It certainly looks like the VPSCIN could be one of the first... depends on what you count as government I suppose, but what about the State Library of Victoria's Read Alert blog here http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/services/education/youthlit/readalert/

Either way it looks like Victoria is leading the pack over the rest of the Aussie states!

Thanks for the pointer to the State Library blog James.

Interesting. I'm intrigued that all the posts I scanned were by "Coordinator". My reaction is that if they are not ready to put a name or names to posts they are still not quite engaged with the blogospheric culture. I would not want to knock any organisation for trying, but if part of the attraction of corporate blogging is that it gives a human face to the corporation, wouldn't it make sense to apply that thinking to the gov sectors efforts?

There is nothing too intriging here. The identity of the coordinator is know to all members of the CIN and is in fact made explicit on the site. So in terms of our target audience there remains a very human face.

In terms of "corporate blogging" and the "blogospheric culture" Who cares? We run the blog for our own purposes and if others beyond the CIN network can derive benefit from any of the content - we consider that a bonus.

Frank

Thanks for sharing. I was musing aloud, I suppose, not intending to cast aspersions. The context was that Shawn was suggesting that your site could be "the first Australian government (federal or state) blog outside the firewall".

And, in that context, I was reflecting my hope that government agencies might be interested in sharing with the rest of us a perspective of life inside government, via blogging and other social media and in a less controlled and anonymous fashion than has been the custom (as a former public servant I understand the constraints, as an idealist I reserve the right to dream aloud). And I was drawing an analogy, simply, from discussions about corporate blogging in asking whether it might make sense to apply to the government sector the approach that putting a name to a post helps overcome the impersonality of the corporation - read "government", "department", "agency" where others of us post about "the corporation". Apologies if I was unduly cryptic or elliptical.

Now,thanks to your comment, I understand that your site is more the locus of a private conversation with your "target audience", to which you permit the rest of us to listen if we choose, rather than any deliberate effort to communicate more widely.

But for me at least your dismissive "who cares?" does not demolish the value of some of us other citizens having the conversation.

Sorry to have put your nose out of joint. Every good wish with the site.

Des

What a great idea that the goverment have a blog, hopefully they will come up with more gov blogs in the future.

Regards,
Tom.