Over at YourHealth, the Department of Health and Ageing’s community consultation site on Australian health reform, they’ve taken an extra step in the opening up of the public consultation model – they’re now encouraging submissions by video.
On top of the pretty open consultation model they’re already using; stories, regular written submissions, polling and the like, the addition of video to the model drops yet another barrier to participation in the activity of government by Australians. For this, I think the folks at YourHealth deserve some congratulations. I know a few of the people involved, so I’m not at all surprised by the progress they’re making.
Australian governments, like those in other constituencies, are still learning all this Government 2.0 stuff. As such, the YourHealth model isn’t perfect. There’s a few things they could be doing better or more openly, but I’m certain that any gap between what could be and what is could be remedied with a little more consideration and big thinking on the part of departmental senior management.
Here’s where I think they have room for improvement:
- why do I have to send YourHealth my video? Why can’t I just post it online somewhere like YouTube, Vimeo or any of the hundreds of other services available and tell them where it is? The statements on the site about editing submissions are a little telling – there’s potential for censorship or blurring of the message in submissions.
- of course, they’re moderating. That’s reasonable. But exactly what are they moderating for? Views they don’t agree with? Harsh criticism? Something the Minister or the Secretary won’t like to hear? The moderation guidelines don’t make it completely clear and I think they’re more than a little heavy handed. They feel like they’re justifying preemptive censorship of inconvenient viewpoints.
- where are all the submissions? One of the great opportunities of this consultation model is to openly and immediately share the contributions from the community. Why isn’t everything being published immediately so we can all benefit from it and contribute additional value to it? Or is it all being published? If we don’t know what’s been contributed, how can we tell? Whether we agree with any particular viewpoint or not is irrelevant, the value is in the sharing and openness.
So, to the folk at YourHealth, well done for having a go. You’re doing well, but you could be doing better.
I hope your senior management reads my views and lets you act (there may be others, read those too). The immediacy and availability of materials from contributors, no matter what the viewpoint expressed, has been one of the most valuable parts of the consultation the Government 2.0 Taskforce has undertaken. It’s all there – the good, bad, and ugly – for everyone to see. I’d like to see YourHealth do the same.
