Andrew Stott is moving from being the Government’s Deputy Chief Information Officer to the new post of Director of Digital Engagement. He’s just become key to the world of social media, data mashing, government and democratic shift.
Titles like Chief information Officer make me shudder a little. I’m not even a fan of knowledge management as a term – it seems to over formalise how we share what we know. One thing that looks very promising is his depth of experience with geographical information. The Guardian rather oddly described him as an “experienced Press Officer”. Jimmy Leach at The Independent summed him up as: “entering from the IT angle, rather than from the social media angle as others have pointed out.” So I went looking for reassurance that he will also be a champion of people, conversation, connection and collaboration: Dod’s interviewed Andrew last year and quoted him as saying:
The Treasury’s refurbishment, Stott says, with a big coffee area right in the heart of the department, “has created a culture of ad hoc meetings where you bump into other people. It is not just about smart IT; it is about getting people talking to one another.” The Information Matters strategy lists the new GCHQ building as another example of where communication, accidental meetings and face-to-face time have been made the norm. “It is compelling,” says Ceeney, “they have very consciously changed their whole culture from one of ‘need to know’ to one of ‘need to share’.”
The new job will be:
- implementation of the Power of Information Taskforce recommendations
- chairing the Government’s Knowledge Council and working with The National Archives to take forward the Information Matters strategy for Knowledge and Information Management
- increasing the civil service’s use of internal digital tools to improve cross Government coordination and collaboration as an aid to better policy development and service delivery
- the civil service website
Can I help Andrew Stott?
My first thoughts are the most obvious.
- Join the conversation. Assuming Andrew wants to engage with us, take the time to give him useful help.
- Offer him a mentor or two? Is that cheeky? I hope not. Who would be ripe for that role?
- Make sure he knows he’s surrounded by a substantial community that wants POIT to succeed.
This extra tip came from Josie Fraser:
and there’s loads of other reaction here: https://search.twitter.com/search?q=Andrew+Stott
Other blogs writing about this:
Puffbox. Andrew Lewin. Demsoc. Paul Canning. Emma Mulqueeny. Dave Briggs. Neil Williams. Harry Metcalfe: the next morning Andrew showed up at the office having spent all the previous evening writing a bunch of code to take the nasty XML and make it into useful data. Helen Nicol. Paul Evans.
