• Craig Thomler, Gov 20. Advocate and General Manager Delib Australia
• Mary-Anne Williams, Associate Dean Engineering and IT, University of Technology Sydney
• Susan Sly, Chief Information Officer, VicRoads
• Don Easter, IT Supplier Advocate, Australian Government

Photo courtesy CeBIT Australia

For me, [the relationship between e-Government, Gov 2.0 and open government] is very much a continuum, and a continuum with people on very different parts of the maturity curve at any point in time.

The broad-ranging conversation tackles questions such as:

• What are the connections between e-government, Gov 2.0 and open government – is it a continuum?
• What is the role of citizens in creating “Society 2.0”?
• Why is big data important to government?
• What are the big questions for 2014?

A lot of Gov 2.0 is government having conversations with itself… there’s an internal dialogue that’s going on within government that’s possibly the most important part of it because it’s actually government questioning “Are we doing things the best possible way, and can we improve it?

About the Panel

About Susan Sly

Susan Sly has worked in the IT industry for thirteen years with prior experience in HR and management across the oil and gas industry, Defence and state government.

Susan’s role in VicRoads spans strategy, security, operational service delivery, project management, business intelligence, spatial services and sourcing for VicRoads information management and technology capabilities.   VicRoads processes more than 22 million transactions a year for 3.7 million licensed drivers and 4.9 million registered vehicles, manages 22,000 km of road network and supports a range of planning and enforcement activities for road safety purposes.

Susan’s key priorities for the next two years are embedding new practices and team capabilities to reflect emerging industry standards, supporting productivity initiatives across the business, operationalising new technology suites and enhancing the use of the organisation’s information stores.  Particular interests that she will progress include the use of social media to share knowledge & enhance productivity and enhanced industry engagement within the government environment.

About Craig Thomler

Craig is one of Australia’s leading social media and Government 2.0 advocates and practitioners, having spent more than 15 years working in the online industry, including five in Australia’s Commonwealth Public Service.

In 2009 Craig was awarded the inaugural Government 2.0 Individual Innovator Award by the Australian Government’s Government 2.0 Taskforce and in 2010 was named one of ‘The Top 10 Who are Changing the World of Internet and Politics’ by PoliticsOnline and the World eDemocracy Forum in France.

Recognised internationally as a social media and Government 2.0 leader, Craig presents regularly around the world on new media strategy and practice and blogs at eGovAU) (http://egovau.blogspot.com)

About Mary-Anne Williams

Professor Mary-Anne Williams is one of Australia’s leading researchers in Knowledge Representation, and Past President of KR Inc, the peak body for Knowledge Representation. Mary-Anne chaired the Australian Research Council’s 2012 ERA Panel for Mathematics, Information and Computing Sciences and served on the ARC College of Experts. Mary-Anne leads the emerging area of Social Robotics in Australia, is listed on 25 women in robotics you need to know about, and serves as Review Editor for the prestigious Artificial Intelligence Journal. Mary-Anne is a Fellow at Stanford University, a Guest Professor at the University of Science and Technology China, and her work has been adopted by industry, notably Infosys and IBM Research. This year she chaired the Industry Track at the International Semantic Web Conference.

About Don Easter

Don Easter is an accomplished senior executive and company director with extensive experience and networks internationally and in Australia.  Don has led turnaround, growth and considerable change programs in both large and small companies.

His expertise includes sales, product development, operations, risk management and setting and executing strategy.

Don has managed businesses in Australia, New Zealand, Europe and the United States of America with appointments that have included Managing Director of Electronic Data Systems (EDS) Australia, Senior Vice President Private Equity for ABN AMRO and General Manager, Credit and Risk for AGC.

In his part-time role as Information Technology (IT) Supplier Advocate, Don brings strategic leadership, access to decision-makers and senior executive weight to help enhance industry-led activities aimed at raising the competitiveness of IT SMEs firms and linking them with business opportunities.

