Dave Briggs

Patient Opinion is a great site for people to leave feedback about their experiences with health services.

• Really micro level issues can be discussed and action taken
• Based on the telling of stories by service users
• Great example of dodgy toilet seats!
• Ratings for responses from institutions
• Patient Opinion makes it possible to access thoughtful, passionate people who aren’t motivated to complain
• Higher threshold for willingness to share with public services – eg easier to share a cat video than a story about your weird disease
• Lessons: transparency and conversations drive change, adaptable to council work, scalable, cost effective, business model and values
• Government cannot do this kind of work well – and nor the purely private sector. This work belongs in social enterprises

Katie from Do the Green Thing is next.

• Trying to tackle climate change creatively
• People are inclined to help with the environment, but how do you make them become a bit more active? Obligation probably not the best route
• Make it something that people actually want to do
• People looking for inspiration not a guilt trip
• The focus is on easy actions anyone can take
• A nice video! I will embed it when I get a chance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuI9ZOu18Gc

• Keeping things fun and informal – there is a lot that local gov could learn from this
• Lots of interest across the world in Do the Green Thing. It’s really cool!

Next up is Hugo Manassei from Participle.

• Participle take on a new issue a year, so far: ageing, families and youth
• People are skipping the “third age” – period when you have retired but are physically healthy and active. This is bad for individuals but also for the state
• Invert Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
• Southwark Circle – membership org for anyone over age of 50 (tho younger people aren’t prevented from joining) in Southwark. Helpers (some volunteers, some professional) and members. Over 400 members from all parts of society.
• People join because they have a practical task that needs to be completed, also for learning purpose.
• Tech is a hyperlocal network managed by 3 people. Entirely virtual, no office or community centre.
• Members in different periods of their life find value in Southwark Circle. People join wanting to receive help but end up becoming helpers themselves.
• Cost is £10 a year to be a member. Token system to pay for help.
• Works with various existing services and charities.
• Cost savings in 5 years – £2.18m.
• Suffolk Circle about to launch, then Hammersmith and Fulham
• All about strengthening communities

John Hayes from IDeA takes to the platform.

• IDeA is 11 years old, just like Google
• 353 authorities, providing 700 services each (in a Unitary authority), 2.1 million people working in local government
• All these people, services and authorities have things in common – hence the communities of practice
• Sustainable self-improvement, efficiency and vfm, connecting people to people
• The CoPs – 60k members, 75k monthly visits, 22k monthly contributions, 1.3k communities
• New experiences of networking in personal lives – ie consumer social media and social networking – need to replicate within work context
• Supporting new ways of working through Local by Social book and the councillors guide to digital engagement
• Recognising the change in behavior and relationships between people, practitioners and communities
• The cuts! The cuts!
• Knowledge hub – new CoPs, more open, more integrated. Mashups and benchmarking also feature and use of linked data
• Less of looking to the centre for ideas, more sharing good practice amongst practitioners
• Built with the sector, for the sector

Now it is Andy Gibson’s turn. He wrote the Local by Social book!

• Andy is hoping to provide some perspective on all the digital stuff
• As railroads transformed the way we work and our society, so will the new online tools
• Imagine a London with no public transport. Would be very different, service provision would be much harder.
• Comms is fundamental to everything that we do. Move away from broadcasting into a two way conversation.
• Enabling communities to come together and help themselves
• Potential to reinvent democracy
• Opportunity for involvement of service users in design of those services
• Budget crisis in public services – radical streamlining of government. Crisis is a good time for innovation!
• Budget issues has brought impetus – the need to do things differently is here, now
• Money decisions are an indication of priorities.
• Pressure to innovate means people need to have ideas at the ready. Attitude to risk may shift – do something in a risky way, or don’t do it at all
• Need for agility, eg in procurement and in development
• Need for government folk to horizon scan and build the arguments. Need to be ready for when the change happens.