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RSS feedsHalf the government websites earmarked for closure have now gone, according to the latest Cabinet Office Transformational Government report. Content from many of the sites is being absorbed by Directgov, whose hits have soared to over 20 million a month.
By the start of this year, 458 of the 717 redundant government department websites had gone (67%), as had 238 of the 902 quango sites due for the chop (32%). By the end of 2010, 95% of the condemned sites are expected to have disappeared.
Meanwhile, Directgov has developed a platform called Innovate to talk to developers, and sponsored an event at which developers aged 15-18 mashed up government data looking for new services. Organised by the ginger group Rewired State and held at Google’s London headquarters last August, Young Rewired State followed an earlier gathering called National Hack the Government Day, at which 80 developers gathered at the Guardian newspaper’s offices to create working projects from public sector information.
‘We are continuously exploring how data and software can be used to make information available to the widest audience, in the most effective formats,’ says Mike Hoban, director of communications and engagement at Directgov.
Hoban doesn’t shy away from criticism of his own service. “If there was any failing it was not in the organisation of the event or the skills, determination or capability of the developers – it was that there was not enough usable data available for them to show even more of their abilities,” he said.
Directgov swallows up websites >>
