Post in CLG, ICELE and Lichfield

May 30 09:05 UTC

The potential (iminent?) demise of ICELE is worrying.

I sense an element of brinksmanship in the ICELE email - almost
calling DCLG's bluff... fund us now or else. But it is perhaps well
past that stage as I'm sure no one expects DCLG to react at anything
other than a glacial pace. They are clearly not in the loop and
struggling to get themselves there.

ICELE has been far from perfect in many ways and at this point it is
important to separate the people from the institution. From what I've
seen the folks at ICELE have worked hard in difficult circumstances.
Perhaps there is a glimmer of hope out of this that the work and role
of ICELE (and its successors!) can be elevated to the position it
deserves - and as Paul notes receives in other countries. There is a
desparate need for a cultural change towards eDemocracy within central
government but I think this is happening - at least in pockets.

Our role now as advocates for eDemocracy is not to reduce the pressure
but to increase it and argue strongly for a centralised, properly
resourced and commissioned eDemocracy agency.

Andy

2008/5/30 paul canning <paul.canning@gmail.com>:
> two points:
>
> 1. How much money has been wasted on this and other national projects? Is
anyone other than Public Sector Forums paying attention?
>
> 2. This just highlights for me the absence of any national central point of
reference for egov. It's splintered all over the place, so no one actually
working in the area has 'heard of' most of the worthy stuff.
>
> We need an intro point as well as one for researchers - ICELE at least tried
to be the former with its introductions.
>
> It just pains me that the Australian state of Victoria and other governments
like Hong Kong and New Zealand have managed 'one stop shop' portals to egov for
practitioners but all Downing St has led with is endless, endless different
initiatives with different websites whilst at the same time preaching to the
rest of us about 'just' directgov and businesslink.
>
> We've got truly bad leadership on egov in the country and I'd hope us
practitioners could say that with a collective voice rather than 'well, on the
other hand ... '