4.1.9 Internet and electronic communication

Principles
The internet (World Wide Web, email) is an important tool for providing information and services to the public 24 hours a day, and for facilitating interactive, two-way communication and feedback both within government and with external audiences.

The following broad principles, contained within the Tasmanian Government Web Publishing Standards apply to Tasmanian Government websites:
 

1. Public information is to be published online except where the Head of Agency determines not to publish on the web for reasons of:
   a) high cost relative to the benefit of electronic accessibility;
   b) low usage;
   c) high publication complexity, or
   d) ow suitability for web delivery.
2. Details of public information not made available on the web must be able to be discovered on the web. A brief summary must be provided together with details on how to access a copy via email, telephone or mail.
3. Agencies must ensure that all web publishing complies with all laws of the Commonwealth and State and the common law.
4. Agencies must ensure access to, and usability by, the widest possible target community appropriate to the service or information resource.
5. Agencies are responsible for the content and must ensure that the services and information resources provided via the online environment are comparable in quality and functionality to those delivered by other means.
   

With regard to domain names, the Tasmanian Government follows the set of guidelines developed by the Ministerial Onlince Council for the administration of the gov.au namespace and provide for consistency in domain names use. The Tasmanian Government Web Domain Naming Guidelines are available on this website.

Policy requirements
To ensure publishing standards and communications requirements are met, agencies must:

• manage their websites and portals in accordance with the Tasmanian Government Website Standards
• clearly identify their websites as being part of the Tasmanian Government
• have their websites linked to the Tasmanian Government portal www.tas.gov.au and the Service Tasmania portal www.service.tas.gov.au
• ensure that information on policies, programs, services and initiatives published on the internet is regularly updated, accurate, easy to understand, and accessible in formats appropriate for people with disability
• provide a mechanism on their website for receiving and acknowledging feedback from the public
• provide a means for enabling online interaction with the public, including public input to policy development
• respect privacy rights and copyright ownership in all online publishing and communication in compliance with the Personal Information Protection Act 2004, Internet and email use in the State Service: Ministerial Direction and the Copyright Act 1968
• ensure that the permission of subjects is gained (whether they be staff, clients, or members of the public) when publishing photographs on agency websites (see Acknowledgement of use of image: template)
• ensure that information published on websites is recorded and archived to assure long-term retention and the preservation of institutional memory in compliance with the Archives Act 1983 and Libraries Act 1984
• procure the services of external website consultants and developers in accordance with the Treasurer’s Instructions, including the Government Information Technology Conditions (GITC), and the specific requirements for the procurement of communications goods and services.

See Toolkit: Writing for the web: guide