Thursday, 9 October, 2008

Engagement in Kettering

My local authority, Kettering Borough Council, is doing some great work in the democratic engagement field, firstly by taking part in an excellent nationwide democracy project, and also by promoting local online communities.

First up, Kettering is taking part in the annual ‘I’m a Councillor, Get Me Out of Here!‘ project which is run with my good friends at Gallomanor. It’s an excellent initiative:

For the two weeks of the event, young people use web technology they feel comfortable with, to ‘meet’ local councillors from their area. They ask questions and have live chats with councillors, and then vote for their favourite to become ‘youth champion’ for the area.

Secondly, a local group in the village of Burton Latimer have started their own website to help promote their activities and maybe get some others involved too. Great! Even better is that the Council are giving them space on their own website to promote it. Excellent work all round, I’d say.

PermalinkEngagement in Kettering

New research links digital inclusion and social impact

Some research from Ipsos Mori tells us what we already knew, that using the internet can make disadvantaged people’s lives better. This from the report from 24dash:

Based on 20 UK online centre-led projects involving hundreds of local partners, the research tracked the impact of informal learning about technology on the lives of different groups, including those with mental health issues, families in poverty, isolated older people and teenage parents.

More than 12,000 people took part in the social impact demonstrator projects between January 2007 and March 2008. By the end of the project, participants were more likely to feel confident, and 40% had progressed into further training, employment, information, advice and guidance.

Working with the computers helped to improve people’s maths and English, and they were more likely to spend time with friends and family, and more likely to connect with and help out in their communities.

Having some research to point to is great though, and adds to the momentum gathering around the notion of ‘digital mentors’ being bandied around by Communities and Local Government, and being tied into other roles, such as the social reporters.

PermalinkNew research links digital inclusion and social impact

Bookmarks for October 7th through October 8th

Stuff I have bookmarked for October 7th through October 8th:

PermalinkBookmarks for October 7th through October 8th

Wednesday, 8 October, 2008

Finding and Re-using Public Information

The Open Knowledge Foundation is holding a workshop on ‘Finding and Re-using Public Information’ on Saturday 1 November, at the London Knowledge Lab.

The wiki promises the event will:

…bring government information experts together with those who are interested in finding and re-using government information. In addition to focused discussions about legal and technological aspects of re-use, government information assets will be documented and tagged on CKAN, a registry of knowledge resources.

Looks like it should be a good day, I’ve put my name down.

PermalinkFinding and Re-using Public Information

DFID starts blogging

DFID have launched a new blogging platform, with various members of the department who are based abroad telling their stories through a group blog.

The site looks beautiful, which is perhaps to be expected when you consider that it was put together by arch government wordpresser Simon Dickson. Simon writes about the site:

I can’t say how pleased I am with the results. I’ve been collaborating with a couple of new contacts – my near-neighbour Tony Parsons on the design side, and Simon Wheatley (who I met at WordCamp) on the technical stuff that was beyond me. Both have been truly brilliant. And I have to say, the DFID guys have been fabulous too – giving me all the freedom I could ask for. It’s been a perfect combination, and I think it shows in the site.

It’s not just about the tech side though. Shane McCracken has been working with DFID to provide training to the bloggers, in collaboration with Griff Wigley. I helped out too, taking a bit of time out to show the DIFD web team in London how the WordPress administration interface works. This combination of training and support, should mean the quality of the content will match that of the site. Top marks to DFID for identifying and committing resource to this side of things.

Shane writes:

We’re very lucky in that our blogging volunteers are superb writers with extremely interesting lives and situations with enormous scope for great photography. They are going to provide a fine insight into the work that DFID do and the effect they have on the people of the countries in which and with which they work.

The coaching programme has had its challenges. As you can imagine the budget to fly us to Tanzania was not made available, so coaching is happening online is the same manner as we did with CivicSurf. The DFID bloggers are in full-time positions working seven days a week and in time zones and work patterns that don’t necessarily coincide with our 9 – 5 UK life. Thankfully Griff, who has been leading the coaching, works flexible hours.

