Dave Briggs – Page 144 – An online notebook

Digital democracy: some quick and easy ideas

July 3, 2012

Following up on my earlier post on tweeting meetings, here are a bunch of quick, easy – and probably free – ideas for getting started with digital engagement.

I put them together for a conference talk today on how local councils – parishes and towns – can use digital communications, along with more traditional approaches, to reach and engage with more people. The conference was a joint effort by the Norfolk Association of Local Councils and the Society for Local Council Clerks.

The point I was trying to get across is that there are some small actions you can try with minimal risk, need for knowledge, cost and so on – but which could have a really positive impact on participation levels.

The list includes:

Tweet a meeting
Start an email newsletter
Map your parish
Ask for ideas
Verify a decision
Run a web chat
Hold a Skype surgery
Become your local area’s online hub

The slides are embedded below, or you can download a PDF if you’d rather.

[slideshare id=13529693&doc=norfolk-alc-july2012-120703120837-phpapp01]

Digital democracy: tweeting meetings

July 3, 2012

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!

I’ve used Storify to collect them all together, and have embedded it at the bottom of this post. Storify seems a great way of dragging tweets (and other media) together – ideal indeed for covering meetings!

It seems like there are different approaches being taken, mainly around who does the actual tweeting. Is it council officers? Councillors themselves? Journalists? Citizens?

Have a read through and see what you think.

http://storify.com/davebriggs/tweeting-meetings

The Experience Revolution

July 2, 2012

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.

I was lucky enough to be joined on the panel by Vicky Sargent, Rob McKinnon and Hannah Goraya, each of whom had a different perspective to share.

Here’s the video:

[vimeo 44982036 w=400 h=300]

Link roundup

June 29, 2012

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 sharing stories."
When networks fail – Julian Dobson on OurSociety and when a website and a bit of enthusiasm just isn't quite enough.
Introducing the Digital Performance Framework – Alpha release | Government Digital Service – "Managing transactional services is a complex task and can be quite bewildering with many systems and measurements involved. However, because we have digital tools and technologies, we can now pull together data from lots of different sources and inspire action through powerful visualisations."
LearnPod 12 – Eventbrite – LearnPod will be a cracking event again this year – sadly I don't think I can make it.
Stop treating people like idiots: start connecting public service users to the tough decisions that shape them – "One of the most common grumbles heard within the political and governmental classes is that the public doesn’t understand the need for compromise."

Goodbye, We Love Local Government

June 27, 2012

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 during an incredibly difficult time.

Those behind it have decided to move onto other things, which is fine – they’ve done their bit!

Hopefully what they have done is to further advance the cause of blogging in the public sector in the UK. That simple act of publishing stories, ideas, experiences, views and opinions is still incredibly powerful, and yet one that still isn’t being effectively used at scale.

My hope is that some of those who followed We Love Local Government now start their own blogs, writing about what they do, why they do it and how it’s changing – developing the support network and adding to the conversation.

It’s my hope that they choose to do so publicly, under their own names too. I understand why WLLG was anonymous, but I passionately believe that being open about your identity as a blogger is best in the long term.

In the meantime, there are loads of people blogging about public service issues, and many of them are aggregated at Public Sector Blogs. Go take a look.

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