Dave

Learning Pool Breakfast events

Learning Pool

Learning Pool‘s breakfast meetings are great opportunities for local authorities to get together over a croissant and a cup of tea and hear some great stories about how real change can be achieved in councils with the right blend of technology and people-focused stuff.

Two such events are currently scheduled: firstly in at Brighton and Hove Council on 25 November from 9.30-12.30. Speakers include Tracey Hughes from Brighton and Hove council and Christine Shakespeare from Basildon Council – as well as yours truly.

Second is Barnsley on 1 December, again between 9.30 and 12.30. Speakers for this event include Paula Siswick from Kirklees Council and Ian Ligget from Bury MBC. Oh, and me again.

Visit our events page to find out more and book your place!

Bookmarks for November 5th through November 8th

Awesomeness off of the internet for November 5th to November 8th:

  • data.govt.nz – "Today, the Department of Internal Afairs launched data.govt.nz, a beta site where government agencies can register their non-personal data sets for use by members of the public and organizations."
  • Prefinery: Beta Management Software – "Take the headache out of private beta testing with our fast and simple system." Looks really useful.
  • GovHack: govt data + hackers + caffeine == good times | Government 2.0 Taskforce – "John Allsopp from Web Directions was an organiser of GovHack, an event sponsored by the Taskforce. It was held on the 30th and 31st of October 2009 to encourage greater use and availability of government data in support of the MashupAustralia contest."
  • Local Blog impact on Local Democracy: Somerton Town Council | Online Journalism Blog – "Local Bloggers are beginning to produce a few good examples of effective scrutiny of Local Councils. In this piece David Keen, who is a Vicar in Yeovil and writes regularly for my Wardman Wire political site, gives an account of a local controversy in the Somerset town of Somerton, which has lead to a number of resignations from the Town Council."
  • 2 of 3 Feel They Can’t Influence Local Decisions – "Government’s Citizenship Survey results published today reflect some familiar trends but there are also some surprising findings that support new thinking on empowerment, active citizenship and community cohesion."

Leaving the Asylum

I read this post with some sadness, as John is giving his blog a break. He writes book reviews, great pieces about proper books. He says it’s going to be temporary, I hope it will be.

John’s blog is an example of why handing the process of publishing into the hands of everyone is a good idea. Amongst the egos, the idiots and the talentless are the gems like John, who make sifting through all the shit worthwhile.

Without the internet, and without the development of the technology that democratises the power to publish, I would never have bought the books he recommended and my life would have been less rich as a result.

Just another reason why this stuff matters.

Google Dashboard

Google now let you see (almost) all the information on (almost) all the services you use with your Google Account, with Google Dashboard.

In an effort to provide you with greater transparency and control over their own data, we’ve built the Google Dashboard. Designed to be simple and useful, the Dashboard summarizes data for each product that you use (when signed in to your account) and provides you direct links to control your personal settings. Today, the Dashboard covers more than 20 products and services, including Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Web History, Orkut, YouTube, Picasa, Talk, Reader, Alerts, Latitude and many more. The scale and level of detail of the Dashboard is unprecedented, and we’re delighted to be the first Internet company to offer this — and we hope it will become the standard. Watch this quick video to learn more and then try it out for yourself at www.google.com/dashboard.

Here’s a video explaining more.

Bookmarks for October 29th through November 5th

Awesomeness off of the internet for October 29th to November 5th:

  • Learning Pool launches in South Africa with a little help from our new friend… – "When the lovely Baroness Kinnock, newly appointed Minister for Africa and steadfast supporter of lifelong learning, is the keynote speaker at your launch party in a new overseas territory you know you must be doing something right."
  • sweetcron – "Sweetcron is a self-hosted lifestreaming application that supports themes & plugins."
  • You Should Follow Me on Twitter – "Strange though it may seem to some, the number one activity on the Web is reading."
  • Digital Democracy in Swindon: Connecting People, Connecting Places – "Swindon are working with the Leadership Centre for local government and FutureGov to explore ways of using new methods of on and offline engagement to help councillors engage with local communities in new and interesting ways as part of the 21st Century Councillors programme."
  • Nomad News « Café Nomad – "I’m very pleased to have brokered transitional arrangements with Cambridgeshire County Council to ensure that Nomad can continue. Under new arrangements I will assume the national lead for Nomad and I’m working on proposals to develop a revised and rejuvenated programme, supporting regional groupings including Nomad Scotland."
  • What the government should do about hyperlocal news | Podnosh – "Prominent voices in the hyperlocal debate gathered at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport today to talk about the changing landscape of news and media and, if anything, what the government should do."
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