Birmingham Leadership Foundation hosted a debate asking “what does it mean to be a Brummie?” at their third Monday Masterclass at the end of August in Handsworth. I shared my notes from the debate last month. This video by Punk Zebra gives you a great flavour of the debate and the passion that young people have for the city.
The masterclasses are a mix of inspiring talks from young leaders and entrepreneurs, together with a social media surgery run by Podnosh.
The debate was part of the MyBrum consultation, led by Councillor Waseem Zaffar for Birmingham City Council’s new social cohesion and community safety scrutiny committee.
Birmingham Leadership Foundation helps new and aspiring leaders to emerge. They connect emerging leaders with established leaders to help them learn from each other’s experience.
They organise networking events, training and connect existing leadership development projects to encourage the next generation of leaders in Birmingham to develop – leaders who reflect the city’s demography. These could be:
A young person aged 16–30 with the ideas, ambition and spark to make an improvement to the lives of others in their local community.
A person who is proactive in their community.
A chief executive or senior manager of a private company or public sector organisation who wants to work with, and support, the local community but lacks the know how and contacts.
Nick and I ran a social media surgery at the Foundation’s first Monday Masterclass last month. We’ll be working with the young leaders at the upcoming Masterclasses, sharing social media skills to help them get out there, network, collaborate and make things happen.
We’re also helping the Foundation team with their social media strategy and to further develop their own social media skills.
For me though that is one helluva switch. It means that today you lot can start making the most of Social Media Surgery Plus – a site created to make it easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy to find, organise and report on social media surgeries. (more…)
The site allows citizens to collaborate which each other to ask civic questions and find the answers. HMI was also recognised in Talk About Locals Un Awards earlier this year – (full result on the Guardian site) thank you!
Good government is supported by good conversations, that’s the key point I want to stress/explore after last weeks Local Government Communications Conference in Leeds.
I have always enjoyed trips to LGComms events. This time I was the last speaker, in the hangover fueled want-to-get-home-now-please Friday slot. I had been asked to speak on using digital technologies to collaborate with citizens so set out to share the story of much of the digital activism that has blossomed in my home city of Birmingham since the same conference a year ago. I wanted to show how people are trying to use the web to engage with government, but government needs to recognise that and talk back.
Better with More
I argued that if local government can get this conversation right it is not simply in a position of having to do better with less. If government can share in the enthusiasm energy and passion of citizens – together they could do better with more.
This also emerged from the start of a Common Purpose and Be Birmingham programme on leadership and Total Place, where at least one person made the same case. It is also at the root of the government’s ambition for an informed, empowered and active citizens in the Big Society. The continued opening up of government data is fertilising the ground in which such a movement might grow.
The rise of the Git Citizen
My presentation (slides here) began with this rather ugly film of me being a bit of a git citizen:
Our street had been coned over night because of a cricket match and the cars were then ticketed – without warning. The normal comms reaction to something like that is to sigh, put their head in their hands and shake it.
Many eyes makes hypocrisy wither
But in the room of Local Government Communications a good number could see the value of citizens as eyes and ears – people who’s natural sense of right and wrong expose the failings of organisations, the contradiction between what they say and what they do.
This is a natural part of how we govern social relationships. Knowing that you can be seen and that you will be gossiped about tends to help keep us on the straight and narrow. Digital media makes that process easier in larger communities than before – as long as government is willing to see, listen and respond.
In effect to recognise that this is one part of a conversation and join it. The examples I wanted to emphasise from Birmingham were the ones where relatively simple things were being done in an easily accessible way.
The neighbourhood manager telling the story of the work she does and the place and people she serves (for example Hands On Handsworth)
The citizens taking a clunky government service and making it easier to understand, (for example Big City Talk)
In all cases they are lowering the barriers to communication, which encourages conversation. After all one of the reasons we talk so much is that for many of us it’s very easy to do.
Imagine you are Equals
Here were some ideas I suggested would help them nurture such conversations..
Skill up your organisation and neighbourhoods
Get involved
Imagine you are equals
Share infrastructure with your community – keep it open
Simon Wakeman (extensive quoting coming here, thanks Simon) was taken by the presentation of Professor Stephen Coleman – which he outlined as asking communicators to consider:
Where do people find information – much council information is not demand-driven – organisations need to push information to people but this is a greater challenge in times when people have so many competing demands for their attention
The exclusive narrative of public sector communications – many communications “talk” in words or terms that people just don’t understand (and shouldn’t have to understand). Communications need to be framed in a narrative that people can related to – and in the conversations of social media we have a great window into those real-world narratives. We need to learn how to interpret them and fit our communications into those narratives.
