WRITTEN ON July 15th, 2005 BY William Heath AND STORED IN What do we want?

Will Davies launched the IPPR digital manifesto last night. I haven’t fully read it yet, but he spoke very well, and seems well on top of the brief.

As did DTI Minister Alun Michael, who presents himself with some humility as not knowing much about technology. But when your roots are in the CAB movement you understand that customer needs are paramount. What more do you need to know? His simple point that people of widely differing views (eg on dignity versus control) should engage and talk to each other is easy to agree with.

My one question is: Do people really want personalised e-government services? Is there, would there be any evidence of it? It’s a major assumption on which to base some huge plans. The Ideal Government view is just make it simple, navigable, open to all. But I suspect I was the only flat-taxer in the room.

Will seemed a bit ticked off about the Guardian’s “porn and piracy” coverage of his work. KableNet’s report much more to the point, he reckoned.