Comments for Curiouscatherine's Blog http://curiouscatherine.wordpress.com Thinking about using the social web to do democratic things..... Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:25:13 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 Comment on Contemplating twitter by Tom Phillips http://curiouscatherine.wordpress.com/2009/11/04/contemplating-twitter/#comment-97 Tom Phillips Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:25:13 +0000 http://curiouscatherine.wordpress.com/?p=280#comment-97 I tend to agree, though in an organisation as diverse as the one I am in, there's some interesting work that could be done on who follows who on Yammer. It's seldom directly linked colleagues who use Yammer to tie up. There are usually already other ways for them to do that. One thing I have found, talking to a few people who do and don't Yammer is that an individual's participation is still seen as being somewhere along some sort of "exhibitionism/voyeurism" spectrum. Happily (because Yammer and Twitter etc wouldn't work otherwise)there seem to be plenty of people at both ends of the spectrum and across the middle, but it's probably not the most sound or adult way of looking at what's actually going on. I think the spectrum of views we need to be more wary of is one that runs from "I don't think anyone will be interested" at one end, to "I don't actually want any comments on this" at the other. Those are the sorts of things that are holding us back, and blocking access a) to things you'd be interested in if only you knew about them, and b) to things that ought to be exposed to comment etc, but are being hidden. The control freaks are always going to see social networking as subversive. I tend to agree, though in an organisation as diverse as the one I am in, there’s some interesting work that could be done on who follows who on Yammer. It’s seldom directly linked colleagues who use Yammer to tie up. There are usually already other ways for them to do that. One thing I have found, talking to a few people who do and don’t Yammer is that an individual’s participation is still seen as being somewhere along some sort of “exhibitionism/voyeurism” spectrum.

Happily (because Yammer and Twitter etc wouldn’t work otherwise)there seem to be plenty of people at both ends of the spectrum and across the middle, but it’s probably not the most sound or adult way of looking at what’s actually going on.

I think the spectrum of views we need to be more wary of is one that runs from “I don’t think anyone will be interested” at one end, to “I don’t actually want any comments on this” at the other. Those are the sorts of things that are holding us back, and blocking access a) to things you’d be interested in if only you knew about them, and b) to things that ought to be exposed to comment etc, but are being hidden.

The control freaks are always going to see social networking as subversive.

]]> Comment on Contemplating twitter by curiouscatherine http://curiouscatherine.wordpress.com/2009/11/04/contemplating-twitter/#comment-96 curiouscatherine Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:04:56 +0000 http://curiouscatherine.wordpress.com/?p=280#comment-96 Thanks Tom - good point on Yammer - we have also been using it internally and I think it is useful - but as you say not entirely clear exactly how. What was interesting was the fact that I started the yammer 'experiment' with just a couple of people - but other people asked to join when they thought something interesting was going on and now we have around 2/3 of the company using it - I think proving your point that the motivation for taking part a huge point of deciding what works well. In terms of democratic stuff I wonder if part of it will be in proving who is listening to the conversation - in Yammer its clear - its your colleagues which brings work benefits - but how do we 'evidence' the importance of participating democratically? Thanks Tom – good point on Yammer – we have also been using it internally and I think it is useful – but as you say not entirely clear exactly how. What was interesting was the fact that I started the yammer ‘experiment’ with just a couple of people – but other people asked to join when they thought something interesting was going on and now we have around 2/3 of the company using it – I think proving your point that the motivation for taking part a huge point of deciding what works well. In terms of democratic stuff I wonder if part of it will be in proving who is listening to the conversation – in Yammer its clear – its your colleagues which brings work benefits – but how do we ‘evidence’ the importance of participating democratically?

