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Digital Economy blog

On 10 September 2008, the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Conroy announced that the Australian Government will develop a paper on the future directions of the digital economy—a roadmap for Australian businesses, households and government to maximise participation in the digital economy.

A discussion of thoughts and ideas about the digital economy was encouraged on the Digital Economy blog, which was open for two weeks from 8−24 December 2008. It seemed logical to use one of the key communications platforms of the digital economy, 'blogging' as a way to encourage discussion.

To view the blog topics and the comments received, click on the links under the heading 'Blog topics' in the column at the right or in the list below. As anticipated, we heard a range of considered views, including some criticisms and negative comments.

Following this process, we aim to release the future directions of the digital economy paper by mid 2009.

Some of the themes explored in the blog posts included:

• What does the digital economy encompass?
• How do we maintain the same 'civil society' we enjoy offline in an online world? (this is the post that touches on the issue of filtering and we welcome your feedback about the issue in response to this post)
• Is there a benefit for the digital economy from open access to public sector information?
• Does Australia's regulatory framework need tweaking to enable a vibrant digital economy in Australia?
• How can the digital economy respond to environmental concerns?
• What should Australia do to ensure that our businesses and citizens have the necessary skills to participate fully in the digital economy?
• How can we measure the success of Australia's digital economy?

As Minister Tanner indicated, this was a trial and was one of the first times the Australian Government has engaged in this manner. It was a productive experience and we received valuable feedback about how better to run blogs in the future.

To help get the discussion started, we posted some videos on our YouTube channel.

Use of the blog and the submission of comments were subject to the Terms of use, a Moderation policy and a Privacy Policy.

Thank you to all who participated.

Document ID: 90220 | Last modified: 7 July 2009, 3:30pm