"Much of the Government 2.0 movement is defined around two key facets – the delivery of more Public Sector Information (Data Engagement) and the delivery of improved online communication both with and across government agencies (Social Engagement).
Individually, these two facets can each help with delivering consultative, informed decision making between citizens and their government. However, real collaborative Government 2.0 engagement is most likely to be achieved where Data Engagement and Social Engagement are successfully balanced and integrated together.
Data Engagement must provide timely, open, trusted and confidentialised data. Information at all levels, based on micro data and its relevant metadata, should be easily accessible on public web sites using intuitive ad-hoc data dissemination and visualisation tools.
Communities of interest that form around accessible Public Sector Information (PSI) can generate effective Social Engagement with government. However, risk adverse public sector agencies often raise objections about releasing more public data, citing privacy protection as a constraint. Information dissemination technologies that embrace statistical disclosure controls can play an important role in removing these objections - providing more open access to data and building public trust and confidence in that data."
Read more at http://gov2.net.au/submissions/space-time-research/