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Mike Pearson

NZ needs a collaborative information infrastructure

Mike Pearson says:

Colin/Maurice are right, but its wider than that. NZ needs a collaborative information infrastructure based around the value-chain of processes (typically sector based).

It may be public/private or public/NGO or public/private/NGO.

This shows that people are starting to move beyond the "I own the information, therefore it sits in my silo and other people... read more

Amplify’d from computerworld.co.nz

Government eyes private geo-data

Land information minister Maurice Williamson is backing what he calls a “high impact” intervention to deliver improved spatial data for New Zealand users.
Williamson and Land Information NZ (LINZ) chief executive Colin MacDonald promoted openness in geographical data at a recent Wellington conference for the users of ESRI geographical information systems software.
One local government representative said there is significant land data in the hands of private companies such as Fonterra, but the price is too high for the council to obtain it. He suggested central government might have a mediating and possibly a funding role to play.
MacDonald said a good base of geospatial data cannot be built without public and private-sector cooperation.
“We need more collaboration between public and private sectors to build a geospatial information infrastructure for the country,” he says.
Read more at computerworld.co.nz
 
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Posted by Mike Pearson  3 months ago

MSD blocks ‘teen’ emails

Mike Pearson says:

Is it really “best practice” to block emails with words that MSD clients might use or to encourage people to use a more expensive and inconvenient channel?

Amplify’d from www.stuff.co.nz

‘Teen’ triggers email firewall

The Social Development Ministry is blocking any emails with the word – or its plural, “teens” – from getting through, because it is often associated with advertising for online pornography.

The word is on a blacklist of terms blocked by the ministry, meaning that only email addresses on a “white list” can receive messages containing those words.

Mr Habershon said the ministry used “best practice anti-spam technology and processes” to filter the 70,000 emails received each day.

But people should not rely on email for urgent matters, especially in relation to young people, he said.

“Email is an inherently unreliable means of communication … and we do not encourage email as a means of reporting any concerns about children.”

Instead people should be using the ministry’s freephone number (0508 326 459) to report child abuse or neglect, he said.

Read more at www.stuff.co.nz
 
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Posted by Mike Pearson  3 months ago

Cellphone blocking project wins government ICT awards

Amplify’d from computerworld.co.nz

Cellphone blocking project wins government ICT awards

The Department of Corrections’ prison cellphone blocking project won the 2009 Computerworld Excellence in the use of ICT in Government Awards, held at Te Papa in Wellington last night.
The objectives of the project were to stop prisoners communicating with non-authorised people, using mobile phones to communicate with external associates with a view to escape or orchestrating crime, and ensuring prison security is maintained.
The other finalists in the awards were the Ministry for the Environment, for its Land Use and Carbon Analysis project, Landonline for online property search technology, and the Department of Internal Affairs, for its online births, deaths and marriages project.Read more at computerworld.co.nz
 
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Posted by Mike Pearson  3 months ago

NZQA to tweet exam updates

Amplify’d from www.nzherald.co.nz

NZQA to tweet exam updates

For the first time, students taking NCEA and scholarship exams can sign up to get official reminders and updates through social networking site Twitter.

Messages would be sent in plain English, not text language, and would not be sent during exam sessions, said NZQA spokesman Bali Haque.

Read more at www.nzherald.co.nz
 
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Posted by Mike Pearson  3 months ago

Reflections of a government CIO

Mike Pearson says:

Some sage advice about taking on the biggest job in NZ government IT.

Amplify’d from www.futuregov.net

Reflections of a government CIO

Laurence Millar was one of the longest serving GCIOs in Asia before he resigned in April. The former New Zealand government IT supremo talks Robin Hicks through the ups and downs of his tenure, and the lessons he learned along the�way

In the following interview, Millar reveals why he thinks the NZ$28 million (US$18 million) GSN project didn’t work, takes full responsibility, but says he wouldn’t have tackled the role any differently if he could have his time again. For those wanting to follow in his footsteps, he offers some sage advice on how to take on the biggest job in government�IT.
Unshackled from his duties in government, Millar is free to speak openly about his experiences and accomplishments, removed as he is from the goldfish bowl of public�life. Read more at www.futuregov.net
 
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Posted by Mike Pearson  3 months ago

Reforms of NZ government procurement

Mike Pearson says:

New Centres of Expertise (CoE) will be started for IT equipment, desktops, laptops and other items.

Amplify’d from www.beehive.govt.nz

Reforms of government procurement

The Minister of Economic Development, Gerry Brownlee, has announced changes to the government procurement programme.

