links

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.

Awesomeness off of the internet for November 16th to November 18th:

• Welcome to Southwark Circle – "Southwark Circle is a membership organisation that provides on-demand help with life's practical tasks through local, reliable Neighbourhood Helpers, and a social network for teaching, learning and sharing." via @dominiccampbell
• Research report — Media Trust – "A major piece of research, commissioned by Media Trust, reveals there is an opportunity for Community Voices to add real value to current media activities within disadvantaged and isolated communities."
• Why do people want microsites? at Helpful Technology – Excellent stuff from @lesteph
• Social Innovation and the Knowledge Society – Now is the Time. – "The result is that the potential resource of innovative thought remains untapped and local authorities try to deliver what they can’t possibly deliver. What’s wrong with saying to people: this is how much money we have, this is what it will buy, what do you want to keep and what can you deliver yourselves? People have strong views about what they want for their community and if there are things they can do for themselves they will."
• Jane’s E-Learning Pick of the Day: Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009: The Final List – "Here is the final list of the Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009, compiled from the contributions of 278 learning professionals – from education and workplace learning – worldwide." Via @donaldclark

Awesomeness off of the internet for November 9th to November 16th:

• Digital engagement governance – a dichotomy between hyperlocal or partnership managed by Michele Ide-Smith – "My perception is that developing and maintaining a successful hyperlocal online resource will require commitment, coordination (of volunteers), skills (e.g. researching, investigating, writing, communicating, technology), time and local knowledge. Tenacity and a willingness to work with a diverse cross-section of community members will also be invaluable."
• WordPress › XEN Carousel « WordPress Plugins – "Call out sections of your site by easily creating a carousel of images, associated to posts or pages, for display on your home page or anywhere on your site."
• BBC – dot.life: Computing for older users: Patronising or practical? – "Whether or not Simplicity Computing succeeds will be a big test of two things – the appetite of older people to get online and the attractiveness of open source software as a means of dealing with digital exclusion."
• Tom’s Planner | Gantt Chart Software | Faster than Excel easier than MS Project – "Tom's Planner, allows you to create and share Gantt Charts online with "drag and drop" sim- plicity. It has great ease of use and gives control back to the project manager."
• Google Apps adds Postini security software – Techworld.com – "When completed, this extension of the Postini security and management capabilities could go a long way toward calming concerns from CIOs and IT managers about using Web-hosted software like Google Apps." – a potentially important move for use of Google Apps in government? Via @monkchips