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Miriam Lyons
CraigT makes a great point that it's possible for group blogs to have a strong voice - just look at - even the url has personality! And you've got to admit the few posts so far from 'Digital Economy blog team' would pass the Turing test (could use a better handle tho guys - 'Digecon' perhaps?). [[[IMAGINARY HERE]]]But I'm interested in teasing out this question of whether anyone below department secretary level would ever be able to blog in his or her own name. We might be able to have a useful and engaging conversation with Digecon, but I think most people would get much more of a buzz out of having a conversation with individual public servants - the kind of conversation that is usually reserved for interest groups or those with a more specific claim to 'access' than just being a citizen. When an individual public servant speaks in public it's usually pretty clear whether we're hearing the department's view or their own personal view. How is blogging any different? [[[IMAGINE A HERE]]]On the other hand, some public servants do develop very public personalities. I know that Treasury Secretary Ken Henry cares about the future of the hairy-nosed wombat, for example. Is that a breach of the APS code? It's a matter of public record that he's personally passionate about intergenerational policy thinking. Does that compromise the APS value of providing 'impartial' advice? And if, like me, you think the answer is 'no', then why would the answer change for anyone further down the departmental hierarchy? [[[ANOTHER HERE]]]No department is homogenous - like the rest of us, public servants see the world through a frame which is shaped by their own experience and by those around them...memes spread through departments, probably relying as much on social networks and charisma to spread as they do on inter-office communiques. It strikes me that the challenge public servants face in negotiating the blurring boundaries between public and private, objective advice and subjective opinion, is a lot like the challenge that journalists are facing. Some savvy journalists (Margaret Simons comes to mind) manage to play their traditional role of public-interest informer while also acknowledging personal biases and commenting on the changing nature of the role itself. I wonder what a Margaret-Simons-equivalent would look like on a government blog? Probably something like Andrew Leigh if he ever got to start blogging again... Topic: We hear you...