Department of Health - Social Media Action Plan - Part 1: Policy

The Department of Health's Social Media policy recognises that staff and business units will increasingly be using social media to interact with each other and the Victorian community and to promote the work of the Department. This policy provides a safe framework for online participation by representatives of the Department of Health. The policy recognises that all communications by public servants must comply with the standards of conduct and behaviour set out in the Public Administration Act 2004, the Code of Conduct for Victorian public sector employees, Victorian Government policies and guidelines, and Commonwealth and state legislation.

Web 2.0: The New Tools for Democratic Conversations – A snapshot of Initiatives in Government

This paper provides an overview of developments in the use of interactive online communications described as Web 2.0 and when applied in government, better known as Government 2.0.

Government 2.0 Action Plan - Victoria

The Victorian Government 2.0 action plan involves direct citizen engagement in conversations about government services and public policy through open access to public sector information and web 2.0 technologies. It also enables collaborative working which is both open and engaging.

Social Media for the Public Sector Conference - Melbourne 21-22 March 2012

Key topics that will be examined at the conference include: how to develop a social media strategy for your organisation; integrating social media into your existing communication strategies; engaging with the community using social media; and measuring the success of your social media campaign.

Collaborative Internet Innovation Fund (cIIF) – $15 million

The new $15 million collaborative Internet Innovation Fund (cIIF) will accelerate the use of 'next generation' ICT in Victoria by supporting government agencies, industry and community groups to innovate using Web 2.0 technologies.

Consumer Affairs Victoria on Facebook

You can now interact with Consumer Affairs Victoria on Facebook. The consumer affairs regulator made its first post through the social media giant on 18 July.

Department of Health - Social Media Action Plan - Part 2: Staff Toolkit

Best practice guidelines and templates that can be used by business units implementing social media. The Health Web Communications Unit has commissioned this checklist to step you through the process of establishing and launching your social media site.

Department of Health - Social Media Action Plan - Part 3: Reference guide

In this document, we present a set of profiles of key web 2.0 tools, explaining not only what they do but also how they are being used in the Health sector around the world. We introduce them and set the context for web 2.0 by providing an overview of the growth in web 2.0 tools and products over the past 10 years. In the dynamic and evolving web 2.0 environment, the examples given may quickly lose relevance. Our aim, therefore, has been to show not only the wide variety of tools and of uses, but also the potential that these tools offer. Our focus is on proven, established tools with clear application and relevance for the Department of Health.

Gov 2.0 Toolbox: Blogging Guide

A blog, short for weblog is a form of an online diary. It can be an effective way to provide information updates, express an opinion and/or receive feedback. A blog is essentially a publication of text, images and media objects that are arranged in chronological order and viewed in an HTML browser. Updating a blog is called blogging and someone who keeps a blog is a blogger.

Guidance for use of social media in the Victorian public sector

The purpose of this guidance for Victorian public sector bodies and employees is to clarify their existing obligations under the Code of Conduct for Victorian Public Sector Employees (No 1) 2007 in the context of using social media. It is high level principles based, and addresses both official and private use.

Local Gov2.0: Transforming Local Government With Social Media and Web 2.0

Presentation by Fergal Coleman, www.symphony3.com, at the FinPro Conference, March 2011. Profiles a case study from Kingston City Council - the Chelsea Community Renewal Project including Have Your Say Day.

Q&A with Belinda Hayes for Gov 2.0 Conference on Web Communications in the Victorian Government

Belinda Hayes is the Web Communications Manager for the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) in the Victorian Government. The Gov 2.0 conference is being held in Canberra 3 - 4 November, 2010. Belinda's role is web communications manager at DSE. DSE is a Victorian Government Department which oversees Sustainability and Environment – it covers a broad range of areas. Her role is Web Comms Manager for the whole department. She is tasked with looking after the web communications team, part of the communications branch at DSE, and she manages the integration of web marketing and social media as a comms channel and provides strategic advice to the department's clients, the department, on web marketing and social media communications.

So what is government 2.0?

