Presentation to the Victorian Government Communications Group in Melbourne on 4 June 2013 about best practice in public sector digital engagement.

1. Best practice
digital channel use
by government
Craig Thomler
Gov 2.0 Advocate
Managing Director
Delib Australia

2. 1980

3. 1998

4. 2013

5. Soon

6. Governments have come
just as far…

7. Source: http://web.archive.org/
1997 2000
2006 2013

8. First mention of Gov 2.0 in
Australian government was
around September 2007
The first government Twitter
account in Australia was
created in November 2007
Source: Google.com.au / AusGovTwitterAccounts (egovau.blogspot.com)

9. (BTW the first Victorian
government Twitter account
started in April 2008)
The Place To Tweet
Source: AusGovTwitterAccounts (egovau.blogspot.com)

10. Source: http://twitter.com

11. Today over 80% of Australian
state and federal departments
use social media and/or
Gov 2.0 techniques officially
to inform and engage
citizens, stakeholders and/or
staff

12. There’s no longer such a
thing as Government 2.0
It’s now just Government…

13.  Using tools and techniques enabled by digital
technologies to bring citizens 'inside the tent'.
 Empowering citizens to be active participants in
government decision-making processes and
supporting them to do for themselves.
 Opening up public data for public reuse to inform
and enable new insights, better decisions and
more effective policy.
 Initiatives from individuals and non-government
organisations as well as government.
Government 2.0 includes...

14.  Media channel – direct to public
 Convenor – of communities to solve
challenges
 Platform – provider of raw data and tools
for the community to do for themselves
Government has new roles
and tools
for supporting existing goals

15. Best practice digital
engagement
Citizen-led engagement
Crowdsourcing
Budget savings
Policy codesign

17. We the people
 US federal ePetition site
launched Sept 2011
 Initially set threshold for
a government response
at 5,000 signatures.
 Increased to 25,000 in
Oct 2011 and then to
100,000 in Jan 2013.
 Code released for reuse
at https://github.com/WhiteHouse/petitions

18. We the people

19. We the people
Source: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/response/isnt-petition-response-youre-looking

21. Challenge.gov
 US whole-of-government
crowdsourcing platform
launched September 2010.
 In first twelve months 36 agencies issued 130
challenges, receiving 1,500 submissions and
giving out US$38 in prizes or incentives.
 GSA estimates US$50,000-150,000/challenge.
 Harvard University Ash Center for Democratic
Governance ranks Challenge.gov in ‘Top 25
Innovations in Government’ for 2012.

22. Challenges are not new

23. And Victoria is using them

24. Source:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/3530640/Mumbai-
attacks-Twitter-and-Flickr-used-to-break-news-Bombay-India.html
But Challenge.gov is a new
approach
 Any agency can
use it.
 Consistent design
and platform
 Has support
 Has traffic
 Delivers cost
efficiencies

26. Spending challenge
 UK Government exercise in 2010 to find budget
savings.
 Began by challenging public servants – who
provided 63,000 ideas.
 Then challenged the public – who added another
40,000 ideas.
 Were also over 14,000 comments and 280,000
votes.
 Top ideas were converted into 1,800 policy
proposals.

27. Spending challenge timeline
Date What happened
18 June, 2010
Delib begins work on the Spending
Challenge
24 June, 2010
David Cameron launches public sector
worker phase of the Challenge
9 July, 2010
George Osborne launches public phase of
the Challenge
19 August– 3 September, 2010 The public votes on best ideas
10 September, 2010 Public phase of the Challenge closes
20 October, 2010
George Osborne presents the Budget, which
includes Spending Challenge savings

28. Spending challenge traffic
The Spending Challenge had high levels of engagement: over
15 page views and over 9 minutes on the site per user.
Public servants
Public
Phase 2 (prioritising)

29. Spending challenge ROI
 HM Treasury reported that the Spending
Challenge website, using Delib’s Dialogue App,
cost £19,300 to design and build.
 The cost of reviewing and processing ideas was
met using existing resources and budgets.
 The ideas announced helped deliver over £500
million in savings.
 ROI: 25,900%
Source: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/spend_spendingchallenge_faq.htm

31. Constitution
 Folllowing the
Kitchenware Revolution,
Icelanders demanded
a new constitution.
 Crowdsourced framework by gathering 950
citizens together for a day (paid an MP’s salary)
 Elected 25-person Constitutional Committee who,
launched crowdsourcing process to write the
constitution.
 Used a wiki, with weekly reports on progress.

32. Outcomes…
 1% of Icelanders participated online in developing
the constitution – that’s around 3,000 people.
 Proposed constitution was handed to parliament
in July 2011.
 Voted into law in October 2012.

33. Questions?
Craig Thomler
craig@delib.net
@CraigThomler
http://eGovAU.blogspot.com
www.delib.net/australia/
@Delibaunz