The site now contains 2132 pages of information, and as of 30 November, 7,290 different people have visited the site on a total of 13,126 occasions and viewed 87,857 pages.

I have been thinking about this for a while now, and I think I have come up with a good way of getting the project happening.

If you are interested, please check out the Unit Rate page, for more information.

The site now contains 2050 pages of information, and as of 31 October, 6,604 different people have visited the site on a total of 11,900 occasions and viewed 81,742 pages.

The average number of people visiting the site each weeks seems to be trending in the right direction, but it is still pretty up and down from week to week.

1. Watching Pages
2. RSS Feeds

Watching pages is the easiest. All you have to do is click on "Start watching this page" at the bottom right hand corner of the page, and you will be sent an e-mail whenever the page is updated. This is a good option if you are interested in one or two subjects and you want to know when there is a change, but if you start watching everything on the site your inbox could start to clog up very quickly with notification messages so it may not be for everyone.

I actually prefer the RSS Feed option in combination with Google Reader & the IGoogle Google Reader gadget.

It is all a bit tricky to take in, but I think it is worth the effort of at least looking at the Google Reader link above. It wasn't immediately obvious to me when I first signed up how Google Reader would benefit me, but I use it a lot now.

If you do decide to use it, here are a few LGAM feeds that you might like to subscribe to.

http://www.lgam.info/feed/forum/posts.xml - all forum posts
http://lgam.wikidot.com/feed/front/start/news.xml - just the posts in the news category

I just started an Introduce Yourself Thread, which would be an ideal place to start if you are thinking of taking the plunge!!

I was just wondering how everyone else defines the term impairment, and how other Councils assess the impairment of Intangibles with indefinite life, eg Water Rights?

Thanks,
Chantell

We are conducting a study into on-line services delivery (covering Australian and New Zealand local councils), and I would like to share some preliminary findings with you and seek your views/ comments.

One of the areas I am looking into is financial benefits - the revenue attributed to the services delivered on-line appears to be around 3% of the total council revenue (this is an average across local councils). It looks a bit low. About 30% of the councils that participated in our survey so far reported that more than 10% of their rates transactions are executed on-line, but I can not see this being reflected in the revenue.

Any views?

Thanks,

Leila
Research Director
Technology Indicators

Click here for a larger version of the map.

Please read the AdCiv.org AdCiv.org article referenced at the bottom of the page. It eloquently sums up a lot of the things that made me want to create this site.

In the last year:
6,022 people from 97 Countries have visited the site on 10,840 occasions and viewed a total of 76,066 pages.
Most visitors are from Australia, but there have been a sprinkling of visits from far and wide.
If you want to know more, please check out the Who visits this site page.

Last week saw the greatest number of people visit the site (696) since I started using Google Analytics in November last year. Hopefully the number of people using the site will continue to grow in the next 12 months.

September innovations include;

1. a Tutorial on how to get the most out of the site.
2. Bundypedia a separate site created to show how Wikidot can be used to set up an Council Extranet or Community website.

One type of software I didn't really think to add until very recently is Wiki software itself. Bundaberg Regional Council has been using MediaWiki for a few years now and as of today the BRC wiki contains over 10,000 pages of information, and it is a very useful resource for Council staff. I am very interested to hear what if any wiki systems other Councils are using. I'd love to be proved wrong, but I have a strong suspicion that not many other Councils are using wikis at all.

Wikis are easy to use, useful, and quite often free, but there are a perhaps a couple of reasons why they aren't being used more. I suspect that being a relatively recent innovation (they have been around since 1995) not everyone knows much about them, how to set them up, how to use them or what to use them for.

Being a "wiki evangelist" I'd love to see them being used more, and I think the way to do that is to show people what they can do, and to make it easy for them to set one up. This website itself is one example of how a wiki can be used, but I think it is only part of the story.

The main reason I set this site up this was to share information that I thought was of general use to Councils everywhere. A lot of it was already documented on the Bundaberg Wiki, and I thought it was a shame it wasn't available to more Councils. On the other hand about 80% of the information on the BRC wiki is Bundaberg specific information that no one else would be particularly interested in, photos and data about assets, Bundaberg specific processes & procedures, and that sort of thing. Although the data itself is of limited interest to others, most people from other Councils and organisations that have seen the BRC wiki, are quite impressed with what we have done, and a few have expressed an interest in setting up something similar for their organisation.

