Tom Steinberg of mySociety follows Adam Afriyie with the last keynote of the morning session. He starts with an announcement – that, with the Open Society Institute, mySociety are seeding similar organisations in Central and Eastern Europe – and a disclaimer: that his new advisory position with the Conservatives will not influence mySociety. After that, he tells us that he’s going to talk about two of mySociety’s projects: Fix My Street and What Do They Know?

Fix My Street makes it easy to report potholes, smashed phone boxes, broken streetlights and the like. It creates transparency – for example, because it asks people if the problems they report got solved, we know that the fix-rate for reported problems are about 50%. (And if the problem’s not fixed, it tells you which councillors you need to go and speak to!)

It was originally funded by the Ministry of Justice, but that money’s long run out: it’s now paid for out of mySociety’s own pocket. It also, though you might not expect this, has a pretty good relationship with councils, which is a lesson in itself: these kinds of things won’t necessarily be rejected out of hand.

What Do They Know? (funded by the Joseph Rowntree Trust) makes it really easy for members of the public to make Freedom of Information requests. That’s important because it empowers people, particularly if they don’t have the might of a full-on newsgathering organisation behind them.

One question he poses is where to take these services in the future. Tom suggests that they need to do a better job of explaining the compromises of government: for instance, in the case of Fix My Street, actually telling people when “we haven’t fixed this yet because we’re doing all of these other important things first”.

Finally, he proposes three conclusions:

• Firstly, that it can be cheaper and more effective to create transparency by putting a nice user interface on top of an existing process rather than re-engineering the entire process. What Do They Know? works on top of the existing FoI infrastructure, so FoI officers don’t have to learn a new system – they can work the same way they always have.
• Public data isn’t a good in its own right: it must have a social impact to have an effect. Almost all the websites mySociety operate need data which is under (trading fund) licenses, so even though the software’s open, you can’t run your own copy of mySociety software without buying copies the data.
• Good sites are made by good people. Matthew Somerville and Francis Irving get name-checks here: Tom argues that until Government can attract really good developers, it won’t have great systems.

And, with that, lunch!

Onto the last two talks before lunch! First up, Shadow Minister for Science and Innovation, Adam Afriyie. He confesses straight away that he would keep closely to his notes — for fear of getting the sack.

Of course, this is a campaign speech, and the opening is an attack on Labour’s record on government IT projects:

Labour “slapped an ‘e-‘ in front of everything that moved”.

He argues that the Labour government has moved too slowly in response to upheaval in the computing landscape, and puts forward three Tory principles for IT policy. The power-word he’s using here is “openness” – he used it in every other sentence! Those principles are:

• Big is not always better, especially because budgets are tight. If you run multiple cheap early-stage pilots and pick up the winners and scale those up nationally, it could make it easier for small companies (now I’m listening!) get access to Government contracts.
• Open procurement, and smaller, more flexible projects and systems – which opens the market for open source. Claims £600m potential savings a year; and government look to the market for solutions. Dictate outcomes, not technologies. The Conservatives are, apparently, into cloud computing (arguing that it’s cheaper and greener).
• Empowerment: for instance, the Conservatives are reporting their expenses claims, in real time, through Google Docs. Obviously Boris Johnson’s crime maps are a key talking point: Adam brings them back up, and Craig Elder (also of the Conservatives) was mentioning them earlier. In that vein, David Cameron has proposed a “right to data” – if Government data is not personally/diplomatically sensitive, it should be freely available online.

On the right to data:

This is the unfinished business of the Freedom of Information Act

This, and another buzz-phrase – “the post-bureaucratic age” – are soundbites which we’ll be hearing often between now and the general election.

Next – Tom Steinberg of mySociety.

Iain Dale, Mick Fealty, Stephen Tall, Craig Elder from the Conservative Party and Adam Parker from Realwire kicked off the blogger session at Government 2010 with five minutes each. Here’s something on each of those! Mick went first:

To state the bleedin’ obvious, there is a sea-change ahead.

Mick observed that, thus far, the Internet has been very poor at generating nuanced, useful thinking or innovation: online consultancy is viewed as a box to tick rather than as something which helps better decisions get made. However, what blogs and social media have done well is quick, light response – agile responses to changing circumstances.

What he’d like to see is a move from ‘closed-source’ to ‘open-source’ analysis of policy. A lot of policy at Westminster level gets made in think-tanks, but that approach is just too expensive to work for local and devolved governments. Furthermore, think-tanks work in seclusion: they have no room for consultation with, or contention from, the public. He suggest that if that process could take place in fluid, moderated communities in public, then that could change how policy is made for the better.

Next up was Craig Elder, online communities manager for the Conservatives. He says that what’s going on now is “old politics on new media”. There’s a worrying feeling that what’s said on new media is not going to be taken seriously: with, for example, Number 10 e-petitions, everyone points at the Jeremy Clarkson for PM campaign, but that happens because of cynicism about whether anyone’s listening.

