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Government Consultation on Web Standards and use of social media

Emma Mulqueeny spotted that the Central Office of Information is currently consulting on government use of metadata and social media.

The evidence of the consultation existing is here, although, as Emma says, there’s no clear route to join the conversation. Our own Andy Mabbett (by that I mean fellow brummie) commented on the blog post to say that some of the earlier consultation conversation happened at the Public Sector Web Management Group and also some discussion of accessibility standards at The Pickards.

Thanks for the pointers Andy but neither is showing any identifiable conversation yet on either social media or metadata. It’s odd to have a government web site telling us a subject is out to consultation without it being clear how we can join that conversation.

Next week I’m in London at the invitation of Simon Berry (of Rural Net but also currently seconded to the Department for Communities and Local Government) to further explore how social media is and can be used to help improve community empowerment. The story telling that we have done through the Grassroots Channel podcasts was exactly about that. Simon has already established a shared space where ideas an be circulated and developed.

Other lines of conversation were also opened up by Jeremy Gould at intensely enjoyable UKGovBarcamp early this year. Does anyone know if there is such a thing for the COI’s consutation on social media and metadata?

I’ve put a call into the COI press office and will let you know what they say.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 at 2:16 pm and is filed under Government, Local Government. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Comments on “Government Consultation on Web Standards and use of social media”

  1. Social media in government - can’t we lead by example please? « Whitehall Webby - digital media in government says:
    June 11, 2008 at 10:19 pm

    [...] Nick Booth pointed out the faint irony of describing something as being out for consultation, without indicating how any kind of conversation could take place (I’ll ignore the double irony that one of the documents in question is social media guidance aka participative online media). [...]

  2. Podnosh Blog » Archive » COI response on Metadata and Social Media Consulations says:
    June 12, 2008 at 2:15 pm

    [...] On Tuesday I wrote this blog post about the Central Office of Information beginning a consultation on the use of social media and metadata in government.  The “consultation” was first spotted by Emma Mulqueeny. This morning the press office e-mailed this response: “The social media guidelines are aimed specifically at Civil Servants and any informal consultation has been among this audience group. [...]

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