I've just posted my first comment onto the Governments new Digital Economy Blog, specifically on the subject of Open Access to Public Service Information.

Before I get to the meat of my post(which at the time of writing this was still awaiting moderation), I thought I would say a little about the blog itself. To be honest, I'm a little sceptical. I am concerned that this could be one of those "throw em a bone" type activities, however given that it is very early days, I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

While I was reading some of the media feedback on the blog I did come across an interesting line in this article.

"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."

This is a real danger unless managed correctly. An effective government blog requires management and a commitment to ensuring that it doesn't turn into either a cheer squad for the party in power or a bland, flacid PR exercise.

Anyway, we shall see. On to the comment I made:

"Any move to open up the flow of information between government and the people is to be encouraged. To this end I believe that Government should work with industry and the community to develop a set of publically available API's that will both ensure the people can get access to the information they require, while at the same time preventing access to information that is identifying in nature.

As well as developing the relationship between the government and the people, it would also help in the development of the Australian ICT sector. By releasing the API's under liberal licenses (including the waiving of royalties) you would see a growth in the development of businesses (mostly small to medium) that would build on government information and present new services that the Government might not be in a position to provide."

So I'll be keeping an eye on things and until I see evidence that the blog is simply a PR exercise, I shall be contributing.