Brian Cowen to go on twitter - new Irish Government website costs €40K

Darragh

Full story here. No surprise on the cost (except that it's low) but it's for

photography, videos, Facebook status updates, Twitter feeds and web chat... on a whole new social networking-led internet platform based on WordPress, Flickr, Facebook and Twitter called MerrionStreet.ie that will see political leaders, including the Taoiseach, 'tweet' to the nation.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen will imminently be in a position to "tweet" to the world based on any number of issues.

the article goes on

“With the addition of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and the resulting rich amount of text, photography and video, we hope to give the citizen, as well as media, a better sense of the activities of Government.”


The new MerrionStreet.ie.ie site was built for the Government Information Service (GIS) by Irish web consultancy Arekibo and it is understood that the overall move cost the State less than €40,000.


“Cost was a prerequisite and we were keen to use available tools like WordPress and Flickr. We were also comfortable with the use of open source in the project. We looked at what the White House had done, what Sarkozy’s people had done and what Downing Street had done and decided to emulate these approaches.”

What do you reckon? Yet another government website that will be ignored or something with potential?



AND - honestly - do you think the Irish Government should have an official presence on Boards.ie ??

Nodin

Darragh wrote: »

AND - honestly - do you think the Irish Government should have an official presence on Boards.ie ??

And if so, who would the full time moderator and their psychiatrist be.....

Nodin

Darragh wrote: »

Full story here. No surprise on the cost (except that it's low) but it's for



the article goes on




What do you reckon? Yet another government website that will be ignored or something with potential?



AND - honestly - do you think the Irish Government should have an official presence on Boards.ie ??

It strikes me as just being a modern format for soundbites and press releases. I doubt any genuine interaction or expression will come from it.

Liam Byrne

At least they've learned from their past mistakes and chose and Irish company, supporting Irish jobs (assuming they don't outsource) to develop this one, not like the "little bit of Obama" bull**** that was the basis of choosing and American outfit for the FF site.

mikemac

Contracts over a certain value go to EU tender.

If they choose an overpriced Irish company over a competitively priced and reliable European company, I'd see more posts about the government wasting money

The FF site is their own money, they can spend it was they wish.
Taxpayers didn't pay all of it, I'm aware they are granted funds but most money comes from party members.
Your reply will be they should lead by example.
If the American company was better value then go for the value. No Irish company is entitled to the Irish contracts, they need to fight for them

Nijmegen

Aha. 40k for a website. Right. I happen to know a bit about that business. If you're paying 40k you've either got the new facebook or you're a mug.

paddyland

This all assumes that many people would be interested in or want to hear Cowen's opinions about anything. In a normal, functioning democracy, we would all wait with baited breath to hear our government leaders speak to us. In shabby, corrupt Ireland, our leaders are laughable clowns, and have about as much credibility as pigs mucking around in their own sh1te.

Cowen can tweet all he wants, but I or most of the country don't want to listen to a word out of his mouth.

Liam Byrne

feelingstressed wrote: »

If they choose an overpriced Irish company over a competitively priced and reliable European company, I'd see more posts about the government wasting money

No, because (a) the reason Ireland isn't competitive is because of economic mismanagement and (b) the advantages of keeping Irish jobs and keeping the money in Ireland would outweigh a lot of any additional cost.

If it were another FF buddy's company, or if it were seriously overpriced, I'd say something.

But also bear in mind that the reason given for the FF website was the ridiculous "we could do with a little bit of Obama", which is hardly a logical or tangible criteria unless the web development company is providing Obama himself as a leader.

And so that reflects on FF's ability to make a proper decision instead of a spin/PR decision.

Finally, I said that they've "learned from their mistakes", which is not something that can often - if ever - be said about FF. You differentiating between the two sites (government versus "private" FF) negates that observation.....so maybe they haven't learned anything after all.

thebman

Should probably read Brian Cowen to apoint someone to tweet for him and put the person on his expense account for the taxpayer to pay as I imagine that is what will actually happen.

Buford T Justice

Darragh wrote: »

AND - honestly - do you think the Irish Government should have an official presence on Boards.ie ??

If you don't mind having a full time moderator on hand for their forum sure, because they will get here would be an endless torrent of abuse. It might also give the impression that they are accountable and answerable for their decisions and mistakes, and lets face it - they've become quite adept at dodging those bullets for such a long time

paddyland wrote: »

This all assumes that many people would be interested in or want to hear Cowen's opinions about anything.

Cowen can tweet all he wants, but I or most of the country don't want to listen to a word out of his mouth.

Totally agree. I have no interest in anything he has to say unless it involves the dissolution of the current incumbents or his resignation

Overheal

Darragh wrote: »

AND - honestly - do you think the Irish Government should have an official presence on Boards.ie ??

At what level though? I can't imagine having chats with Cowen. I could see having a Press Secretary employed to speak here, for instance.

Seems like a real lightning rod. If the gov't has actually approached boards about this perhaps we should discuss it in Feedforward.

We looked at what the White House had done, what Sarkozy’s people had done and what Downing Street had done and decided to emulate these approaches.