]]> Comment on Contemplating twitter by Tom Phillips http://curiouscatherine.wordpress.com/2009/11/04/contemplating-twitter/#comment-95 Tom Phillips Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:14:10 +0000 http://curiouscatherine.wordpress.com/?p=280#comment-95 Interesting stuff. My own local authority is currently playing with Yammer as a form of in-house Twitter. I chose the word "playing" intentionally because, unusually, no one has said "Let's do this in this way, in order to achieve A, B, C etc". At least, they haven't said it YET! Result is that colleagues are finding out for themselves how best they can relate to it, both in terms of what they put in and who has stuff they might want to follow. I'm realising that where the exercise has currently reached is a bit of a microcosm of the much wider e-engagement journey in society at large. Joining things like Yammer and Twitter involves a bit of a leap of faith - a "Let me see if this is worth doing" decision. I think even the large majority of my colleagues who know about Yammer are not persuaded there's anything in it for them (yet), and are at the "Why would I want to do that?", "What will I get out of it?" stage. Just like the average man/woman in the street in relation to active participation in some form of democratic activity, virtual or otherwise. Understanding what makes people join these things and what hold them back will be key to our knowledge of what works well, and what doesn't. Interesting stuff. My own local authority is currently playing with Yammer as a form of in-house Twitter. I chose the word “playing” intentionally because, unusually, no one has said “Let’s do this in this way, in order to achieve A, B, C etc”. At least, they haven’t said it YET!

Result is that colleagues are finding out for themselves how best they can relate to it, both in terms of what they put in and who has stuff they might want to follow. I’m realising that where the exercise has currently reached is a bit of a microcosm of the much wider e-engagement journey in society at large. Joining things like Yammer and Twitter involves a bit of a leap of faith – a “Let me see if this is worth doing” decision. I think even the large majority of my colleagues who know about Yammer are not persuaded there’s anything in it for them (yet), and are at the “Why would I want to do that?”, “What will I get out of it?” stage. Just like the average man/woman in the street in relation to active participation in some form of democratic activity, virtual or otherwise.

Understanding what makes people join these things and what hold them back will be key to our knowledge of what works well, and what doesn’t.

]]> Comment on Social contracts for social websites by Virtual Town Hall – October Project meeting « Curiouscatherine’s Blog http://curiouscatherine.wordpress.com/2009/10/11/social-contracts-for-social-websites/#comment-92 Virtual Town Hall – October Project meeting « Curiouscatherine’s Blog Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:10:59 +0000 http://curiouscatherine.wordpress.com/?p=222#comment-92 [...] then need to get a draft social web policy in place for use with citizens, officers and [...] [...] then need to get a draft social web policy in place for use with citizens, officers and [...]

]]> Comment on Social networking policies by Peter Cruickshank http://curiouscatherine.wordpress.com/2009/10/11/social-networking-policies/#comment-80 Peter Cruickshank Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:02:46 +0000 http://curiouscatherine.wordpress.com/?p=251#comment-80 It's definitely in the air. <a href="http://twitter.com/jeanlucr/status/4963352810" rel="nofollow">Another tweet</a> has led me to this (PDF) list on socrata.com of <a href="http://j.mp/1wlcD4" rel="nofollow">Web 2.0 Governance Policies and Best Practices for public administrations</a> - very much biased towards the USA, but a couple of UK examples. Turns out twitter is useful after all... It’s definitely in the air.

Another tweet has led me to this (PDF) list on socrata.com of Web 2.0 Governance Policies and Best Practices for public administrations – very much biased towards the USA, but a couple of UK examples.

Turns out twitter is useful after all…

]]> Comment on Social networking policies by Peter Cruickshank http://curiouscatherine.wordpress.com/2009/10/11/social-networking-policies/#comment-79 Peter Cruickshank Sat, 17 Oct 2009 17:31:07 +0000 http://curiouscatherine.wordpress.com/?p=251#comment-79 Coincidentally, a link to this was just tweeted by <a href="http://twitter.com/tinholt/" rel="nofollow">Dinand Tinholt</a>: A <a href="http://socialmediagovernance.com/policies.php" rel="nofollow">database of 106 social media policies</a> - including 30 for government. Covers a mix of public and private organisations, mostly from around the Anglosphere. Might be useful? It'd be good if the list is kept up to date, but iy may last just as long as the book it's aimed at takes to write. OK, the fact that it's (a) Saturday evening and (b) the info came via a tweet says more than I'd like about my nerdiness! Coincidentally, a link to this was just tweeted by Dinand Tinholt:

A database of 106 social media policies – including 30 for government. Covers a mix of public and private organisations, mostly from around the Anglosphere.

