Government and public service delivery is taking place in a changed world. A significant
level of social, economic and political activity is now happening on the internet.
As people buy and sell goods, search for information, browse the web and share their
day–to–day experiences with colleagues, friends and family through social networks, they
produce an enormous amount of data.
The use of this data to develop insights is growing rapidly. In the private sector it is being
used to enhance decision making, understand customer behaviour, improve operational
efficiency and identify new markets.
The new information environment1
also obliges government to develop new capabilities to
understand the information available and to compete for attention and influence within it.
Part of the challenge in embracing the digital age is that, in the midst of rapid change, it’s
very difficult to know where to place your bets. We do not yet know exactly what access
to large volumes of social data will mean for our society. It certainly will not present a
panacea for long–standing social problems; but it can add another dimension to our
understanding of them.