A wiki launched in March documents co-operation projects between various public administrations in German-speaking countries.

Using Web 2.0 and semantic technologies, the new Austrian-based platform documents best practice examples of co-operation between administrations at all levels of government. By the end of its first month, it had 53 project descriptions on-line, and a total of more than 300 pages. The topics range from co-operation on childcare, economic development, building regulations and personnel management to fire brigade mergers and the joint collection of special waste. So far, almost all the examples are Austrian, but the wiki’s organisers hope it will become a reference point for good practice throughout the German-speaking countries.

Launched by Austria’s Administrative Research Centre (KDZ), the platform was conceived as a semantic wiki. So it has an underlying model of the knowledge that it contains. It uses the free Open Source Software MediaWiki, originally written for the Wikipedia, with add-ons developed by the University of Karlsruhe.

The new wiki’s main aims are to promote the transfer of know-how between administrative units and to stimulate further specialist discussion. The good practice examples are listed both alphabetically and by topic. Other resources include selected literature and a collection of “tools and methods for administrative co-operation”.

Further information:

• Cooperation platform (in German) 
• MediaWiki