Might be useful? It’d be good if the list is kept up to date, but iy may last just as long as the book it’s aimed at takes to write.

OK, the fact that it’s (a) Saturday evening and (b) the info came via a tweet says more than I’d like about my nerdiness!

]]> Comment on Habermas: The public sphere by Social Web Framework: Version 0.5 « Curiouscatherine’s Blog http://curiouscatherine.wordpress.com/2009/04/04/habermas-the-public-sphere/#comment-78 Social Web Framework: Version 0.5 « Curiouscatherine’s Blog Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:03:21 +0000 http://curiouscatherine.wordpress.com/?p=127#comment-78 [...] terms of how you might think of the social web as describing a ‘public sphere‘ you need to consider the difference between closed spaces which are seeking to be an online [...] [...] terms of how you might think of the social web as describing a ‘public sphere‘ you need to consider the difference between closed spaces which are seeking to be an online [...]

]]> Comment on Social networking policies by John Bullivent http://curiouscatherine.wordpress.com/2009/10/11/social-networking-policies/#comment-77 John Bullivent Tue, 13 Oct 2009 10:40:32 +0000 http://curiouscatherine.wordpress.com/?p=251#comment-77 We in North Lincs had a meeting re.social web policy last Thursday. Had a look at Devon, Warks, IBM....and thought we'd do our own (with a little copy & paste here and there). The meeting was VERY positive and brought up lots of interesting issues e.g. bandwidth usage on council infrastructure, the time spent by audit/HR/IT working on disciplinary cases of "over enthusiastic" web users,.... We in North Lincs had a meeting re.social web policy last Thursday. Had a look at Devon, Warks, IBM….and thought we’d do our own (with a little copy & paste here and there).
The meeting was VERY positive and brought up lots of interesting issues e.g. bandwidth usage on council infrastructure, the time spent by audit/HR/IT working on disciplinary cases of “over enthusiastic” web users,….

]]> Comment on Social networking policies by Fraser http://curiouscatherine.wordpress.com/2009/10/11/social-networking-policies/#comment-76 Fraser Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:32:18 +0000 http://curiouscatherine.wordpress.com/?p=251#comment-76 This is interesting:- http://carlhaggerty.wordpress.com/2009/05/01/final-draft-social-media-and-online-participation-policy-and-guidelines/ Personally think the best approach is tracking back to the original cabinet office publication for civil servants and POI review recommendations. There's a reason why the civil service code is short - so that it doesn't stifle participation in the channel (see Warwick policy!). NorthLincs are in this process and should have a very nice hybrid. This is interesting:-

http://carlhaggerty.wordpress.com/2009/05/01/final-draft-social-media-and-online-participation-policy-and-guidelines/

Personally think the best approach is tracking back to the original cabinet office publication for civil servants and POI review recommendations.

There’s a reason why the civil service code is short – so that it doesn’t stifle participation in the channel (see Warwick policy!). NorthLincs are in this process and should have a very nice hybrid.

]]> Comment on Devon CC – Social Web guidelines by Social networking policies « Curiouscatherine’s Blog http://curiouscatherine.wordpress.com/2009/05/31/devon-cc-social-web-guidelines/#comment-75 Social networking policies « Curiouscatherine’s Blog Sun, 11 Oct 2009 18:56:52 +0000 http://curiouscatherine.wordpress.com/2009/05/31/devon-cc-social-web-guidelines/#comment-75 [...] Devon [...] [...] Devon [...]

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