Interesting report out from Tweetminster the other day about the amount of politicians and political parties using Twitter at the moment, which hopefully adds a bit of context to the whole 'This will be an internet' election meme around at the moment. More interesting in many ways though is the response to it from the political chattering types, and Tweetminster's response to that. Lots of useful stuff… read more

Close to my heart this one, not just because it's to do with my home city, nor because I used to work there, but because the broader issue has been a personal bugbear of mine for ages. Namely, public sector organisations trying to use discussion forums.

Have said it before, but… read more

So, we've finally got our 15 minute edit of the Internet and democracy debate we ran earlier in the month.

To explain - we weren't allowed to film in Parliament, but we were allowed to take photos and record sound, so we've made a film in the old-school way, but matching sound with photos.

The video features introductory debate remarks by each of the panelists: Danny Alexander MP (Chair), Peter Kellner… read more

Odd to have a blog title that sounds like a news headline, but that's essentially what this story is. The Conservatives have announced that, if elected, they will hand over control of a portion of the government aid budget to a popular decision making process, allowing people to vote for what they want to support. A top idea in principle, although it has seemingly attracted criticism along the lines… read more

This is a straightforward story on the face of it, but raises some questions the more you think about it. A civil servant has been sacked from DCSF for posting a negative comment about Hazel Blears on www.theyworkforyou.com, on a seemingly unknown site, using her work email address - see update below.Straightforward case in a way, posting on the… read more

So you may have noticed that we were running this debate last night, 'the internet: the saviour or corruptor of democracy?', (with the help of the Henry Jackson Society, sponsored by MessageSpace and very graciously hosted in Parliament by Danny Alexander MP). Our pretty prestigious panel comprised Paul Staines (Guido Fawkes blog), Peter Kellner (YouGov), Michael White (Associate Editor, the Guardian), Grant Shapps MP (Shadow Minister for Housing)… read more

With the "Internet and Democracy" debate nearing, and the panel now complete, following the late addition of Nick Robinson, the powerful, intellectual minds that are Delib gathered to have an intial think about whether the internet can be described as either the saviour or corruptor of democracy? Apart from allowing more and more people the opportunity to keep up with politics in real time and to hear views from a wider… read more

In the context of Senator Obama's mastery of the social internet in his Presidential campaign, there's been a lot of pressure on President Obama to embrace social media in the same way. As expected there's been a fair amount of disappointment so far with the President's use of social media to date.  The reason for this being that not only has Obama's web team been reduced from the campaigning Halcyon of… read more

Delib does debates! Some might call it natural progression, some may call it Delib 2.0, but our online jousting has just gone live. Over the next few months, Delib will be hosting a series of public debates in Westminster on a range of topics currently on the public media radar. First up on the 30th June, is a panel discussion, in partnership with the Henry Jackson Society on the topic; “The Internet… read more

This made us smile in the Delib office, so thought it worth sharing with you all. http://current.com/items/89891774/twouble_with_twitters.htm 

It's pretty negative about Twitter, but it actually raises some interesting points. What is the point of Twittering?

Sure, it's become a reasonably popular communication method, especially amongst people working in the web, and the media love it as a hook for stories at the moment, but what is actually gained from it in… read more