Stap isi

19 January 2010

Creating the taste

I’m reading The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science by Richard Holmes. It provides an elegant analogy for where we are with the web and concepts like sharing, open source and open data.

Discussing Charles Babbage’s prototype computer – “one of the legends of Victorian science, and a parable about the failure of government research funding” – the author posts this note (emphasis mine):

Unlike Harrison’s chronometer, Herschel’s telescope or Davy’s voltaic battery, Babbage’s ‘computer’ had no immediate application that officialdom could see or even imagine, though Babbage claimed correctly that it would transform the calculations for logarithms, astronomical tables, engineering construction models, map-making and marine data. Coleridge once said that radically new poetry ‘must create the taste whereby it is appreciated.’

Sharing technologies are similarly misunderstood by officialdom. Ask your colleagues what they think of Twitter.

The only way to demonstrate value is to implement. That’s why Fix My Street gets a guernsey at every gov 2.0 conference. And why it’s incumbent on agencies and public servants to publish the results of their experiences with online engagement.

To create the taste.

At the risk of over-extending the analogy, the early ‘scientists’ were also mad for self-organised meet-ups, and ‘educating’ the public on the importance of their work.

Sound familiar?

— b3rn   engagement, the persuader   Jan 19, 09:17 PM   #   Comment

23 August 2009

In the (long white) cloud

Jason Ryan is one of those rare people who is both gov insider and hacker. He has a talent for distilling clear and practical advice for government from the miasma of social media commentary. And he could be the script writer for a Google-era antipodean Yes Minister.

His talk at this year’s Local Government Web Network conference was Open Sourcing Government. There were few slides but lots to think about. (To see his notes, click bottom right on the “Ø” character.)

I haven’t had a chance to listen back to the audio and I didn’t take notes but two things stood out for me.

The first was the story of the Student Loans Forum. New Zealand’s tax office is considering changes to the way it collects these loans and wanted to consult with recipients of the service.

Naturally senior managers were concerned with what people might say on the department’s web space. The promise of a ‘moderation SWAT team’ eased these fears. It’s a powerful image – one to borrow! – when countering arguments for comments in business hours only. But clearly these logistics must be considered early when planning an online consultation. From memory the Student Loans Forum moderation team was available 18 hours of every day.

I also liked how the department didn’t over-promise what would be done with contributions.

We would like you to take part in this forum and let us know how the changes will affect you. We’ll keep your comments in mind when we make formal recommendations to government ministers on the detail of the changes.
via Jason Ryan, ‘Consult And Engage’

I understand Bang The Table do something similar. There are difficulties with accepting each and every comment, post and tweet as a formal submission. Often these submissions require detailed personal identification or disclosures that would render the comment process onerous and discourage participation. In some server and software environments, privacy and record keeping obligations may not be adequately met. Using a forum to ‘take the temperature’ of an issue seems fair.

Jason Ryan also talked about risk. He pointed to Nicholas Gruen’s theory of Serial Professional Innovation Negation or SPIN and quoted Malcolm Tucker from The Thick Of It: “are you a lion tamer or are you a pussy?”

Both these works are well worth catching. But I especially liked these comments:

A former State Services Commissioner used to address this point directly and forcefully: never do anything that you would be ashamed of. (That is about judgement). He would go on to say; that aside, public servants should not be afraid of embarrassing themselves (and that speaks directly to our courage).

As it’s something that’s concerned me, I imagine it’s an issue for others. There’s no risk updating the website. Taking council’s information and identity beyond its domain does introduce risk. Even official blogging policies can obfusticate. Maybe the two points in the paragraph above could be the beginning and end of your council’s ‘social media policy’.

He told a story about senior managers’ concern about blogging from within the government. As Manager, Communications & Records Management for the State Services Commission, it was expected that Ryan would have more work to do. But he wasn’t going to write their blog posts (it wouldn’t be a blog then) and with the contributing officer attaching his or her name and image to a post, he had less risk to manage.

In my view, trust employees (civil servants, council officers) to blog or otherwise engage online as themselves and at worst you are expecting them to be competent and at best encouraging them to excel. What’s a resume now without links?

Jason Ryan blogs for The Network of Public Sector Communicators and is @jasonwryan on Twitter.

— b3rn   engagement, lgwn, moderation, risk, web teams   Aug 23, 05:25 PM   #   Comment [1]

16 July 2009

We have a problem

A U.K. report (PDF) suggests that while people are happier with where they live, local authorities are getting none of the credit.

Satisfaction with council is down.

But – “no councils that communicate well are poorly rated overall.”

Dominic Campbell asks the question:

Crisis in confidence in local government driven by crisis in communication?

Last year Demos worked in four local authorities, and came to a similar conclusion about the importance of being seen to be communicating.

People’s perceptions of decisions, and of their fairness, seem likely to be formed by a wider range of factors, including a sense that their voice and opinion was heard and a sense that the decision was subjected to strong scrutiny. This means that the way a decision is communicated, discussed and scrutinised by backbenchers may be at least as important as the outcome of that decision.

I’m not suggesting that we focus on presentation to the detriment of process. But we really need to sweat the small stuff.

— b3rn   engagement, listening, trust   Jul 16, 10:25 PM   #   Comment

19 April 2009

The Muppet - Superman Continuum

By Councillor James Cousins of the London Borough of Wandsworth.

“My central contention is that online engagement is about being yourself online and, therefore, learning to use new tools rather than changing your behaviour.”

Prepared for Councillors Connected, an online conference exploring how councils and councillors can use social media to communicate with and engage communities, effectively deliver services and empower local people, facilitated this month by the UK Improvement and Development Agency for local government (IDeA). You will need to register to get access to the rich vein of materials.

This video is an excellent accompaniment to the CivicSurf documentary.

— b3rn   councillors, engagement, listening, politicians, tools, trust   Apr 19, 10:05 PM   #   Comment

24 February 2009

Meetings in a Minute

Great idea, well executed, from Hermosa Beach deputy mayor Michael DiVirgilio:

‘Meetings in a Minute’ is a video series where I’ll be posting a brief video overview after each Hermosa Beach City Council meeting.

Through the videos I hope to help communicate important City business as well as to make it easier for busy residents to stay informed and engaged in their local government process.

Michael gives further background here and makes the point that Meetings In A Minute is “not the goal, but more likely one of many steps devoted towards a dedicated and continuous effort to include people in the process.”

Check also his blog and YouTube channel.

Council business papers do a poor job communicating what Council is doing and why. There is too much text. This format, like Twitter, rewards the succinct.

Thanks to @bashley for the link.

— b3rn   councillors, engagement, politicians, time, tools, video   Feb 24, 08:25 PM   #   Comment