Public Sector Blogging

The Dom Post reports on a discussion on public sector blogging at the GOVIS Conference.

I think the public sector would gain considerably by allowing people to blog about their work (within the normal limits of secrecy for some stuff).

The first reason is because it would be a very useful way to get information out to interested members of the public. If for example a social policy researcher at MSD had a blog at which they summarised and linked to interesting research in their area, that would get some following.

The second reason is that it is very easy to regard the public sector as faceless and soulless. Having individual staff able to talk about the areas of work they are involved in, helps dispel that perception and will lead to some better awareness of what different parts do.

The third reason is that it could lead to better policy, with blogs as a two way information tool. If a health policy analyst has a blog, not only could they talk about some of their research, but members of the public could comment on it, and perhaps refer the staffer to other relevant research etc.

Public sector blogs would not just work well for policy roles though. I’d love to read a blog by Treasury staff about the challenges in putting together high quality monthly consolidated accounts for the Govt. Also to have Treasury and IRD staff talk about revenue projections and the reasons for different models etc.