Media-savvy professionals: Intranets and reinventing government

Abstract

How well are government intranets modelling the participatory protocols needed to develop the skills for effective citizen engagement? Does the inclusion of social media forms and user-generated content (chat, collaborative work, content sharing) add or detract value from the interactive online space at work? This paper will present work-in-progress in a larger comparative study of e-participation projects within government in Australia and New Zealand. Here I focus on the development of, and everyday practices in, a passwordonly subscription intranet, Oxygen, operating from the Office of Public Employment in the South Australian public service. The research project aims to assess features of intranet design and approaches which might be transferable to other e-participation protocols and projects, with the goal of making an inventory of those features which support voluntary, committed collaborative participation in online communities.