I have thought about this quite a bit recently and I have come to the conclusion that whilst it is easy enough for a Council to host a wiki on their own server and set it up in a similar fashion to Bundaberg, there are a number of advantages in using Wikidot (the site that hosts the LGAM Knowledge Base) to host a network of Council specific wikis.

1. Wikidot offers a free hosting option that is more than generous enough to host a sizable wiki.
2. It is possible to clone an existing wikidot site and hand the copy of it to a new user which makes it very easy to start of with a functional wiki instead of a blank slate.
3. The sites can be configured to be either publicly viewable, or only viewable by wiki members.
4. Once a few Councils set up wikis it will be very easy for them to feed of each others ideas.
5. It will allow me easily to help anyone to set up their site and get it going.

To get the ball rolling I have started copying a few pages from the BRC Wiki to a new Wikidot wiki to designed to show the sorts of things that could be included in a Council Wiki - it is early days yet, but if you are interested in having a look, the site address is: http://brc1.wikidot.com.

I have also set up a blank version which I am happy to give you a copy of to get you started - http://extranet.wikidot.com

If you are even half interested in setting up a wiki for your Council, please let me know, and I will help you out as much as I can.

Click here for more information about the problems.

1. Local Government focused
2. Open
3. Trying to build an encyclopedic knowledge base for Local Government

BUT, as of yesterday, we are not alone.

Munigov an online community for US Local Government employees has just set up a wiki aimed at "allowing local governments to pool their knowledge in an effort to collaborate and share ideas, practices, policies, standards, and experiences". Those stated aims are very similar to ours.

I am hopeful that the Munigov Local Government Wiki will become a very good resource for local governments in the USA and around the world. I'll be supporting it as much as I can and I am hopeful that both sites will be able to learn from each other and prosper into the future.

The media release states that:

Over two years, the $25 million Local Government Reform Fund will:

* Assist councils implement new asset management and planning consistent with a national framework;
* Fund the collection and analysis of robust data about councils’ infrastructure assets; and
* Support collaboration between councils on a regional basis for service delivery and planning.

To be clear, I'm visualizing a system that would eventually contain; asset management, document/records management, finance, GIS & property modules, and any other functionality required by Local Government.

If anyone has any thoughts on how to initiate the development of an open source Local Government Software Suite, or what sought of functionality such a system should have, please let us know.

The page is now deleted (thanks for letting me know about the dead link Ashish) and the information on the page was pretty limited anyway, but it got me thinking,
that if every state and federal government department created a page
on their websites dedicated to listing & linking to information and
services that they provide for Local Government it would be very very
useful innovation for Councils.

If done thoughtfully, the information could be aggregated to give
Councils a single page to visit for all government information.

What does everyone think?

I've already left feedback on a couple of QLD government websites, suggesting that they think about a page devoted to Local Government. I'm not sure if it will result in any action, but I think it is worth a try.

The Jobs Fund will be administered by several government agencies, with the cycle path component under the jurisdiction of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government.

The submission deadline is 22nd May 2009 for funding that will start from the 1st July 2009 and not extend beyond 30th June 2010.

Further information: http://www.cyclingresourcecentre.org.au/news_item.php?item=376

Australian Federal Government Scholarships Available

There are scholarships available to women from the Australian Sports Commission – refer to http://www.cyclingresourcecentre.org.au/news_item.php?item=383 for more information. Those of you who are female, and in management / professional positions within local government that plan / design / manage sports facilities and/or venues may well be eligible to apply for this scholarship.

Good luck with your applications.

Fiona

Specifier.Com lists the following items under the heading office fitout.

• Office Furniture
• Office Storage Systems
• Office Seating
• Workstations
• Internal Partitions
• Office Equipment

There are one or two items on the list I wouldn't have thought would be classed as fitout.

I am very interested to hear what other Council consider to be included in fitout.

It will be a no cost collaborative network of professionals from various backgrounds that have cycling (recreational and commuter based) as part of their work spec that may require information, wish to share projects that they have completed (infrastructure / programs / services) or that are just interested in cycling.

If you are interested in coming part of the network you can contact Fiona at abc@austroads.com.au

Here are a few site stats.

