Ever since the launch of open data here in the UK by Sir Tim Bernes-Lee in  January 2010 with data.gov.uk (who ReadWriteWeb says actually put the US version Data.gov to shame due to the volume of data data.gov.uk offered was far more than the U.S. site), we here in the UK have seen some interesting stuff coming out from raw data.

There has been much talk recently at the Guardian regarding whether or not open data can actually create more efficient services. For fellow enthusiasts, this statement itself makes you want to jump out of your seats and say YES!  But for many others, the statement still remains a question. Can it or does it not?

Or as young people might say these days, is it a STUD or a DUD???

GOLD STAR

Tiny details aside, we’ve had some marvellous efforts by our friends OpenlyLocal who are collecting information on which local councils have open data. And also LinkedGov founded by my good uni friend Hadley Beeman who has setup a community project to collaboratively clean and make usable data from local authorities and other public bodies.  NESTA has also been doing some useful things too with their ‘Make It Local’ campaign.

SIR TIM BERNES-LEE

Need I say more? I’ll leave it to the man himself to tell him why open data is relevant, plus a reference to Paul Clarkes blog!

THE SHINY THING

The idea of open data and doing wonderful things with it in the forefront might be an attractive thing but its not always useful. So how do we know if that information is useful to the people we serve?  How do we, as local authorities help assist developers to identify citizen’s issues? With the thousands of data available and the variety of services we deliver, how do we give our data A VOICE?  Or more importantly, how do we GIVE CITIZENS A VOICE? And also how do we give LOCAL AUTHORITIES A VOICE?

THE VOICE

Ideally in a perfect world, we’d have developers, citizens and local government sitting together in a room with tea and biscuits and talk about our problems and find ‘Really Useful’ solutions. Although this might be happening already, it needs to be happening on a larger scale. Like Lee Bryant from Headshift said (which I completely agree with and could not put any better)…

I would strongly urge developers to answer the call to get involved, and ideally to avoid obsessing about tiny details of data formats and licensing in favour of actually building something that is (a) useful and (b) communicable to normal people rather than just data geeks. It is easy to forget that what we are doing here is so utterly marginal in terms of both investment and impact that it barely registers on either government’s or citizens’ radar right now. But there is no doubt in my mind that this is where government should be headed if it is serious about engaging better, improving services and getting more value out of existing investment.

A REALLY USEFUL EVENT

With that quote, it is my pleasure to announce a ‘Really Useful’ event (#RU11) that will be happening within 6 months (both online and offline) where it aims to: -

• To seek innovative ways of using local datasets in ways that help citizens by taking a user led approach
• Create a collaborative space for policy and service managers to help shape developments based on user need using customer centric intelligence
• Make use of existing standards and influence further enhancement of standards
• To support the development of web and mobile applications and web services to support the sector in using its data to support improvement, efficiency and innovation
• To identify and remove barriers to innovative developments using local datasets
• To facilitate collaboration between different areas of public sector

REALLY USEFUL 2011 (#RU11) EVENT STRUCTURE

• 1st July – The first event will identify possible apps and uses for open datasets. Developers and LA users will be able to discuss feasibility, build business cases and sustainability models and functional specifications. All apps going forward should have a sponsor. (Register interest by emailing liz.azyan@camden.gov.uk, kindly indicate 1st July event in subject heading)

• August (TBC) - The outputs from the initial day(s) will be posted on a COP site and developers and La users will improve the specifications and post new ideas. Sponsors will find datasets and remove obstacles wherever possible.

• September (TBC) – LG group envisage a two day event where developers can come together and continue to realise the most popular specifications. (Register interest by emailing liz.azyan@camden.gov.uk, kindly indicate ‘September event’ in subject heading)

• October/November (TBC) – Further work to take place on the CoP: look for opportunities for deployment/distribution and productisation etc

• December (TBC) – The developer teams return to showcase their apps, tell of success, lessons learnt etc. This event would be open to a much wider audience- useful to involve central gov and also CAs and cllrs from local government. (Register interest by emailing liz.azyan@camden.gov.uk, kindly indicate ‘December event’ in subject heading)

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

The ‘Really Useful’ event also wants to hear from you about your apps and hopefully (time permitted) review it too! So if you have an exciting app that you developed from open data in local government and want to share it with the world, drop by our forum and stick your link HERE!

We’re looking forward to being ‘Really Useful’! Are you?

