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the problemDesignGov’s Lost in Translation report found that a serious problem in business/government interactions is that businesses struggle to find the information they need from government agencies. Sometimes they don’t even know how best to describe the matter because of the highly technical language, and the divided responsibilities of departments and jurisdictions.

the ideaTo solve the problem, the report recommended BabelGov, a peer-to-peer crowd support platform where people can ask questions about navigating government and government processes, and others (from business, public sector, intermediaries and other interested parties) can provide answers. This approach mirrors the natural way that people discover answers to their problems, and learn from others’ experiences. The name was inspired by the Babelfish in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a fictitious animal that provides instant translations.

co-designing the solutionOn 27 June 2013, DesignGov facilitated a workshop with businesses, intermediaries and public servants from the APS, NSW Government and the ACT Government to consider and co-design solutions to this problem and to work on making the idea of BabelGov more concrete.

the stepsCo-design WorkshopWorking out the desirable and undesirable elements and characteristics of a BabelGov platform.

Strategic AdviceWas obtained on operational and governance elements of a business-driven cross-agency and cross-jurisdictional crowd-based platform for ease of navigation and targetted problem-solving.

Web-based PrototypeVia AGIMO’s Data Centre as a Service, three companies were invited to submit proposals. A web-based platform has been created for trialling and refinement.

Testing of Concept and Integration optionsThe concept of crowd-based advice was also raised in a number of other prototype workshops exploring options to improve Business and Government Interaction.

what’s next?The ATO and the Department of Industry invested in the first stage of the BabelGov platform, and are now interested in testing it further.

more detail inside:Co-Design Workshop ..……………….. 3Strategic Factors ..…………….………. 4Web Prototype ………………………... 6The Challenge ………………………… 7The Proposition . ……………………….. 8

overview

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27 JUNE 2013

Co-design workshopComponents:Social Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform:A forum and derived knowledge-base which facilitates community resolution of specific problems faced by business people when dealing with government; and by public servants when seeking to provide a complete answer or solution to an enquiry.

Focus group/testing grounds:A channel which can be used by Government to test, refine and validate issues suitable for Fix-It Squads, new ideas and early stage prototypes with the business community.

Expert information provider:Periodic host of government ‘experts’ in various business related topics who engage the community through webinars, forum discussions and online question and answer sessions.

Crowd-sourcing/intelligence repository:A source of new ideas and useful information derived from the BabelGov community, which could form the basis of new government initiatives or improvements to existing offerings.

27 June Workshop participants:

4 DesignGov staff, facilitating 24 people from small business, ACT Government, NSW Government, Australian Government and business intermediaries including ACCI and Lighthouse Business Innovation Centre at the offices of EY.

Development:• Link into a lot of existing systems,

communities, channels (eg MyGov), content and infrastructure that currently exist and which could be better utilised

• Identify key users who could generate initial content/discussions

• Useful to intermediaries to grow their membership base?

Overall Impressions:• The concept needs to be tested as there

are many challenges in getting such a platform to work across government

• BUT the status quo isn’t working so it is worthwhile testing the idea

• Willingness to explore new options • Perhaps BabelGov could be a valuable

means to navigate government and find meaningful answers through other people’s experiences, and interested public servants.

Masking the Complexity of Government by:• Providing information when there are

new policies or changes to policies• Highlighting support available to

businesses with specific links to web pages or phone numbers

• Giving context to government tenders and procurement needs

• Reflecting early issues for businesses through their searching behaviours and popular threads of inquiry

• Reducing the duplication of multiple answers to businesses.

It will need the following characteristics:• Simple and plain language• Relevance and timeliness• Incentives to participate• Relevant disclaimers• Links to existing communities of interest

in niche business areas• Integrated with key government

services, eg SBSL• Sophisticated intelligence capture• Well publicised and promoted• Clarity about where the advice is

coming from i.e. from government, versus someone sharing their experience

• Allow for anonymity, and simple log-in (if necessary)

• Allow for and manage complaints

For the complete write-up see http://design.gov.au/2013/07/15/co-designing-babelgov-a-prototype-for-getting-meaningful-answers-from-government/

the concept

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Strategic ElementsCreating a Personalised ExperienceDrawing on the user needs from DesignGov’s research, the platform needs to serve a range of users from many industry sectors, a broad range of demographics and accommodate differing motivations for participation. The value proposition focuses on speed and quality of response; and reward or acknowledgement of the community for their contributions.The ability to distinguish the intensity of interest at a point in time from the development and sustainability of interest over time will be crucial.The platform should be device agnostic and linked to popular social media channels.

Leveraging involvement of Super-UsersLeveraging knowledge and expertise by Involving the super-users as the initial content creators is essential.

• Who are they?• Where shall we find them?• Which areas of government

process/information/regulation should we start with?

• What will keep them engaged?

Sauermann, Henry and Franzoni, Chiara, Participation Dynamics in Crowd-Based Knowledge Production: The Scope and Sustainability of Interest-Based Motivation (November 28, 2013). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2360957 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2360957

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Strategic ElementsIncentives to Participate• Status gained from solving problems,

winning competitions• Self-use• Career benefits for public servants• Membership increases for

intermediaries• Impact on policies and processes.

Start Small, Promote Widely, Scale up on Success• Shared KPIs • Integrate tools, templates and methods

across APS for using BabelGov and resultant insights

• Communicate value generated.

