News & Comment

Archive for September, 2008

Opinion Suite - A New Approach To e-Consultation

Posted by Gez Smith on Sep 29 2008 | Consultation, Conversations, Debate, Delib news and events, Engagement, Good examples, Opinion research, Participation

It’s been a year in development, and some of you will have heard about it already, but today sees the formal launch of our new e-Consultation and online opinion research platform, Opinion Suite.

Opinion Suite is a new approach to online consultation and opinion research software, and we’re really excited about it. Here’s why;

1. Opinion Suite is open source

We’re getting rid of the idea of license fees or costly restrictions… read more

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Chris Moyles On BBC Your Say

Posted by Gez Smith on Sep 29 2008 | Consultation, Delib news and events, Engagement, Opinion research, Projects and client work

One of the fun things about working at Delib is listening to the radio in the morning and hearing people discussing work you’ve done.

This morning I had that pleasure, as I happened to catch Chris Moyles taking the online consultation we put together for the BBC Trust. Seems he liked it, you can listen again to what he had to say here (from about 2:54:54 in…)… read more

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BBC Trust Launch National Consultation With Opinion Suite

Posted by Gez Smith on Sep 25 2008 | Consultation, Opinion research, Projects and client work

The BBC Trust has today launched a national consultation using Opinion Suite.

The BBC Trust is the governing body of the BBC and is there to make sure that the BBC meets the public’s expectations by providing great TV, radio and online services for everyone in the UK.

As part of this work, the Trust undertakes public consultation on a range of BBC services, and this time is looking at… read more

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Europe just got closer

Posted by ChrisQ on Sep 24 2008 | Conversations, Democracy and government, Social media, web 2.0 and other buzzwords

For a long time now there’s been a political debate rolling on about Europe, largely around the questions of its relevance to modern Britain and what exactly it does (and of course why are they so bad at golf?!).

Clearly there’s no easy or simple way of addressing these issues.  Europe, as a political body, is undoubtedly a complex body - yet, as complex as it is, it also has a… read more

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Beware the “creepy tree house”

Posted by MichaelaD on Sep 18 2008 | Bad examples, Social media, web 2.0 and other buzzwords

Just had a look around the fantabulous internets and came across this phrase. Its mint.

Creepy Tree House

“The expression that young people use to describe a site set up by adults to be attractive to young people, but that misses the mark.”

From here

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MOJ - Election Day - Weekend Voting Consultation

Posted by MichaelaD on Sep 17 2008 | Bad examples, Consultation, Democracy and government

The subject matter of this consultation is really interesting, the MoJs Consultation Paper on Weekend Voting unfortunately is not so forward thinking in its practice as it is in its content. Check out the website for the consultation http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/cp1308.htm, can you see an online response mechanism there? Nope, nor could we. Does it end in about a week, and did I hear about it? No there… read more

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Participatory Budgeting Conference

Posted by MichaelaD on Sep 16 2008 | Delib news and events, Democracy and government, Engagement, Participation

Myself and Gez attended the National Participatory Budgeting Conference yesterday, at the Midland Hotel in Manchester. Despite the early start and threatened train delays (no 6 am journey is complete without that announcement, is it?) we got there in time to hear the keynote address by Hazel Blears.

The resounding message I got from the Secretary of State’s speech and the conference overall was enthusiasm for the PB process, but a… read more

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Like your dad dancing at a disco…

Posted by Gez Smith on Sep 09 2008 | Advice, Bad examples, Democracy and government, Engagement, Good examples, Social media, web 2.0 and other buzzwords

Had an fun evening out the other week for the leaving do of my former colleague Carol Hayward at Bristol City Council. She’s off to New Zealand now, and despite working in the virtual world where location is more meaningless, will be missed.

Anyway, it wouldn’t be a Bristol City Council do without various suppliers being there alongside people from the council, and it was really interesting to chat to them… read more

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Consultation Institute on online only consultation

Posted by Gez Smith on Sep 02 2008 | Bad examples, Consultation, Conversations, Debate, Engagement, Good examples, Participation, Social media, web 2.0 and other buzzwords

Most of you reading will know about the Consultation Institute, and if you don’t, you should. Every other Tuesday they send out a ‘Tuesday Topic’ email to members, a short article with some thoughts, facts and ideas on an issue of relevance to consultation.

Today there was one on ‘The Online Only Pitfall’, how it’s a bad idea to run a consultation only through online mechanisms without any opportunity… read more

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