Liz Azyan (Really Useful Enthusiast)

UK Universities on MySpace

List of UK Universities Flickr Pages

Please take a few mins to complete this survey on Social media Usage in HEIs.

Introductory session

The first thing you noticed as soon as you walk into the lecture hall where the introductory talks were being held is the Twitterwall on the screen. This is the second event I’ve attended that had this and I find it really livens up the mood and certainly grabs people’s attention. Just have a look at the tweets…

catmachine:  http://twitpic.com/bx04p – Tweets going up on this big screen… so if I post a photo of it, instant recursion.

marcus67:  Just so I can get on the screen again!

boagworld:  They have a twitterwall at #iwmw2009. That is asking for trouble! One could write very rude messages. http://twitpic.com/bx0dh

gmcaleese:  enjoying the twitter wall

I found it quite funny and everyone seemed to have a bit of fun with it which was quite expected, if you ask me Though if there was one thing I would say is, I wished the background to the text wasn’t black as it was hard to see the coloured text on that background. Possibly next time use white or a light colour so it could be easier on the eyes??? (Just a suggestion!)

Keith Brooke‘s introductory slides and speech

If you flick through the slides, you’ll see all the wonderful descriptions and pictures of University of Essex and also the web team who are involved in IWMW2009. There are some hilarious pictures up there, so be sure to check it out! You won’t regret it !

Keynote Speech – Derek Law (Strathclyde Uni) “Headlights on Dark Roads” this is a title of a song by Snow Patrol btw…

Derek Law – “Headlight on Dark Roads” IWMW2009 from Liz Azyan on Vimeo.

I have to say I’m really impressed the way the slides were being made immediately before and during the actual speech. This is a very rare occasion at events like this, so a big “Well done” to the organizers for being on top of things. Its the little things that really matter sometimes and I was pleasantly pleased. Thank you UKOLN!

Derek starts off by asking by saying “Everyone thinks it is a good thing to have a library, but no one is very clear why” (via @iwmwlive).  This is a very fair point just looking by the way people depend on the internet to find out mostly about anything.  Derek also stresses that “we have reached a fundamental tipping point in HEI (via @boagworld)”. And this seems to be down to the failure of of libraries or librarians causing complancey, lack of underpinning philosophy and the rise of managerial technocrat (via @jaducms).

The failure to engage with technology…

There is definitely a sense of failure to understand what do we actually do with technology once we have it i.e. failure to engage with e-resources (via @jaducms). Its almost like having an iPhone or any smart phone for that matter and only using it for phone calls and text. You have it because its nice and shiny and you were told it could do all those fancy technical dancing features .. but in the end you end up using it like any old phone anyways.  It seems that we are more obsessed with licenses and digitizing oddities (via @jaducms).

There was an interesting bit in Derek’s presentation that made me sit up in my seat which was…

jamesclay:  “Currently, 17.8% of all Twitter traffic in the United Kingdom consists of status updates from @stephenfry ”

jamesclay:  “A further 11% is his 680,176 followers replying ‘ @stephenfry LOL!’ & ‘ @stephenfry EXACTLY the same thing happened to me’”

I definitely thought that was hilarious because I follow @stephenfry myself and he definitely tweets his pants off! LOL

On a more serious note, Derek mentioned that there is a possibility of shifting college life to google and some uni’s are already using google mail too! (via @jaducms) I wish my uni would use google mail…:-s So there’s definitely a possibility for this to happen as its really not that big of a leap… or is it?

Images replacing words….

So according to Derek, “we are moving to image-based cultural reference points, rather than word-based” (via @iwmwlive). I couldn’t agree more, I mean I even find myself moving another step forward and saying that I think we are moving to video-based cultural reference points as I use YouTube as my primary search engine just as much as I use google. I mean lets look at some of the facts pointed out from the twitterstream

iwmwlive:  We are moving away from authority to consensus: 57% of teenagers create content for the Internet

pierotintori:  #iwmw2009 “73% of students use the internet more than the library”

Why write it when you can record it???

As an academic myself who finds writing papers quite fiddly and would rather blog, I definitely find Law’s opinion on a new way of documenting research methodologies to be really appealing!

iwmwlive:  why write a research methodology when you can just video the experiment and upload it?

pierotintori:  #iwmw2009 why write a science paper, create a video and publish it http://www.jove.com/

Conclusion….So what is the Digital Overlap Strategy?