He thinks that we can change that through creating the sense that citizens are empowered, particularly through data – for example, online crime maps which let the public see whether the money spent is working. On the other hand, does the number of Ministers on Twitter herald a new age of engagement? Not really – in a sense, it’s “Twittering while Rome burns”. Is this really the best thing that ministers can do?

Trafigura, though is a testament to the interrogrative powers of the blogosphere: proof that there’s potential here, but it’s very early days yet.

Stephen Tall, of Lib Dem Voice, then spoke on the power of unofficial consultations – they get to different audiences from official ones, and some (like Facebook groups) have the potential to convert “slacktivists” to activists. Steve Webb’s been holding surgeries – with 200 participants! – on Facebook, and:

Official council consultations are crap, and no-one responds to them anyway.

Apparently. (He later pointed out that Whitehall publishing only the data it wants published won’t empower people: to do that you have to go local, go in depth, and publish all the data.)

Inevitably, Twitter came up again – the first Twitterer during Prime Minister’s Questions was Jo Swinson, who got flak for abuse of Parliamentary privilege. It’s subsequently taken off, though: there were 96 tweets from MPs during the last PMQs. Still: is this really a worthwhile use of MPs’ time?

Finally, he proposed three tests for whether social media projects are worthwhile. Are you able to get more information out to people in a digestible form? Are you genuinely engaging with them? Are you empowering them? That’s what really works.

And, lastly, Adam Parker, of Realwire, introduced himself as “Jarvis Cocker on Question Time, only without the talent”. Way harsh, especially after his first point: that it’s not social media’s fault if the conversations are dull! If we want people to be engaged, we have to first be interesting. What’s more, not everyone’s on the Internet, not that many people are on Twitter or read Iain Dale’s blog. So, social media’s biggest impact in the short to medium term is going to be where it influences, or sets, the mainstream media agenda.

In particular, when it comes to politicians and parties engaging directly with the electorate, he’s not convinced. Retail brands are being forced to participate in social media in order to defend their market position and brand image. In other words, they’ve got an economic incentive; will social media ever be a real force in politics until it hits politicians at the ballot box?

Here’s some notes from the first two sessions at Government 2010! If, in haste, I’ve accidentally misquoted/misparaphrased, I apologise in advance: there’s a lot more on Twitter, and you can watch the conference live online here.

The first speaker of the day, Peter Keller of Internet-based pollsters, YouGov, gave the opening keynote.

We all need bullshit detectors; we need to teach our children how to detect bullshit…

— Peter Kellner, YouGov

His speech was part call-to-arms, part cautionary tale; he argues that the Internet has fundamentally changed the relationship between citizens and Government, largely through unprecedentedly rich access to the information used to make decisions in Government — and that this is both opportunity and threat.

He started by suggesting that the ways we use the Internet are analogous to the early days of cinema; we’re largely just using technology to do things we’ve done before. Cinema grew out of its theatrical roots to, eventually, developing its own techniques – real locations, cuts, and so forth and so on. In his view, we haven’t worked out what the interesting new techniques, and new methods, are yet; to paraphrase, “we are now exploring ways of interacting with the public which simply weren’t available ten years ago.”

Taking journalism as an example, the economics of print and the scarcity of spectrum space for broadcasters enforced a technical monopoly over the transmission of information. This meant you couldn’t compete even if you wanted to. It’s only now that the Internet has removed many of the barriers to entry. The result of this upheaval is that none of us really knows what the transmission of information is going to look like in 20 years’ time. Cases like the Trafigura/Carter-Ruck injunction farrago just demonstrate how the Internet has completely changed the rules of the game – both the business rules and the nature of reporting. In particular, he talked about accountability: Yougov is held to account by a small number of bloggers who follow polling in great detail. The effect is that YouGov, and other pollsters are more careful than would have been 20 years ago as a result; they know they’ll get called on it if they screw up!

In government, however the same technical forces have had much less impact. (That set up a fantastic quote – another early leader for soundbite of the day, in fact! – that “Going back to Ancient Greece, representative democracy has had a very long run.”). He then made a fascinating argument: that this is, in part, because elected representatives have had a technical monopoly on access to the data government’s based on. Before now, if you want the statistics which inform the Budget, you had to traipse out to your nearest HMSO, put down £50, and buy the Red Book. Nowadays, anyone can get that data online: like journalism, the barrier to participation in decision-making has been flattened.

That’s an opportunity, but also a threat. In Peter’s view, the political parties haven’t yet got the message that access to information is fundamentally changing how people interact with public services and how people approach politics. For example, we’re getting more choice in public services, but now we can know much more than we used to, and make more informed decisions, thanks to the availability of things like school inspectors’ reports on the web.

To challenge the threat that this poses, we need to fundamentally change how government operates. Government needs to be more candid; to interact genuinely; and we need to be careful not to throw out the baby with the bathwater by forgetting the important social roles institutions currently play, which is something you can’t really replace with purely online interaction.

