27 December 2001 Media Statement

Important step forward for e-government

The Government has approved a new standard for cataloguing government information and services in a way to make them much easier for people to find over the internet.

The new standard – the New Zealand Government locator service (NZGLS) Metadata Standard – will be like the electronic equivalent of a library catalogue. It will make it possible for government organisations to catalogue information and services consistently.

“This is a significant step forward for the e-government strategy,” State Services Minister Trevor Mallard said today.

“It will allow internet users to find government information and advice without having to know in detail what they are looking for or who provides it.

“Endorsement of the standard, which is based on international equivalents, puts the New Zealand public sector in a position of world leadership in terms of how this type of information will be managed in future.

“Government organisations will be required to support the new e-government portal by creating metadata that complies with the standard. This metadata describes, in a consistent way, the information held and services delivered by each organisation.

“The metadata standard is essential to the new all of government web portal that is currently under development. When the new portal goes live on 1 July 2002, much of its value will lie in the quality and quantity of metadata supplied by government agencies and their focus on keeping it up to date.

“It will be a requirement for all government departments to meet the new metadata standards. The wider state sector and local government have been invited, and are strongly encouraged, to come on board so that their service and information can also be discovered through the all of government portal. Local government representatives were involved in developing the standards.

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>