WRITTEN ON March 9th, 2008 BY Richard S AND STORED IN Uncategorized

Yesterday, mis-reading a blog on a business network, I made a comment about a little problem with an overseas government’s online service;

Amazingly, it was passed to that country’s Prime Minister, who had the problem fixed, instantly.

That’s what I call Ideal Government!

More details below…

An update in answer to the request for more details:

I’m anxious not to embarrass the people who so kindly helped. The “overseas country” is a member of the “G8” so that leaves 6 possibilities!

Background:

Some years ago, that G8 country found a way of giving some youngsters real work experience: They started a project to publish the country’s museum archives on the Internet and make them freely available to all. Amongst these were some 18th century illustrated diaries and paintings

Instead of hiring an expensive, foreign owned IT company, the bulk of the work was done by youngsters.

So, the material was published on the web; the youngsters gained Internet design and publishing skills; the youngsters also gained valuable “work experience” and a “work portfolio” which made them more attractive to employers; employers gained trained, experienced staff.

So, a good result for a modest cost.

I heard about this through an overseas PhD student who asked for my help via one of my long-standing web-sites. Some of the material, was of direct interest so I added hyperlinks to it.

Problem:

After a couple of years, one hyperlink broke. Each time I asked, the overseas museum service replied that the funding had run out, the project had closed and the web-server had been disconnected.

This is an unfortunate feature of the web: We’re supposed to “link” to interesting material rather than copy it onto our own web-sites – for obvious reasons of copyright etc. However, projects end, budgets end, URLs change, etc. etc. etc. “Experts” propose the use of permanent URIs but these are not widely used.

Last Week:

Last week, I read and commented on an unrelated blog entry on a business network, with a little plea for help: By pure serendipity, my comment has produced a working URL for this 18th century material, where my previous approaches through the “proper channels” had failed. It’s back on the web; I’ve repaired my hyperlink.

As even more of a fluke, I had actually misread the blog entry and had thought that the author was someone else; someone more appropriate to approach for help!

My Conclusions:

1. Strange emails: Official advice is to delete immediately without reading, any unexpected emails received from people we don’t know. However this whole interesting saga started with an unexpected email with a “dodgy subject” written in broken English. Sensible precautions are essential, but surprises can be good!

2. Work experience: There’s often talk of a “skills crisis.” However, bright youngsters without experience still find it difficult to get their first job, especially in IT work. This overseas project looked like a useful way to give youngsters a start and also to product something worthwhile for the community. Perhaps there’s scope for trying this approach in the UK?

3. Web Publishing: This material was published on the web and made freely available at a time when many UK custodians were prepared to show similar archives only to accredited “professionals.” Some UK institutions have now published some material, but often charge rather than offering it for free: Too often, UK public records are still treated as the personal property of the custodians and as their raw material for their forthcoming books, or as a source of revenue.

4. Web Identity: If I had been forced to declare a “strong” identity in order to use these Internet services I would have been much more cautious about publishing my web-sites; I’d probably not be participating in that particular business network; My request for help might well have been ignored; I’d probably not be writing this! I do take responsibility for my use of the web but do not always want to broadcast my precise home address!

5. Approachability: Previously, I had tried to help the PhD student; Last week two very busy people who I’ve never met helped me. Could a similar scenario ever happen in the UK? Is the UK government approachable?

6. Technical Understanding: Famously, our previous UK Prime Minister was not IT literate. If approached about a broken URL eg. in Direct.gov, would our present PM be able to get it fixed within a couple of hours? Would any senior ministers or civil servants be able to do this?

Recently, I became involved with the planning department of my UK district council. Unfortunately, their letters gave the wrong URLs for access to the building plans, and even the wrong geographic address for their department. I reported this to several levels within the council but no-one seemed to understand or apparently care. Eventually, I reached the council’s IT department, to be told that their web-site and letter templates were supplied by external companies and that these faults would be “added to the list.”

Wibbi: Just imagine if such a happy event could happen here in the UK!