making localism a reality
DESCRIPTION
Presentation at the Making Localism a Reality conference in Kent October 2011TRANSCRIPT
public-i.info/citizenscape
Making Localism a Reality: The role of a frontline elected member
How do we engage?
29th March 2011
Catherine Howe
What are we trying to do today?
Some assumptions and my perspective
I’m using the term “Engagement” to describe a process of on going community dialogue
I’m not using it to include consultation though the two terms are often confused
I believe we are seeing huge social shift around new technologies and the Network Society
I also think we are seeing worrying increases in the democratic deficit
The question for me is whether we manage the tension between really good ‘engagement’ and representative democracy effectively
Citizenscape a product by Public-i 3
public-i.info/citizenscape
What do we mean by engage?
Is engage even a real word?
Would your voters use it?
public-i.info/citizenscape
Do you think voters are fooled by engagement processes that are not linked to decisions?
Is there a disconnection between the policy cycle and the engagement process?
public-i.info/citizenscape
How do you think the people who signed the recent EU referendum petition felt about being ignored?
Because that is how they see it…..
public-i.info/citizenscape
How do the public want to engage?
public-i.info/citizenscape
The World Wide Web was born with the mosaic browser in 1993
Children born the same year are now 18
18 year olds online
85% Access the internet at home
61% access social networking sites at home
50% of their online time is via a mobile device
20% of this time is spent on social networking
95% of them feel confident as an internet user
And they trust the content that they find far more than other groups
They are used to having information and people at their fingertips
Source: OFCOM 2010 (http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/cmr/753567/UK-internet.pdf)
public-i.info/citizenscape
This would be someone else’s problem if not for the fact we are seeing increases in all demographics
18-24 years olds are only 12% of the active online audience
public-i.info/citizenscape
The public are becoming more connected and more vocal with it
People have a digital wrapper around their lives
We are living in a Network Society
The Internet is having a profound effect on society – we are moving from an industrial to an information or networked age
This means there is a pressure on old ways of working
Think about the millennial generation who have been brought up expecting information and responsiveness to be constantly and immediately available
The internet culture is colliding with our traditional structures and putting huge pressure on them
29 March 2011 12
public-i.info/citizenscape
But what does this mean for engagement?
Co-production
Co-production: Involving all participants in both the design and delivery of a service
It describes a new kind of relationship with the public – one where we expect them to act not just comment
It’s a power shift
•And some references:
• http://www.nesta.org.uk/publications/assets/features/the_challenge_of_co-production
• http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/co-production-people-outside-paid-employment
• http://www.govint.org/
29 March 2011 14
Co-production
29 March 2011 15
http://www.smartjustice.org/
Co-production
Citizenscape a product by Public-i 16
How can technology help us?
The technology is simple and its easy to get help
You just need to decide you have a reason to use it
What you need to know are the cultural differences and behaviours that will make you effective online
And you also need to know when offline works best
Citizenscape a product by Public-i 17
The Social Web has a distinct culture
29 March 2011 18
And the public are using it very locally
Today virtual communities are as likely to gather together people who live on the same street and those that live thousands of miles apart
Hyperlocal communities connect people separated by time and not necessarily space
Three useful references:
• Networked Neighbourhoods: http://networkedneighbourhoods.com/
• Talk about Local: http://talkaboutlocal.org.uk/
• Podnosh: http://podnosh.com/
Citizenscape a product by Public-i 19
29 March 2011 20
Hyperlocalism
http://www.harringayonline.com/
Hyperlocal sites found from recent research
Citizenscape a product by Public-i 21
Source: http://curiouscatherine.wordpress.com
Using free mainstream tools
Citizenscape a product by Public-i 22
public-i.info/citizenscape
And Government is increasingly active in this space
Don’t ask people to come to your space
Citizenscape a product by Public-i 24
http://askbristol.wordpress.com/
Coventry: Doing Facebook really well
Citizenscape a product by Public-i 25
http://www.facebook.com/Coventry.West.Midlands
Twitter Gritter
29 March 2011 26
http://danslee.wordpress.com/2010/01/01/twitter-gritter-case-study-gritting-and-social-media/
YouChoose??
29 March 2011 27
http://youchoose.yougov.com/centralgov
Your Freedom
29 March 2011 28
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100823122417/http://yourfreedom.hmg.gov.uk/
Did we really crowdsource the Freedom bill?
Open
29 March 2011 29
http://www.walsall.gov.uk/walsall24.htm
public-i.info/citizenscape
You can use any of these tools once you know what you want to do
Where could technology fit for you?
Tell people what you are up to
Citizenscape a product by Public-i 32
• Connect tools together but be careful with tone
• Use a smartphone• Create a simple protocol for
yourself and stick to it• Set realistic expectations
about your time
Hold Virtual Surgeries
Citizenscape a product by Public-i 33
• Make sure you have your audience before you do the work
• Think about whether you want it live – you may not need to
• Do it more than once
Involve more people in meetings
Citizenscape a product by Public-i 34
• Think about working with a social reporter
• Encourage people to help set the agenda
• Promote early, promote often• Use the meeting to create the
audience for the next event
Involve more people in meetings
Citizenscape a product by Public-i 35
• Think about working with a social reporter
• Encourage people to help set the agenda
• Promote early, promote often• Use the meeting to create the
audience for the next event
Run Open Processes
Citizenscape a product by Public-i 36
public-i.info/citizenscape
What might this mean for the elected representative?
Government is becoming more Transparent
Wikileaks is not a one off event
These are the communities that you are opening your data to – these are the armchair auditors
These are the communities who are most able to be your collaborators in the delivery of services because they are already collaborating
29 March 2011 38
Public
29 March 2011 39
Open Data
29 March 2011 40
http://data.london.gov.uk/
public-i.info/citizenscape
There is competition for traditional politics
29 March 2011 43
Digital Activism
http://www.avaaz.org/en/
29 March 2011 44
Digital Activism
http://ukuncut.org.uk/
Digital Activism
Citizenscape a product by Public-i 45
What does this mean for you?
“It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the
others that have been tried” Winston Churchill
Representative Democracy is something precious but it – and its representatives need to change to reflect the ways in which society are changing
I may be wildly overstating the pace of change – you need to decide
Even without the big stuff there is a lot you can do with the tools of the network society to engage more effectively with more people
Citizenscape a product by Public-i 46
public-i.info/citizenscape
Your event horizon should be 5…10…15..20 years in the future
What kind of relationship with citizens will you have then?
How will you help shape that now?
Citizenscape a product by Public-i Citizenscape a product by Public-i | Presented to Client x
48
Thank you for your time……and more importantly….what do you think???
Curiouscatherine.wordpress.comwww.public-i.info
Presented by Catherine Howe, Chief Executive Public-i