This was actually something I felt I have to share.. its certainly something you could take away and implement straight away at your institutions! The way you do it is… BY KEEPING YOUR FINGERS CROSS!

iwmwlive:  most universities are employing a digital overlap strategy to deal with the problems they are facing.

marydeeo:  Law: “digital overlap strategy” – cross your fingers and hope for the best

webpackets:   – liking the digital overlap strategy – am going to use that one

kammer:  Excellent anecdote from Derek Law ultimately defining ‘digital overlap strategy’ (ie keep your fingers crossed). All too familiar.

Links for this session worth checking out!

1. Oxford library website (via @j4)
2. OpenWetWare – marydeeo: Law: social networking moving into real research apps, OpenWetware allows sharing among scientists
3. Journal of Visualized Experiments (Jove) – Love it!
4. Open Research Notebooks
5. Catch my earlier review of IWMW2009 – The good, the bad and the ugly

Hope you’ve found this useful!

Liz xx

List of UK Universities and their Departments on YouTube

I’ve recently been alerted by Edinburgh Council officials that there has been a twitter account masquerading as Edinburgh Council (EdinburghCC) . It has already captured 38 followers so I thought its important to highlight that this is in fact not a genuine twitter account for Edinburgh Council and Edinburgh_CC is. So for those already following EdinburghCC, kindly unfollow and follow Edinburgh_CC, as this is the genuine council account.

I’ve had a Youtube Channel for quite some time now but haven’t properly introduced it to everyone. I used to do the odd video here and there because I enjoy doing it. But recently I’ve been receiving invitations to some exciting events and its great to capture the thoughts of the attendees while I’m there. I’ll be attending and covering at least another 5 events in the near future. So if you’d like to see what I’m up while at these events, don’t forget to subscribe to my channel on youtube at this link

http://www.youtube.com/LGEOResearch

For more specialised videos for my research, you can subscribe to my Vimeo channel here.

http://www.vimeo.com/user1365695

I was  invited to attend an exciting event hosted by FutureGov Consultancy (my sponsors to NYC for the Personal Democracy Forum in June). This event marks the launch of ‘Us Now Film‘ online that discusses the theory and practice of transforming governments through participation.

FutureGov describes this event as…

…. a film that tells the stories of online networks that are challenging the existing notion of hierarchy. For the first time, it brings together the fore-most thinkers in the field of participative governance to describe the future of government. FutureGov is proud to be coordinating the launch of the film so that audiences across the world are inspired to act.

I remember when I first started blogging, NESTA had a screening of the Us Now Film and I was so green with envy that I did not get an invite. Though of course no one knew me then, so it makes sense!

I was really honoured that after months of blogging, the opportunity to be apart of something really special became a reality.

The launch took place at Curzon Soho at 4pm -6pm. To get a sneak peak of the film watch this…

Recently alot of articles have popped up regarding local councils using facebook (i.e. Dave Briggs & Simon Wakeman to name a few) to engage with citizens. Its a really great time for local government to get involved with new means of communication and engagement with their customers. However early this morning, as I was doing a bit of research, I noticed that there is another angle of Facebook that we are forgetting to acknowledge… Anyone care to take a guess what it is?

The tables have turned

Well, its when the table flips and the shoe is on the other foot. Its when citizens create facebook groups or pages to demand local councils to listen. The issue I’d like to raise here is… What are local councils doing to LISTEN to their citizens on Social Networking Sites (SNS)? I understand how we can all get caught up with creating relevant channels of engagement with the public, but what about using the knowledge or information that is already been generated through all these user generated content (UGC) websites? Couldn’t this be a form of consultation as well? Are local councils currently listening? Or are local councils waiting til the mainstream media picks it up and creates a mockery out of the situation?

How do we solve a problem like “mainstream media”?

We all know how mainstream media is quick to pick up on negative points of anything on government. And its frustrating when they put their spin and sensationalize the story beyond recognition. How often do government or local government get to defend themselves before the damage is already been done? More importantly is what is local government doing to better understand the customers needs through these existing channels of communication? With various stories like this, where the council is using facebook to track down tax dodger and also here where local councils using facebook to check up on you, surely those same resources could be used to increase citizens trust in local government to deliver the services they need. There is no excuse.

