Power of Information

WRITTEN ON Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 BY William Heath AND STORED IN Data nitwittery, Foundation of Trust, Political engagement, Power of Information, Transformational Government, What do we want?

Here’s the approximate text of a talk I gave last night in Committe Room 15 of the House of Commons, for a Pitcom meeting on “Trustworthy e-Government”. Dr Louise Bennett (of BCS Security Forum) said some might think Trustworthy e-Government was an oxymoron. Trustworthy eGovernment shouldn’t be a subset of egovernment, nor e-government a subset […]


CONTINUE READING - LEAVE A COMMENT (3)

WRITTEN ON Friday, May 16th, 2008 BY Ruth Kennedy AND STORED IN Design: user-oriented, Foundation of Trust, Identity, Power of Information, What do we want?

We can’t say who said it or where, but the other night we had a meaty dinner conversation (apologies to veggies). Customer Relationship Management (CRM) hasn’t fulfilled its promise, and new ways of doing things are emerging. To what extent may this hold important lessons for government and public services?


CONTINUE READING - LEAVE A COMMENT (3)

WRITTEN ON Friday, April 4th, 2008 BY William Heath AND STORED IN Design: Co-creation, Foundation of Trust, Power of Information, Save Time and Money, What do we want?

Picked up by the IdealGov concealed microphones at a recent CIO meeting, spoken (it would seem) by the senior responsible officer for spending £25m a year of taxpayers’ money on NHS Choices “You should see this other site…” Quite right. NHS Choices’ “voice” function promises to be more expensive and less well moderated than the […]


CONTINUE READING - LEAVE A COMMENT (5)

WRITTEN ON Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008 BY William Heath AND STORED IN Power of Information, What do we want?

It’s all very well Cab-in-a-Toffice renaming itself Dburr or Deafferer rebranding as Office of the deputy Prime Minister’s ego. What’s a few new brass plates and a corporate redesign between taxpayers? But this sort of thing is wholly unnecessary: Date: Wed, 02 Apr 2008 11:49:46 +0100 From: Adam Bahadoor To: varioussubjectsdetained@hermajestyspleasure.com Subject: Government News Network […]


CONTINUE READING - LEAVE A COMMENT (2)

WRITTEN ON Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008 BY Richard S AND STORED IN Power of Information, Save Time and Money, What do we want?

Not having received my new biometric bus-pass, I checked the local council’s web-site. This confirmed that the council had already dispatched them and that they should arrive before the end March 2008. Concerned that my application or “passport quality” photos had been lost, but not knowing which department was responsible, I couldn’t use the council’s […]


CONTINUE READING - Comments Off on What’s so difficult about updating government web-sites?

WRITTEN ON Tuesday, April 1st, 2008 BY William Heath AND STORED IN Power of Information, Transformational Government, What do we want?

Jam fan Tom Watson, the improbably on-the-case blogging Cabinet Office Minister in charge of Transformational Government announced a Power of Information task force at IPPR this evening. UPDTE: Tom’s speech is here, all beautifully linked (he must have been up till midnight! Perhaps CabOff will also release a pdf in due course ๐Ÿ™‚ Hurrah: it’s […]


CONTINUE READING - Comments Off on Hey! Power of Info task force to make Wibbies official!

WRITTEN ON Monday, March 17th, 2008 BY William Heath AND STORED IN Power of Information, Transformational Government

Here are my written-up notes from the panel session intro I did last week. Many thanks to the organisers (to whom I’ve also sent private feedback) Both our hosts, John Suffolk and John Higgins, know of my unease about the unfolding of Transformational Government and of the outcomes of a cosy bilateral relationship between the […]


CONTINUE READING - LEAVE A COMMENT (4)

WRITTEN ON Wednesday, March 12th, 2008 BY William Heath AND STORED IN Power of Information, Transformational Government

Tom Watson spoke at the Trans-Gov Tower08 event, with a theme of open-source government. Apart from some website consolidation (which I still don’t quite get) he promises to do a number of ideal things: – improving our online content, including minimum standards for the content of remaining websites – Ensuring that all content held on […]


CONTINUE READING - LEAVE A COMMENT (1)

WRITTEN ON Sunday, March 9th, 2008 BY William Heath AND STORED IN Power of Information

*Sigh* Civil Serf is down, after a piece in the Sunday Times. Could just be traffic, but I reckon she cant keep up the blog and hold down her job.


CONTINUE READING - LEAVE A COMMENT (1)

WRITTEN ON Tuesday, March 4th, 2008 BY William Heath AND STORED IN Design: Co-creation, Online Maps, Power of Information, What do we want?

Look what Her Majesty’s loyal opposition came up with last week The second announcement I want to make today is about information. For decades, information, power and control have been monopolised by well meaning public officials. Now, because of the internet and dynamic change in our broader culture, we can consign this top-down model to […]


CONTINUE READING - LEAVE A COMMENT (1)

« Previous Entries

Next Entries »