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• GovInnovate 2013 

Big qs for 2014 via panel: How do we do it better, how do we get leadership mandate, what can tech do, how can ppl connect #GovInnovateCeBIT

— Cofluence (@Cofluence) November 28, 2013

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• Twitter hashtags: #govinnovatecebit #gov2au #opengov

Max Hardy talks about the differences between consultation and collaboration, and how “inviting people into your dilemma” can lead to more enduring solutions, and how complexity theory can help shift your perspective.

You come into this domain of complexity, which is where you only know what’s going to work after you’ve actually done it – you can’t predict it in advance.

About Max Hardy

Since joining Twyfords in 1997 Max helped establish the International Association for Public Participation Australasia. With a particular interest in Deliberative Democracy and Appreciative Inquiry, he has developed innovative models for community engagement covering a range of projects, including those with a social planning emphasis as well as infrastructure/natural resources management projects.

In 2005 Max played a major role in the preparation of the “Brisbane Declaration on Engaging Communities” which was presented to the United Nations.

In 2007 at a ceremony in Arizona, USA Max along with the ACT Disability Advisory Council was awarded the IAP2 (International) Award for “Project of the Year” for the design and implementation of the Challenge 2014 Project.

In 2009 Max co-facilitated Australia’s first Citizens’ Parliament at Old Parliament House, Canberra and in 2010 he co-designed and co-facilitated the Premier’s Growth Management Summit in Brisbane.

More recently Max has been involved in building capacity for partnership approaches in the challenging area of Primary Health Care in Queensland.

Max is also the co-author of the new book from Twyfords: The Power of Co – the Smart Leaders’ Guide to
Collaborative Governance.

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• Twyfords Consulting
• National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation (NCDD) – USA
• Dave Snowden on the complexity sensemaking model
• Conflict and Dispute Resolution at the University of Oregon
• Participatory governance initiative in Arizona
• Newdemocracy
• Appreciative enquiry
• IAP2

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• Twitter hashtags: #opengov #collab

• Zachary Tumin, Harvard Kennedy School of Government
• Deirdre O’Donnell, Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner NSW
• Martin Stewart-Weeks, Director, Public Sector Consulting APAC, Cisco

The broad-ranging conversation tackles questions such as:

• How can a culture of Gov 2.0 impact the relationship of citizens to government? And within government?
• What are the connections between e-government, social media and open government
• What are the risks, rewards, and potential of open and connected government?

The discussion also features excerpts from Gov20 Radio  interviews with Chris Vein, David Ferreiro, Nigel Shadbolt, David Eaves and Barbara Ubaldi.

For more information on the, including a curated social stream, visit the Gov20 Radio CeBIT Gov 2.0 page.

Panel images courtesy CeBIT Australia

About the panel

Zachary Tumin

Zachary Tumin is Special Assistant to Director and Faculty Chair, Science, Technology and Public Policy Program, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Over his career, Zach has served at the Kennedy School in research and staff positions, and in the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors as chief executive, staff, and consultant to leaders in industry and government.

Deirdre O’Donnell

Deirdre O’Donnell is the inaugural New South Wales Information Commissioner.

Prior to taking up this role, for almost three years Ms O’Donnell held the position of Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman where she led the TIO scheme through unprecedented growth.

From 2002 to 2007, she was the Western Australian Ombudsman, a position with wide investigative powers, including those of a Royal Commission. Western Australia was the first State to establish an ombudsman’s office in 1972, and Ms O’Donnell was the first woman to be appointed to the position.

Ms O’Donnell was also a State Records Commissioner, a member of the Western Australian Integrity Coordinating Group, and the Energy Ombudsman Western Australia.

In recognition of her work in Western Australia, Ms O’Donnell received a public service medal in the Australia Day Honours for 2008.

