Happy Christmas, Happy New year
Seems like an appropriate photo right now (yes, that's younger me in the picture!):
Have a good holiday, take care, see you in 2010, and thanks :)…
Archive for December, 2009
Round Two of the Delib / Henry Jackson Society series of debates on british politics is just around the corner
The next debate to be held on Monday 18th January in the Grand Committee Room in Westminster Hall. Titled: "Technology not Policy will win Election 2010", the panel will look at the increasing need to spread the political word of the parties, but does that sometimes mean watering down the content? The host will again be Danny Alexander MP (Lib Dem), and the panellists this time are: Rishi Saha (Tory)… read more
TweetBeat – effective use of social media by the UK police
At the weekend I became weirdly obsessed by following Policeman on Twitter. I don't know why or how - but I did. Maybe it's something to do with the fact that my grand-father was a policeman.
Or maybe it comes from my fascination with the relationship between organisations and individuals - typified by the relationship between the police and the public. Or more interestingly the bobby on the beat and Joe… read more
Public participation in Fire Service delivery – reflections on Fire brigade consultation processes
We keep banging on about the how social media is changing the traditional relationship between organisations and individuals - and with quite a reason - because it's true!
Increasingly people - citizens, employees, customers - are wanting to have have their say / be listened too / participate / make a difference. We live in a culture where participation is expected.
The impact that this has on citizen / organisation… read more
Delib selected by London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) as consultation partner
Delib are pleased to announce that we're once again working with LFEPA as their consultation partner - helping them consult with stakeholders across London on the draft London Safety Plan 2011-13.
We've been working with LFEPA now for the last 4 years, running their consultation process. When we first started work with their team in 2005 the idea of using the internet as a consultation channel was… read more
Consulting on Cuts
As I've been speaking to people about our Budget Simulator this year, it's become clear that many councils and other authorities are facing difficult decisions on their budget plans. Many authorities are left only with the choice of which services to cut back on and by how much - just search "Council Cuts" on the BBC to see the ever-growing list of councils in this position.
This situation makes… read more
Empower or lose power – business and government crowd-sourcing
In November, I wrote a piece for PR Week entitled "Empower or Lose Power", discussing how crowd-sourcing can be used as a way of turning social media into an engine for business / organisational innovation. Turning what can often be the "noise" aspect of social media into actually something useful for your organisation.
The classic example in this space is what Dell did - turning from whole "Dell Hell" blogging… read more
National Audit finds progress being made with local citizen engagement online
Our audit of UK local authorities' online consultation provision has found encouraging signs and room for improvement in almost equal measure.
Introducing Whychester – the new Budget Simulator demo release
Our online budget consultation tool Budget Simulator has always been customized and tailored to suit the different consulting needs of the Councils, Police Authorities and other organisations that use it. Each little amendment adds something that ensures a great fit with their individual process, but it also allows us to see new ways to constantly improve our product.
With that in mind we have created a new demo, the excitingly… read more
Is this Gordon Brown’s Open Gov memo moment?
This morning at the RSA Gordon Brown announced his "Smarter Government" initiative - a package of proposals and ideas to launch what he described as the "3rd generation of government services".
Gordon Brown described this 3rd generation of government as being distinctive by the fact that it will be based around "more personal and interactive services" which will be "shaped by citizens through a dialogue" and where "users have the… read more
