IT & TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Local government organisations have come a long
way from being perceived purely as custodians for
roads, rates and rubbish. As councils across Australia
evolve to deliver increasingly diverse services, ongoing
technology advances mean that the business of local
government can use a whole new set of digital tools to
connect with residents and improve operations. Dean
Economou and Nicola Gracey report.
Adapting and taking advantage of digital tools is especially
important given that this same technology has heightened
residents’ expectations regarding engagement, transparency
and delivery of services. NICTA, Australia’s national centre
of ICT excellence, researches the technology behind these
changes, while NICTA’s Australian eGovernment Technology
cluster links government stakeholders with innovative
Australian ICT companies and research organisations.
In the last five years especially, a number of technologies
have become increasingly well-known and widespread. The
rise of smartphones, social media, the NBN, Cloud Computing
and other technologies has been rapid. While the pace of
change and the challenges imposed can be daunting, so
are the challenges faced by local government to maintain
infrastructure, connect with citizens and cut costs with
improved efficiency. In this article we will examine some of
these technologies and describe how they may be useful in
local government.
Smartphones and mobile devices
Social media
Nearly universal mobile technology goes hand-in-hand with the
advent of social media, allowing users to connect anywhere,
anytime. For many local government organisations, social media
slots seamlessly within broader communications strategies.
High profile channels such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube
are opportunities to be both proactive and reactive, allowing
councils an additional interface for engaging with the public in
real time whilst gauging feedback and monitoring issues.
Many may be aware of the recent cautionary tales in the media
around the perils of social media. To an extent there is no
alternative but to embrace social media channels and realise that
the public will use them whether council (or any organisation)
supports the interactions or not. Government agencies need to
ensure that employees who respond to the public via social media
have experience with these channels, and that the information is
fully verified – just like more traditional communications such as
media releases and website updates.
Support is also available through tools such as TweetDeck
and Google Analytics for analysing social media and website
interactions. NICTA’s Opinionwatch technology can be used
to understand the important topics and public opinion for
thousands of documents at a time.
A good example of a government agency using social media
effectively is the NSW Police Facebook page (www.facebook.
com/nswpoliceforce).
Smartphones, and now tablets, have become an integral part
of many people’s daily life. Australia now has one the world’s
highest smart phone penetration, estimated to rise to 80 per
cent by 2015 (Frost and Sullivan). More people are online,
more often, and no longer tied to desk or a landline when
they contact government. As a result, governments across all
tiers are working to ensure information is available at people’s
fingertips on these devices. This is part of the Government
2.0 [http://gov2.net.au ] tre