communication Network based in the Cabinet Office. She has worked in the UK Civil Service for the past 7 years. She is also co-organiser of CommsCamp13, an unconference for professional communicators in government, with Dan Slee and Darren Caveney of Walsall Council and Comms2point0.

Ann blogs (not enough as she’d like) at www.annkempster.com. You can also find her on Twitter at @annkempster

How you can use this episode

Listen to the episode

Episode links and resources

CommsCamp website

UK Government Communication Network

Comms2point0

Blog post by Kate Bentham on her CommsCamp experience

60-second snapshots

On the role of digital in the comms mix:

On the power of unconferences:

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@commscamp
@UKgovcomms
@comms2point0

Twitter hashtags: #commscamp13

Creating a Commons for Europe

Allison Hornery — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 12:48:50 +0000

Inspired by programs such as Code For America, the newly-formed Commons4Europe program is working with seven cities to bring together government administrations, digital innovators, volunteers and local businesses to develop and push a civic transformation program. Esteve Almirall and Carles Ferreiro from the Commons4EU consortium, based in Barcelona, Spain, explain the integrated approach they’re taking to innovation and development across a diverse range of civic cultures.

In Europe, the culture is not so much a start-up culture, but more like a co-creation culture with different parts of society – cities, developers, organisations and civil society in general. And things may look… and maybe are!… a little bit slower as a result of this approach, but it’s a different way.”

About Esteve Almirall

Esteve Almirall serves as Associate Professor in Esade Business Schoool and UPF (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) focusing his research on Innovation and Innovation Management where he has more than 30 publications on the field. His work has been referenced in HBR and he is a frequent speaker in conferences around Innovation, Smart Cities, Living Labs and Open Data/Gov.

His background is a mix of Management Science (PhD) and Computer Science (MSc, MRes). Esteve is also highly involved in European Projects and EU organizations being Council Member of the ENoLL (European Network of Living Labs) and coordinating/participating in some EU projects on Innovation and Smart Cities, such as Open Cities and Commons for Europe.

About Carles Ferreiro

Carles is the CEO of dotopen, a digital enterprise focused on open innovation particularly within cities.

How you can use this episode

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Episode links and resources

Commons4EU website

ESADE

dotopen

60-second snapshots

On a co-creation approach:

On the entrepreneur as a change agent for civic innovation:

Commons4EU – explaining Code for Europe and BuB for Europe initiatives through their fellows

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@commons4europe

Twitter hashtags: #commons4eu #opengov #opendata

Utah.gov saves $61m through online service delivery

Allison Hornery — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 22:13:40 +0000

The State of Utah has been well regarded for a number of years for its portal at Utah.gov, and the University of Utah’s Center for Public Policy and Administration has recently completed a study to quantify the financial benefit of delivering these online government services. The results – based on just nine online services from over 1,200 available at Utah.gov – found a total of $61 million saved over five years.

Tune in to hear from Dr Jennifer Robinson from the Utah University’s Center for Public Policy and Administration and Rich Olsen from Utah Interactive talk about the findings from the report, and the importance of measuring the impact of online service delivery.

When we go to agencies, it’s really a great story to be able to say “We know times are tough, we know budgets are down, we know things are getting slashed – and it might sound a little counter-intuitive but maybe you should invest in an online service.” The fact of the matter is, it saves money and in the long run it saves a lot of money.

About Dr. Jennifer Robinson

Jennifer Robinson serves as the Director for the Center for Public Policy & Administration at The University of Utah. With a solid commitment to both scholarship and practice, Dr. Robinson works to ensure that research contributes to sound policy making, implementation, and administration.

Dr. Robinson is held in high regard in both the business and government communities for her work as well. She is a member of the Salt Lake Chamber’s Capitol Club, the Utah League of Cities and Towns’ Policy Advisory Board, and the University of Utah’s Veterans Day Committee. In the past several years, Dr. Robinson has done extensive research on elections, political participation, and governance. Dr. Robinson’s current projects include a number of research projects for local and state governments, co-editing a book with Dr. Patton on policies in the western United States, and developing a book on American Indian political behavior based upon the research completed for her dissertation.

About Rich Olsen

Rich Olsen is the General Manager of Utah Interactive, a subsidiary of NIC., the leading provider of e-government services in the USA. He has more than 13 years of experience leading a wide-range of online service deployments on behalf of public sector entities. In his current role, Mr. Olsen leads NIC’s management of Utah.gov, including the ongoing development of Web 2.0, e-commerce and other digital solutions delivered by the State through Utah.gov.

Based in Salt Lake City, Mr. Olsen leads NIC’s team of software engineers, designers, project managers and marketing executives working solely on Internet initiatives that bring government closer to citizens. During his tenure in Utah, Utah.gov has placed first in the Center for Digital Government’s “Best of the Web” rankings, which honor outstanding government portals and Web sites based on their innovations, functionality and efficiencies, in both 2007 and 2009.

How you can use this episode

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Episode links and resources

Utah.gov

University of Utah’s Center for Public Policy and Administration

Report on Financial Benefits of Online e-Government Services in Utah (pdf)

Blog post from Utah CIO Dave Fletcher on the report: The efficiency of E-Government

Utah Interactive

60-second snapshots

On why measuring online service delivery is important:

On lessons learned building Utah.gov:

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Twitter hashtags: #utahgov

Helping governments understand the information economy

Allison Hornery — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 23:33:03 +0000

How can ICT-fuelled trade and economic development help build sustainable communities? The United Nations Commission on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) focuses on innovative ways to improve living standards through trade, investment, finance and technology, particularly for developing countries.

Torbjörn Fredriksson, UNCTAD’s Chief of ICT Analysis, explains the how good macro- and micro-level data and insight leads to adopting good policies, and highlights how a healthy e-business sector can make a significant contribution to more sustainable communities and economies.

In the area of ICT, what we really need a lot of is impact assessments – to understand what is working, what is not working and why… if government officials don’t have good data it’s very difficult to adopt good policies.

Torbjörn also discusses the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) 10-year review, and highlights how collaborations between agencies and disciplines is critical to achieving the objectives of development agendas.

About Torbjörn Fredriksson

Torbjörn Fredriksson is Chief of the ICT Analysis Section of the Division on Technology and Logistics at the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). He is among other things the lead author of the annual Information Economy Report, responsible for UNCTAD’s work on measuring the information economy and lead facilitator of the WSIS Action Line on e-Business.

Torbjörn joined UNCTAD in 2000 and was for eight years one of the principal authors of the World Investment Report. Before joining UNCTAD, he held positions at the Invest in Sweden Agency, the Swedish Ministry of Industry and Commerce the Industrial Institute for Economic and Social Research in Stockholm. He is the author of several books and has published articles related to international trade and investment in such publications as the Journal of International Business Studies, International Journal of Industrial Organization and the Journal of World Investment.

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Episode links and resources

UNCTAD website

World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)

WSIS e-business action line

60-second snapshots

On the importance of measuring the information economy for governments:

On managing expectations about ICT as a tool for development:

On why e-business is important to community development and sustainability:

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People and organisations:
@UNCTAD
@WSISprocess

Twitter hashtag: #ICT4D #ebusiness