Perhaps also the situation is different in the US – I dunno what kind of standards the American govt is working with (if any) for the Web. Here in Canada we’ve got our playbook for web sites (it’s called “Common Look and Feel” – sorry no link, the site these standards live on seems to be down at the moment) that takes most of the decision making about presentation and format out of the hands of individual web publishers in the GoC. So we’re free to spend more time focussing on how to deliver the content online rather than worrying about how to set up the navigation and page layout.

The corollary is that, from this default position, some departments/business units etc would then build their websites on the same platforms.

Like you, I think it absurd to suggest that government would stop making their information available to all citizens via consumer-oriented sites. In many instances it is true to suggest that third parties, like TheyWorkForYou, will do a better job of presenting that data in a usable manner, but that doesn’t remove the responsibility of government do continue to provide that service.

Over time, more complex & interesting applications will emerge that will complement the government sites and, in some rare cases, may even replace them. But the reality is that agencies should be focussing on delivering public value by focussing on the frameworks and not the presentation.

Kia ora