Glossary

Blog, see weblog

E-government Interoperability Framework (eGIF)

The E-government Interoperability Framework (e-GIF) provides agencies with a coherent set of policies, technical standards and guidelines to support the integration of systems, processes and information sharing across the State Sector in a consistent manner.

Flickr

A photo-sharing web site (hosting more than two billion images) and web services suite with an online community platform.

Government Logon Service (GLS)

An all-of-government shared service to manage the logon process for participating agencies' online services. It provides people with a single logon, such as a username and password or token, to access online services provided by participating agencies. This is done in a way that enhances security and protection of the person's privacy. People can use the GLS to access online services for themselves or on behalf of a business, organisation, employer, etc.

Government Shared Network (GSN)

A networking platform designed to meet the needs of the State Services. It enables interagency collaboration and facilitates easier and more efficient access to information across a dedicated infrastructure secured to government standards.

Intermediary

An entity – which could be an organisation, a representative of an organisation such as a volunteer or case worker, or a family member – that acts between an individual or business and a government agency.

Internet Protocol (IP) telephony

A general term that describes a set of technologies enabling voice, data, and video collaboration over IP-based networks (such as local area networks) and the Internet. Instead of running a phone call along a traditional circuit, a computer system digitises the call and transmits it across the network in packets of data, which are then reassembled at the destination before being converted back to sound.

Joined-up

The term "joined-up", as it applies to government service delivery, means that agencies' separate operations are integrated and work together in such a way as they present a cohesive face to the user.

This is a key element in achieving transformation, and to meet the indicators of progress toward the Networked State Services Development Goal:

1. Grouping of services/transactions that apply technology to allow an individual – from one place at the same time – to access multiple programmes.
2. Channel synchronisation of government transactions – within an agency or across government.
3. The extent to which technology supports a user having to give the same information to government only once.

Mashup

A derivative work that draws on content from two or more sources to provide an entirely new integrated service. For example, information from a police crime database may be combined with cartography from Google Maps to graphically display a map with details of all recent burglaries in a particular neighbourhood. (Hence, "mashable".)

New Zealand Government Web Standards

The New Zealand Government Web Standards help government make well-designed web sites that enable access regardless of the user's disability, web browser, mobile device, or connection speed. The Standards describe practical requirements that support agencies to provide economical and equitable access to trustworthy information and services, and to ensure that the information reflects the core values of the Public Service.

Online forums (also called electronic discussion groups or bulletin boards)

Online forums are users' discussions and postings about particular topics on web sites. Messages within these forums are usually displayed either in chronological order or as threaded discussions. A sense of virtual community often develops around forums that have regular users.

Open source

Software is generally considered to be open source when it is provided in source code (i.e., human readable) form, under a licence that allows it to be modified and redistributed. (Hence, "open-source software"; "open-source community".)

Participation

In the context of e-government, participation is about creating opportunities through the use of ICT for people to be actively involved in design and delivery of government policies and services. This involves making information accessible and relevant to people, enabling wider and deeper engagement on policy issues, and empowering people to influence and participate in policy formulation and service design.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication; also called webfeed)

RSS allows a user to keep track of changes to website content automatically, without visiting the websites themselves. The BBC has explained that, "in effect, bits of [those] sites come to you instead".

Tag

A tag is a user-assigned keyword or term associated with a piece of online information – such as a digital image, web page or a blog entry – which describes the item and enables keyword-based classification and search. (Hence, "tagging".)

Transactional

Transactional aspects of government service delivery are those which present the user with the possibility of completing their business either partially or wholly online. Transactional services are more complex than services that only have a web presence, although not all services will require a transactional component in order to meet the needs of the user. The foundational all-of-government projects, such as the Government Shared Network, have been designed to support the further development of government services to allow such transactions to be undertaken.

Transformation

Transformation is the process of ongoing change and improvement in government's ability to meet its strategic intentions and obligations to New Zealanders. This process is changing how State servants see and undertake their roles, how agencies design and deliver services, and how systems and networks are designed to support an all-of-government approach to achieving government outcomes. It is also changing the way government engages with people and businesses. Successful transformation in the context of the E-government Strategy will have three characteristics: Convenience and satisfaction; Integration and efficiency; Trust and participation.

User-centric; user-driven

The term "user-centric" describes a service provider’s focus on the needs of the user community. The term "user-driven" marks a departure from user-centric, in that the user community – instead of the service provider – becomes the party that primarily drives the planning, development, and even the delivery of services.

Wānanga

A type of publicly owned tertiary institution that provides education in a Maori cultural context.

Web 2.0 social networking tools

A collection of various ways for users to interact online, such as file sharing, messaging, email, video, voice chat, blogging, and discussion groups. The focus of these services is on building and verifying online social networks for communities of people who share interests and activities. Some services provide directories and means to connect with friends (usually with self-description pages), and recommender systems linked to trust. Examples of these are MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, LinkedIn, and ZeroDegrees.

Web interface

This refers to the design and appearance of a web site that affects the way someone is able to interpret and use the information and tools available on it. Good web interface reflects appreciation of what a user is most likely to be seeking, and is intuitive and easy to navigate.

Webfeed, see RSS

Weblog; blog

A blog is a form of online publishing that uses a frequently updated, log-type format. It typically takes the form of a periodic record of a person's thoughts, observations, or opinions, posted together with links to related sites. People can provide feedback on these observations, and engage in a running conversation with the blogger (site host) or other commentators on points of interest.

Wiki

A wiki is a web page that users can edit easily. The emphasis is on the authoring of documents and collaboration in their construction rather than on simply browsing or viewing them. The basic concept of a wiki is that anyone can edit any page. Sites using this system have developed surprisingly complex and rich communities for online collaboration and communication. Wikipedia, the fastest growing and best-known wiki, is an online encyclopaedia. As of March 2008, it had over 10 million articles in 253 languages (more than 2 million in English), written collaboratively by 6.5 million volunteers around the world; nearly all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the Internet.

YouTube

A video-sharing web site where users can upload, view, and share video clips, and can also post comments and subscribe to content feeds. At March 2008 YouTube hosted about 80 million videos with more than 100 million being watched every day.