The reforms will see better co-ordination between government agencies when buying work place equipment such as computers, stationery, and cars.

“These changes will stop duplication of effort when state sector agencies make their purchases, and bring better value for money with government procurement,” said Mr Brownlee.

New Centres of Expertise (CoE) will be started. They are specialist teams to negotiate all-of-government contracts, particularly where government agencies are duplicating their spending.

  • The Centres of Expertise will negotiate all-of-government contracts in:
  • IT equipment
  • desktops;
  • laptops; and
  • multi-functional devices (i.e. printer, copier, scanner, fax combined)
  • passenger vehicles; and
  • stationery.
    • Read more at www.beehive.govt.nz
     
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    Posted by Mike Pearson  3 months ago

    Telco says search powers could amount to continuous surveillance

    Mike Pearson says:

    If the bill is drafted poorly it could leave room for abuse, unless the intent is clearly defined.

    Telecom’s submission also seems to imply that because there is NO standard for surveillance, it will need to comply with adhoc requirements at the cost of $1.5 - $1.8m PER agency (and there are 20 agencies).

    Is there the opportunity for a telcos/govt agencies clearing house and standards setting organisation, to reduce costs / improve performance?

    Amplify’d from computerworld.co.nz

    Telecom blows whistle on Search and Surveillance Bill

    Telco says search powers could amount to continuous surveillance

    The company says in its submission that, as currently written, an order for a telecommunications operator to produce the “call-related information” of a particular customer, could effectively become a licence for continuous surrender of voice-call content information.
    Further, the technology necessary to provide such content would be “extremely costly”, Telecom says. It may be necessary to install a number of systems to satisfy the requirements of each
    enforcement agency (and there are more than 20 agencies to which the legislation will apply). “Telecom estimates total cost to add a single law enforcement agency would be of the order of $1.5 million to $1.8 million per agency,” says the submission.Read more at computerworld.co.nz
     
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    Posted by Mike Pearson  3 months ago

    New CRI takes fast-track route to IT services

    Amplify’d from computerworld.co.nz

    New CRI takes fast-track route to IT services

    Research institute Plant and Food Research standardises on SAP

    When the country’s newest Crown Research Institute, Plant and Food Research, was formed last December, it had little time to make a decision about an integrated business IT platform. It had to have the new system in place by the beginning of the new financial year, on July 1.
    “SAP was up to date and fully patched and had a project administration module in place, while the Navision solution was due for upgrade. It seemed appropriate to put in a clean implementation.”
    Plant and Research costed the two systems out over five years and SAP came out on top.
    Plant and Research primarily did the SAP implementation internally. McMaster says that, all up, with some additional licences, the cost was around $400,000.
    The new organisation has around 850 full-time equivalent staff, which translates to 1180 on the active payroll. It generates around $120 million a year in revenue.Read more at computerworld.co.nz
     
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    Posted by Mike Pearson  3 months ago

    Leaked paper sheds light on filtering failures

    Amplify’d from computerworld.co.nz

    Leaked paper sheds light on filtering failures

    ACMA filter trial blocked YouTube, DNS poisoning discussed

    A technology whitepaper by ISP Watchdog, which specialises in supplying filtered internet access, is pointing to several problems with official Net censorship trials in Australia and New Zealand.
    The whitepaper was published on whistleblower site Wikileaks
    YouTube URLs continue to be problematic to block for hybrid Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) filtering systems such as the NetClean Whitebox that the New Zealand Department of Internet Affairs uses, and through which most of the country’s ISPs will filter their internet traffic.
    Poisoning of the domain name system (DNS) is used by most of the filtering systems described by the white paper, but not NetClean Whitebox as used by the DIA.
    High traffic sites such as YouTube “can seriously affect the performance” of systems such as NetClean Whitebox, the document says.Read more at computerworld.co.nz
     
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    Posted by Mike Pearson  3 months ago

    New CIO for Ministry of Fisheries

    Amplify’d from cio.co.nz

    New CIO for Ministry of Fisheries

    Channa Jayasinha starts role this month.

    Channa Jayasinha is the new CIO of Ministry of Fisheries, replacing John Hanson.

    Prior to this, Jayasinha was chief technology officer for five years at the Ministry of Economic Development.

    Jayasinha left after a restructuring at the MED, which created the new role of chief information officer.Read more at cio.co.nz
     
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    Posted by Mike Pearson  3 months ago
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