Developing and sustaining effective organisations
This piece from Richard Parsons was originally posted on his eDemocracyBlog.com. Richard is a former editor of ePolitix.com and you can find him on twitter at @problybored Last year I wrote about how I would define eDemocracy, and concluded by suggesting that: “Looking back 50 years from now, eDemocracy will be the name we give to…
Patrick Butler’s lead in Society last week ended saying, “creating smarter, more efficient and socially just public services that deliver demonstrably higher impact and greater social value is the necessary task of the public and voluntary sector over the next three years.” FutureGov’s latest project ‘Simpl’ aims to assist with just this task
Catherine Lewis was shortlisted for ‘Online Councillor of the Year’ at the 2011 C’llr Achievement Awards. As an independent councillor, Catherine is without the clout of a party machine – her support then has been nurtured through dedicated personal interactions and consistent community involvement. As I recently blogged, a new report from the Pew Research Centre in…
I spent some time last night sifting through the US-based ‘How the Public Perceives Community Information Systems‘ report – for those short of time here’s a link to a good summary from Pew Research Center. The conclusion of the piece is that public trust in government is strongly tied with their engagement and involvement in…
This post was originally published on the Guardian Local Government Network Communities and local government minister Eric Pickles and his department are encouraging town halls to open their doors to bloggers and allow online filming of public discussions. Local government minister, Bob Neil, wrote to councils: “Opening the door to new media costs nothing and will…
Yesterday the Making a Difference With Data site launched at madwdata.org.uk . This is an interesting initiative (disclaimer: I am co-editor of the local authority section with Ingrid Koehler) which aims to help practitioners, councillors and active citizens alike to publish and use data more effectively. It covers the local authority (transparency and democracy), education, health…
After watching this youtube video from the Green Party, I’ve spent sometime this afternoon Googling ‘what does a councillor do?’ It returns some quite interesting results – from drab, vague descriptions “Councillors, or members, are elected by local people to plan, run, monitor and develop council business”, to this quirkly little game. All however are really…
I’m delighted to announce that Lauren Ivory from TweetyHall will be popping in to our online councillor event this Thursday to deliver a special presentation. The day also features sessions from Hugh Flouch of Networked Neighbourhoods and Harringay Online, Cllr James Cousins of the www.jamescousins.com and David Wilcox aka the social reporter. If you’re intersted there are still a…
Continuing my theme of posts on the ‘new political literacy’ I thought it would be interesting to interview Luke Bozier, MD of myCllr, to find out how he believes the service can strengthen local democracy and what it can do to put citizens better in control of their lives, communities and local services. What follows is…
Richard Jones, editor of Saddleworth News, has done a cracking job chronicaling the daily drama surrounding the Oldham East and Saddleworth byelection. Being a Saddleworth resident, his interviews with the candidates added true local value and perspective to the election and (I believe) ultimately helped voters make more informed decisions on issues relevant to their community. To understand more about…
