Dave Briggs

Awesomeness off of the internet for November 27th to November 29th:

• Real-Time Search — BackType – "See what reputable people are saying about topics that interest you — in real-time"
•   Barriers to Agile web design and development in local government by Michele Ide-Smith – Great post from Michele about the challenges of designing and developing within large organisations – and the opportunities presented by agile methods.
• The pieces of the digital engagement puzzle at Helpful Technology – Steph explains what he sees as the four elements of digital engagement activity: listen, explain, engage, convene.
• Loop11 – Usability & User Experience Testing Tool – "Loop11 is an online usability and user experience testing tool, allowing individuals and companies to conduct online, unmoderated user testing on any kind of digital interface. Loop11 is not a survey or web analytics tool, but a user experience tool… helping you to understand user behaviour and improve your website's usability."
• Passing the baton « Sharon O’Dea – Good stuff from Sharon on knowledge management and transfer and how it sucks, mostly – but doesn't need to.

Awesomeness off of the internet for November 24th to November 27th:

• The dark side of the internet – "Fourteen years ago, a pasty Irish teenager with a flair for inventions arrived at Edinburgh University to study artificial intelligence and computer science. For his thesis project, Ian Clarke created "a Distributed, Decentralised Information Storage and Retrieval System", or, as a less precise person might put it, a revolutionary new way for people to use the internet without detection. By downloading Clarke's software, which he intended to distribute for free, anyone could chat online, or read or set up a website, or share files, with almost complete anonymity."
• BBC News – Government e-petitions give power to the people – "Government plans to roll out e-petitions across the UK could offer people a real say in the democratic process, a conference has heard."
• Culture in the New Order | Centre for Policy Development – "One of the key hurdles for the public sector and legislators in heralding in the changes that will make the promise of Government 2.0 successful will be culture change."
• eGov AU: Could the government replace some advertising and communications contracts with crowdsourcing? – "However what I will ask is this – should the Australian government look beyond advertising and communications agencies for good communications ideas? Should we go directly to the communities impacted by our programs, invite them to provide ideas for communications campaigns and reward them appropriately?"
• Quiet Riots – "Quiet Riots is a prototype service that allows individuals to join together in groups to make change happen for the issues they share. Users find their Quiet Riot, share their experience, and work together to get something done."
• State of the eUnion: Government 2.0 and Onwards – "The book State of the eUnion: Government 2.0 and Onwards is by John Gøtze and Christian Bering Pedersen, and foreworded by Don Tapscott, the book is a cornucopia of ideas and experiences from thought-leaders on three continents."

Awesomeness off of the internet for November 20th to November 24th:

• Open Government and Government 2.0 Online Conference – Fall 2009 – O’Reilly Media – "When citizens interact with their government, powerful things can happen. It means doing more with less people. It means breaking down too-familiar "cylinders of excellence." Web 2.0 is the industry which has shown that transparency, participation, collaboration add up to increased efficiency. Gov 2.0 harnesses this for the public good…"
• Why Amateurs Build Better Online Communities Than Businesses – FeverBee – "There are few successful online communities founded by businesses. Amateurs usually do it better." Interesting argument.
• We Know The Experts Are Out There. – Expert Labs – "Expert Labs is a new independent initiative to help policy makers in our government take advantage of the expertise of their fellow citizens."
• How Web 2.0 is changing the way we work Andrew McAfee – "Web 2.0 technologies are changing the way companies do business. But can these tools help them achieve their goals?"
• TalkPress – "TalkPress provides hosting of online forums and message boards for organizing and conducting online meetings, gatherings, and interactive discussions."
• Government gets into games business – "The Department for Transport launched an online multiplayer fantasy roleplaying game last week, with the apparent aim of teaching kids to look left and right before crossing the road." By @simond
• OpenSpaceDevon – redefining public services in Devon – Carl Haggerty has set up a Ning site to plan an open space event in Devon to bring the public, third and private sectors together to get stuff done.