The challenge of efficacy – the best single predictor of successful engagement is people’s belief in their ability to influence the world around them. As a belief it’s an entirely subjective measure but is really important – if people think they can make a difference, they will participate, and if they think they can’t make a difference, they won’t.
and suggested they concentrate on
mapping - taking a “from the bottom up” approach to how and what to communicate – rather than building from the current practice – because incremental, creeping growth of a communications landscape will invariably lead to less effective practice than a clean-sheet approach
storying - thinking about how communicators can take the day-to-day life narratives of real people, which are far more influential than council or council people’s narratives, and using them in communications. The next level would then be to connect these narratives together to tell a story of place grounded in people, rather than the physical aspects of place which form many existing communications.
production of meaningful, tangible consequences to feedback – or put simply, we need to be able to tell people what we’ve done with things they’ve told us. From Stephen’s research the lack of this is one of the biggest frustrations among audiences that have participated in public sector research or consultation. Making these links is key to sustaining and developing a culture of participation and engagement
Catherine Howe – the new(ish) chief exec at Public-i also picked up on Tony Quinlan’s analysis of how stortelling helps and hinders communications:
Finally – I was fascinated by the session on storytelling by Tony Quinlin. I have always liked storytelling as a way of getting ideas and knowledge out of groups that are not comfortable with sharing or communicating and Tony really illuminated why this works and gave real substance to the session. I also enjoyed chatting to him afterwards about complexity and narrative and would recommend checking out his blog at http://narrate.typepad.com/. One thing really stuck in my mind: once a narrative gets a critical mass you can’t combat it with facts – you need to tell a different story
And of course, telling new stories is a wonderful way to get conversation going
There’s plenty in it, it gets specific about what needs to be done to grab some civic engagement benefits from the web and it says some blindingly obvious but important things. It’s main proposals are:
Create an open and transparent government
The primary legal documents of the federal government should be free and accessible to the public on digital platforms.
Government should make its processes more transparentand conducive to participation by the American people.
All data and information that the government treats as public should be available and easy to locate online in a machine-readable and otherwise accessible format in a timely manner. For data that are actionable or time-sensitive innature, the Executive Branch should provide individuals a single Web interface to manage e-mail alerts and other electronic communications from the federal government.
All responses to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests by Executive Branch and independent agencies
should be made available online at www.[agency].gov/foia.
The Executive Branch should revise its Data Quality Act guidance to encourage agencies to apply the Act more consistently and facilitate the re-publishing of government data.
Build a robust digital media ecosystem
Congress should consider increasing funding to public media for broadband-based distribution and content.
Congress should consider amending the Copyright Act to provide for copyright exemptions to public broadcasting organizations for online broadcast and distribution of public media.
The federal government should create and fund Video.gov to publish its digital video archival material and facilitate the creation of a federated national digital archive to house public interest digital content.
Congress should consider amending the Copyright Act to enable public and broadcast media to more easily contribute their archival content to the digital national archive and grant reasonable non-commercial downstream usage rights for this content to the American people.
Expand civic engagement through social media
The Federal Chief Information Officers (CIO) Council should accelerate the adoption of social media technologies that government can use to interact with the American people.
Increase innovation within government
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) should create an Open Platforms Initiative that uses digital platforms to engage and draw on the expertise of citizens and the private sector.
The Executive Branch and independent agencies should expand opportunities for Americans with expertise in technological innovation to serve in the federal government. Modernize democratic processes
Federal, state and local stakeholders should work together to modernize the elections process by addressing issues such as electronic voter registration, voting records portability, common standards to facilitate data exchanges across state borders and automatic updates of voter files with the most current address information.
The Department of Defense (DoD) should develop a secure Internet-based pilot project that enables members of the military serving overseas to vote online.
Good stuff – mostly.
Since it was published earlier this week it’s received a range of responses. Creative Commons wants other parts of the plan to go a bit further on opening up copyright use for ediucation
The FCC has recognized that robust broadband infrastructure is crucial for citizens to participate effectively in the 21st century digital environment. Open licensing is a piece of this critical infrastructure.
The plan is also being preceded by Google’s competition to offer a 1gb cable into a us community that makes the best case for it – the Boradband Plan says every US community should have one – for the benefit of public services.
