Posts By Craig Thomler

Accessibility is for Everyone – An Awesome Accessibility Alphabet

Gian Wild of AccessibilityOz made me aware of this awesome accessibility alphabet of mini-personas, reflecting a large group of people for whom accessibility in websites and documents is critical. This is the sort of material I think agencies should make available to all their staff to help them be more mindful of the range ofRead… Read more »

GovHack Red Carpet Awards night

This Sunday GovHack returns with the 2014 GovHack awards night. With an exclusive Red Carpet Award event in Brisbane, and local events across Australia, it should be a great night to see which teams win the top GovHack awards for the year. The invitation only red carpet event will be streamed nationally from the BrisbaneRead… Read more »

Indonesia’s ‘People’s Cabinet’ is One of the Most Innovative Uses of Gov 2.0 in the Asia-Pacific region

In Australia roughly 90% of us use the internet, whereas in Indonesia only around 42% of the population do – which still means that roughly 75 million Indonesians are online, or roughly four times the number of Australians that use the internet. In fact Indonesia was ranked in 2013 as the fourth largest nation ofRead… Read more »

Communications Professionals Have 5 Years to Understand Digital, or Become Unemployable

Back in 2009 I started telling communications professionals that they had ten years to understand digital channels and integrate them into their thinking, or there would no longer be jobs for them in the industry. I also blogged about this in February 2010. At the time this was highly confronting to a number of experiencedRead… Read more »

Innovation in Ageing Challenge launched by SA Office for the Ageing and TACSI

Coming hot on the heels of the VicHealth Physical Activity Innovation Challenge, the South Australian Office for the Ageing in the South Australian Department of Health has partnered with TACSI (The Australian Centre for Social Innovation) to launch an Innovation in Ageing Challenge. The Challenge invites teams to review two briefs and come up withRead… Read more »

VicHealth launches Physical Activity Innovation Challenge

VicHealth appears to be one of only a few agencies across Australian state and federal governments that has made a solid attempt at introducing public challenges as an adjunct to traditional policy approaches. While most governments in Australia still use the same techniques for policy creation that they’ve used for 80 or more years, afterRead… Read more »

What Happened at Innovation GovCamp 2014 (Canberra)

Last Saturday Australia’s first national GovCamp was held as part of the Innovation Month program. Innovation GovCamp 2014 involved events in six locations across Australia. Over 500 people registered to attend. I attended (and helped organise) the event in Canberra, at the Inspire Centre at the University of Canberra. It was a good day –Read… Read more »

You’re Probably Not the Audience

I’ve been reflecting on the number of comments and decisions I’ve witnessed lately where people have decided that a particular online approach, website design, engagement channel, interface design, fact sheet or other design or content is no good as it didn’t appeal personally to them. There’s definitely a tendency in our society for individuals toRead… Read more »

Celebrate Your Social Media Successes, But Don’t Forget Community Trust is the Key

In June Baltimore Police Department hit a milestone on Twitter, reaching 50,000 followers. In celebration of this, they released the following video, reflecting the department’s achievement and thanking the community for helping them make Baltimore’s streets safer. It is an awesome video and I totally support and respect organisations celebrating like this. It’s important forRead… Read more »

Round up from GovHack 2014

GovHack is over for 2014, with teams finishing their hacks by 5:30pm on Sunday, 13 July. With over 1,200 participants organised into 178 teams, 204 projects were developed in under two days, with 146 projects (based on my count) eligible for the approximately $70,000 in national prizes. Note: GovHack has informed me they are stillRead… Read more »