Democracy

Quick, Easy and Fun – BarCampUKGovweb

That’s a fair description of BarCampUKGovweb (although I guess the easy doesn’t apply if you organised – hats off to Jeremy, Emma and co.).

My way of describing BarCamp is that it is a conference without the interminable self-promoting presentations.  It is self-organising to the extent that the agenda can and does change right the way through the day and more time is spent discussing and networking than listening to people tell you things you could have read if they’d been bothered to share it online.

More information about BarCampUKGovweb is on PageFlakes.

I want to use this post to make a few comments about the day and to move the conversation forward.  This is needed because the one frustration I felt about the day was that everytime the discussion was coming round to solutions and actions someone would pop their head around the door and say

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By Shane McCracken, ago

Democracy starts with people

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%.

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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:

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By Shane McCracken, ago

Conviction Politics

We’re in Party Conference season and the news is full of speeches from politicians playing to the gallery, the media and their opponents.  There has been recent coverage about how Gordon Brown is similar to Margaret Thatcher as they are both "conviction politicians". Jerry Sanders, the Republican Mayor of San Read more…

By Shane McCracken, ago

Nine New Authorities

Earlier this week the DCLG announced the results of the bids for unitary status that had been made earlier in the year by many councils up and down the country. The successful bids are: Councils Submitting  Proposals Proposed unitary structure Bedford Borough Council Bedford Unitary Chester City Council 2 Unitary Read more…

By Shane McCracken, ago

Councillor Personality Types

The IDeA have published a report on the personality types of councillors and how they differ from the general population (hat-tip Mike at OpenEye). Councillors are more likely to be extravert (sic – IDeA are obviously followers of Jung) – 68 per cent compared to the general population’s 52 per Read more…

By Shane McCracken, ago

Consultation consultation

The Cabinet Office launched a consultation on consultation a couple of weeks ago and I’ve finally made it through the document – Effective Consultation: asking the right questions, asking the right, people, listening to the answers. My main feeling is that it really lacks ambition and I suspect this reflects Read more…

By Shane McCracken, ago

When twitter can save your life

And many, many other thoughts on the RSA conference:-
THE SOCIAL IMPACT OF THE WEB: Society, Government and the Internet
25th May 2007
RSA, London
I went to this afternoon conference at the RSA a couple of weeks ago and wanted to put down an account of what was said, along with my thoughts, counter-arguments, and of course a plethora of thought-provoking links. I would have written about it earlier, but I’ve been flat out getting teacher packs ready and sending them out for I’m a Councillor. As always here at Gallomanor Towers, our clients (and community engagement) come first!
It was all a bit odd, because some friends of mine had their wedding reception at the RSA last September. So the last time I was there I spent my time drunkenly ceilidh-dancing and telling friends I hadn’t seen in ages how much I loved them. Obviously I tried to keep these activities to a minimum on this visit, as it was on company time.
First session:-

By Shane McCracken, ago

“In power”

Against my better judgement I watched the Labour Deputy Leadership candidates on Question Time last night.  Apart from understanding why so many are supporting Jon Cruddas – he simply comes across as genuine – the highlight was a member of the audience pulling up Hazel Blears (I think) for saying Read more…

By Shane McCracken, ago
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