We’re big fans of Web 2.0. In fact we were doing it before it was called Web 2.0. What’s that? You’re not sure what Web 2.0 is? Not the only one.

Wikipedia says that Web 2.0 is “commonly associated with web applications that facilitate interactive information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design,^[1] and collaboration on the World Wide Web.” This is really what the web has always been about, which is why the term meant nothing to me when I first heard it.

It seemed counterintuitive that people would be giving a new name to something that was inherent in the web in the first place.

For me Web 2.0 was, and still is version one – Web 1.0.

But not everyone saw from the beginning that interactivity was what the Internet was about. Many organisations still don’t. Unfortunately for the way we do government, chief amongst them are government departments.

With the launch of their new website an honourable exception is the Australian Law Reform Commission. Check it out at http://www.alrc.gov.au/. Stephen Coleman says that most government sites fail to get the “aesthetics” right. Well this one does a pretty good job.