#government (39 links)
- Open ended? – Digital by Default digitalbydefault.com
Generational change (for the worse)
- The Radical How options2040.co.uk
We think taking a new approach makes it possible to shift government from an organisation of programmes and projects, to one of missions and services. It offers even constrained administrations an opportunity to improve their chances of delivering outcomes, reducing risk, saving money, and rebuilding public trust. Brilliant.
- People first, always peoplefirsttech.org
We are sharing these recommendations to advocate for a practical and pragmatic approach to delivering change that starts locally, builds skills across the four nations of the UK, and makes public service attractive for a generation that wants to build a better, more equitable society.
- What next for digital government and Government as a Platform? martinlugton.com
GDS is thinking about its strategy for 2025-30. I’m Head of Product in the Digital Service Platforms part of GDS - you might have previously known it as…
By treating some digital services as public infrastructure, countries from tiny Estonia to giants such as India and Brazil are reimagining what sovereignty and state capacity could look like in a world of bits and bytes.
- Hundreds of lives ruined. Not a single person held to account. And still: silence on the Post Office scandal | Marina Hyde theguardian.com
It might be nice to think it is, but I don’t believe that getting angry on Twitter particularly helps anyone other than Elon Musk, or that sitting in judgment on every passing infraction is anything other than a hiding to nothing. It is not effecting change – it is the illusion of effecting change. It is exactly the sort of looking-the-wrong-way that allowed the Post Office scandal to happen – and if we keep doing it, the people who really run things will keep on getting away with it.
- Mini-Budget. Major Catastrophe. kamikwasi.tax
- The rise and fall of GDS: lessons for digital government – Global Government Forum globalgovernmentforum.com
<blockquote>A UK-based entrepreneur, they hope, will decide to open her business in Estonia, use an Estonian bank and pay for some Estonian services, even if the company was only going to be trading in the UK, because she would find Estonia's national infrastructure far easier to deal with than the UK's. In other words, a nation is now competing with its neighbours on the basis of the quality of its user interface. Just as you might switch your bank to one with a better mobile app, the Estonians hope you'll switch your business to a country with an infrastructure that is easier to use.</blockquote>
- Traditional treatment for depression is not always the answer theguardian.com
<blockquote>The bottom line here is that this idea would punish people for not accepting the route one version of how to combat an extremely complex and multi- faceted condition, one which experts are constantly labouring to better understand. </blockquote>
- a unit of delivery russelldavies.typepad.com
<blockquote>I met an old advertising friend the other day and he said, so what is GDS? So I thought I should try and explain.</blockquote>
- Live with the WikiLeakable world or shut down the net. It's your choice | John Naughton | Comment is free | The Guardian guardian.co.uk
What WikiLeaks is really exposing is the extent to which the western democratic system has been hollowed out. In the last decade its political elites have been shown to be incompetent (Ireland, the US and UK in not regulating banks); corrupt (all governments in relation to the arms trade); or recklessly militaristic (the US and UK in Iraq). And yet nowhere have they been called to account in any effective way. Instead they have obfuscated, lied or blustered their way through. And when, finally, the veil of secrecy is lifted, their reflex reaction is to kill the messenger.
While it's frustrating to think of any hosting provider cutting services to a website because it considers the content too politically volatile or controversial, it's especially disheartening to see Amazon knuckle under to pressure from a single senator. Other Internet intermediaries should now expect to receive a phone call when some other member of Congress is unhappy with speech they are hosting. After all, it worked on Amazon.
- Scripting News: WikiLeaks on the run scripting.com
Politicians should be aware that these are the stakes. They either get used operating in the open, where the people they're governing are in on everything they do, or they go totalitarian, around the globe, now.
- Debillitated debillitated.heroku.com
- MoD sticks with insecure browser | Kable kable.co.uk
"According to parliamentary written answers received by Labour MP Tom Watson, the majority of departments still require staff to use IE6. Most have plans to upgrade to the more secure IE7, and some to IE8, but the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has no plans to change." Deary me. Hardly surprising. IE6 still unfortunately a player.
- whitehouse.gov Website Code dotnetperls.com
You want to read about the code structure of the new whitehouse.gov website on this historic Inauguration Day of the 44th president of the USA. The site is built on ASP.NET
- Free our data: Plenty of ideas for freeing government data and finding a loo | Technology | The Guardian guardian.co.uk
Winners announced.
The new guidelines for UK public sector bodies on ‘Delivering inclusive websites’ are a bewildering blend of the vague with the Draconian.
- Show Us a Better Way showusabetterway.com
The UK Government wants to hear your ideas for new products that could improve the way public information is communicated.
- FixMyStreet fixmystreet.com
Another excellent mySociety hack.
The 10th annual ‘Better connected’ review of every UK council website from the local government Society of IT Management (Socitm), published this month, has revealed an alarming picture of falling standards.
Government campaigns appear to have had limited impact, because sexual health has worsened in 2006, the last year for which the HPA has figures, particularly among young men and women.
- E-Access Blog » Blog Archive » Accessibility Ultimatum Proposed for UK Government Websites. headstar.com
Government websites may be stripped of their ‘gov.uk’ domain names if they fail to meet tough new standards of accessibility to web users with disabilities, according to confidential draft proposals
The Integrated Public Sector Vocabulary (IPSV) is an 'encoding scheme' for populating the e-GMS Subject element of metadata.
- Introduction to e-petitions petitions.pm.gov.uk
mySociety provide petition tool for PM.
- The Observer | Business | TV switchover could leave Brown in the dark observer.guardian.co.uk
Converting British households to digital viewing is proving more difficult than expected - and could have major political repercussions, says Conal Walsh
The new roster - worth an estimated £9 million - combines Digital Media's previous Design and Development roster with the Interactive/Online Media Creative roster.
- The Home Office website is changing! homeoffice.gov.uk
The Home Office leak a preview of their new site. Happy to have worked (xhtml/css) on this one. Hope it comes through the CMS sausage machine intact!
- Gov.uk web sites get thumbs up for usability | The Register theregister.co.uk
Refers to new report (tagged "precedent")
- Precedent | report details precedent.co.uk
Third Annual Report into Key Government Web sites