Zzzoot

The recent conference E-Government ICT Professionalism and Competences Service Science (IFIP International Federation for Information Processing, IFIP 20th World Computer Congress, Industry-Oriented Conferences, September 7-10, 2008, Milano, Italy) is of interest to those involved with ICT in government and eGovernment in general (although the conference is rather EU-centred). Note the content is behind a pay-wall, so you can't read the articles unless you belong to an institution that has a subscription or you have one yourself. Of interest: Why is True eGovernment still difficult to be achieved? E-Government For Small Local Government Organizations A normative approach to democracy in the electronic government framework IT skill requirements in Public Administration How to move forward and implement e-skills on a long term basis Search: "open source": Business Process Monitoring: BT Italy case study The Italian Public Administration Electronic Market: Scenario, Opera...

A colleague of mine is having some difficulties getting an Open Source solution to be made available within his government organization. In providing support to him, I've collected the below resources. Of particular interest is the 2007 Government Open Source Policies from the Center for Strategic and International Studies , listing the Open Source policies of hundreds of national, state/province/territory and local governments (including Canada's). 2009 The DoD and Open Source Software. Oracle White Paper 2009 Open source software could save millions (Scotland) 2009 Open Source Vendors welcome new UK Government policy, but want more action 2009 Liam Maxwell The High Cost of government IT 2009 Guide to Open Source Software for Australian Government Agencies 2009 D.Gatto & J.Herzfeld. Department of Defense Debunks Myths and Endorses Use of Open Source Software 2008. The acquisition of (open-source) software A guide for ICT buyers in the public and semi-public sectors (Dut...

It was very interesting to recently discover this Hansard exchange from the UK parliament dated Nov 12 2009 involving Open Source and sharing data: House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 12 Nov 2009 Public Bodies: Databases Mr. Maude : To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what steps her Department is taking to facilitate data sharing among public sector bodies. [299480] Angela E. Smith : The Ministry of Justice is the lead Department on data sharing. The Cabinet Office supports technical elements of secure data handling and ensures that considerations of Data Sharing informs our work to promote more joined up public services. Sharing data securely is a requirement of the Data Handling Review, which all public bodies must adhere to. Public Sector: ICT Mr. Maude: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what assessment has been made of the levels of compliance with her Department's guidance on public sector open source software procurement; and what steps are being tak...

I recently discovered the (at least partial) root of some of the excellent activity in the area of research data management in the UK: the UK government's Science & innovation investment framework 2004-2014 . Of particular interest: 2.23 The growing UK research base must have ready and efficient access to information of all kinds – such as experimental data sets, journals, theses, conference proceedings and patents. This is the life blood of research and innovation [emphasis added] . Much of this type of information is now, and increasingly, in digital form. This is excellent for rapid access but presents a number of potential risks and challenges. For example, the digital information from the last 15 years is in various formats (versions of software and storage media) that are already obsolete or risk being so in the future. Digital information is also often transient in nature, especially when published formally or informally on websites; unless it is collected and archived...

The Canadian government has an RFI concerning Free and Open Source Software (" No Charge Licensed Software "): This is not a bid solicitation. Canada is seeking feedback from the Industry with respect to No Charge Licensed Software.... Canada has a Request for Information (RFI) related to No-Charge Licensed Software (typically referred to as Free and Open Source Software or FOSS and also applicable to freeware).... The purpose of the RFI is to help the Government of Canada (GC) put together guidelines related to the planning, acquisition, use and disposal of No Charge Licensed Software (NCLS). While there is already significant interest for No Charge Licensed Software within the Government of Canada there are many questions being asked, see below. There exists operationally a requirement to produce common guidelines that are fair, open and transparent and can be applied consistently across departments.... In the Overview, the Crown provided a definition for No Charge Licensed...

The Industry Canada minister accepted (Sept 2 2008) recommendations from the Science, Technology and Innovation Council on the sub-priorities of the four priority areas identified in the 2007 Science and Technology (S&T) Strategy ( The State of Science & Technology in Canada , 2006, Council of Canadian Academies ). The recommended sub-areas are: S&T priority: Environmental science and technologies Sub-priorities : Water (health, energy, security); cleaner methods of extracting, processing and using hydrocarbon fuels, including reduced consumption of these fuels S&T priority: Natural resources and energy Sub-priorities : Energy production in the oil sands; Arctic (resource production, climate change adaptation, monitoring); biofuels, fuel cells and nuclear energy S&T priority: Health and related life sciences and technologies Sub-priorities : Regenerative medicine; neuroscience; health in an aging population; biomedical engineering and medical technologies S&T p...

The previously reported "Review of the National Innovation System Report - Venturous Australia" -- interestingly and surprisingly -- includes a whole section entitled " Innovation in Government ". Its recommendations are: Recommendation 10.1: Consideration should be given to extending the platform created to enforce payments and administer income contingent loans through the tax system; for instance, by extending income contingent loans for tertiary education outside universities and for sole trader entrepreneurs seeking to fund innovative projects. Recommendation 10.2: An advisory committee of web 2.0 practitioners should be established to propose and help steer governments as they experiment with web 2.0 technologies and ideas. Recommendation 10.3 An Advocate for Government Innovation should be established to promote innovation in the public sector. Recommendation 10.4: A rigorous policy of evaluating all Australian Government innovation programs ­ and other re...