WRITTEN ON April 21st, 2007 BY William Heath AND STORED IN Power of Information
Tom Steinberg of MySociety is undertaking an important piece of work in thesew six weeks for the PM’s strategy unit. Here are its terms of reference:
The Power of Information – a review of information sharing and its usesTo explore new developments in the use and communication of citizen and State generated public information in the UK, and to present an analysis and recommendations to the Cabinet Office Minister as part of the Policy Review. The review is focused upon public information and excludes discussion about individuals private data that may be held by the public sector.
Sub-Questions:
- What is already going on? How significant is this?
- How can Government catalyse more beneficial creation and sharing of information, and mutual support, between citizens?
- What can be done to improve how Government and its agencies publish the data it already has, and what are the implications for service delivery?
- Are there any notable information opportunities or shortfalls in sectors outside Government which those sectors could work to rectify?
Wibbi they used capital letters for Citizen and lower case for government, state etc
Let’s be under no illusion that what Tom says will immediately become policy let alone be implemented. No-one gives a damn what the centre says really. People are very tight with money at the moment. Number 10 Downing Street may be taken over by people from Number 11 Downing Street (in a ritual called “transition” which is the sole current preoccupation of tribal elders). Intelligent new policy ideas associated with former incumbents may get thrown out in the trash along with Mrs Blair’s curtains and the rest of the legacy.
But, hang it, this may be first time we see set out on expensive government (sorry, ahem, Government) paper researched by expensive state workers (ahem, Public Servants) some of the core requirements and expectations we have of an e-enabled state. It may take a generation before we have sensible progress on these things, but let’s set it out now under that nice crown thingey! Go Tom!
Consultations
Presently these typically involve posting a document on a web site and then inviting comments by a certain date. Comments are normally received from professional bodies, major stakeholders and not often from individuals. The major exception was probably the smoking ban.
Suggestion – a format for comment such as “CommentonThis” would allow for more iterative communication, enable parties to see one another’s opinions during the consultation phase and perhaps encourage more interaction. Also, the print media and other internet sites might create links on their pages and articles to direct possibly interested people to make a comment.
Make Government Navigable
All organisations are difficult to interact with. Two years ago when I booked an airline ticket, the choices were simple. Now I have to think hard to avoid insurance protection, speedy boarding charges, and other clutter. Despite this we seem instinctively to give such organisations much more rope than government.
The range of services that government offers makes it appear a more complex business than Amazon and effectively FMCG. Most local authority navigation seems to revolve around A-Z lists of services from which one picks, and a number of which are transactional. The notion of a “ customer account “ with local government has some appeal if it meant avoiding multiple contacts and being able to communicate on-line.
Government seems to do very little direct marketing. Would people sign up for e-mail alerts or SMS messages about government services ? This happens at work and play – why not in this relationship ?
The Varney report identified the case of a bereavement and the complexity of the transaction. Has any work started on this recommendation to signal a recognition of the customer interest ?
Sharing of information
For large sections of society, e.g. the elderly the internet may not be accessible or understood. There might be scope for young people to teach internet skills at schools, libraries and colleges to their elders. This would be a way of sharing information across the generations, and perhaps foster mutual respect.
Trust
People do not necessarily trust politicians and government. In order for the public to change their opinion, there should be some visible signs of changing attitudes from the provider side. Possible examples might be an open-source project on a particular government issue, describing some government processes on wikipedia and allowing citizens to add their insight, and encouraging feedback such as patient opinion.
Thought
Could you design a web page and email address for “ask or tellthegovernment”. This would be one place where the citizen went and said to central government this is my issue, now please take it on your side and consider it then get back to me.
Then perhaps using google technology alongside, a search facility might help future users. Also, if people who use the site see someone else with a similar problem, they may be kind enough to help them out. It might become a library / repository of information with feeds and RSS to enable people to stay in touch.
Principle being we voted you in ( or did not ), and now we all pay taxes and therefore we would like to influence how they are spent because you are not really providing us with what we want.