Community Management & Governance• Post moderation model• Personal activity dashboard• Community managers, key

departments to form a steering committee

• Learning within public sector that the dynamic is of enabling rather than controlling

• Clear policies and processes for all participant behaviours, including Departments.

Fine-tuning engagement The search engine and data analytics will facilitate use and understanding of what users are seeking and how they are engaging.

This in turn can be used to continually optimise the platform.

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Possible Links and uses• australia.gov.au• Fix-It Squads Pilot, 2014• This could be used to test any online

ideas and issues discussion/ repository/ voting forums or process which spans organisations, institutions and jurisdictions.

Web Prototype

how it works

First Web PrototypeDrawing on the views from the Co-Design Workshop and the Strategic Advice, a web prototype has been built for further testing.

Access is currently provided via individual email addresses, and can be offered to participants of the early trial period within and outside the Australian Public Sector.

The contract with the cloud provider expires in April 2014, unless extended.

Key functions (so far)• Main Forum offers broad categories,

activity statistics, reflects who is online• Ability to initiate new topics with

summaries, attached files, topic icons, be notified of replies to questions, thank contributors (total shown)

• Ability to participate in discussions, earn karma points

• Range of roles: Site Administrator, Global Moderator, Moderator, Banned, User, Guest

• Search Function by content and time of posting

• Register of users, topics raised and responded to, online status, period of membership

• Profile – User Account, Profile including preferred social media addresses/tags, avatar image, forum settings, contributor statistics

• Access via simple login.

http://www.xlntelecom.co.uk

the prototype

He is happy to do the right thing, but there is so much information to work through and he feels confused and overwhelmed.

Businesses struggle to find the information they need from government

Brian is in his early 30s. He is high school educated with a trade, technology aware and engaged in social media. He enjoys being his own boss.

Brian wants to turn his hobby of baking gourmet bread into a business. Before he can get started, Brian needs a lot of information from government. He needs to know if he has to pay GST on the ingredients he imports, familiarise himself with food manufacturing regulations, and find out whether he needs a licence to sell at a local market.

And to expand, Brian will need to hire employees. But he isn’t sure what regulations he has to satisfy to employ someone – how much does he need to pay employees? How much super does he have to contribute? Should the employees be casual or part time? Does he need additional insurance?

“It’s like looking through the last 50 years of Encyclopaedia Britannica and if you don’t get

the phrase just right, you’ll never find it!”

the problem

the context

businesses need:• the right information in a form they can easily

understand to determine what is relevant to act on• interactions reflecting a level of personalisation• ready access to expertise

intermediaries need:• reciprocal partnership• two-way engagement• recognition of expertise• access to extended services

public servants need:• to add value to policies and services• to acknowledge and respond to constraints• to provide good service• acknowledgement of their role in the democratic

system

They often see it as a puzzle.

To solve it, he will need to navigate government to piece together a lot of information from several government agencies. But this is not easy.`

the needs to address

THE CHALLENGE

“Help me find out what I need to know”

Meet Brianthe small businessowner

Brian is a composite persona that reflects the needs of dozens of businesses and intermediaries that DesignGov interviewed during the Business and Government Interactions project. For more information, please download the report (http://tinyurl.com/designgovfindings) and prospectus (http://tinyurl.com/designgovprospectus).

What do I need to know about safety?

Manufacturing regulations?

Compliance standards?

What do I need to know about tax?Do I pay GST? How do I account for income tax?

What do I need to know to expand?What do I need to know about

employees, super, and work health and safety?

What do I have

to know to start

my business?

Excited but worried

about the responsibility

and legal hurdles

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BabelGovNavigating government with crowd support

We are facilitating the development of a peer-to-peer crowd-support platform where people ask questions about navigating government and government processes, and other people (business people, public servants, intermediaries or just interested citizens) can provide answers.

how we get thereWhat must BabelGov be able to achieve?• provide trusted information about the most

common business inquiries• users can find relevant information on

BabelGov using google searches

design principles• co-design and co-produce with influencers

and those impacted• simple, non-technical• digital services, not websites

assumptions• technologies are available, open and suitable

for APS environments• ability to accommodate confidentiality and

anonymity

unknowns• how could we deliver a productivity dividend

for businesses through reduced transaction costs, improved efficiencies?

• how to build a critical mass of super-users?• how to ensure currency and relevance of

content?

organisational challenges• how does BabelGov sit with business.gov.au,

the Small Business Support Line and the Australian Business Licence and Information Service (ABLIS)?

• how does it manage multi-agency content and governance?

Some of the factors to be considered during prototyping

THE PROPOSITION

Prototyping BabelGov

the benefits

businesses benefit by:• easily finding answers to their questions in

ways that suit their particular circumstances and experiences, and in language that is meaningful to them

intermediaries benefit by:• new portal for linking their clients to

government information• increased participation by businesses in

industry and trade associations• ability to demonstrate value to potential

clients

public servants benefit by:• easily discovering the right person or area in

other agencies and determining how their business-facing role fits with that of other government offerings and requirements

A person in

business has a

question about

government

Where do they start?

People with problems in

navigating or understanding government

BABELGO

V

CROWDSU

PPORT

DEMAND

SUPPLY Share experiences, guide you to who, where, when

DesignGov will be running a series of workshops aimed at further developing this concept and testing how it might work.If you would like to get involved, contact us through our email (design@design.gov.au) or phone number (02 6125 4974)

the idea

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