Dave

Dave

  • Joined: January 6, 2026
  • Articles: 3122
  • Comments: 517

Tools I use for learning

Recently, as part of a survey of members of the Social Learning Centre, I put together a list of ten sites or apps I use a lot in my own learning activity. Actually, I thought ten was rather a lot, so to share it here, I thought I'd whittle it down to half that number.
I think it's useful to always remind yourself of the tools you use regularly in your own activity, particularly if you spend time designing sites, systems and platforms for others to use.

Anyway, hit 'Read more' to see the list.

Digital councillors

digitalcllr is a place where we are bringing together all the work we have been doing recently with elected members. Mostly that means training, but we also offer a service to host websites for councillors, for free. On the digitalcllr…

What next for localism?

We've been working quite closely with the National Association of Local Councils this year. We produced the Planning for Councillors microsite a few months ago, and have contributed to the three People in Action conferences run around the country over the summer.

The parish and town council sector may have a certain image, but it's hard not to be enthused by the likes of Justin Griggs, whose presentation at the recent Open Space South West event was an illuminating discussion of a sector growing in importance.

Two councils collaborating

We recently helped Breckland Council and South Holland District Council work a bit better together by building them a shared, social intranet called The Place.

Today the Chief Executive of both councils, Terry Huggins, had a piece in on the Guardian's website talking about it all.

Here’s OurHousing!

The Nominet Trust has announced what for us is some jolly exciting news, which is that they have approved us for funding to develop OurHousing, a new social startup that will encourage dialogue between social housing tenants and their landlords to improve services and enhance community spirit.

What might mobile democracy look like?

I've often said that the problem with participation in local democracy is that it just isn't convenient enough. Meetings? Pah! I'm too busy trying to earn a living, quite frankly.

So mobile offers a really interesting opportunity. After all, the smartphones that sit in the pockets of an ever-growing number of people have a level of ubiquity that could make it work. You could also bring in some other recent developments (don't say buzzwords) like gamification to further boost engagement levels.

Youth councils – any good examples?

I’m starting to look at youth councils with a local authority, particularly in terms of how digital can improve levels of participation. I’ve got some ideas, admittedly not youth council-centric, but rather taking stuff I’ve learned from other online engagement…

Decline and fall?

Twitter has been taking a bit of a pasting in the technology media world recently. Could this mean it is facing a bleak future, and could become the new MySpace, or Friendster? Or even - the horror! - FriendsReunited?

How open are council meetings?

DCLG have today announced that residents, bloggers, tweeters, community activists and hyperlocal sites should have the same access and facilities to council meetings as traditional newspaper journalists. This is important because it means Government recognises the valuable contribute the wider community…

Online consultations – how to get them right

I received an email today, from a local council contact, for me to respond to a consultation about an ongoing piece of work. This was to a web page, where I could download a 25-odd page document, and then an email and physical address where I could send my views. Some immediate problems with it sprang to mind.

Introducing Kind of Digital Exchange

I read an awful lot of stuff on the web - thanks to Google Reader, it's made really easy. Lots of people don't have the time to do so, and are quite grateful to have useful items pointed out to them. I usually do this by putting links up on my Twitter profile, and the occasional link round up post here on the blog.

The trouble is that Twitter is a very ephemeral medium, and if people miss links, or don't record them anywhere, then finding them again can be very tough. What's needed is a way to record these things for posterity, and perhaps create a conversation around them.

Supporting innovation in local government

i had a great morning in Exeter at the beginning of the week, talking with the corporate management team at Devon County Council about innovation and digital. Dom Campbell was there too, thus proving that the two of us can both be in the same room at the same time.

Link roundup

I find this stuff so you don’t have to: Enyo JavaScript Application Framework – "Use the same framework to develop apps for the web and for all major platforms, desktop and mobile." Features | Re-usable Drupal recipes for government websites…

Nexus 7 first thoughts

Last week I took delivery of a Nexus 7 - the new tablet made by Asus for Google to show off the new version of their mobile operating system, Android.

I've been playing with it for a few days, and here are some early thoughts.

Link roundup

I find this stuff so you don’t have to: HELLO CAMPERS: Three years on from the first localgovcamp… so whats changed? – Nice bit of reflection from Dan Slee ahead of Saturday's shindig. Knowledge Hub: A response – Steve Dale…

LocalGovCamp next weekend!

Next Saturday (14th July) sees LocalGovCamp coming back to Birmingham!

It's a great opportunity for innovators across local government to get together, share problems and come up with solutions. It's also an honour (and occasional inducer of panic) to be able to put the event together.

Go off grid but not offline

That nice Mr Briggs has been encouraging me to post some stuff about hardware.

As it happens I’ve been trying out a new piece of ultra-modern hi-tech digital equipment.

No it’s not a MacBook Air, ChromeBook or even one of them new Google tablets.

It is... drum roll... The PowerMonkey Extreme.

Which is basically a back-up battery.