British Government in Useless At IT Shocker
The dti launches a terrible website.
Dan Champion challenges them using the Freedom Of Information act.
Pretty important stuff, as this involves £200,000 of taxpayer's money, and I applaud Dan for pursuing this. Dan and Bruce Lawson are working on some follow-up questions - it'll be interesting to see how the government manages to justify this complete waste of our money.
Of course, there is a further point - that £200,000 is a ludicrous amount for that kind of website anyway, even if it was the most accessible and beautifully-designed site in the world...
About this entry
- By John Hoare
- Posted on Tuesday, June 27 2006 @ 6:14 am
- Categorised in Net
- Tagged with dti
- 4 comments
You'd be surprised just how easy it would be to spend £200,000. I was involved in the tender for a rather average business site. Basic CMS, events page (clickable calendar - woo!), forum (yes a forum for site with no community, I made the same argument at the time) and ermm that’s about it. In all maybe a hundred or so pages - grand total £30,000. I can quite easily see how with a touch of bureaucracy and scaling of size how £200,00 was spent.
I'm not saying they *should* have spent that much, just that I can see how it happens.
By Daisy
June 27, 2006 @ 1:56 pm
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Yeah, I can see how the added expense happens. It's horrible to realise how much it happens - and not just with government-run websites, either...
Anyway, they're really putting the boot in:
http://www.brucelawson.co.uk/index.php/2006/fresh01s-redesign-questions-dti/
By John Hoare
June 28, 2006 @ 5:51 am
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http://www.blether.com/archives/2006/07/dti_update_foi.php
http://www.brucelawson.co.uk/index.php/2006/dti-responds-to-questions-about-their-accessibility/
Absolutely fucking outrageous.
I eagerly look forward to the appeal. I think we should all really get behind this one.
By John Hoare
July 23, 2006 @ 10:32 pm
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Just what is it with this government and technology? £200.000 grand on a website, countless millions on an air traffic control system which was out-dated before it was even switched on, and a Prime Minister who, for some reason, cannot open his inbox(If he could, he would surely have seen the two million or so objections to his proposed road charging scheme!!!!). Is anybody really that surprised that Tony's gang have frittered away a substantial amount of OUR money AGAIN? Let's face it guys + gals, when it comes to spending money this government puts Posh + Becks to shame!!! You can ask them where the moneys gone but I'm sure they'll have a smart answer for you, presuming, that is, that they can be bothered to answer you at all (How dare YOU put upon our GLORIOUS CIVIL SERVANTS? They know whats best you know?.) In the immortal words of Mr Ronnie Corbett "I know my place". I just object to being told where my place is!!! (If you catch my drift?). Keep up the good work gentlemen + may god be with you as you battle the foot soldiers of the Big Red Devil in the blue tie.
By Peter Jones
February 24, 2007 @ 4:57 am
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