The Knight News Foundation rightly highlights other parts of the plan which focus on digital literacy, although I sometimes think this gets mixed up with basic computer skills – yes being able to use a mouse and search the web are important skills – but digital literacy is much more about whether you have an appreciation of how you can use those techniques to change the thinsg you do and your place in the conversation. Meanwhile their Digital Media Centre chews over the implications of Chapter 15 for Journalists from making more data/draft legislation available.
Journalists and others who are accustomed to following and explaining legislation might find business opportunities to layer context on proposed legislation—making it easier to understand what’s going on, what happens next, optimum timing for comments, and also getting citizens’ questions answered (since often people have questions before they can formulate comments). This is an example of applying journalism skills as a direct service, rather than simply as a means to create content that’s supported by ads or subscriptions.
Bill Schrier – the Chief Information Officer for city hall in Seattle is very keen on the plan, including elements in it which will make it easier for local government to provide the ambitious (but essential) 100 mgbits of acess to home in America.
Remove the cause of mistrust – is what Lawrence Lessig thinks will drive the transparent economy. He also believes government need to learn humility and we need to take care to avoid laws which criminalise our children because of how they use the net. He’s right….Worth listening to:
These are my links for March 1st through March 2nd:
MADE – Talking cities lecture series – "MADE’s thought provoking lecture series, supported by Cudos and Birmingham Architectural Association, kicks off on 11th March with a talk by Irena Bauman, Bauman Lyons Architects, entitled Happy Cities – Stitching the Disconnections"
Green ICT Surgeries | Voscur – "Voscur would like to help members tackle their negative impact on the environment, which seems to be an inevitable part of running a modern office or organisation.
We are running surgeries for up to 5 organisations at a time to introduce members to the Bristol Green ICT community developing around the the Green Bristol ICT website (http://www.bristolgreenict.org.uk)"
Using the internet for effective citizenship – at the Citizenship Foundation we believe that effective civic engagement – or more specifically, effective citizenship – requires critical reflection by all involved; not simply the release and management of data by one party and the voicing of opinions by another.
Leadership services – Leadership 20:20 | National Council for Voluntary Organisations – "We have launched a Commission on the future leadership of civil society, to give emerging leaders a chance to have their voices heard and discuss some of the major issues affecting both our sector, and our world. As well as contributing to this key agenda, our hope is that Leadership 20:20 develops as a network for civil society’s emerging leaders to share ideas, share information and learn from each other."
Let me introduce you to two new blogs about neighbourhoods in Birmingham, both run by public servants
Hands on Handsworth is written by Tracey Thorne – the neighbourhood manager for Handsworth in Birmingham. Be Heard in Birchfield is being nurtured by Yvonne Wager – the neighbourhood manager for that particular part of the city. (Click here to see Tracey’s explanation of neighbourhood management.)
Both Yvonne and Tracey are in jobs funded by Be Birmingham – the local strategic partnership. They were inspired to start a neighbourhood blog by their colleague Kate Foley who had been running Life in Lozells – a site set up originally to address the problem of all the bad news you find when googling Lozells. Kate explains in more detail in this video made by the Chamberlain Forum.
What do they do?
They talked to us about helping them develop these sites during the social media surgeries we ran in Lozells last year. Both are built on WordPress with some changes to the backend that make it a little easier to blog and listen to what the web is saying about your neighbourhood.
There’s also a simple events system with mapping, and the sites include a facility to easily turn plans into commentable consultation docs. We also provide a service that ensures the software stays updated, plugins don’t clash etc, plus training and support on using it well.
Tracey is a natural – she really enjoys writing for the site and is on a roll. Yvonne is equally enthusiastic but needs a different sort of support, so it is taking a little longer.
Why bother?
The sites are the neighbourhood managers’ home in a wider web conversation. It’s only fledgling at this stage. The point is that over time they help the neighbourhood managers share information, ask questions, pool expertise and begin to collaborate in new ways with their community. I’m not convinced they should attempt to become THE site for their neighbourhood.
Such an idea concerns me, because if THE site gets switched off or someone begins using it to be self-serving that’s a problem for the whole neighbourhood. Instead I’m interested in how we can nurture a range of online resources and voices in a place. These blogs form part of that process – providing a tool that can also help neighbourhood managers link to and encourage the wider conversation.
What do you think?
It will take time and patience for these sites to bed in – but what do you think? Could you encourage them by commenting a post or do you have any advice for Yvonne or Tracey?
. Today I am.
