Tag: Tom Watson

Social Media Surgery movement wins the Prime Minister’s Big Society Award – hurrah!

Big Society Awards 2012 logo looks like a street name plate

I’m very excited to be able to say that the Prime Minister has recognised social media surgeries with a Big Society Award for 2012.

The Big Society Awards were set up by the Prime Minister in November 2010 to acknowledge individuals and organisations across the UK that demonstrate the Big Society in their work or activities. The aim is also to galvanise others to follow.  David Cameron said this about the surgeries:

“This is an excellent initiative – such a simple idea and yet so effective. The popularity of these surgeries and the fact that they have inspired so many others across the country to follow in their footsteps, is testament to its brilliance.

“Congratulations to Nick and all the volunteers who have shared their time and expertise to help so many local groups make the most of the internet to support their community. A great example of the Big Society in action.”

Thank you for such kind words – to which we responded formally with:

“It’s wonderful to have recognition for everyone who has organised a social media surgery or turned up to volunteer their help.  I think the surgeries work because they are simple.  They are very easy to organise, fun to do and not in the least bit intimidating for people who want some help. They give active citizens and community groups the confidence and skills to use social media to campaign, organise and hold power to account.  They’ve grown because of the passion and energy of bloggers and voluntary groups up and down the country.”

Background

The idea of a social media surgery originated with Pete Ashton – who used them with people who were looking for free help from his consultancy supporting arts organisations. We then applied the relaxed approach in a new way, scaling it up and putting together two sets of people – lovely helpers from the Birmingham Bloggers group (started in 2007) with the fab active citizens I’d had met through Read more

Seven links and five blogs to delve into #sevenlinks

Tom Watson MP (and Ahmed Al-Omran) blogging at the G20 conference
Tom Watson (and Ahmed Al-Omran) blogging at the G20 conference

 

Thank you Kate Hughes for being so kind on your blog post for the seven links blogging idea – one which encourages bloggers to talk about some of their older blog posts and share who they follow and read. I’ve also read Dan Slee’s post on the same, full of more inspiration.,

Not normally my thing but it’s good to do things differently.

So what seven links from back in my blog  do I want to share with you under the chosen categories

1 My Most Beautiful Post: Perhaps curious is a better word for Why doesn’t government have reservists. It was written  just after Christmas 2008 at the time the Labour government was pouring cash into the economy to try and see us through a recession.  The question provoked wonderful, intelligent responses in the comments section, 2 years later the post prompted an invitation to meet Nat Wei  (hello Nat) and was re-vamped for the world of big society.  It’s beauty?  Simple half finished ideas shared is one of the joys of blogging.

2 My most popular post: Read more

Stuff I've seen August 23rd through August 25th

These are my links for August 23rd through August 25th:

  • Zopa: Peer to peer lending | Tom Watson MP – Tom Watson outlines his enthusiasm for per to peer banking: “Out of all the digital start-ups I met as a minister, the one that most inspired was Zopa. Why? I think they have the capacity to completely re-write the terms of trade in the banking sector.”
  • Socitm surveys IT managers over ‘blocking’ of social media by councils – Socitm Insight is asking local authority IT managers for their views on the use of social media within local authorities and the degree to which it poses security threats, drains bandwidth, or causes other problems to councils’ IT systems and infrastructure.
  • BBC NEWS: Green energy hit by ‘faceless Nimbys’ – “You have some of the best onshore sites on the planet but they are strong, the faceless Nimbys [not in my back yards],” he told The Report.”

Things I've spotted July 17th

Here are some things I’ve been reading July 17th:

  • MP asks UK.gov: Why are you still using IE6? • The Register – Tom Watson MP: “I feel sorry for the thousands of civil servants using the Austin Allegro of web browsers when they can have newer, faster alternatives. I want government CIOs to pull their fingers out.”
  • UK Parliament – House of Lords Information Committee – Lords information Committee want to see parliament change the way it shares information with the public: “We recommend that information and documentation related to the core work of the House of Lords (including Bills, Hansard, transcripts of public committee meetings, evidence submitted to committees, committee reports, records of divisions, expenses and the register of Lords’ interests) should be produced and made available online in an open standardised electronic format that enables people outside Parliament to analyse and re-use the data.” (paragraph 66) “We ask the Government to explain how and within what timescale our recommendations will be incorporated into the work that Sir Tim Berners-Lee will lead on opening access to data.” (para 81)
  • The social media paradox: success & time. | Blog | Econsultancy – “We’re about to see a wave of anti-social media feeling and a call for back to basics; with comments like “Why were we all getting so carried away!?””
  • 10 things you should cover in your social networking policy | 10 Things | TechRepublic.com – This post reminds of why controlling and obsessive business will founder with sociaol media. The whole tone of voice is about aversion to rather than embracing the social web: “To have teeth, a policy must include consequences for violations. The policy should spell out that violation of the policy can result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination, and reference other company policies that lay out the appeals process and other relevant information.”
  • The Wires are gone, now for the Restrictions « FutureLibrary – “Is your library wireless friendly? And why not? It is the way we communicate and work now. People are less attached to desktops as sales suggest, with laptop and other mobile devices taking off. Yes, we are a mobile society in more ways than one.”
  • A huge list of social media and blogging guidelines « Webyogi’s blog – “One policy that really sings to me is Zappos Twitter policy ‘Be real and use your best judgement’ – that’s it! Thanks to original posts listed below just for reference….”