Customers demanding back their right to their services

An article in a Liverpool Daily Post online newspaper highlighted an issue with Wirral Council. Here is an example of the group petitioning against the closure of Wirral leisure centres which now has 2,051 members with 65 wall posts and 4 discussion topics.
Petition against the closure of Wirral leisure centres

• Other facebook groups found on this issue

• STOP WIRRAL COUNCIL CLOSING THE LIBRARIES, LEISURE CENTRES & LIGHTHOUSE 257 members, 6 wall posts

• Wirral Residents Unite over the proposed closure of our public libraries 376 members, 16 wall posts

• Online petition tool setup in SENDMYVOTE http://www.sendmyvote.com/petition/wirral

An innovative consultation tool

I’m unsure whether this website consultation tool online was developed before or after the article was written, but it does show some innovative ways to conduct consultations online. Might be an idea for other local councils. What’s great about it is it allow you to embed the consultation progress of that consultation on your website/blog. And there is also an option for a widget to be put on your sidebar for easy access.

Consultation progress widget

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Sidebar Polling Widgets

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And people can also vote on your question via a link http://www.ask500people.com/questions/wirral-council-is-to-shut-libraries-leisure-centres-museums-and-a-theatre-to-keep-council-tax-low

However, when I browsed the Wirral Council consultation webpage, this consultation tool link is nowhere to be found. See snapshot of consultation webpage.

I tried to search as well using the search box, and guessing my searching skills are not up to scratch*, I failed to find a link. Say if this consultation was closed, how come its still taking votes and where are the results of the consultation? Why has it not been published? Surely a consultation of this magnitude deserves a prominent display on their website? Or is this consultation tool being developed by the local newspaper themselves? Who knows?

Maybe I’m being too harsh… so as Rachel Maddow from MSNBC would say … “TALK ME DOWN!”

And also, one last thing… ARE YOU LISTENING?…..

Another customers groups on facebook demanding council action

following my local council on twitter. yeah. on 12seconds.tv

Reaction from a hyperlocal website – HarringayOnline via @hughflouch

Reply to this comment

NewcastleCC’s reaction examples via @alncl

• Conversation 1

Customer: “I am wondering why Newcastle City Council is following me. Is this a type of Big Brother surveillance?”
NewcastleCC: “Wouldn’t be very subtle if it was! No, we’re following Twitterers in and around Newcastle to join in the conversation.”

• Conversation 2

Customer: “Newcastle City Council (@NewcastleCC) just added me on Twitter. Great to see authorities communicating with people using new technologies ”

• Conversation 3

CustomerA: “Just got a Follower request from @NewcastleCC”
CustomerB: “RT @CustomerA “Just got a Follower request from @NewcastleCC” Yes, me too! I wonder why?”
NewcastleCC: “@CustomerB @CustomerA Because we’re interested in what people in Newcastle have to say.”
CustomerA: “@NewcastleCC I didn’t see it as a negative, quite the opposite! It’s great that you’re using social media….what would you like to know? ”
CustomerC: White“@CustomerB @CustomerA Don’t worry, it’s harmless. Been following @NewcastleCC myself for a little while now. No anti-free speech talk yet. ”

CustomerD: “@NewcastleCC Maybe they think it stands for Newcastle Credit Card, and not City Council?”
CustomerA: “@CustomerC @CustomerB I think it’s great that they’re using Twitter, cheers for the heads up! ”

• Conversation 4

CustomerE: “NewcastleCityCouncil is now following me?! Why?!!”
NewcastleCC: “@CustomerE We follow other journalists too!”
CustomerE: “@NewcastleCC ha… thanks for replying! should probably tell you that I’ve never been further north than Leicester…”
CustomerF: “@CustomerE time you got out more then! Come to #thinkingdigital”

NewcastleCC: “@CustomerE I agree with @CustomerF on this one!”
CustomerE: “@NewcastleCC @CustomerF I doubt I’ll find the cash for #thinkingdigital but a road trip to Newcastle is now in the planning stage!”
CustomerF: “@CustomerE you could always try and blag a press freebie from Herb. Or make it a promo visit for Wired UK – have a stand!”

NewcastleCC: ”@CustomerE Excellent”

Here is a example of a David Cameron answering a question from twitter through youtube.

Catch Simon Wakeman’s radio interview about Medway Council’s Twitter here (opens new page) - http://www.simonwakeman.com/2009/03/24/radio-interviews-on-council-twitter/