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My brief was to examine the scope for e-government to improve the opportunities for the public and businesses to participate with government, and improve policy and servicesaimed to put participation into practice from the outset

Pose some of the opportunities and challenges that exist along the way.

Describing a desired future state for government engaging with the public. Can equally be applied to engagement within an organisation.

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..requires culture of innovation to work..Transform processes..Makes people more accountable..Opens government..Allows greater public scrutiny

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Some aspects to consider when connecting within an organisation.View to improve employee engagement.

Example: the organisation I worked in established a wiki as a way to share articles (reduce email!), info about our work and projects, ideas, and also to highlight issues that were flagged for management team to consider at its meetings.An orchestra, like an organisation, needs the diverse instruments to work together.

When setting up online engagement, consider:What functions do you want?Who should be involved in this online spaceWho are the champions to encourage participation?What promotion is required to raise awareness?What is required to set up the online space – terms & conditions, helpdesk, moderation etc.Is training required? When is the helpdesk function available?How do we integrate with business as usual so it becomes part of usual practice to operate in the online space?

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Some considerations in establishing e-connections with external audiences. Additional to those highlighted with internal audiences.

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Senior level commitment neededPrepare for the future (futures tools through Secondary Futures)Involve diverse perspectives Challenge assumptions and mythsCollect or gather evidence (case studies ...)Co-create contentTest new techniques and toolsEvaluate –set up from the beginning

Engagement at the beginning, informing not undermining leadershipTargeted, personalized communication channels - online and off line experienceQuality participation: involve people in problem definition. What matters most? What do we care about?

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Keen global interest in what NZ is doing.Dr Joanne Caddy, participation and governance specialist, managed the OECD project to publish the international case studies.

Other examples of international developments:Govt 2.0 Taskforce in AustraliaDigital Engagement in UK Cabinet Office Transparency programme in US

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Early adopters in government Case studies as part of the Feedback loops research – colleague David Hume

It gets us thinking about how to meet the needs of both sides of the equation. Beyond theory to practice.

NZ case studies:Families Commission The CouchSafeAs road safety forumBioethics Council – pre-birth testing and deliberative processes both face to face and online•Bioethics is taking massively complex and sensitive issues and working with the public to come at them in a meaningful way•The Couch is an ongoing online panel giving families a chance to influence the work of the Families Commission•Safe As was a stakeholder engagement project that influenced the nation’s road safety strategy and education program

These and other case studies contained in the Guide.

Examples:Wellington City Council – epetitionsAdding case studies such as lessons learned from the Police Act wiki.

Google maps Real time mapping of emergency servicesReal time capabilityReduce duplicated businessActive participation

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Last week, first week of August.. Featherston introduced it’s own Facebook to encourage citizens to engage

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For you as communicators, encourage you to:Contribute by providing translation (govt technical language to plain English for example)Build capability beyond the communications team in using this channelOpen the eyes of the organisation to alternative communications routesAsk the tough questions – make sure not captured by the tool. Relationship is key.Encourage innovation – don’t stifle with rules, regulations and processes (eg guest post requires prompt response not laborious sign-off processes)Alert staff to the parameters that exist (code of conduct, social media)

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Guide that contains principles, practical management and design, evaluation, case studies: http://participation.e.govt.nz

Principles for interaction with social media: http://www.ssc.govt.nz/guidance-social-media-use Guidance for implementing social media monitoring http://www.webstandards.govt.nz/implementing-social-media-monitoring- The purpose of this guidance is to help government agencies and State servants monitor existing social media. The primary audiences of this guidance are communications managers and advisors, project managers, and State servants interacting on social media.

Government Use of Offshore Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Service Providers : http://www.e.govt.nz/policy/trust-security/offshore-ICT/

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