Provides an overview of Government 2.0 and supports the Victorian Government's Government 2.0 Action Plan.

Social Media 101: A primer for those starting out

Social media represents a change in how people communicate with one another. For government, this presents new channels and methods of reaching the community.

Social Media Policy - Department of Justice

This policy provides guidance to the Victorian Government's Department of Justice employees and external contractors that engage in social media.

Using social media to improve service delivery - Serve You Right, Melbourne, September 2011

Paper presented by Mark Cutfield, Manager Customer Engagement, Business Victoria, Department of Business and Innovation, Victorian Government, at the Serve You Right Conference, Melbourne, September 15 and 16, 2011. Discusses the 3 pillars - build fundamentals; develop networks and implement activity/campaign. Critical success factors are: engage, monitor, respond and measure. Social media needs a strategy - put the citizen at the centre to improve service delivery.

Victoria - Would your Business benefit from a Second Life?

Multimedia Victoria has produced a report on how businesses in Victoria might benefit from a presence in the Virtual World of Second Life.

Computer Ethics in the Social Media Age - in pdf format (76kb)

(This document requires the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader). Speech by Ms Helen Versey, Victorian Privacy Commissioner. To Australian Institute of Computer Ethics Conference, Deakin University, 13 February 2012. "Any discussion of computer ethics inevitably includes the discussion about right to privacy, as does any discussion about social media. Today, I am going to endeavour to raise some issues that I hope will contribute to your discussions in this conference... Use of Social networking sites by the public sector - Governments are encouraged to be more transparent with the public. An effective way to get information out to the public is to do so via social networking sites. But there are problems with the public sector using social networking sites, especially if this is not limited to getting information disseminated.22 • The risk of collecting personal information from social networking without that person knowing, These can be summarized as follows: • Collecting more personal information than the organisation needs, • If social networking is used to collect information from individuals, the individual may inadvertently publish the information to the world. This could be highly sensitive information, • Organisational obligations regarding data security and public records, and • Blurring lines between official and personal worlds, for example – young people dealing with teachers. Very use of the word 'friend' can indicate a crossing or blurring of a line..."

Encouraging results from Facebook initiative

by Erin Pearson. Geelong Advertiser, April 6th, 2012. "Geelong police are using social media as a novel way to catch crooks and spread the message of safety. Eyewatch, a Victoria Police Facebook program, aims to enhance interaction between police and the community through online content. Inspector Greg Barras, of the Safer Communities Unit, said the Geelong site had been up and running for about a month and was making a difference. The page is intended to develop local solutions for local issues and more than 300 people are already following the site..."

Eyewatch - Geelong Police Service Area

Facebook - Project 'Eyewatch' is a Victoria Police program with the intention of connecting with the community to develop local solutions for local issues. This page is not designed to be a reporting mechanism to report crime.

Police want you to report crims on Facebook

by David Jeans. The Age, April 13, 2012. "Victoria police today launched a Facebook page that lets the public report anti-social and disorderly behaviour on public transport. The Eyewatch Public Transport Police page rely on the public to report menacing behaviour, and police believe that social networking is the answer to minimise crime on public transport..."

Chinese 'Twitter' helps Baillieu reach voters

by Peter Cai - Asian Affairs. The Age, March 29, 2012. "Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu and Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews have embraced the Chinese-language Weibo, a Twitter-like service, in a bid to connect with the Chinese-speaking voters in Victoria. Mr Baillieu opened a Weibo account on Monday and attracted more than 23,000 followers within the last two days..."

Social Media and the Victorian Parliament - submission by Martin Foley MP - in pdf format (306kb)

(This document requires the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader). Submission to the Standing Orders Committee February 2012, Martin Foley MP Member for Albert Park. "Social Media provides tools for the Parliament to engage with an increasingly disinterested and disillusioned community. Like any tool it can be misused. The Parliament needs to ensure it does not allow Social media restrictions to be able to be used to avoid scrutiny and accountability by the Executive and Government. It is up to this Committee to ensure the high road of creative engagement and prevent low road of grubby censorship..."