1. There are now 103 members. (Up 26 from last month)
2. There are now 1240 pages of information.
3. The sites international Alexa ranking has jumped to 329,543, and its Australian Ranking is holding steady at about 3400.
4. There have been 2,462 unique visitors & 41,100 page views since I set up Google Analytics for the site in November last year.

The Wikidot servers were down for a few hours on the 5th of March, but since then, I at least have been able to access the site without problems, from home and work whenever I want to - which is quite regularly.
If you do have problems accessing the site please leave a message here after the event or let me know by e-mail - Wayne.Eddy@bundaberg.qld.gov.au and/or wge@darkenfair.com

If the Wikidot servers are down again for any reason, I will post a message to the mailing list & the Twitter account associated with the site as soon as I find out. (Just one more reason to sign up!)

It might be worth mentioning that the site can be accessed using two urls.
http://www.lgam.info & http://lgam.wikidot.com
If one isn't working try the other one. It shouldn't make any difference, but it won't hurt trying.

If all this talk about the servers being down etc. concerns you, don't panic. I am confident that the wikidot hosting option is a good one, and that they will be around for the long haul. They have 300,000 users and are growing quickly. Having said that, I back up the site regularly, and I can move it elsewhere if necessary. In that event the site would retain the www.lgam.info address, but would lose the wikidot one. It would be a pain to do, but be assured I have a Plan B.

Here is how to do it.
1. Find a photo and save it to your computer somewhere.
2. Log in to Wikidot.
3. Click on "my account" in the top right hand corner of your screen.
4. Click on "my profile".
5. Click on "my buddy icon. (avatar).
6. Upload your photo.

The Position: Using your post secondary qualification in Engineering Technology, Asset Management, Surveying or Spatial Science and/or considerable experience in one or more of these fields, you will identify, compile, verify and record inventory and status of attributes (financial, physical and spatial) for all of Council's infrastructure assets.

Applications: Further enquiries with regard to this position should be directed to Wayne Eddy, Manager Assets on (07) 4130 4851.

Applications addressing the selection criteria are to be addressed to the Chief Executive Officer and can be mailed to Bundaberg Regional Council, PO Box 3130, Bundaberg QLD 4670 or by email to vacancies@bundaberg.qld.gov.au

Applications close Tuesday, 31st March 2009. Please quote vacancy number: PN/09/0050 when applying for this position.

Position Description: Assets_Officer.Pdf

The number of site members is growing slowly. There 73 members at last count. The sites Alexa Rating is also improving steadily, it is now up to 683,179. The number of pages on the site is now 1135.

1. To compile a comprehensive encyclopedia like repository of knowledge about all aspects of Council operations & activities.

2. To have nearly every person in every Council office building across Australia refer to the site on a daily basis, and at least a few officers at every Council contributing information to the site regularly.

3. To have groups of local government employees using the site regularly to collaborate on a wide range of projects.

4. To have groups in other countries & industries using the site as a model for similar sites.

We reached a few milestones today.

1. The site has now been up and running for exactly 4 months.
2. There are now 60 members.
3. The site now has a world Alexa ranking of 1,397,203, and an Australian Alexa Ranking of 7396.

If you would like to learn how to embed a google map in a page click this this link.

To get the ball rolling I have started work on an AMP template for Stormwater Drainage Assets. I would really appreciate any feed back about the template, and I think if a few people were willing to help develop it, it could become an excellent free resource for Queensland and other Councils.

Even if you don't have time to help out with its development, please feel free to use, copy and modify it in anyway you see fit.

I realise that much that goes into an AMP is specific to individual Councils, but I can think of a few things that collaboration could make easier.

Risk identification for example. It might be easier for a group Councils to brainstorm a list of possible risks than for a single Council to do so.
Similarly if we could develop a list of maintenance activities it would make a good check list for Councils when they are developing a Maintenance Plan. I can think of a dozen or more additional examples and 'm sure there are many more than that.

If any one is interested please let me know, in the mean time I will post any helpful bits of information I can think of to the site.

I have created an Activity Types page and I would love to get a discussion going about specific activities and if they are renewal, maintenance or operation. It is always a bit of a hot topic here at Bundy and I presume it probably is elsewhere.

• The LGAM Wiki
• Local Government Asset Management
• The Encyclopedia of Local Government & Asset Management
• The Local Government & Asset Management Knowledge Base

I'd be interested to hear which title you think best describes the site.

Regards,

Wayne Eddy