Making localism a reality

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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


What do we mean by engage?

Is engage even a real word?

Would your voters use it?


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?


How do you think the people who signed the recent EU referendum petition felt about being ignored?

Because that is how they see it…..


How do the public want to engage?


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)

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/cmr/753567/UK-internet.pdf


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


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

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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/

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http://www.nesta.org.uk/publications/assets/features/the_challenge_of_co-production

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.jrf.org.uk/publications/co-production-people-outside-paid-employment

http://www.govint.org/

Co-production

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http://www.smartjustice.org/



Co-production


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


The Social Web has a distinct culture

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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/


http://networkedneighbourhoods.com/

http://talkaboutlocal.org.uk/

http://podnosh.com/

29 March 2011 20

Hyperlocalism

http://www.harringayonline.com/



Hyperlocal sites found from recent research


Source: http://curiouscatherine.wordpress.com

Using free mainstream tools



And Government is increasingly active in this space

Don’t ask people to come to your space


http://askbristol.wordpress.com/

Coventry: Doing Facebook really well


http://www.facebook.com/Coventry.West.Midlands

Twitter Gritter

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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

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http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100823122417/http://yourfreedom.hmg.gov.uk/

Did we really crowdsource the Freedom bill?

Open

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http://www.walsall.gov.uk/walsall24.htm


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


• 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


• 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


• 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


• 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



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

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Public

29 March 2011 39

Open Data

29 March 2011 40

http://data.london.gov.uk/




There is competition for traditional politics

Digital Activism

29 March 2011 42

http://bccdiy.co.uk/



29 March 2011 43

Digital Activism

http://www.avaaz.org/en/



29 March 2011 44

Digital Activism

http://ukuncut.org.uk/



Digital Activism


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



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???

[email protected]

Curiouscatherine.wordpress.comwww.public-i.info

Presented by Catherine Howe, Chief Executive Public-i

mailto:[email protected]






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