Russ_large

Russell Craig

Hong Kong

I'm a former New Zealand public servant with a long background in e-government and public management. I've also spent time working in the NZ health system and at the OECD. Now that I'm with the IBSG I have an increasing interest in questions of sustainability - especially of how the public sector can use ICTs to improve in this area. I'm also really interested in the whole government 2.0 phenomenon.

Recently, Russell Craig...

  • created Pragmatics of opening up government data over 2 years ago.

    A new group in NZ called Opengovt.org is making public data sets available free of charge. This article reporting on the initiative raises a couple of interesting questions about the cost associated with making government data more available. When I worked in NZ government I was involved in developing pricing policy for government info.  From memory, the policy was that for non-personal government data that had already been collected and used for its original purpose, the price to any ...

  • created Web 2.0 is the millionth word in the English language! over 2 years ago.

    A milestone of sorts I guess - see the Reuters article. Apparently this is a controversial announcement - quite the storm in a linguistic teacup! The way by which the Global Language Monitor arrived at this pronouncement is interesting.

  • created NZ justice system utilises facebook over 2 years ago.

    A New Zealand judge has authorised the serving of papers on a New Zealander now resident in the UK via Facebook.  The report states that " Justice Gendall did not bat an eyelid in the court room when approving the order after being assured that newspaper adverts could not be effectively targeted." See the full story here

  • edited US citizens monitor stimulus plans over 3 years ago.

    In what has to be one of the most pertinent and interesting examples of 'government 2.0' to date, folk in the USA have set up a site called Stimulus Watch. Visitors to the site can find proposed stimulus projects and describe, comment and vote on them.  It is important to note that the projects in question  "are not part of the stimulus bill. They are candidates for funding by federal grant programs once the bill passes." The creators of the site are clearly engaged in suppo...

  • created US citizens monitor stimulus plans over 3 years ago.

    In what has to be one of the most pertinent and interesting examples of 'government 2.0' to date, folk in the USA have set up a site called Stimulus Watch. Visitors to the site can find proposed stimulus projects and describe, comment and vote on them.  It is important to note that the projects in question  "are not part of the stimulus bill. They are candidates for funding by federal grant programs once the bill passes." The creators of the site are clearly engaged in suppo...

  • commented on Web 2.0 and the Public Sector over 3 years ago.

    "...the strongest push back was on transparency where there was a strong sense that the need for confidential advice put major limits on what could be achieved..." I realy don't think this is a show-stopper. This challenge has always existed yet we've managed to come a long way in improving transparency in recent times.  What it tells us is that adoption of government 2.0 needs to be a thoughtful process and that there are limits to the public benefits of transparency.  In the futu...

  • commented on Creating a Sustainable Public Sector: the Role of ICTs over 3 years ago.

    Absolutely.  We've suggested a few questions that participants might like to discuss, but I'm sure that they will think of more and even better ones!

  • tagged Creating a Sustainable Public Sector: the Role of ICTs with the tag nobel over 3 years ago.

  • uploaded a PDF file: Creating a Sustainable Public Sector: the Role of ICTs over 3 years ago.

    For some time now I have felt that government efforts to address sustainability challenges have suffered a number of problems. Specifically, I think that: they are too narrowly focused on environmental sustainability; they are too externally focused; and they fail to make linkges to e-government which has much to offer in the area of public sector sustainability. Currently, during 2009 we are planning to develop some "thought leadership" around the question of how ICTs the can play a ...

  • created What comes first - e-government Web 2.0 services or government cultural change? over 3 years ago.

    I just came across this interesting posting about Web 2.0 in government on Craig Thomler's eGovAU blog.  Especially good is the slideshow which raises some interesting questions, and has some good examples of government 2.0.

  • commented on Digital continuity - a hidden aspect of e-goverment over 3 years ago.

    There was a certain amount of national pride in my comments because I think Archives NZ has done a brilliant piece of work so far - especially given that they are focused on an issue (records management) that most Ministers and agencies could care less about and generally regard simply as a cost - they really can't adequately build benefits of preserving the long-term public record into their IM/IT business cases.   Aside from what I see as the very clever use of this strategy as ...

  • created Digital continuity - a hidden aspect of e-goverment over 3 years ago.

    The latest gem I've discovered via the NZ State Services Commission's excellent "In Development" blog is this piece called NZ Government Information R/evolution  which highlights the recent work of Archives NZ in developing a "Digital Continuity Strategy"  which is currently in consultation draft form.   This strategy deals head on with an issue that all governments face in the digital age.  However none, to my knowledge, have so far articulated that challenge as clearly...

  • commented on Incremental change isn't enough over 3 years ago.

    I agree -  this is a tremendously clear and compelling peice of thinking about where government needs to go that seems extroadinarily closely aligned to our own "Connected Republic" thinking.  One of the ideas that stood out the most for me is that of government developing 'resilience' and embracing and enabling 'emergence' in the face of the unpredictable.  

  • tagged More good stuff from NZ with the tag Web 2.0 over 3 years ago.

  • tagged More good stuff from NZ with the tag Government 2.0 over 3 years ago.

  • created More good stuff from NZ over 3 years ago.

    A couple of interesting blog entries from old colleagues downunder. First, this piece called Networked Citizens by Jason Ryan on the excellent NPSC blog looking at questions around government agencies allowing staff to use social networking tools. Second, this piece called Social networking, government social networking, or non-government government social networking by Matt Lane on the State Services Commission's In Devleopment blog pondering what the best approach to creating a social net...

  • commented on Government 2.0 - Best Practices? over 3 years ago.

    And here's a link to some interesting and related thoughts from NZ re use of wikis in government Sharing lessons learnt on government ICT projects and the use of Web 2.0

  • commented on Real-time Personal Politics over 3 years ago.

