So, the government is closing 551 websites and it's examining a further 374 to see if they're for the chop. Details are in the Transformational Government annual report.
If the sites are that pointless, one has to wonder how they came to exist in the first place. Were they the result of a fevered "let's jump on the web bandwagon before it whooshes past"? Assuming the civil servants behind the initiatives were professionals, this seems unlikely.
The truth is that each site was probably set up with the best of intentions by the people creating them in order to address a perceived need. What's shocking is that their existence was either an exercise in futility or that what was once seen as essential is now deemed irrelevant. Take your pick.
The idea that the good stuff can be centralised seems a bit of a sick joke. Just when the world, well a lot of it anyway, is devolving responsibility to people who know really know their stuff, our government appears to be gathering everything at the centre, remote from the experts at the coalface.
And think of all those links that are now going to be broken. Or will the government do the smart thing and retain ownership of all the URLs and create intelligent redirects into the most appropriate part of the newly-centralised system?
Hmmm. Don't hold your breath.
If you're interested, Directgov and BusinessLink are the new ways to connect.
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