Stap isi

25 August 2010

The big payback

Why participate on the web? Web metrics give you some of the story – visitor numbers, content accessed – but how do you quantify trust? And how do you explain to senior staff the benefits of participating online in the first place?

Social Web – Reputation Management Cycles diagram by Laurel Papworth – CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

I’ve used this graphic many times to help get the point across.

— b3rn   community, the persuader, trust   Aug 25, 11:46 AM   #   Comment [1]

25 July 2010

#LGWN10 tweeps

Last year I knocked up a tweeps map ahead of the 2009 LG Web Network conference. The aim was to link via Twitter ahead of the event – and to muck about with Google’s maps and spreadsheets. Here’s one for this year.

I had intended to use Google Fusion Tables, a tool purpose-built to import and visualize table data online. (It made light work of this visualisation of RTA speed camera locations, ripped from an RTA PDF.) But from the get-go I couldn’t import my spreadsheet from Google Docs. Maybe the service is too beta.

Here then are the steps taken to create the #LGWN tweeps app:

1. Create a spreadsheet in Google Docs with a form to capture user input
2. In sheet 2 of the spreadsheet, import the user data with the function =ARRAYFORMULA(Sheet1!A:E) then run a function in the neighbouring columns to return latitude and longitude (with some randomisation to prevent markers stacking directly on top of each other if two tweeps are in the same location)
3. Share the spreadsheet – make the data public
4. Set up a webpage with a Google Map generated using the excellent new Google Maps API v3
5. Pull in and loop through the XML data, building markers in javascript for each tweep – I used a plugin for my CMS Textpattern but this could be handled natively by the Google Maps API

Geocoding

I chose to geocode within the spreadsheet because I was too timid to tackle the new Geocoder class in the Google Maps API.

I used the CONCATENATE function to construct a URL from the stem http://maps.google.com/maps/geo?output=csv&q= and the user’s location (suburb, town/city, country). For example, copy this URL into your address bar:

maps.google.com/maps/geo?output=csv&q=Darlinghurst,Sydney

The ImportData function runs this URL and adds the result to neighbouring columns. Note the limit of 50 ImportData functions per spreadsheet.

Twits as icons

When building the markers on the map, it was easy to grab the user’s profile picture and description from Twitter via their API. Try this URL with your screen name:

http://api.twitter.com/1/users/show.xml?screen_name=[ScreenName]

I generated a generic shadow using Google Maps Icon Shadowmaker although I didn’t anticipate some profile pictures having transparency.

Copy, paste, cross fingers

I hope this project shows that anyone with HTML, a search engine and some patience can build tools for fun and on the cheap. It’s a monkey see, monkey do approach. Not very efficient, often frustrating, but you have to get your hands dirty.

See Gabriel Svennerberg for a good introduction to the API, work off the demos at Google and find inspiration at Google Maps Mania.

And if you’re coming to LGWN10, add yourself to the map.

— b3rn   community of practice, lgwn, maps   Jul 25, 01:25 PM   #   Comment

9 March 2010

Your Tube

Last year Craig Thomler alerted us to the fact that Youtube offers free branded channels to government departments globally. I can confirm that this offer is open to local government as the organisation I work for has taken advantage of it.

What do you get?

Custom banners and profile images, longer videos, autoplay on your featured video, no ads on your uploaded videos and Google Analytics integration.

See Mike Kujawski’s blog post and YouTube’s Partner Help Centre for more detail.

I still can’t find public information on the offer (I searched with Google) but Craig Thomler’s post has a copy of the form email from Google. It has the contact address.

— b3rn   google, tools, video, youtube   Mar 9, 07:37 PM   #   Comment

12 February 2010

Managing your Local Business Centre listing in Google

Most visitors to your council website probably come from Google Search. Great, but have you claimed Google’s Local Business Centre listings for your council offices, venues and facilities?