In particular, not all the information online is accurate or fair; Google helps us viscerally experience Gresham’s Law: bad money, or bad ideas, drive out good. We need to be wary that the Internet can be used to spread malice, so we need to equip kids with the critical faculties to find what they need and test what they find – and here’s where Peter Kellner, quote machine, struck again with the line up the top.

There was a lot to chew on in this speech, and I’m certain I’ve missed a lot! I’ll be going back to watch it again later.

Peter Kellner was followed by a panel on eConsultation chaired by Harry Metcalfe from The Dextrous Web (and, notoriously, Ernest Marples. Unfortunately, Tom Watson couldn’t make it (detained on constituency business), but he was deputised for by a representative of YouGov (who, right now, I’ve got a lot of sympathy for).

We’re sticking PDFs online and asking people to email us. There has to be a better way.

— Harry Metcalfe, The Dextrous Web

One of the prevailing themes here was summed up by a question from Emer Coleman of the GLA; if the Government gets to choose the questions asked, is it really consultation at all? Harry Metcalfe had already argued that you need to consult before publishing a Green Paper, in order to frame the debate; Ewan McIntosh of 4iP pointed out that just because papers are commented on, it doesn’t mean real consultation is happening. Neil Williams of Debategraph went further: with the audience of consultations being largely self-selecting, noisy and vocal minorities will loom large in online debate.

Next up, the bloggers: a panel chaired by Iain Dale, featuring Mick Fealty (Slugger O’Toole), Stephen Tall of Lib Dem Voice, Craig Elder from the Conservative Party, and Adam Parker of Realwire. That should be interesting — more soon!

Government 2010 kicks off in London in a couple of hours, and it’s going to be all-liveblogging, courtesy of Davepress and Timetric, all the time this morning.

Here’s the agenda:

• 9.00am – 9.15am Opening Remarks: Jeffrey Peel, Government 2010
• 9.15am – 9.30am Keynote Address: Peter Kellner, President, YouGov
• 9.30am – 10.15am Panel Discussion: Digital Engagement is Everyone’s Job: Formal and Informal Consultation on the Web: Chair: Harry Metcalfe; Panel: Tom Watson MP; David Price, Debategraph; Neil Williams, DBIS
• 10.30am – 11.15am Panel Discussion: Blogging, Social Media and New Media; Chair: Iain Dale, Panel: Mick Fealty, Daily Telegraph Blogger and Slugger O’Toole; Stephen Tall, LibDem Voice; Craig Elder, Conservative Party; Adam Parker, CEO, Realwire
• 11.15am – 12.00 Panel Discussion: Government Service in a Web 2.0 Era: Chair: Jeffrey Peel, Government 2010; Panel: Gordon McKenzie, Microsoft; Tanya Oliver, Kent County Council; Michael Juer, Northamptonshire County Council
• 12.00pm – 12.15pm Government and Innovation, Adam Afriyie MP
• 12.15pm – 12.30pm Technology and Citizens, Tom Steinberg mySociety.org
• 1:15pm – 2.00pm Identity Management, William Heath/Q&A, Founder, Ctrl-Shift
• 2.00pm – 2.45pm Panel Discussion: Government & The Internet, Chair: Dominique Lazanski; Panel: Jim Killock, Executive Director, Open Rights Group; Philip Virgo, Secretary General, EURIM; Phil Kingsland from Nominet (TBC); Speaker from Google (TBC)
• 3.00 – 3.30pm SOCITM – The Web Channel and Local Government – Martin Greenwood
• 3.30 pm – 4.15 pm Panel Discussion: The Internet and Social Inclusion Chair: Tony Collins; Panel: Stephen Hilton, Bristol City Council; John Shewell, Brighton & Hove City Council; Anthony Zacharzewski, Democratic Society
• 4.15pm – 5.15pm Panel Discussion: Open Data, Mash-Ups and Government Web, Chair: Ewan McIntosh, Channel 4/4ip; Panel: Chris Taggart, OpenlyLocal; Stuart McRae, IBM; Paul Canning, Consultant, SOCITM; Colm Hayden, Anaeko

  So it’s going to be a pretty full day. But I could use your help! If you’ve got any questions you want to pass on to the speakers, or anything in particular you want covered, let me know in the comments or over on Twitter and I’ll do my best to find out for you.

Hello! I’m Andrew Walkingshaw, and I’m going to be deputising for Dave at the Government 2010 conference tomorrow. I’ll be liveblogging the event for you all, both here and as @walkingshaw on Twitter.

I’m the business guy at Timetric. We’re on a mission to get the world’s statistics to you in a form which you can use, and a lot of those numbers start their lives in local and national governments. So, I’m especially looking forward to the Open Data session, chaired by 4iP‘s Ewan Mackintosh, towards the end of the conference. (On that note, if you’re in the business of making data available, we’d love to hear from you. Okay, enough of the sales pitch!). The entire conference looks fantastic, though: I’ll do my best to keep you in touch with what’s going on if you’re not able to follow the live stream.

Anyhow, keep in touch with me throughout the day on Twitter and on here. See you all tomorrow!