If the Australians can pull this one off they will have made a huge step towards moving the idea of eGovernment from administration and law enforcement (renweing your dog license and applying for resource consents online) to the real work of governance and agenda setting as they launch their Web 2.0 taskforce

The Australian Government announced a Web 2.0 taskforce today to investigate new approaches in openness and transparency when it comes to the online world

The taskforce of 15 people, chaired by CEO of Lateral Economics Dr Nicholas Gruen, will investigate ways the government can open up their computer databases to allow citizens access to government information more easily.

Minister for Finance and Deregulation, Lindsay Tanner, said ... Governments cannot control the online world.

"We...have to accept that when we open ourselves up to public discussion through blogs, chat rooms (and) online forums we won't always like what we hear," he said. "We have to accept that there are challenges involved in participating in those processes for government."

"Who speaks on behalf of the government? What restraints, if any, are there on what they say? What resources are contributed to those processes? [These] are all questions that we want the taskforce to advise on."

As well as providing advice, the taskforce will fund initiatives that attempt to show that the Government is serious about achieving its objectives.

Tanner added that the Government will attempt to establish a pro-disclosure culture around non-sensitive public sector information and maximise the extent to which government utilises the views, knowledge and resources of the general community.

It will be an even bigger success if they can define as non-sensitive information such as who won the contract for X and how much they are being paid. But I'd give good odds it wont go that far.

Someone else who looks hard at these issues is Gerry McGovern who is always worth reading when it comes to website stuff. His take on the Apple/ Microsoft distinction? Apple makes better products, but Microsoft does better partnership and openness.

Where are you on the spectrum, and how do you feel about the proposition that in an online world there is nobody in control? Comments open as usual.

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