    Blimmey - I'm not sure I'd be ready for that level of intimacy with with the leader of the free world ;-)

  • commented on Why isn't Johnny using Video? over 3 years ago.

    I think it is largely a matter of: availability and affordability (amazingly, yoiu can still buy PCs without a built in webcam, and video on mobile devices is still a costly proposition) learing (especially social) quality (doesn't need to be fantastic, but you do need reasonabkle broadband) useability (the tools are often clunky and poorly integrated into apps). I've now got to the point where I prefer to converse using video, and am confident it will take off as the constraints abo...

  • commented on The City as the Platform over 3 years ago.

    Phew - I think you're quite right, but what a task!! ;-)

  • commented on Collaboration as 'Productive Disputatiousness' over 3 years ago.

    I strongly believe that we live in a "both/and" rather than an "either/or" world in regard to this question. I also believe that, as a species, we are programmed to compete rather than collaborate as a first preference.  As an old boss of mine was wont to say "collaboration is an unnatural act between non-consenting adults".  This is not rational, it's just our hind brain at work. While collaboration is very often the best way for us to proceed, I sometimes feel compelled, fo...

  • commented on A New Vision for the Welfare State over 3 years ago.

    Good point Martin - as they say "turkeys don't vote for Christmas". it will be interesting to see how quickly the change occurs when it comes - just think of the collapse of communicsm and the fall of the Berlin Wall. People are increasingly fed up with waiting for ponderous governments to react to the challenges they see around them.  As we know, the werb simply enhances their capacity to affiliate and self-organise.  A good example of this is the Transition Towns movement. A repo...

  • commented on A New Vision for the Welfare State over 3 years ago.

    My first instinct was to think "that's all very well, but governments are in the business of rationing resources and this looks like an invitation to fund social services using a blank cheque".  But I have to say I like the arguments made in the paper, and whenwe look at the staggering waste associated with current approaches to service development and provision it is possible to imagine a better outcome for individuals and society at a better cost to taxpayers.

  • tagged Is public participation in democratic government really a good thing - or is the question moot? with the tag Government 2.0 over 3 years ago.

  • created Is public participation in democratic government really a good thing - or is the question moot? over 3 years ago.

    Current circumstances are making for interesting times on the Web, as all sorts of new questions & views pop up about what is happening around us.  Underlying this I see growing disillusionment and anger about the state of world affairs, and a rising tide of despair about the future. For me, interesting thoughts relevant to TCR are triggered. For example I have just read a piece by Larry A. Hickman published in Free Inquiry (the journal of the Council for Se...

  • commented on when the going gets tough ... over 3 years ago.

    I think both you and Paul are right.  We could be in for a few years where efficiency is very much in vogue which, for me, is no bad thing. There's plenty that can be done with ICT to improve government efficiency and focus on innovation and transformation at the same time.   Tow other things that may be very important is improvement in service quality and provision of more meaningful opportunities for participation - I expect public trust and satisfaction with government to ...

  • created Peak Moment: Oil and Gas -- The Next Meltdown? over 3 years ago.

    This may be a little off topic for TCR, but my guess is that many visitors to this site have been a bit mesmerised by the global economic implosion currently in progress.  While that crisis unfolds, it is easy to forget that other, potentially more serious, problems remain to be addressed. I assume you are all well aware of peak oil and are likely to have heard of Matt Simmons  I think he is someone worth listening to although, as this video shows, what he has to sa...

  • commented on Competitive Government vs. Democratic Government over 3 years ago.

    I suppose you're aware of Sealand? http://www.sealandgov.org/

  • commented on Competitive Government vs. Democratic Government over 3 years ago.

    Seems to me that, at an international level, governments are in competition with one another although they generally do not spend too much time thinking about this outside of economic considerations. However, migration is prima facie evidence of this competition and the ability of many to vote with their feet. At a national level it is often obeserved that governments exercise a monoploy on violence which, in many cases, is a jolly good thing.  The point is that this illu...

  • created Metcalfe’s law is wrong (?) over 3 years ago.

    In one of my recent forays onto (into?) the web I slipped down one of those odd little wormholes that take you places you've never seen before and found this article challenging Metcalfe's law Metcalfe's law, which states that the value of a telecommunications network is proportional to the square of the number of users of the system (n²) requires no introduction around here - it is a fundamental axiom of the networking business. But here were the authors of this critique saying that it was ...

  • created Just who does connectedness empower? over 4 years ago.

    New Zealand's prime minister has found herself in the middle of a minor political bloodbath over revelations that a government owned business is involved in erecting cell phone towers in Burma. The opposition foreign affairs spokesman said "It is hard to reconcile these actions with the decision to allow a wholly taxpayer-owned company to carry out engineering work for the Butchers of Burma especially when it is likely that the communications facilities they are constructing will be used as ...

  • created Government 2.0 - a longer perspective over 4 years ago.

    This was originally going to be a comment on Martin’s “An Intractable Challenge!” piece where he takes a look at some recent thoughts from Don Tapscott. However, it got a bit too long for a comment, so instead ended up here. As Martin notes, it is quite an understatement for Don to say that the idea of government 2.0 has profound implications for the public sector. He then points to the idea of an emerging “public purpose sector” as perhaps crystallising some of the change we are seeing or ...

  • created The network as platform for...reciprocity over 12 years ago.

    Recently,  while looking through the website of mySociety I found a link to a really nice piece on the openDemocracy site by James Crabtree.  Entitled Civic hacking: a new agenda for e-democracy  it looks at some of the challenges representative democracy currently faces and concludes that mainstream e-government approaches (i.e. government 1.0?) are not very promising in yterms of genuine democratic transformation, renewal or whatever you want to call the agenda need...