Across the nation, there are Local Government bodies debating whether they should be getting involved with Social media and to what extent. For many, there are questions about how they can best manage the conversations that will occur when they get involved, for others there are concerns about responsibility within the organisation as well as any potential legal issues that may arise. All of these concerns need to be worked through sensibly and properly so that when the organisation does decide to engage, they do so with confidence.

 If you haven't heard, the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown has been to see the Queen about an election. Having done that, the British Government is now in what's called Caretaker mode.

For the past three weeks I've been taking part in something call Local Gov Chat on twitter. It's a twitter based moderated conversation  on the subject of Local Government  and various tech and cultural issues.

One of the questions that came up this afternoon was an interesting one:

"What is the difference between openness and transparency?"

 A long time ago in another world my wife and I produced and presented a podcast focused on the Free and Open Source Software world. Running for almost two years in a couple of different incarnations, we were able to have a lot of fun while at the same time we were able to help inform people and dig down into some of the really juicy stories of the day.

A couple of days ago a friend of mine, Pia Waugh announced that she had been tapped on the shoulder to become a Policy Advisor to Labor Senator Kate Lundy (who in opposition once held the position of shadow IT minister). I think this is a great move, both for Pia and for the wider Government.

I've decided that there needs to be a new buzz word. Something that differentiates the Gov2.0 that's happening in the trenches and the Gov2.0 that's happening in the rarified atmosphere of the Federal Government.

So from here on in, when I talk about Local Government and Gov2.0 I shall call it

LocGov2.0!

The Australian Federal Government has announced that it is partnering with Cisco to create a network of high end video conferencing facilities. The main driving force behind this move has been to reduce at least in part the massive $280 million travel bill that the Federal Government pays each year.

There's a saying:

"Give a man a fish and you'll feed him for a day. Teach the man to fish and you'll feed him for life"

I am a "teach them to fish" kind of guy. I feel that organisations, like Local Government and Not For Profits benefit when they are able to retain and expand their knowledge of the online world and it's opportunities rather than rely soley on Consultants to be their repositories of knowledge pertaining to all things web.

If you live in the Kensington area of the Randwick Local Government area, you should be recieving a pamphlete informing you of the launch of a new site - kensotraffic.com.au, specifically put together to both get information out to the public about the ongoing issues of traffic and transport in the Kensington area, and to get feedback from the residents.

I'm happy to announce a new service that Collaborynth hopes to provide to Councils across the country.