What I’ve been reading

I find this stuff so that you don’t have to. Google’s Chromebook set to transform how we think about computers | Technology | The Observer – “On 15 June, Google will officially take the next step on its road to…

Micro-participation at ShropCamp

Continuing my current obsession with micro-participation, I ran a session on the subject at yesterday’s excellent ShropCamp. Basically I chatted through what micro-participation is and what it tries to achieve, where it came from etc. Then I gave some examples…

More on micro-participation

There was an interesting response to my post on micro-participation, in a number of spaces – which goes to show the value in seeding your content on sites other than your own! The most active conversation was on GovLoop where…

The need for micro-participation

A theme I’ve been returning to on a regular basis in the talks I’ve been giving lately has been about the need for government to make participation easier. I’ve blogged in my usual half-assed manner about the participation deficit before,…

More on e-petitions

Excellent stuff from Fraser Henderson who has published a summary of some research done into the use of e-petition facilities in councils. I’ve embedded the presentation below: Panos & chris overview of e petitioning in english local authorities View more…

Council e-petitions

Just after Christmas I wrote a quick post about the prospect of e-petitions for Parliament. Of course, local councils are also supposed to have their own e-petitions systems and processes. My own local council, South Holland, has a system in…

Participation, and participating

Recently I’ve been thinking a fair bit about the ‘participation deficit’ – the fact that too few people are contributing too much to society. It’s what informed my post about my view that we need more councillors. No even half…

The net delusion

The Net Delusion by Evgeny Morozov looks like it will be useful and interesting reading for those interested in the internet and its effects on politics and democracy, providing something of an alternative (thanks to Dom for the wording advice)…

Parliamentary online petitions

So, online petitions for Parliament? In an attempt to reduce what is seen as a disconnection between the public and parliament, ministers will ensure that the most popular petition on the government website Direct.gov.uk will be drafted as a bill.…

Stimulating informed debate around AV

Steph provides an update on the AVdebate project (cross-posted from Helpful Technology). Six weeks ago, Dave kicked off a little project which he described as follows: I’m rather interested in the referendum that we are going get get next May in…

Bookmarks for August 11th through August 18th

I find this stuff so that you don’t have to. OnePeople › Open source matters to open government. Really. – "Both DiMaio and Caudill make the mistake of believing that open source is about making cheap bits. Instead, it’s a…

Bookmarks for August 5th through August 11th

EAVB_CFHFXKJFDR I find this stuff so that you don’t have to. Splashpath – “Splashpath is a free service for Leisure Operators to create, update and communicate swimming pool timetables” The Value of Transparency Is At The Boundary between Government and…

AVdebate

I’m rather interested in the referendum that we are going get get next May in the UK about changing our voting system. It occurs to me that it isn’t an issue I have a particularly strong understanding of, and I’m…

Bookmarks for July 17th through July 23rd

I find this stuff so that you don’t have to. Rewired State – hack UK online – "A one-day hack providing expert advice and prototyping for UK online centres, providing technical options for improving searching on the UK online centres…

Enhancing Local Democracy

Today Learning Pool are exhibiting at the Enchancing Local Democracy conference, organised by South East Employers. There are some interesting speakers on the agenda, and the workshops look good too – especially the one in the morning run by Catherine…

Bookmarks for July 3rd through July 7th

I find this stuff so that you don’t have to. Government Reservists 2 – an idea for the Big Society? | Podnosh – "We do need government to change itself and fast.  Might government reservists now be a way for…

Bookmarks for June 3rd through June 7th

I find this stuff so that you don’t have to. Armchair Auditor – Nice clean and simple example of what can be done with open government spending data by @adrianshort Supreme Court’s untendered website cost revealed – "You need to…

Bookmarks for May 14th through June 2nd

I find this stuff so that you don’t have to. TWiki – the Open Source Enterprise Wiki – "A flexible, powerful, and easy to use enterprise wiki, enterprise collaboration platform, and web application platform." How digital engagement can save councils…