Month June 2012

Link roundup

I find this stuff so you don’t have to: Digital engagement – all about people | Stephen Hale – "We know that the potential power of the social web is dependant on people talking to each other, offering opinions, and…

Goodbye, We Love Local Government

We Love Local Government, an anonymously written group blog by a bunch of people working in the sector, has closed its doors. How sad! It was a great resource, providing support, advice and amusement for all those working for councils…

Link roundup

I find this stuff so you don’t have to: Integrate Your Apps | Zapier – Sync the Web – An ifttt for business web applications. Potentially vey handy. What Organizations Can Learn from "If This Then That" (IFTTT) – Nice…

Link roundup

I find this stuff so you don’t have to: What should a UK Open Government Partnership Forum look like? : Tim’s Blog – "Open spaces events across that whole UK that provide access for all ages are key to an…

Digital visions

I spend a fair bit of time talking to local councils and the like about taking a strategic approach to digital stuff, although usually it is mostly around engagement, and a bit of communications.

It's important - simply to know what you want to achieve and why. As soon as you have those things figure out then it's easy to choose the right tools and channels to help you get there.

Taking a strategic approach though doesn't necessarily mean you need a bit of paper, with 'strategy' written on it. Sometimes just having thought about the issues is all you need to do. A quick look on Twitter or Facebook and it's pretty straightforward to spot those that haven't even done that!

However, there are times when a bit more of an in depth look at all things digital are required. After all, the bits of an organisation like a local council that are affected by the internet go way beyond just the communications team.

Living on a cloud

While despatched on a mission of digital mercy a few weeks ago Mr Briggs (of this parish) and I fell to comparing our computers. Or rather he fell to ridiculing my rather ancient Samsung laptop (seven years old I think, it doesn’t like to process video, original power supply fell apart and it now boasts a rather lovely Maplin back up device). Apple fans do tend to look upon me with fear tinged with pity when I unpack the machine.

Link roundup

I find this stuff so you don’t have to: Councils — Kill your PDFs – Some sage advice from Adrian Short – stop publishing so many PDFs! Evolving Digital Engagement – From Participation to Partnership – "This report reviews the…

New Chromebooks – worth the bother?

Google have announced a new model of their Chromebook – the web only laptop that runs their Chrome operating system, which essentially consists of a browser and not much else.

As well as the laptop, there’s now a desktop machine too – which is rather reminiscent of the Mac Mini.

Both look like nice bits of hardware – but just how useful is a computer that only runs web based apps?