That's right, get your popcorn ready (although you'll need to eat it quite quickly). We've made a short film about the event, to help show people what it's like. A council officer who was briefing her councillors before the event once said to me, 'I'm a Councillor is a great Read more…
The Pirates Dilemma View more presentations from mattjamesmason. (tags: business djs) I know it's an advert for a book, but he's saying some interesting things about copyright and what 'piracy' does for the economy. Also, it's nicely put together. And I like pirates. You can also go and visit Matt Read more…
From an article in The Guardian. A minister apologised to parliament yesterday for telling MPs that 70 police officers were hurt during a climate change protest, after the Guardian revealed that most of the injuries were inflicted by insects or the heat. Vernon Coaker, the Home Office minister, told MPs Read more…
Wiltshire Times HeadlineOriginally uploaded by gallomanor It’s not often that young people get positive media coverage, and it is even rarer for Skate Boys to be seen in a positive light. That’s why this needs to be shared. Original Story.
The I’m a Councillor evaluation report for 2008 is now ready. Topline results for this year are that councils were busier than ever before. The average number of questions asked per council is 331, by an average 203 users. Compare that with 111 questions asked, by 126 users in the average council in 2004 and you can see the huge growth there’s been.
This is partly due to great work by councils and teachers. Thanks! But another reason, we think, is that schools now have much better ICT facilities. And teachers and students are more computer literate. So it gets easier and easier to engage schools using a project like this.
This May I finished my politics degree at university. I was often awake until dawn, writing essays about politicians and civil society. Now, ‘I’m a Councillor’ has me chasing the same politicians and contacting grassroots bloggers, looking for volunteer politicians abroad to talk to young people in the UK, and all those high-falutin’ theories are making good. It’s exciting to play my part.
The international section of ‘I’m a Councillor’, with five representatives from countries around the world, ran for the first time in 2007. It was such a success that we’re recruiting five more volunteers to answer questions this year. It’s great to get young Brits connected with real people from other countries.
The good news: David Bly, from the Minnesota house of Representatives, is on board again. David was very helpful last year, and we look forward to having him back. We think we’ve found someone in India, thanks to Kris Dev; and I’m waiting for confirmation from one councillor in Tartu, Estonia and one in Malmö, Sweden.
The bad news: Outside of Western Europe, it’s difficult to find anyone at the local or regional levels of government. I dig up the civic roots and the
media-conscious canopy, but it’s very hard to find people with links to local politics. I’ll show you what I mean…
Lord Darzi is hitting the headlines today as he announces the NHS Next Stage Review on the 60th birthday of the service. He has been using a blog for the last six months as part of the massive consultation exercise he has been conducting. Using a blog as an important Read more…
Shane’s career travelled through advertising, magazine publishing and broadcast TV before he started citizen engagement and e-democracy experts Gallomanor Communications in 2001. Gallomanor creates community conversations through providing creative audience-led events to local government and other organisations. Past campaigns include JurorOnline, Your Say Your Way Voter Education campaigns in 2002 Read more…
Well, we’ve just about recovered here from the whirlwind two weeks of I’m a Councillor, Get me out of Here! AND the last few weeks of manic organisation before the event. Tbh, we’re in a bit of a post-adrenaline lull, doing all the clear-up with markedly less enthusiasm and pep Read more…
The list of MPs who voted to exclude themselves from the Freedom of Information Act has a few surprises in it. The biggest surprise was Tom Watson who has done so much through his blog to open up the life of an MP and the House of Commons. I guess Read more…