Last night I posted my immediate thoughts about the Public Sphere event. However in my exhausted state I managed to miss the big announcement of the day - the launch of the governments Gov2.0 Taskforce.

Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner and new Minister of State (read Minister without portfolio) Ludwig announced the creation of a 15 member Taskforce with the following Terms of Reference:

The Government 2.0 Taskforce (‘Taskforce’) will advise and assist the Government to:

• make government information more accessible and usable — to establish a pro-disclosure culture around non-sensitive public sector information;
• make government more consultative, participatory and transparent — to maximise the extent to which government utilises the views, knowledge and resources of the general community;
• build a culture of online innovation within Government — to ensure that government is receptive to the possibilities created by new collaborative technologies and uses them to advance its ambition to continually improve the way it operates;
• promote collaboration across agencies with respect to online and information initiatives — to ensure that efficiencies, innovations, knowledge and enthusiasm are shared on a platform of open standards; and
• identify and/or trial initiatives that may achieve or demonstrate how to accomplish the above objectives.

It's a pretty big ask and I hope they can come up with the goods.

To be honest however, I'm going to be reserving judgment on the new task force until I what the political masters do with the recommendations.

Some of the Speakers I liked:

I'm going to mention some of the speakers that I liked:

Lynelle Briggs: Lynelle Briggs is the APS Commissioner and spoke on the challanges that face the public service in the brave new Gov2.0 enabled world. Cultural change within the Public Service is not going to be pretty I think, but it's going to have to happen to help further the development of Australian Gov2.0

Reem Abdelaty and Diana Mounter: Reem and Diana were there as the Local Government Representatives for the day I guess. For Reem especially Gov2.0 is something that needs to be looked at after the infrastructure is built for her clients. Representing as she does 50 something rural and regional councils she made the point very well that for them, the emphasis is on infrastructure before the services can be built.

James Dellow (and no not because he gave me a lift): James' talk brought up an interesting point. In a room full of the choir so to speak, we need to stop every now and then and really look at whether "Gov2.0" really is the best tool for the job.

Raul Vera and Nerida Hart: Both of these speakers brought real world examples of effective Gov2.0 services to the conference. Raul as Geospatial guy from Google and Nerida from the soon to be closed down Land and Water Authority.

These are just some of the speakers that stood out on the day, and by no means should be taken as a bad reflection on those who aren't listed.

So thanks to everyone who took part, thanks to Senator Lundy for letting me speak for a second time (first time in person) and thanks to Pia for taking her passion for Openness (and manic energy, I don't think this woman ever stops) and translating it into the Government sphere.