Public Purpose

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Strategy and the long term

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We need to talk about the Web

I wrote this paper based on a “reflect and report” role at Brave Conversations, a 2-day Web Science 2017 conference held in Canberra, Australia.

The conference, convened by Intersticia and the Intersticia Foundation, was supported by the Web Science Trust, the Ethics Centre and the Australian Information Industry Association.

The paper is not an official conference summary or report.

Although it integrates the insights and ideas that emerged over the two days, it does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of any of the participants.

Its purpose is to provide a sense of what was discussed and to provide a starting point for further discussion of these ideas in subsequent and continuing “brave conversations” both in Australia and around the world.



Attachments: Web sciences paper MSWv2.0FINALApril2017

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Group genius

A very helpful essay pulling together the 14 axioms, evolved by Matt and Gail Taylor and which form the basis of the exceptional work The Difference, PwC’s collaborative problem solving practice, does and which is now the basis for The Impact Assembly’s work on social impact.

 



Attachments: Fundamental Principles of Collaborative Design

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Reflections on digital government

I gave an interview to Intermedium as part of a series of conferences they ran late last year to explore the next phase of digital transformation in government.

Themes were around mutual respect, humility and the need for digital innovators to understand deeply the contours and constraints of the world they seek to unsettle.

It’s a paradox, I guess, that innovators have to invest heavily in getting under the skin, and showing real respect for intrinsic complexity and contention, of the cultures they then seek to change, often dramatically.

I also explored a couple of other ideas, one of which is captured by the challenge for government more and more to “be digital” as opposed to “do digital”, however well.  And the other reflects a view that, in the end, the future of government is government (as opposed to the notion that “the future of government is digital”).

The interview is in two parts and there is a short preview video as well (all available at this link)



URL: http://www.intermedium.com.au/events/martin-stewart-weeks-preview-video

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Global Trends 2030 (National Intelligence Council)

This is a big report from the US National Intelligence Council reviewing the megatrends and “game changers” that set the geopolitical framework for the big choices facing the world.

“The world of 2030 will be radically transformed from our world today. By 2030, no country—whether the US, China, or any other large country—will be a hegemonic power. The empowerment of individuals and diffusion of power among states and from states to informal networks will have a dramatic impact, largely reversing the historic rise of the West since 1750, restoring Asia’s weight in the global economy, and ushering in a new era of “democratization” at the international and domestic level.
In addition to individual empowerment and the diffusion of state power, we believe that two other megatrends will shape our world out to 2030: demographic patterns, especially rapid aging; and growing resource demands which, in the cases of food and water, might lead to scarcities. These trends, which are virtually certain, exist today, but during the next 15-20 years they will gain much greater momentum. Underpinning the megatrends are tectonic shifts—critical changes to key features of our global environment that will affect how the world “works”



Attachments: GlobalTrends2030

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The Crisis of Democracy (Trilateral Commission, 1975)

This report from 1975 sets out a tough analysis of, and predictions for, the future of democracy in Europe, the US and Japan. Its insights and propositions are timely and apt at a time when similar discussions about the future of democracy are rising.

“The report that follows is not a pessimistic document. Its authors believe that, in a fundamental sense, the democratic systems are viable. They believe, furthermore, that democracies can work provided their publics truly understand the nature of the democratic system, and particularly if they are sensitive to the subtle interrelationships between liberty and responsibility. Their discussion of the “crisis of democracy” is designed to make democracy stronger as it grows and becomes more democratic.”



Attachments: crisis_of_democracy[1]