Lundy short-listed for international Top 10 people changing the world of Internet and politics

Senator for the ACT, Kate Lundy has been short-listed for the international “Top 10 Who Are Changing the World of Internet and Politics” award, coordinated by PoliticsOnline and the World eDemocracy Forum.

Senator Lundy stands alongside 24 other leading innovators nominated for the global awards. Voting is now open for the top ten positions and closes on the 17 July 2009:
http://politicsonline.com/content/main/specialreports/2009/top10_2009/vote.asp

The “prestigious award seeks to recognize the innovators and pioneers, the dreamers and doers who bring democracy online” and who have had the “greatest influence on the world of ePolitics in 2009″, according to the website.

There are two Australians on the short-list for 2009:

• Senator Kate Lundy for her leadership with the 2009 Public Sphere events and her general advocacy and long term use of ICT for Government and citizen engagement.
• Craig Thomler, a public servant who has engaged the Australian Government web community about how they can provide better government service to Australian citizens using web 2.0 technologies.

Senator Lundy recently ran a Public Sphere event which explored the application of online tools and community methodologies to politics and government. The three main themes were online citizen engagement with government, more open and transparent decision making in government and government support and facilitation of public innovation, particularly through more open access to government data such as maps.

All video content from the day is available here: http://www.katelundy.com.au/2009/05/29/public-sphere-2-open-government-policy-and-practice/

The briefing paper from the day is currently being finalised with open community collaboration on Senator Lundy’s wiki: http://wiki.katelundy.com.au/PublicSphere2

“This is a special honour, and I am very excited not only to be recognised for my efforts in open and online government, but to see some of the wonderful initiatives happening all around the world,” said Senator Lundy.

“It would be wonderful to make the top 10, however just to be short listed in the top 25 reinforces the importance of what I have achieved with the help of my amazing staff- Pia Waugh, Christine Tutty, Meg Martin, Annika Hutchins and Lucy Whyte- and the vision we continue to work towards. I would also like to thank the Australian Gov 2.0 community — a rapidly growing force in Australia — they are very supportive and a constant inspiration.”

Australians that have previously been featured in the top ten include GetUp (2006 and 2007), the ACTU (Australian Council of Trade Unions) (2007) and Vic eGov Resource Centre (2008).

2008 -

http://politicsonline.com/content/main/specialreports/2008/top10_2008/

2007 -

http://politicsonline.com/content/main/specialreports/2007/top10_2007/

2006 -

http://politicsonline.com/content/main/specialreports/2006/top10_2006/winners2006.asp

Media contact: Annika Hutchins 0407 458 882

Tagged: gov20, government, ICT, open government