Thanks to Ed Mitchell for pointing this one out to us, an interesting event that basically works on a Participatory Budgeting model, but as more of a fun evening of games and debates.
The idea is that the audience for the event get their entrance money for it pooled together, then get to vote on how it’s spent. Unlike PB though, they also get to vote on pretty much… read more
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
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
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
I was in Berlin last week for the innovatively-titled ‘Berlin in July‘ e-democracy unconference (beat that for a pair of niche jargon buzzwords!). I thoroughly enjoyed my time there, the following things all being great:
Hmm, I seem to remember writing a post on a very similar theme a little over a year ago! Back then, we were launching School Councils UK’s ambitious venture into the world of online interactivity and collaboration, taking them from a small site of static information to a large site with an emphasis on community, attempting to leverage the great asset they had in their… read more
Whilst surfing the interweb, I came across this new campaign set up by pig farmers. I don’t know who has masterminded it, but it’s an example of internet campaigning at its best - integrating a viral campaign together with an online petition. Simple but effective.
As part of the campaign, Pig farmers have recorded a new version of Tammy Wynette’s 1968 classic Stand by your Man as part of… read more
Check out the interview and podcast in the Times from Jay Adelson, chief executive of the news site Digg, in which he says that the internet has brought down barriers and given a voice to all.
A quick read of the article prompted two (related) reactions from me, both of which I’ll hopefully get a chance to blog in more detail soon:
Following Chris’s post about English Heritage’s ‘Your Place or Mine’ the other week, we were pointed in the direction of a subsequent English Heritage social media project, the aptly-named ‘Our Place’.
‘Our Place’ describes itself as ‘…for people who work in broadening access to heritage. It is an online space where you can network with peers, share and be inspired by project case studies, and… read more
Over the last few years, e-Democracy has generally focussed on what ‘tools’ you have available for your online work, and far too little on how these tools are actually used.
One interesting discussion I’ve been involved in recently is around the persona that should be adopted when undertaking online activity. It’s not an area that’s really considered much, if at all, but it could be important.
It’s taken as granted that from… read more