Cowan's e-Government Solutions Weblog

Thu, 20 Feb 2003 21:06:04 GMT

e-Democracy - Feel The Force

Here we have yet another example of the UK population exercising their democratic rights on the census return, and officials not really sure what to do with the response.

Jedis reach the stars in UK census. May the fuss be with you [The Register]

I am reminded here of the Council who tried passing the buck on a hard decision between service cuts or increased council tax, to their electorate - because they knew the people would know there really was only one option - raise taxes. Boy did they get a shock.

The impact of all this on e-democracy is obvious, the lack of effective processes in the past was masked by a certain degreee of remoteness between government and the electorate. The new electorate have changed their views, expectations and nature of their democratic engagement. Government have not just to employ technology in support of democracy, but must use it to help first understand the new models of the electorate expectations. Only then will the next generation of democratic engagement be comprehended and enabled. Until then, may the force be with you...

See also: none

Tue, 11 Feb 2003 22:49:09 GMT

Technology Maturity Curve

It never ceases to amaze me how so many technologists fail to stay current enough with technology. As a result they make a simple mistake of believing the right technical solution last year is the same as the right solution this year. In order to illustrate this and relate it to Moore's Law, I have been working on diagrams to use as templates to map the technology maturity in a way that most people in UK government should be able to understand.

See also: none

Mon, 10 Feb 2003 22:53:31 GMT

GovNet Genesis

I designed GovNet the Christmas before last while on vacation! Subsequently, staff from CGI were engaged to construct my ramblings into a deployed software solution. I will be presenting the finished solution complete with a demonstration at the upcoming NCC conferences on the Government Gateway.

See also: none

eGov at Sunderland

Mon, 10 Feb 2003 14:37:39 GMT

eGov at Sunderland

The City of Sunderland is making great progress towards the UK BVPI-157 targets. Currently, the subject of an in-depth study by KeeLAN, it has already been selected as within the top 50 government web sites in Europe. Take a look at www.sunderland.gov.uk

See also: Sunderland Pathfinder