Dave

Dave

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

We need to talk about the Knowledge Hub

Or at least, about where people in public service can go to share ideas, ask questions and promote good practice.

Back in the summer of 2006, when I was working as a lowly Risk Management Officer (yes, you read that right) at a county council, I joined the nascent Communities of Practice platform, which was being developed by Steve Dale at the then Improvement and Development Agency.

I thought it was fantastic, and joined in with some gusto – so much so in fact that I did attract a little criticism from colleagues who thought – probably quite rightly – that I ought to have been concentrating on the day job.

Online PR – join in or be left behind

I admit it: I wasn’t always that interested in the internet and social media.

In all honesty I was a tad old-school – I’d started out as a newspaper journalist before the internet really took off, and before social media became mainstream.

Digital democracy: tweeting meetings

I'm giving a talk today at a conference in Norwich for parish and town councils and one of the things I want to do is just to share some really simple ideas on how councils could get some online interactivity going.

One of those ideas was to tweet meetings. I asked my network on Twitter for examples, and was deluged!

The Experience Revolution

Last week I chaired a panel at the Citizen 2012 conference in London. We awere talking about how the internet shapes how people access government services, and what government ought to do about it.

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?

Link roundup

I find this stuff so you don’t have to: The learning organization: an often-described, but seldom-observed phenomenon | Harold Jarche – "What should a true learning organisation look like?" Connecting and engaging inside your organisation – "Social networks are inherently…

Reputation: not a goal but a measure

I am not Dave Briggs*. I’ve been following the #lgcomms12 hashtag this week. This is the label for tweets from the LGComms Academy event in Birmingham. It is much more lively than in previous years I must say and it…

New website, with added blog

Hello! If you can see this, it means that Kind of Digital’s new website is now live. We’ve given things a new look, and have organised the content a bit better, to give folk visiting the site some kind of…

What I’ve been reading

I find this stuff so that you don’t have to. BDU: Big Data – E-learning about "big data" which people keep telling me is going to be important. WP2Cloud – Interesting one for WordPress dorks (like me). Stores all your…