Ireland [the gov't] is every bit as capable of any of these countries to innovate setups like this: they just choose not to. Emulation; not Innovation. Ireland is not the USA, or France, or England; yet it always seems to do as they do. From what I've seen theres a fear to experiment.

Wolfe Tone

Good move by the government, will be interesting.


And I think ALL political parties should have an official presence on boards.ie. No just the party in government.

skelliser

Site fail! im getting a HTTP Error 403.6 when i try the site.

looks like im blacklisted!

You are not authorized to view this page
The Web server you are attempting to reach has a list of IP addresses that are not allowed to access the Web site, and the IP address of your browsing computer is on this list.

Please try the following:

* Contact the Web site administrator if you believe you should be able to view this directory or page.

HTTP Error 403.6 - Forbidden: IP address of the client has been rejected.
Internet Information Services (IIS)

Technical Information (for support personnel)

* Go to Microsoft Product Support Services and perform a title search for the words HTTP and 403.
* Open IIS Help, which is accessible in IIS Manager (inetmgr), and search for topics titled About Security, Limiting Access by IP Address, IP Address Access Restrictions, and About Custom Error Messages.

tricky D

This is the kind of value our beloved Government gets for €40K:

http://www.electronicvoting.ie/

discussed on this thread:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055832003

Liam Byrne

skelliser wrote: »

Site fail! im getting a HTTP Error 403.6 when i try the site.

looks like im blacklisted!

Nope - that's your "lies, bull**** and spin" filter....switch that off and you'll be able to access it.

P.S. I'm getting the same.....it's obviously only available to the 21% who will lap up the bull!

To be honest it's just as well because what Cowen & Co don't realise is that until they start telling the truth and acting ethically it doesn't matter how they communicate.

Einhard

MUSSOLINI wrote: »

Good move by the government, will be interesting.


And I think ALL political parties should have an official presence on boards.ie. No just the party in government.

I wouldn't like to see boards turn into a propoganda tool for individual parties though. There are enough media outlets out there for the parties to get their position across, without hijacking independent discussion fora.

Grumpypants

So someone charged him 40k to sign him up to Facebook and Twitter .......... why didnt i think of that :mad:

Overheal

I'm IP blocked too.

A new web presence entitled ‘MerrionStreet.ie’ will go live ‘imminently’, the team behind the project told Siliconrepublic during an exclusive preview.

I'd say the only IP's whitelisted as of this time are those involved on the project, like gov't officials and webmasters.

FewFew

skelliser wrote: »

Site fail! im getting a HTTP Error 403.6 when i try the site.

looks like im blacklisted!

The article says it's a preview, I wouldn't assume the site is live yet, otherwise we'd be hearing about it from other quarters I'd imagine.

Also "While Cowen will soon be able to tweet to the nation, the GIS said the MerrionStreet.ie resource will not be used as a political tool by any party in power."
As far as I know GIS is civil service, so they don't really care who's in power. Above quote would also suggest that, and that all the FF propaganda accusations may be off the mark.

I welcome any attempt at making politics more transparent tbh, I guess we'll have to wait and see whether this site is worthwhile or if it's just considered another waste of money.

Eliot Rosewater

skelliser wrote: »

Site fail! im getting a HTTP Error 403.6 when i try the site.

Microsoft Windows likes nothing better than "forbidding" people from doing things. :pac:

Einhard wrote: »

I wouldn't like to see boards turn into a propoganda tool for individual parties though. There are enough media outlets out there for the parties to get their position across, without hijacking independent discussion fora.

It would make them accountable and make them cop on. It would stop people from being able to make false accusations and be let off. Imagine we got "levy is a spending cut" Howlin on, for example.

I think it would be a great idea.

Liam Byrne

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

It would make them accountable and make them cop on.

And pigs will fly. FF don't do accountability, and they'd just trot out the same bull, lies and spin as we already see through existing PR outlets and press releases.

In fact, I'd already suspect that they are already on boards on an "unofficial" basis.

What this government doesn't realise is that we've heard all that they've said; the method of communication is irrelevant - we just don't believe them, and we're not going to listen to them until they start listening to us.

After all, we're supposed to be their employers, and we're paying their wages (and sickening expenses)

Eliot Rosewater

Liam Byrne wrote: »

And pigs will fly. FF don't do accountability, and they'd just trot out the same bull, lies and spin as we already see through existing PR outlets and press releases.

Well, if Brendan Howlin came on here and said that a levy was a spending cut he would be slated. What he says would actually be addressed, giving less lee way for spin and hyperbole. Ditto with many of our political leaders.

The problem with one-way traditional media is that you can say what you like and get away with it. There have been a fair few times on Boards when I've erased my posts because I could not fully support them or because they were not grounded in fact and, as such, I would have been criticised by fellow forum members. Politicans, like Mr Cowen, are not constrained by this kind of thing: they can throw out a soundbite even if it's totally and completely detached from reality.

