These are my links for May 20th through May 31st: mySociety » Blog Archive » What the government doesn’t understand about the Internet, and what to do about it – take a look for a moment at Wikipedia, MoneySavingExpert, Blogger or Match.com – all big websites, all doing different things. Each one, however, is in …
My (old) thoughts on Birmingham City Council’s Newsroom Consultation
Geoff Coleman at Birmingham City Council has put up this wordpress blog to ask for ideas about how they can best make a “virtual newsroom”. Back in January I had a meeting with Geoff, one of those exploratory meetings that people have. Deborah Harries, the fine head of news at BCC, had suggested we talk. …
"Transparency will Damage Democracy": Heather Brooke, MP's Expenses and Freedom of Information
If you want to understand the background work which got us to the point where there is a disc containing MP’s receipts which can be bought by a newspaper read freelance journalists Heather Brooke’s account of her 5 years fighting the Speaker of the House of Commons and Andrew Walker, the man who runs the …
A Comment on the Digital Britain Interim Report
Earlier this week Jon Hickman asked me to say a few things at the Digital Britain unconference in Birmingham. He wanted me to share some opening thoughts about the interim reports 5th objective: Developing the infrastructure, skills and take-up to enable the widespread online delivery of public services and business interface with Government. An overview …