Dr Colin Boswell
Boswell Consulting, New Zealand
colin@boswellconsulting.co.nz

Boswell, C. (2004, November), Leadership and Responsibility in the Networked World. Bulletin of Applied Computing and Information Technology Vol. 2, Issue 3. ISSN 1176-4120. Retrieved from

In 2000 the Harvard Policy Group on Network-Enabled Services and Government, as part of its series "Guidelines for the 2000 Election and Beyond" produced a report entitled “Eight Imperatives for Leaders in a Networked World”. It was aimed at political leaders and was intended to provide a framework for reaping the benefits and avoiding the risks of the Internet pervasive era.

An accompanying press release suggested that in the past many information technology related policies were driven by technical staff and that this approach could not continue. As Georges Clemenceau, Prime Minster of France during the First World War stated "War is too important to leave it to the generals". Now, given its pervasive nature information technology (IT) policy must be driven by politicians. We are starting to see this happening in New Zealand with the establishment of the e-government unit within State Services Commission and the commitment of the Government to Web-enabling relevant departmental activities.

A summary of the eight points made by the Harvard Policy Group is that leaders:

• Should become personally involved in information technology projects and not delegate responsibility for technology to the technology specialists.
• Should look at the big picture and not just the incremental quick-fix when searching for innovative solutions.
• Should analyse economic and budgetary trends to identify new funding needs.
• Should not ignore information privacy and security by going with a quick-fix but also should not allow privacy and security issues to paralyze new systems and services.
• Should work in conjunction with grassroots leaders and private sector leaders to create partnerships that bridge the traditional boundaries between government and the outside world.
• Should use information technology to develop net-based education, job development and community engagement.
• Should make online participation in politics easier and more.
• Should become more directly and effectively engaged with technology.

The report concluded that if it is to be successful e-government must involve all stakeholders, be visionary and, at the same time, realistic.

The National Committee on Computing Qualifications (NACCQ) statement of objectives (available at the NACCQ Web site) is longer than the Harvard Policy Group’s eight principles but there is a clear correspondence between the two. It is clear too that BACIT is reflecting NACCQ’s objective of providing “a New Zealand forum for work in progress and scholarly writings in computing, with a strong focus on the application of information and communications technologies to our everyday world - whether this is business, education or society in general.”

While the Harvard policy Group's document is now two presidential elections old, it is not drawing too long a bow to suggest that with little modification these same eight principles could be drivers for applied IT research and that some of these drivers are reflected in the contents of this double issue of BACIT. A number of papers have a teaching and learning focus addressing the recommendations on net-based learning. These include course design and development, teaching methodologies, skill requirements, and achieving community wide participation. Others, such as the Linux cluster paper and the future proofing networking paper, have a “big picture” focus and show teachers involving themselves directly in the practice of what they are teaching. Others address the bridge to the outside world (on-line auctions, database design, off peak distributed computing, flight simulation).

It will be interesting to see whether BACIT can attract and publish research in the other key areas and so help provide the “framework for reaping the benefits and avoiding the risks of the Internet pervasive era”.

Copyright © 2004 Colin Boswell
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