Online participation
Many online techniques are valuable for public participation. Your choice will be based on your budget, time and expertise, and the kind of engagement you seek. Key guidance is the Guide to Online Participation developed by the State Services Commission using a wiki.
Directions and Priorities for Government ICT
The Directions and Priorities for Government ICT is a medium-term strategy for how central government will more collectively lead the use, development and purchasing of government ICT over the next three years.There are five Directions and fifteen Priorities - these fit within a governance structure that goes right to the very top levels of Government:
- Ministers and agency chief executives make strategic decisions together about investment priorities and funding.
- A Government Common ICT Capability Roadmap provides a combined 'line of sight' across a portfolio of services, projects and new initiatives.
- Agencies can make products and services available to one another as part of their core business.
The Guide to Online Participation: When Government Engages
The State Services Commission's Guide to Online Participation will help State servants identify and develop exciting and innovative ways to engage with New Zealanders in policy and service design and delivery. This work contributes to achieving a world-class professional State Services.
It includes local examples of online participation led by government, and is itself a result of using these techniques - having been produced using a wiki (see case study below).
Case studies of online participation in New Zealand
The State Services Commission's Guide to Online Participation: developed case studies of several Kiwi examples of government using the online environment to seek greater input from communities. These and other New Zealand examples of online engagement are listed below.
Online participation techniques
Online participation techniques include websites, email, chat rooms, shared workspaces and wiki. Ideally, whatever is available online should also be available in hard-copy, but as more interaction and discussion happens online, the best you might be able to do is provide a hard copy summary.
- Feedback and submissions: can be made online using forms, questionnaires, or email.
- Full documentation on the Web: you can post all consultation documents on websites (newzealand.govt.nz and your own agency's), including supporting and background documents, submission summaries and raw submissions.
- E-zines: keep people up-to-date by sending regular email news about a participation exercise.
- Online hearings, civic conferences or other special events: you can invite a government minister, local authority councillor or policymaker to interact with the public for a set time.
- Dialogue with specific audiences: you can approach targeted audiences both online and offline to participate in discussion.
- Shared workspaces and wiki where people can collaborate online and edit or comment on material produced by others.
Current trends in online participation are moving towards greater use of social media and going to where your stakeholders are - rather than expecting them to come to your website or discussion forum. This requires good knowledge of your audtience's online behaviours and changes to how you 'package' information.
Using the internet effectively
From the all-of-government web portal, the public can now find out what government is consulting on, find their way to government services and information, find their MP online, find important documents about what Parliament is discussing and how to make submissions to its committees, and view legislation online. You can even search ALL government websites from the site, so the chances of the public finding your website are better than ever!
There is no single success factor for using the internet effectively. Online participation is just another technique for involvement – lessons from the real world apply online.
To engage people online, the issues need to be broadcast widely and the facts stated clearly. Technical problems can be off-putting. Be certain that tools work as you expect – before going live – and have support on hand.
If you do regular consultations, consider setting up an RSS feed to notify interested people of new opportunities automatically. RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a standard format for automating news feeds for syndication. It allows summaries of web content, together with links to the full versions, to be e-mail to people or displayed automatically on newzealand.govt.nz or other websites.
- Don't rely exclusively on the internet as not everyone uses it.
- Provide multiple opportunities for citizens to have input. Use a simple poll, a questionnaire or a blank page to collect feedback.
- Integrate online opportunities with other activities. Give high visibility to your site in all marketing material.
- Have a permanent place on your site where people can provide feedback.
- Don't leave online discussion to prospective contributors – line up facilitators before you start.
- Writing for the web is different from writing for print – use concise, objective language.
- Allow for resources to maintain information on your website and respond to feedback accordingly.
Managing limitations and risks
Online participation is still in its early days. When using online techniques remember that:
- People expect websites to be up-to-date, reliable, relevant, accessible and trustworthy.
- People expect quick responses to electronic communication.
- People are quite impatient when reading web pages.
- There is a potential for email overload.
As in any form of consultation or participation, you need to carefully manage expectations, be realistic about what you can deliver and set appropriate budgets.
Remember: The internet will not replace all the other ways government agencies relate to people, and better technology alone does not guarantee better participation.
E-government standards
The New Zealand Government Web Standards are a standard for public sector websites. The major focus of the guidelines is accessibility - removing impediments to online access to government information. Accessible websites can be used by people regardless of disability, use of the latest technology or the availability of fast internet connections.
The E-Government Participation Project explored the scope for e-government to improve the opportunities for public and businesses to participate in government. The project included workshops to explore related topics and complement the The Guide to Online Participation.
The intent of this social media guidance is to encourage best practice social media use by government agencies, provide useful templates and tools for planning, and give an overview of the strengths, weaknesses, benefits and risks of this very important and rapidly growing toolset.
The Directions and Priorities for Government ICT is a medium-term strategy for how central government will more collectively lead the use, development and purchasing of government ICT over the next three years.
The Government ICT Roadmap provides a broad outline of common capabilities that will deliver on the Directions and Priorities. The Roadmap provides a mechanism for identifying opportunities for shared capability and enables agencies to align their ICT planning so that scale can be leveraged for wider system benefits. The Roadmap facilitates agencies working together on joint requirements to ensure initiatives are fit for purpose and provides appropriate governance from concept through to general availability and beyond.
See also: Improving access to government services for people and business
The role of the Government Chief Information Officer (GCIO) is to provide leadership on ICT matters within government. The aim is lower cost, higher quality public services.