To tweet or not to tweet … Vic parliament trades blows over Twitter

by Andrew Crook. Crikey, Thursday, 23 February 2012. "Albert Park MP Martin Foley has made a forceful intervention in the Victorian parliament's debate over Twitter use in the chamber, calling on MPs to take 'the high road of creative engagement and prevent low road of grubby censorship'. In a colourful submission to the Standing Orders Committee published online late this morning, the ALP stalwart calls on the Liberal-dominated committee to ensure rules around Twitter do not prevent scrutiny of the Baillieu government..."

Inquiry into social media use in parliament could lead to Twitter ban

by Ashley Gardiner. Herald Sun, December 6, 2011. "State Parliament could clamp down on MPs using twitter in the chamber, with an inquiry to be held into the use of social media during proceedings. Legislative Assembly speaker Ken Smith today announced the inquiry, which will investigate the use of handheld electronic devices by MPs during sittings. The use of Twitter by journalists in the press gallery will also be examined..."

Inquiry into the use of social media in the Assembly and members reflecting on the Office of the Speaker

Parliament of Victoria, Legislative Assembly Standing Orders Committee. The Legislative Assembly Standing Orders Committee is considering: (1) Should any restrictions, or guidelines, apply to members' use of hand-held electronic devices in the Chamber and committees, including accessing social media to comment on the proceedings? (2) Should any restrictions, or guidelines, apply to the public and media using social media from the galleries to comment on proceedings or committee hearings? (3) Do the Assembly's procedures and rules need modernising to reflect the opportunities and challenges provided by social media? (4) Is the current rule, preventing any reflections on the Office of Speaker, other than in a formal motion, still appropriate? If so, should the rule still apply to reflections made outside the House and to reflections made on social media? Your submission will be treated as public unless the Committee approves a request from you to treat is as a private submission. Submissions will close on Friday 17 February 2012 at 5.00 pm.

Vic Parliament to investigate Twitter use

By Luke Hopewell, ZDNet Australia, December 12th, 2011. "The Victorian Parliament is set to consider the appropriate use of handheld devices and social-media sites like Twitter during parliamentary proceedings, after one MP used the service to criticise the speaker during a parliamentary sitting. The Victorian Legislative Assembly Standing Orders Committee will investigate whether it is appropriate that MPs comment on proceedings via social media, whether guidelines should apply for the use of such services during proceedings and whether the house rules need modernisation as a result of the new technology..."

DHS Social Media Policy For Employees

Victorian Government - Department of Human Services, September 2011. "Summary - This policy provides guidance to employees of the Department of Human Services about engaging in social media. All employees are responsible for being aware of the policy and understanding their responsibilities around using social media in their professional and personal capacity..."

Learn to tweet: Vic privacy commissioner

By Michael Lee, ZDNet Australia, September 21, 2011. "The Victorian Privacy Commissioner Helen Versey has laid down guidelines for Victorian government organisations to follow when using social media networks, to ensure that they are aware of privacy issues and the potential for embarrassment..."

Australian agency archives social media content

By Xinghui Guo. FutureGov, 14 September 2011. "Having set up their social media accounts in March 2011, Parks Victoria—the Victorian statutory authority responsible for parks in the state—is now archiving its social media content on the cloud..."

Victorian MP Tweets

This is the Victorian state politician version of the site MP Tweets (which covers federal politicians). The goal of this site is to investigate and report on the usage of Twitter amongst state politicians in Victoria.

Social media key in road safety: Baillieu

Road safety messages should be communicated to young drivers via social media, Victorian Premier says, by AAP. CIO, 31 March, 2011. "... Baillieu says the road safety message communicated through traditional media is not resonating with young people..."

Government 2.0 Action Plan

The Secretary of the Department of Premier and Cabinet requested the development of a Whole of Victorian Government (WoVG) Gov 2.0 Action Plan to be implemented across the Victorian Public Service (the VPS). Here you will find documents and materials supporting the rollout of government 2.0 initiatives across the Victorian Government.

Web 2.0

Articles and resources about the implementation of Web 2.0 technologies with an emphasis on government.