Martin Stewart-Weeks

Martin Stewart-Weeks is a director in the global public sector practice of  the Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG)., He has more than  20 years of experience in organizational management and consulting in  the corporate and public sectors, and with a wide range of not-for-profit  organizations. In his work with the Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG), Martin’s focus is primarily on the public sector. He works at the senior-executive and political levels to help shape Internet business solutions and online strategies.

A consistent theme of Martin’s professional experience has been public policy and management.  He has held senior policy, management, and advisory positions for ministers and government agencies at the federal and state government level in Australia. In the early 1980s, he held the position of Senior Private Secretary to a Federal Minister, and in the early ‘90s he was a consultant in the Office of Strategic Planning in  The Cabinet Office in New South Wales.

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• Where Government 2.0 meets Society 2.0 – Zach Tumin
• Countdown to OGP and NASA’s global Space Apps Challenge – Chris Vein
• Social media, record-keeping and open government – David Ferriero
• Launching the Open Data Institute: bottom-up, middle-out, top-down – Nigel Shadbolt
• OECD e-Leaders 2012: From e-Gov to OpenGov – David Eaves
• The ongoing eGovernment evolution – Barbara Ubaldi

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The Black Saturday fires devastated Australia and shocked the world. Now, the Country Fire Authority of Victoria has become a leading example of the use of social media for emergency management, winning this year’s Australian eGovernment award.

Martin Anderson, CFA’s Digital Media Manager and Australian Government 2.0 Innovator of the Year for 2012, explains how the experience of the February 2009 fires highlighted the importance of social communication tools in emergency situations, and that even within a command-and-control environment, agencies need to look outside the box, be flexible and improvise.

What I’m trying to do is explore and learn more myself, and also expose the principles of crowdsourcing and the benefits it can bring to the emergency services.

About Martin Anderson

Martin Anderson is the Digital Media Manager for the Country Fire Aurhority of Victoria, with a background in communications and journalism. During that time he has helped position the organisation as a recognised leader in the digital / social media field. His goal is to continue to use his diverse communication skills to help inform and engage people in ways that enhance their personal and working lives and encourage the development of strong, resilient communities both on and offline.

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• CFA Facebook – warnings, incident updates, community safety, general news
• CFA Twitter for warnings, incident updates, media releases
• CFA Twitter for general CFA news
• CFA connect website
• CFA YourTube channel
• CFA wins e-Government awards
• Social media in emergency management presentation http://youtu.be/_EPnCdTPwgM
• CFA / DSE warnings / incidents page – http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/warnings-and-incidents/index.htm
• Social media updates on website: http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/warnings-and-incidents/social-media-updates.htm
• FireReady mobile apps – http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/warnings-and-incidents/cfa-on-your-mobile.htm
• Article containing info on One Source, One Message http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/407737/country_fire_authority_preps_bushfires_hp/

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• Tags: #smem #gov2au #em2au

Nicholas Gruen, economist and former chair of the Australian Gov 2.0 Taskforce debates the ways in which 2.0 thinking and technologies are changing economic definitions of public goods.

In this far-ranging discussion, Nicholas explains how Gov 2.0 is a nexus between ‘Jefferson’s dream’ of the transformative potential of ideas as public goods, and ‘Schumpeter’s nightmare’ of the chaos of direct democracy.  He argues that democracy is chaos unless it’s mediated by specialists, and that the social web actually makes it harder to get the leaders we need to govern.

About Dr Nicholas Gruen

Dr Nicholas Gruen has advised two Australian Cabinet Ministers, directed the Business Council’s New Directions program and sat on the Productivity Commission. He is founder of economic policy consultancy Lateral Economics and Peach Financial. He is a frequentnewspaper columnist and media commentator and a prolific blogger at Club Troppo.

He is Chairman of the Australian Centre for Social Innovation, Online Opinion –an internet forum for opinion on political and cultural matters –and medical ICT startup Specialist Link. He was the founding chairman of Kaggle, a Melbourne ‘big data’ start up now based in San Francisco. He is also a board member of Sustainability Victoria and the Federal Government’s Innovation Australia.

