I just won one of these on ebay:
It works, too. Can’t wait to have it up and running. Anyone up for a game of Chuckie Egg?
Month: March 2009
Effective Social Media & Web 2.0 Strategies for Local Authorities
Effective Social Media & Web 2.0 Strategies for Local Authorities is a new event from Public Sector Forums, happening at Old Trafford Stadium, Manchester on 30 April 2009.
I have the pleasure of chairing the event, as well as giving a talk on how local authorities can be using Facebook to engagement with and provide information to residents.
Other speakers include the excellent Tim Davies and Simon Wakeman, amongst others.
You can find out more on the PSF event page, and book online too.
There has already been a great deal of interest in the day, so you need to book early if you want to come along!
Keeping it in the family
I’ve just found out that my sister is on Twitter.
Do say hello to her – I’m sure that as a press officer for a big charity, she’d love to hear how they can be using Twitter and other services to engage people in their stuff.
Bookmarks for March 4th through March 8th
Stuff I have bookmarked for March 4th through March 8th:
- Finding a political navigator – Neville's thoughtful view on the Director of Digital Engagement post.
- How to open source your stuff at Helpful Technology – Steph on sharing your code the simple way.
- How To Add A Forum To Your Thesis Themed WordPress Blog | The Expand2Web Blog – Useful example of getting WordPress and phpBB to look alike
- votewise.co.uk » Compare Candidates – Before You Vote – "Votewise is a completely free public information service that tells you when an election is held in your area, who the candidates are and what they stand for."
- Has Amazon stepped on their own foot with the Kindle app? | Smoking Apples – Interesting – you can now get the Kindle ebook experience on an iPhone!
Cambridgeshire County Council uses YouTube to encourage new councillors
Cambridgeshire County Council have put up some videos on their YouTube channel from the leaders of the three main political groups on the Council.
The aim of the videos are to encourage people to put themselves forward to become councillors.
As the Council’s press release states:
The films represent a first for local democracy in Cambridgeshire, with the leaders broadcasting individual messages on the importance of people coming forward as councillors for the County Council elections, to be held on 4 June 2009.
The videos are classic talking head style, and as with all initial attempts at this stuff, they are a little stilted. But that’s fine, and hopefully these councillors, and others, will continue to use YouTube as a communications tool – after all, with more practice things will always improve.
There doesn’t seem to be a single place for people to go to find out about becoming a councillor anywhere on the web at the moment – there is information on individual council sites, of course, and CLG have some bits too. London Councils have a special site to encourage people to consider standing for election. However, the content is very static and not particularly engaging.
Having some video stuff from councillors explaining what they do and what is involved would be great, I think, along with links to councillor blogs and other information resources. Even better would be some sort of interaction between those who are considering being a councillor and those with experience to pass on. Something to humanise the whole thing a little.