I just did a quick search through Google Maps for NSW councils and their theatres, galleries, libraries, swimming pools, etc. As you’d expect, they were easily found. But few had listings that were ‘owner-verified.’ An opportunity for imparting useful information is being missed.

Some of the listings appear programmatically generated, others have been annotated by web users. The Yellow Pages occasionally comes up as the source, with some odd results. The top result for Bega Valley Shire Council lists its category as ‘Excavating & Earth Moving Contractors.’

Time to claim all the places that you administrate!

You’ll need a Google Account to manage the listings. Verification is by a PIN number that will be supplied by a talking Google bot to the telephone number you provided in the listing. This can actually be the trickiest part! Warn your customer service officers to expect the Google bot to phone – often within a minute or two of you submitting your listing. (There’s also a postcard option.)

Why bother?

The listing and place page is information rich. Not only does it locate your facility or venue for driving directions and other wayfinding, it can list opening hours, photos, videos and any other info you deem useful. Tell people you have a public toilet, free WiFi or a meeting room for hire.

The place page also invites users to rate and review the business. (Note that it also aggregates reviews from truelocal.com.au.) Stanton Library and Randwick City Council each had one positive review.

You can also add timely information to your place page. Google says “Post about events, specials and more. Example: “live music tonight at 7pm!” You have 160 characters and the information expires in 30 days or when you choose to delete. Another way to highlight a special event or service interruption?

But that’s not all. As the listing owner you have access to a dashboard that shows impressions (how many times users saw your business listing as a local search result), actions (number of clicks for more info, like driving directions, on Maps and clicks to your website) and the top search queries that led them to your listing.

Good, simple metrics.

So, go to Google Maps and search for your council and facilities. Compare with the listing for the Powerhouse Museum.

— b3rn   google, google analytics, maps   Feb 12, 12:03 AM   #   Comment [2]

6 February 2010

So your council wants to blog?

Blogs are boring. In the Clay Shirky sense. Even in government.

Pitching a blog to your managers in council may still cause consternation, but most authorities are at least working towards a ‘social media strategy’ or ‘policy’ – the human equivalent of dogs turning circles before laying down – and blogs are mainstream. Your senior staff have probably read one, even if it’s just part of a newspaper website. Even better, there is now a considerable range of practice and evaluation on which to draw.

One of the best implementations is FCO Bloggers from the the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office blog

Stephen Hale, Head of Engagement, Digital Diplomacy, has spoken openly about the process since its inception and this very generous post – Evaluating our blogs – is a must.

It’s a blueprint for managers and bloggers.

Our advice isn’t the same for every blogger, but we are using our findings to encourage our bloggers to be personal (say things that only they could say), real time (if it takes days to draft or check the facts then it’s probably not a blog), integrated (with other things they’re doing on and offline), responsive (responding to comments), and targeted (writing about things that people are already talking about online).

The advice is based on real-world experience and web metrics. From a large government department. With staff around the world.

I would also point you to The benefits of blogging by Julia Chandler and Simon Davis from the Online Content team at DFID Bloggers, a similar staff blog portal from the UK Department for International Development.

Having said that blogs are mundane, there are still not many examples of blogs written by local government officers (as opposed to councillors or community activists). Here are a few to illustrate to senior staff and prospective bloggers what a blog can be:

• Weymouth Relief Road – Dorset County Council blogging a major works project
• Chasewater Dam – Lichfield District Council restoration works
• Out Of Your Mind – North Sydney Council
• Hands On Handsworth and life in lozells – Neighbourhood Management, UK

(If you know of other blogs by local authorities, please leave a comment.)

Gallereries and museums offer great examples of how and what to blog. See Brooklyn Museum bloggers, MoMA’s Inside/Out, the blog of the National Media Museum, Bradford and the Powerhouse Museum’s Photo of the Day.

Council blogs will change the way we communicate with residents. Read Stephen Hale’s piece. And do it well.

— b3rn   blogging, web metrics   Feb 6, 08:44 PM   #   Comment [2]

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