"Lean mean 13" days to go and web 2.0 gets a mention in the Age on line

Bloggers pan Government's 'e-democracy' bid
Asher Moses
December 11, 2008 - 3:36PM

Prominent Australian bloggers have lashed the Federal Government over its first attempt at public consultation via a blog, which has already been hijacked by critics of its plan to censor the internet.
In a move dubbed "e-democracy", Communications Minister Stephen Conroy and Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner announced this week they would be taking feedback from Australians for two weeks on a new blog canvassing Australia's digital economy.
Issues on the agenda include the Government's mandatory internet filtering proposal, the planned national broadband network, online regulations, access to public sector information and what Australia can do to participate fully in the digital economy.
All comments will be moderated by staff and be approved only between 8.30am and 4.30pm.
Predictably, hundreds of the comments published so far have criticised Senator Conroy's plans to introduce a mandatory clean feed for all Australian internet users, which would introduce a level of web censorship that's far beyond that of any other Western democracy.
"I am offended that Senator Conroy has likened censorship opponents to child porn supporters. It is a straw-man argument and offensive to basic principles of democracy," one reader wrote.
Darren Rowse, a Melbourne blogging consultant whose blog network, b5media, incorporates more than 200 blogs, said the effort looked "very governmental", dry and would struggle to build a connection with readers.
"It's not engaging, personal and for me doesn't really inspire me to leave a comment on the content there," he said, adding that even a photo of the author would have helped personalise the blog.
"I've got a pretty flexible definition of what a blog is - but to me this is just a website that has comments on it."
Senator Conroy and Mr Tanner both said that the enthusiastic uptake of online communications tools such as blogging meant it was only natural for the Government to use these new methods of engagement to enhance the democratic process.
But Mr Rowse said the official look and feel, the formal writing style and the existence of "terms of use" and a "moderation policy" killed "some of the spontaneity, playfulness and personal nature of blogging".
"Some of the terms of use seem a little far fetched also - the more you read them the more it seems as though lawyers have had more to do with the setting up of this blog than anyone else," he said.
Asher Moses
December 11, 2008 - 3:36PM
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"Sure - there needs to be some protection and boundaries but I think they've taken it a bit far."
Duncan Riley, also from Melbourne, co-founded b5media with Mr Rowse before becoming a writer for one of the web's most popular blogs, TechCrunch, which covers internet start-ups. He has since left to start his own blog covering web businesses, The Inquisitr.
"While I welcome any Government department embracing blogging, even in a small and token way, the Rudd Government still has a very long way to go before it comes even close to fully utilising the tools web 2.0 offers to increase Government transparency and engagement," he said.
He criticised the Government's persistent focus on the benefits the internet delivered for existing businesses and consumers, while failing to support the true internet economy that is being driven by online start-ups such as eBay and Facebook.
He noted that Israel, a country with a population one-third the size of Australia's, had at least 10 times more internet start-ups.
"At a time when Australia faces a recession and increased unemployment, web 2.0-based start-ups would offer new jobs where none existed before," he said.
"The whole [online blog consultation] thing is a joke considering Conroy's Great Firewall will kill internet speeds and drive up internet connection costs in Australia, potentially crippling online businesses."
Microsoft Australia's head of government and industry affairs, Simon Edwards, said he remained a sceptic as to the capacity of political blogs to enhance knowledge and inform decision making processes.
Mr Edwards said that, to date, such blogs had tended to be not much more than cliques of common interest that reaffirmed partisan positions and denigrated alternative points of view.
"Nevertheless I welcome the Government's trial of blogging as it is a recognition of the ever increasing volume of ideas, opinions and information that is being shared and communicated online," he said

K@Willy 's opinion. Blogging is very spontaneous and is on information and comments happening now and government and private sector companies have to be strict on releases that by the time its been checked and rechecked by the relevant departments and managers the spontaneity and "now" ness is lost.