Scofflaw

Einhard wrote: »

I wouldn't like to see boards turn into a propoganda tool for individual parties though. There are enough media outlets out there for the parties to get their position across, without hijacking independent discussion fora.

I'd say myself that an overt and acknowledged presence gives them less chance of 'hijacking'. It would also be interesting to see how posters who supported the parties reacted.

cordially,
Scofflaw

Darragh

Darragh wrote: »

What do you reckon? Yet another government website that will be ignored or something with potential?

Do they even or do their staff even read their emails?

I'd suspect it's just another waste.

My name is URL

I think that having a substantial presence online is good thing for any government, and the sites mentioned in the article supply those opportunities

Shea O'Meara

I'm in!! The excitement!

Relax...turns out everything is great!

Brian Cowen on Optimism and Confidence

You know what? I was a little worried there for the last while *wipes brow*

MerrionStreet.ie is a brand new service. To give it its full title, MerrionStreet.ie the Irish Government News Service, is intended to give people a view of Government from the vantage point of Government Buildings itself. It will bring together on one website, a view of Government not seen before. We hope it will be of value to a citizen, to a journalist or to any interested party.
In simple terms, MerrionStreet.ie will review the wide range of government activity and then report certain key events as news. All government press releases will be accessible from our website – either by way of RSS feed or by way of links to all government departments. But our central task will be to take a variety of events and report on them objectively, in the language of a news bulletin. We will also feature ‘Issues’ where useful thematic information, not tied to a particular date, is presented.

http://www.merrionstreet.ie/index.php/about/

jmayo

skelliser wrote: »

Site fail! im getting a HTTP Error 403.6 when i try the site.

looks like im blacklisted!

Ah no, that would be fact you are Irish taxpayer and thus not allowed onto the site.
Anyhows you shoudl be working hard to help pay for public spending on rescuing dodgy banks and ministers expenses and not surfing on the web.
Why do you think eamon ryan brought in high speed broadband

Grumpypants wrote: »

So someone charged him 40k to sign him up to Facebook and Twitter .......... why didnt i think of that :mad:

You are not in ff
BTW we are the ones paying for it, not him.



The last we need is biffo tweeting.
imagine if he did it himself what his tweets would be like ...

The country is going down the sh***er, he is limiting time in the Dáil, our so called parliament that is there to hold him accountable to us the citizens.

When he does grace it with his presence he is refusing to answer questions about his government's actions and now he wants an internet presence to do what exactly ????

The only internet presence he should have is a youtube video showing him tied butt naked across the back of a donkey being chased out of town.

jmcc

40K for a Wordpress blog?

Regards...jmcc

Liam Byrne

How the HELL did that cost €40K ???

We regularly have discussions on the Web Design / Development forum that have people undervaluing web design & development, but FFS!

I'd have EASILY put what's visible together for €5K, so even doubling that to €10K to cover unknowns behind the scenes, that's an OBSCENE amount of money to spend on that site!

cojack101

So basically we paid 40k for him to have a twitter account?

Why doesnt he just set up a free twitter account like the rest of us!

Gravy Fanatic

Good old tech savvy Brian, sure I bet you them Kenny and Gilmore fellas cant even switch on the computer in the first place.

daithimac

Am I the only one who gets tired of reading posts from indignant little sh1ts with nothing to say but the same tired ad hominem bleats.

Tbh I would think that this would be why the government does not have a presence on boards. After cowens first post there would be 100 posts saying how does it feel to be a clown mr cowen or are you daring to use a keyboard bought with MY money.

I presume that the 40k covers all maintenance and updateing. It would have been nice to see them go the ryanair route and hire a bunch of students to do it but at least they hired Irish.

It will be interesting to see if they can make real use of it. Only government sites I would use would be the department of finance and the CSO site and they can be quite hard to find specific information on so hopefully this will be an improvement and a central point for publishing reports.

cojack101

daithimac wrote: »

I presume that the 40k covers all maintenance and updateing. It would have been nice to see them go the ryanair route and hire a bunch of students to do it but at least they hired Irish.

I strongly doubt that they hired Irish. Its most likely they put it out as a contract, to an Irish company that made 35k profit on the 40k by sub contracting it out to a non EU web development company.

That 40k only went in the pocket of someone who isn't short of 40k, and I would very much doubt anyone came off the live register to build it.

What they should have done was taken web developers off the live register, or had it done in association with FAS/College/University, had the students build it free of charge as something to put on a CV and taken a project manager from the live register for a month to oversee them.

ghumare

merrionstreet.ie says on its homepage that its Irish Governments News Service. The sliding photos at the top on homepage ALL have Brian in them. Should they change the line to ''Brian Cowen News Service''? :mad:

FewFew

ghumare wrote: »

merrionstreet.ie says on its homepage that its Irish Governments News Service. The sliding photos at the top on homepage ALL have Brian in them. Should they change the line to ''Brian Cowen News Service''? :mad:

Like it or not, he is the Taoiseach of the country, and as such gets to turn up at all the big news stories. There are other ministers in most of those photos, but what journo in their right mind would cut out the Taoiseach at an event where he's present?