Bit slow on this – especially given that I saw the man behind it, Birmingham based clerverman Matthew Somerville, before Christmas. (Must listen more).
However if you have an iPhone, this application will help you make best use of the award winning www.fixmystreet.com – the place to report problems in your neighbourhood. Even news blogger Jeff Jarvis wants it so much he’s (be)moaning that he can’t get one in the USA! Thanks to Greenerleith.
In the new year blog post I’ve written in my head (but not here – it needs to follow a review of the year and that too is still in my head) one of the things that occurred to me was that I need to pay more attention to Beth Kanter.
I treat Beth’s brilliance as the background to my online life, knowing that I needn’t do a million and one things ‘cos Beth will have already done them and reported on them, just for me. Here’s one for example – how to list the bits of your blog that you lot have found most engaging using something called Postrank (which counts much more than most clicks). Here are mine for the last 12 months, interesting year!
Why doesn’t government have reservists?
Bridging the digital divide is about strengthening human networks not internet access.
BAD08 Birmingham Social Media Surgery: provisional results
Blog Action Day in Birmingham – a social media surgery for voluntary orgs.
What is a Birmingham Blogger doing at the Tory Party Conference?
Marc Reeves, The Birmingham Post and Five fine questions on blogging.
Quality newspaper video from the Birmingham Mail:
Was the Big Picture about the artist or the community?
The fab moment Lucy Moore realised her Grandfather’s picture was The Big Picture Winner 2008
Downing Tweet: is this about the personal, celebrity or patronage?
The Charity Commission Responds to Education and Blogging
Hands up whose blog helps them learn? The Charity Commission thinks you’re wrong
Is Tom Watson MP stealing or reading? The Tories think the former
Has Birmingham’s Artsfest gone anti-social on Twitter?
Twitter and the Birmingham (ish) Earthquake.
and then here’s some more, but from Beth:
How Much Time Does It Take To Do Social Media?
Social Change Behind the Firewall
Transparency and Social Media: Dealing with Criticism
Blogging Behind the Nonprofit Firewall: ROI Approach
How To Share the Social Media Workload in Your Organization
I would put Beth high on Business Week’s new wanted list of online guru’s. If you’re not subscribed to Beth’s blog give yourself a new year treat, and do so.
Pew Internet released this report (pdf) just before the New Year which tells us that Americans who voted for Obama are expecting unprecedented levels of connection with his government:
Obama supporters who use email and social networking sites not only expect continued
communication with the administration through these channels, they also expect these
communications to occur with greater frequency than mail or telephone contacts.
- 37% of Obama voters who use social networking sites expect to receive updates from the administration on these sites. Most expect to receive these updates on either a weekly (12%) or monthly (11%) basis, while 14% expect them to occur less frequently.
- 34% of Obama voters who use email expect to hear from the new administration via email. One in ten (10%) expect to receive these email contacts on a weekly basis, and 9% expect to do so monthly.
- 38% of all Obama voters expect to hear from the administration via mail. Some 7% expect to receive mail from the new administration on a weekly basis and 12% expect to do so monthly, while 19% expect to be contacted by mail just a few times a year.
- 17% of all Obama voters expect to receive phone calls from the new administration at least occasionally. Just 2% expect to receive phone calls on a weekly basis, and most (10%) would prefer these communications to take place a few times a year.
- 11% of Obama voters who own cell phones and use text messaging expect to be contacted by text messaging, with most (6%) preferring that these text message contacts occur less than once a month.
That’s a awful lot of conversation and it will only be fruitful if Obama’s team and the government they inherit find new ways to pass authority and permission down the food chain. This is not potential, as we have with UK government. This is a reality which will be tested from this month onwards. Hat-tip.
The report (pdf link here) was funded by the ESRC and written by Aim Research. Their conclusion on the impact of digital technologies on the future of the UK’s creative industries could be paraphrased as “Whoah – this is all a bit confusing. Can we do some more research please?” (see also Dave Harte) or in their words:
1 Firstly, research is still needed on creative practices and skills requirements for the creative industries. We have as yet a rudimentary understanding of how creative products and services are designed, produced and delivered in the light of new technologies, organisational practices and user expectations. The development of the necessary technical and managerial skills is an important area for research.
2 Secondly, the creation of products and services by users themselves is increasingly important, yet we lack both intellectual and practical frameworks for understanding the impact of user centric innovation on existing business models and how it should be managed in its own development. This will require cross-disciplinary skills and knowledge in managerial, technical, policy and legal domains. An important factor is the changing nature of Intellectual Property systems, given the brittle texture of existing structures in the new era of mash-ups, modding and mass downloading.
3 Thirdly, the new international markets and how the UK should engage with them: for example, the question of outsourcing of creative services and the related issues of country specialisation. Should we worry about the relative weaknesses we have in the UK e.g. online video games, or big budget films? Should we direct resources to those weaknesses or instead focus on our relative strengths and feel confident in
outsourcing what is peripheral? Research is needed in business and academe on how these important decisions are made, and should be made by managers.
4 Finally, a fourth area that will benefit the creative industries and stimulate scholarly insight is the linking between creative industries, in terms of mobility of people, the cross-pollination of ideas, the unrealised opportunities for cross-marketing and technological convergence, and the application of skills and tools in new domains for which they were not originally intended. Considered by many to be the basis for creativity, opportunities for spillovers across sector are too little understood, searched for, and exploited, yet hold significant potential for continued, and greater success.
I don’t want to be to rude here but couldn’t they come up with something more positive than a whole bunch of questions we already know exist?