Don’t ever underestimate the daily miracle of the Parliament website, getting Hansard on the web. A full, verbatim transcript of the previous day’s proceedings, live online within a matter of hours – and they’ve been doing it for years. But sadly, its dated presentation is badly shown up by the magnificent theyworkforyou.com.
I’ve been in touch with the Parliament site, asking if they planned to implement RSS feeds any time soon. I’d love to be able to consume a feed of Education written answers, as part of an improved news area. But sadly, they have no plans in the immediate future, and the promise of a redesign in a year or so isn’t really what I need to hear.
In my regular teaching slots on government communication training courses, I’ve often talked about the threat of new competition. Government’s former privileged position has gone; under the terms of Crown copyright, anyone can take the same information – your information – and do it better than you. I’d love to see this as a positive thing, an opportunity for innovative ‘mashups’. But I fear it just shows up our weaknesses.