Finally, Owen Barder, who used to work at DFID, notes approvingly:

DfID has a very good reputation abroad, but hardly anybody in the UK knows anything about it, or appreciates how much DfID contributes to positive perceptions of Britain. I hope this blog will help tell the story in a very direct and personal way.

Good work, all.

PermalinkDFID starts blogging

Some diabetic webby stuff

I’m a type 1 diabetic, which means I have to inject myself with insulin four times a day. It’s great. Anyway, I like to keep my eye out for interesting webby stuff that’s happening in connection with diabetes, and a couple of things have emerged just lately.

Diabetes doodle

A petition has been started online to try and persuade Google to do one of their nice little customised logos for world diabetes day. Cute.

Diabetes log

Is a cool iPhone app that lets you record everything from what you eat, what your blood sugar levels are and what medication you have taken. Makes building up a picture of where you’re at with managing your diabetes brilliantly.

Online communities

TuDiabetes is a great Ning based community of diabetics, with a pretty strong US focus. We don’t have anything like it in the UK, other than a couple of facebook groups and pages, though there is a diabetes support forum.

PermalinkSome diabetic webby stuff

Tuesday, 7 October, 2008

Bookmarks for October 5th through October 7th

Stuff I have bookmarked for October 5th through October 7th:

PermalinkBookmarks for October 5th through October 7th

Monday, 6 October, 2008

Communities & Local Government engaging with bloggers

The Department for Communities & Local Government did some great work in engaging people with the Empowerment White Paper entitled Communities in Control. Some of the activity included a blog, forum, Twitter feed, online video and photos hosted on Flickr. What was originally going to be a very short term programme has been extended, which is also great news.

One of the aspects of the white paper that I, and others, found particularly interesting was that around Digital Mentors, people working in deprived communities to help give them a voice by providing them with the skills and tools to tell their stories using online means. Quite a few posts and comments were written, showing the appetite amongst the social web community for this kind of role.

Well, it seems like things are moving on and developing within the department, and what is really exciting is that those working on the Digital Mentor idea are starting to engage with the bloggers. I’m particularly chuffed that Georgia Klein chose my blog to leave this comment on:

Thanks for the blogging about Digital Mentors. I’m at CLG tasked with consulting informally with stakeholders to help me shape the document to go out to tender so that pilots can start April 09. I’d be really keen to recieve your wish list / views on what you think a mentor should look like based on your experiences and how one builds sustainability into these models. I’ll be watching out for your comments here but you can also contact me at [email removed to reduce spamming a little bit, you can find it on the original comment]. Be warned, the timetable for this initial consultation round is tight – mid-Oct (there may be more opportunities through the formal procurement process).

Quite a few readers of this blog have already commented, so do please add your views on the subject – as the department is listening!

This is a great example, though, of government finding where the conversations are happening and getting involved with them, making the most of the enthusiastic amateurs who are generating ideas and solutions online for no reason other than that they are interested. Let’s hope we see more of it in the future!

PermalinkCommunities & Local Government engaging with bloggers

Sunday, 5 October, 2008

Social media surgeries

I’ve spent my last two Saturdays at events running social media surgeries. I nicked the idea from Birmingham Blogger extraordinaire Pete Ashton, who has a regular afternoon spot in a cafe, where folk can come and ask quick questions about blogging and whatnot.

I think these work particularly well at events, where hopefully people get suitably enthused by some of the sessions they attend, and have ideas that they want to put into practice, but maybe aren’t sure how. This certainly happened at both UKYouthOnline and the Low Carbon Communities Network event.

Some of the stuff I was asked about included:

  • How to set up a simple website to provide information and also recieve feedback (answer – start a blog!)
  • How to create inline links in blog posts
  • How to insert Flickr images into blog posts
  • How to create a community site which people can use for discussions as well as providing information about events and sharing knowledge and content (answer – try using Ning!)

If you are planning an event about this stuff, could you do with having a social media surgeon on board? If so, let me know!

PermalinkSocial media surgeries

Bookmarks for September 29th through October 5th

Stuff I have bookmarked for September 29th through October 5th:

PermalinkBookmarks for September 29th through October 5th