In 2009 Nicholas chaired the Federal Government’s Government 2.0 Taskforce.

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• Presentation summary and slides: Realising Jefferson’s Dream, Avoiding Schumpeter’s Nightmare: Democracy, Deliberation and Government in the Age of Web 2.0’

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In this wide-ranging episode, Don challenges many assumptions such as the use of online/social tools; “public” vs “citizen” engagement; and the role of citizens as well as policy-makers in the co-design process.  Don also overviews the “Co-design Community Engagement Prototype” developed this year with Australian Federal and Local Government organisations.

I think there’s a growing awareness, especially among public servants, that the processes we have are not adequate – we need public engagement as a way of dealing with complexity, but it’s still perceived to be a risky business.

About Dr Don Lenihan

Don Lenihan is Vice President, Engagement at the Public Policy Forum in Ottawa, Canada. He is an internationally recognized expert on democracy and public engagement, accountability and service delivery. From 2009 – January 2012, he led the Public Engagement Project (PEP), a research and capacity-building project involving some 500 public servants from nine federal, provincial/territorial and municipal governments, and the Government of Australia.

Don is also the author of “Rescuing Policy: The Case for Public Engagement” , a new book published by Public Policy Forum, which is the result of the Public Engagement Project, a two-year dialogue and capacity-building project on public engagement that involved nine federal, provincial and municipal governments in Canada, the Government of Australia and some 500 public servants. Its premise is that as public policy issues are becoming increasingly complex, the process by which governments make decisions about them has not kept pace.

Don has over 25 years of experience in the field as a project leader, writer, speaker, senior government advisor, trainer and facilitator. Throughout his career, he has developed and led many research and consultation projects involving senior public servants, academics, elected officials, journalists and members of the private and third sectors. He is the author of numerous articles, studies and books, a former columnist with the Hill Times newspaper in Ottawa, and is a regular columnist for iPolitics. He earned his PhD in political theory from the University of Ottawa.

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• About Don Lenihan
• Public Policy Forum Canada
• Final report on the Australian Government’s Co-Design Community Engagement Prototype Building a Strategic Design Capacity for Co-Design
• Municipal Association of Victoria on the Co-Design Prototype project
• Don’s latest book “Rescuing Policy: The Case for Public Engagement”
• Interview with Tiago Peixoto on Participatory Budgeting
• Public engagement papers from the Public Policy Forum

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• Tags: #demopart #participation #engagement #codesign

In this episode, we chat with Maurits van der Vlugt, one of the co-founders of Australia’s Bushfire Connect service on the power of the crowd in an emergency. Maurits talks candidly about the opportunities and challenges of establishing and sustaining a voluntary initiative using social tools, and the importance of these initiatives engaging with the ‘command and control’ culture of the formal emergency management agencies and structures.

Bushfire Connect allows anyone in the country to submit local updates, which are then mapped and combined with official warnings and then alerts are sent out to people who are signed up for that particular region – all that’s done in real time.

About Maurits van der Vlugt

Maurits is recognised as one of Australia’s leading authorities in the design and implementation of (interoperable) spatial data infrastructures, and web delivery of spatial data. Maurits has a long career in consulting government and the private sector on developing location-intelligence strategies, along with the enabling technology frameworks, business cases and implementation planning. Having worked for over 20 years in the spatial information industry in Europe, the USA and Australia, he has developed an extensive international network.

Maurits also volunteers his time to not-for-profit crisis management initiatives such as BushfireConnect and Random Hacks of Kindness.

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• Bushfire Connect website
• Ushahidi open source software that powers Bushfire Connect as well as other similar initiatives around the world
• Emergency Management 2.0 research project for the Australian Government’s 2.0 Taskforce

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Join us as we chat with Pia Waugh, the organiser of last weekend’s GovCamp Australia, held in Canberra.  The gathering brought together a range of government practitioners and open data enthusiasts to talk about topical issues