Archive for July, 2010

« Older Entries

5 simple things a council should do to make a website work better for social media

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

I’ve just presented at Building Perfect Council Websites 2010 on a panel shared with Dr James Munro and his brilliant Patient Opinion and Jane Postlethwaite – and her experience of  being the social media officer for Brighton and Hove Council.

I talked, as I often do, about online civic activists, social media surgeries and the nurturing of neighbourhood level civic activity online.  The presentation is below but the 5 key points are: (more…)

Tags: , ,
Posted in Government, Local Government, Neighbourhoods | 6 Comments »

Make Love Not Porn – a lesson in the way the internet changes society

Saturday, July 10th, 2010

Fascinating lesson from Cindy Gallop on how the internet changes our real world and the “pornification of culture”.  (have I just got this site blocked form every local government web service?)

“The single biggest impact technology is having on our most fundamental human activity, our sexuality”

Also includes a big challenge to understand social media around pornography.  Hat tip various on twitter.

See www.makelovenotporn.com

See also www.textsfromlastnight.com

Posted in Leadership, Miscellaneous | No Comments »

Just showing someone how to write a quick blog post.

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010

Titus Dawo

I’m with Titus Dawo at the Balsall heath Social Media Surgery.  All I’m doing here is giving him and idea of how simple it can be to publish to the web.

Tags:
Posted in Local Government, Neighbourhoods | 9 Comments »

Big Society and barriers in government

Tuesday, July 6th, 2010

I’m on the train home from the Big Society network launch in London this afternoon. A strong and varied group of people brought together to consider, be sceptical about and challenge the notion of the Big Society.

Here I just want to share a few notes I made after joining John Houghton of Shared Intelligence and the National Association of Neighbourhood Management.

Breaking Down Practical Barriers (more…)

Tags:
Posted in Government, Local Government, Neighbourhoods, Social Housing, Third Sector | 1 Comment »

Government Reservists 2 – an idea for the Big Society?

Tuesday, July 6th, 2010

I’m on a train to London for the launch of the Big Society Network  and pondering.  This week Nat Wei described the Network  as having a

…mission to be – in partnership with government, business, and the voluntary sector – an action-orientated remover of barriers to mass civic engagement where people live – enabling the change we want to be.

He also wants what The Guardian described as

an army of community organisers that will become the “catalyst” for communities to band together and challenge the apparently arbitrary decisions made about public services in their name. “I want them to be the glue bringing community together. They will be financially independent of government. They will be able to have different views from government. There can be healthy debate and this can build social capital. [Organisers] I hope will end up as trusted as the local GP,”

Perhaps…..

In 2008 I wrote a post musing about the idea of a sort of Territorial Army for government. I was thinking about the implications of a growing band of self organising citizens (more…)

Tags: , ,
Posted in Government, Local Government, Neighbourhoods, Third Sector | 20 Comments »

« Older Entries