local government

Social networking and other tools of engagement

Here are the slides from my talk at Public Sector Forums in Birmingham yesterday. Hopefully they make some kind of sense…

Engagement through social networking

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: psf)

It was an interesting day and I had some great conversations with delegates. The main issues seem to be – as you might be able to guess – the blocking of social web sites in the workplace, and convincing managers and politicians of the value of this type of work.

Some of the other talks were fascinating – not least Dan Champion‘s accessibility assault on web 2.0, which also provided solutions to some of the problems; and Lincolnshire County Council’s use of advertising on their corporate website as a revenue stream. There are plenty of arguments to be had about that one, I’m sure.

It was also a real pleasure to meet one of the other speakers, Medway Council’s Simon Wakeman, whose excellent blog I have been following for a while. Simon spoke with a good deal of knowledge and authority about how Councils should be approaching the use of the web on mobile devices – which will be an increasingly important channel in the future. You can find Simon’s slides here.

Thanks to Ian Dunmore, Jack Pickard, Ian Cuddy and others for laying on such a great event.

Dave @ PSF

I’m going to be talking to a bunch of public sector folk on Thursday as part of a Public Sector Forums event entitled Public Sector Websites – Essential Issues for Managers, Developers and Others.

It should be a good day – as well as me, other speakers include:

  • Gavin Woods – Business Development Manager, BrowseAloud
  • Jack Pickard, Web Services Manager, Public Sector Forums
  • Dan Champion – Champion Internet Solutions
  • Simon Halberstam – ‘Weblaw’ & Partner, Sprecher Grier Halberstam LLP
  • Simon Wakeman – Head of Marketing, Medway Council
  • Peter Barton – Lincolnshire County Council

My bit is on ‘Social Networking and other Tools of Engagement’. Here’s the blurb:

Dave will begin to identify what the social web can do, and help equip the delegation with the skills and tools that will enable them to succeed using those tools.

Should be a good day. If you aren’t already booked up, what are you waiting for? šŸ˜‰

Do councils need a website at all?

Simon Wakeman poses a potentially controversial question on his blog:

One idea thatā€™s been playing on my mind for the past few days is whether a council needs a website at all.

Initially this might seem like complete heresy. Surely a public sector body providing services to local residents needs a website to help them communicate and provide online services to their residents?

But do they need a website in the sense that we might see a traditional ā€œdestinationā€ website – a place where people go to find out information and do council stuff online?

One of the things that is making me challenge some assumptions is the increasing focus on place in local public services. For the uninitiated this means that thereā€™s much less focus on the organisation providing particular local services (eg council, police, primary care trustā€¦) and more on the organisations working together to provide services in a coherent way that suits residents and businesses, not service providers.

So why a council website alongside a police website alongside a primary care trust website?

He goes on to make some further really interesting points. Well worth a read.

I’m also thinking I need to add Simon to the Public Sector Bloggers list…

Unlocking the Power of Local Government Information

The Power of Information Taskforce has shared some great advice on their blog for local authorities to help them share their data with people who want to do interesting stuff with it.

It includes making it clear to folk exactly what they can do with the data, using a single common licence to reduce confusion and recommends the use of the PSI’s ‘Click-use‘ licence.

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