The New Zealand government has implemented numerous social networking initiatives to encourage collaboration between government agencies and public engagement. These include shared workspaces using blogs and wikis to enable information sharing between agencies, as well as initiatives by individual agencies such as a Police wiki to inform drafting of new legislation and a National Library blog. The initiatives demonstrate the government's active use of new technologies to engage with both the public and other agencies in an effort to make policymaking more collaborative and transparent.

1. Closing Case SOCIAL NETWORKING INITIATIVES BY THE
NEW ZEALAND GOVERNMENT
For such a small country, the New Zealand government is very
active in implementing new technologies. As of 2008, it has
created a number of e-government social networking initiatives.
Cross-Government Initiatives
A number of Web 2.0 initiatives have been implemented to help
various government agencies and their employees to work
together:
· Shared Workspaces. A suite of online tools that supports
information sharing and interagency collaboration, enabling
specialist groups and networks to share expertise, experience,
and good practices. Over 250 shared workspaces are used in 50
agencies by over 5,000 employees. The major tools are blogs
and wikis.
· E-Initiatives Wiki. An online library of IT projects across
government that allows those working on similar projects to
share information and experience.
· TiWiki. The Ministry of Education’s collaborative Web site
for people from various agencies in the tertiary education
sector.
· Principals Electronic Network. An interactive online
community of school principals and school 250251leaders,
established as a space for reflection and discussion and to
facilitate learning from colleagues’ knowledge and expertise.
· Best Practices Forum. A blog that seeks to provide leadership
around best practices in significant work programs, including
online authentication, strategy and policy, and Web standards.
· Research e-Labs. A blog that explores Web trends, open
source software, and technology in government. It aims to
publish practical technical research and case studies and
generate conversations on related topics.
· Sustainable living forums. A forum provided by government
for people to discuss sustainable living and eco-building

2. experiences.
Public Engagement
Most of the government’s social networking initiatives have
been developed by agencies for the purpose of engaging with
the public. The following are key examples:
· Police Act Wiki. An initiative by the New Zealand Police to
encourage public contributions to inform the drafting of the new
Policing Act. The wiki was one of a number of initiatives
undertaken by the New Zealand Police to enable people to
participate in the project. The experiment resulted in thousands
of visits and a huge number of ideas and suggestions from the
public during a brief time. All were posted publicly online, and
this material was provided to the special committee considering
submission on the bill.
· National Library of New Zealand. The National Library has
created a number of initiatives. Create Readers is a blog about
youth literature and literacy that is run by school services staff
around the country. On the Library TechNZ blog, Web
development staff share their thoughts about work progress on
the National Library’s technology. The 2007 New Zealand Poet
Laureate has a blog where she shares her own poetry news and
events. In addition, portions of the National Library’s image
collection are posted on Flickr with the aim of helping people
discover new material.
· Web Standards wiki. A collaborative space in which to share
knowledge and make suggestions on the New Zealand
Government Web Standards. These standards exist to ensure
that government Web sites are accessible regardless of a user’s
computer literacy level, Web browser, mobile device, or
connection speed.
· Participation Project wiki. A vehicle for collaborative policy
making developed by the State Services Commission. This wiki
attracted comments from more than 1,200 people over eight
days during the process of developing the Guide to Online
Participation—far more input than had ever been received from
a conventional public forum.

3. · NZAID Field blog. A forum for staff of New Zealand’s
international aid and development agency to write about their
experiences as they travel on New Zealand–funded projects and
to discuss issues relevant to development work.
· Ministry for Culture and Heritage. The Ministry for Culture
and Heritage offers Lively, a blog for “everyone involved in
New Zealand’s cultural sector,” with topics such as identity,
social media, and cultural research. New Zealand History
Online discussion forums offer community forums on specific
topics. Selected images of New Zealand from Te Ara, the
Encyclopedia of New Zealand, are posted on Flickr, where users
can comment and post their own photos.
· Ministry for the Environment. The Ministry for the
Environment offers a discussion forum where visitors can post
comments on topics related to energy, water, rubbish, and
reducing adverse impacts on the environment. It also offers a
Web site for people to show (and share with others) their films
about what sustainability means to them. The films are posted
on the Ministry for the Environment’s YouTube page. The
Sustainability Challenge group in Facebook encourages people
to post ideas about steps that can be taken to reduce adverse
impacts on the environment.
· Ministry of Youth Development. The Ministry’s ID360 short-
film competition provides an opportunity for young people to
tell their stories through films about what identity and diversity
means to them. The films are posted on YouTube with links
from the Ministry’s Web site, and the public are invited to vote
and comment on them. The Ministry also offers an online forum
and blog for young people to discuss various topics and ideas
about community participation.
· Families Commission. The Families Commission set up “The
Couch” to hear the views of New Zealanders on issues relating
to families. It is part of a wider community engagement
program in which the commission seeks feedback from families,
as well as community groups and organizations, through forums
and meetings. The responses from polls and questionnaires help

4. in advocacy work to improve services and support for families,
and improve advice on proposed government policies
· ePetitions. A Wellington City Council initiative to allow
anyone to make suggestions relevant to Council business via the
Internet and for others to endorse them. Petitioners can provide
links to background information to support their cases.
· Audio Visual wiki. An Archives of New Zealand initiative to
enable the public to view films online, add information about
the content or context of the films, and discuss them with other
users.
Please reread the closing case, Social Networking Initiatives by
the New Zealand Government. Given the richness of New
Zealand’s offerings, do you believe that the portal style of e-
government will disappear?
The case study that this discussion thread is examining is on
pages 250 - 252 of your textbook.
As you are reading the case study think about what other kinds
of businesses you have seen that have portals. When I think
back on my career in the public sector I remember the very
intricate and data rich portal that Delta Airlines had. I
remember that for my department (I was in safety and
compliance) the pages of information went on forever!
Are portals a thing that will be around for some time? I like
them - and I like having a one stop place to go for all my
information.
The required part of the textbook is attached