What do you do if the public vote for the "wrong" name? If you’re Blue Peter you do a cover-up. If you’re Greenpeace you smile about it and be thankful for all the publicity that has been created for your anti-whaling campaign. [hat-tip to The Bristol Blogger and Bloggerheads]
" Having a static website rather than a blog is like having a cardboard cutout of you at a party instead of going yourself." Tim Ireland used this analogy, three or so years ago when we met to discuss how to get more MPs and councillors blogging. There have been Read more…
Jeff Littlejohn uses Google Alerts for his work [and quite possibly on his own name too – hope all is well in Bellingham, WA]. Jeff is interested in Community Development and emailed us the day after the YouCanDo Guides website went live asking a question. He has a Google Alert Read more…
Following the avalanche of emails about the rapid organisation of BarCampUKGovweb is a masterclass in Web2.0 tools. Twitter, Googlegroups, Wiki, Yahoo Pipes, Flickr, YouTube, Del.icio.us, Slide.com, and my favourite because it brings them together – PageFlakes.
We here at Gallomanor Towers are very excited about our next venture – "I’m a Scientist, Get me out of Here!" It’s, errm, a bit like "I’m a Councillor, Get me out of Here!", only with scientists. As you may or may not know, my background is in science communication Read more…
There’s been a flurry of calendar dates on the UKDoWire email list today. A while back whilst experimenting with Google Calendars I created one for eDemocracy events. Clcik on Agenda in the top right of the page to see the events so far listed. This button links to the calendar Read more…
I’m a late comer to the BarCamp concept. In fact I don’t really know what I’m letting myself in for, but the reviews are good and people have encouraged me to join in what is promised to be an invigorating day of unstructured presentation, comment and discussion. The idea is Read more…
A while back we blogged about how only 7 seats out of 32 were contested in the May 2007 District Council elections in Teesdale. On the Isle of Wight they have no such problem. Last Thursday 6 local people were contesting a by-election for a single Parish Council seat in Ventnor. On a cold December day just before Christmas they achieved a turnout of 28%.
There is no way of telling but the efforts of a local blogger, Simon Perry and his team on VentnorBlog may have helped. All 6 candidates were interviewed on camera and asked questions that had been left on the blog, results were live blogged and a Podcast from the returning officer was recorded.
Apparently the blog has 17,500 readers which is quite incredible for a town of only 6,000 people.
I spoke with Simon about why don’t more communities have thriving online presences? I feel the key ingredient is having someone with the energy, drive and commitment to produce the content rather than the tools. But that is probably coming from someone who doesn’t have a problem with the tools. Would having better pre-configured sites in WordPress and the right guidance help more communities thrive?
Simon also sent me some links:
I’ve now finished writing up the I’m a Councillor 2007 evaluation report (which you can download from our website). It’s been fascinating looking in detail at the feedback and the questions that were asked. Although of course I was there for the whole event, while it’s on I’m caught up Read more…
Yesterday saw the launch of the YouCanDo Guides from The Scarman Trust at Westminster Central Hall. The highlight of the day were the stories from six ordinary (or extraordinary) people who have helped change their communities. The smooth running of the day was somewhat disrupted by one of the Read more…