NZGovtFeeds (Unofficial)

NZGovtFeeds Hits The Web

2010-03-23T20:13:00.002+13:00

(been ages, sorry everyone)

The @NZGovtFeeds Twitter feed has been plowing along for quite some time now and picking up a steady stream of followers (last one at time of typing was @HonBillEnglish). On the other side the complimentary Facebook account has had much lower activity.

But the idea of NZGovtFeeds was never to "do it for the people" but to inspire others to take the data coming out of the NZ Government (in our case RSS feeds) and do something with it. And we are pleased to say that is exactly what has happened.

Check out http://nzgovtfeeds.wellington.gen.nz

This is an off-shoot of the Wellynews site and takes the OPML file we created and publishes the feeds on the site. BUT, it adds value by aut-tagging content and letting you slice-and-dice the feeds.

Find out more on the creators blog post: http://wah.wellington.gen.nz/2010/03/17/new-zealand-government-feeds/

NZ Government Agencies Aren't Always Promoting Their RSS Feeds Well

2009-04-23T17:05:00.005+12:00

If there is any feed on your site then please add all of them to every page of the site and not just (say) the "News" page. You are missing out on subscribers!

It is easy to do (if you have access to the underlying HTML code) - place this between the <head> and </head> section of every page

Example code is:

<link rel="/"alternate"">type="application/atom+xml" title="NZGovtFeeds (Unofficial) - Atom" href="http://nzgovtfeeds.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default" />

New Zealand Government Feed Standard 2009 (Second Consultation)

2009-04-23T16:31:00.002+12:00

This proposed Government feed standard based on Atom will replace the 2003 e-GIF RDF specification for New Zealand Government feeds.

The consultation period runs to 30th April 2009.

Leave your comments on the Research e-Labs blog ...

Updated Biosecurity.govt.nz Twitter Feeds

2009-04-21T11:51:00.003+12:00

Thanks to Simon Green (@lumbarius) for the heads-up on the error in feeding the Biosecurity.govt.nz feeds (agency feed info).

We have:

Removed the duplicate feed of "Biosecurity recent"
Added the trailing ']'

Who is NZGovtFeeds?

2009-04-17T11:05:00.002+12:00

Mike Riversdale from MiramarMike.co.nz based in Wellington, New Zealand.

I have no official connection with the New Zealand government but do, from time to time, contract to NZ Government agencies around "online collaboration". I am also active and passionate about open information and believe governments should lead the way :-)

Specifically I have no connection with the RSS feeds being fed out by the various NZ Government agencies - if you have feedback around the content then please get in touch with the appropriate agency.

Also check out the NZ State Services Commission (SSC) blog: A wizard behind a curtain

How On Earth Do We Keep The List Up-To-Date?

2009-04-02T15:31:00.010+13:00

How do we know when more New Zealand Governments add RSS feeds? How do we keep the OPML file up to date or even the "Invalid" feeds list?

We could randomly re-check the Agencies without a feed list.
We could do a Google search: 'rss site:govt.nz'
Both sort of work but are time consuming for us non-paid devotees of NZGovtFeeds.

How about this then, you tell us by emailing new and changed feeds to NZGovtFeeds@gmail.com

OR fill in this simple form:
Loading...

New Zealand Government Twitter "Who's Who"

2009-04-02T15:25:00.002+13:00

Over at the Government 2.0 - Best Practices Wiki there is highly useful New Zealand Government Tweeple as initiated by SSC's @MattLane

If you know of missing NZ Government Twitter accounts then please edit the page and add them

NZGovtFeeds output, what should we develop?

2009-03-06T12:16:00.001+13:00

The list of official RSS feeds from New Zealand Government agencies currently "exports" useing a few online methods such but the goal of NZGovtFeeds is to show the many ways that these feeds can be used including mashups, widgets/gadgets, smart phones ... anything.

What should we "show off" next?

RSS titles are not always clear

2009-03-06T12:13:00.000+13:00

There are a lot of NZ Government RSS feeds that have useless titles such as "Latest News" and "Updates".

We suspect this is due to an inward view on the information and the feeds are designed by people that only work in the one place and to them it is obvious - not thinking of the reader. It could also be due to limitations on the Web CMS ... your thoughts.

Missing NZ Government Agency Feed

2009-03-06T12:10:00.000+13:00

If you have an official New Zealand Government agency feed that is missing from the list (view the OPML file) please add it as a comment here ...