Category: Government

Beyond 2010 – go if you can.

It isn’t often that you get key thinkers in one place at just the right time, but that’s what’s happening in a couple of weeks (20 – 21st October) here in Birmingham.

Charles Leadbeater, the author of We Think, Richard Allan of Facebook, Professor Nigel Shadbolt of Data.gov.uk are just some of the remarkable people who are going to speak at Beyond 2010, an ambitious 2 days that will “show you how to deliver more for less with digital technologies”.

That we are hosting such people is one measure that Birmingham – and much of the rest of the West Midlands – really is ahead of other places when it comes to digital media and civic good. I’ll be talking about just that, sharing a platform  with Will Perrin, Karen Cheney and Robert Hardy to talk about the connection between digital technology and Big Society.

As Glyn Evans from Birmingham City Council puts it…

It is not the time to wait and see what happens -we need to be more proactive and make sure that we are leading the debate about how to realise the efficiencies and make the reforms to manage the cuts most effectively.

It may sound like I’m on commission.  I’m not, although you get a discount if you use this link.

I had some time at the Conservative Party Conference last week and learnt a great deal from the people I met. Whatever bit of the public sector you are from,  new ideas are where your future lies. Digital Birmingham has been planning this for a year: it just happens to be the right thing at the right time.

What would you show from Birmingham to demonstrate how the web can do local better than local tv?

Earlier this month Will Perrin wrote a blog post setting out why Local TV  probably won’t work and, more importantly, doesn’t need to. He was responding to the government’s announcement of plans to encourage the development of up to 20 new Local TV stations by 2015.

He echoed a huge number of my thoughts on linear media, transmitters/printing presses and local-ness.  Will  challenged the government’s concentration on Local TV with a series of statements (for Will’s expansion on these visit his blog post here.):

  • Why use television as a medium of transmission at all?
  • TV is not local
  • For small audience local TV there is no need to regulate news in the traditional way.
  • The footprint for any of the 80-odd transmitters is orders of magnitude too large for a real big society impact.
  • If you start with the internet, instead of TV low cost public service models are apparent.
  • Of the hundreds of good local websites in the UK very few regularly use video to tell stories.
  • Public service news done in the traditional British broadcast way is too expensive for local TV

There are a number of other thoughts I could add: Read more

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

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: Read more