Yesterday morning I popped along to a meeting of the Edinburgh Local Practitioner Forum to hear about the latest guidance for social work staff using social media.
The gathering of over 40 practitioners heard from Ann Moffat and Amanda Waugh from the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC), who last year published guidelines for social service workers and their employers on the appropriate use of social media.
We've come a long way already
How far we’ve come. Not that long ago, many of us felt like we faced an insurmountable brick wall. Social media remained a black art in so many organisations – misunderstood and distrusted.
Since then, we’ve seen huge advances in the awareness of the true power of social media, with global events like the Arab Spring making it impossible to ignore. Uptake continues to boom, with my own organisation seeing award-winning campaigns go from strength to strength; national tweetathons attracting lots of attention; and a huge internal effort to develop a strategic way forward.
We’ve done much “talking and planning”. We’ve even seen plenty of “doing and learning”. I’d say that we’re now in a strong position to take it to the next level – to start “refining and perfecting”.
However, as the floodgates open, we need to be careful that unbridled enthusiasm doesn’t lead to sloppy delivery. And experience tells me that one platform in particular will continue to cause headaches for those of us charged with maintaining some order in this chaotic online frontier.
I’m talking, of course, about Facebook.
Read more about getting Facebook right
Plans have been announced for a national gathering of public sector folk involved with using social media in their organisations.
The Tartan TweetMeet will take place on Wednesday 22 February at a number of venues across Scotland, and will allow like-minded individuals to meet and share ideas. There will also be a chance for members of the public to get involved by tweeting questions and suggestions, hopefully leading to some valuable new opportunities for engagement.
Explaining the concept on the event’s website, organiser Carolyne Mitchell (@Cal444) lists the rules for the day:
- They have to be free.
- No business cards allowed.
- There must be a hashtag.
- Come with an open mind and be prepared to share ideas.
- Most of all have fun and make connections
Anyone interested in the event is invited to register to allow organisers to get an idea of numbers. We’re currently exploring suitable venues here in Edinburgh and welcome any suggestions.
You can follow the event at #tartanTM. I look forward to meeting some of you there!
Up to £25,000 is being offering to support four projects which will see local authorities in Scotland open up more of their data and collaborate with developers to build useful, innovative digital services.
The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) is hoping to repeat the success of its Make It Local programme in England, which saw the creation of three new services based on data held by Councils and other organisations.
Organisations have until 31 January 2012 to submit an application for Make It Local Scotland.
The City of Edinburgh Council has put out a call for local organisations and developers to get in touch and help develop a proposal, and I’d urge anyone with an idea or experience of building great services around data to get involved. There’s already been some exciting thoughts around a “green/environmental” theme but we’re keen to gather as many ideas as possible – both for this and to also help inform future developments.
I’m going to start this post with a rather insignificant personal anecdote, but rest assured I’m building up to bigger things…
Early this morning, pursuing a personal vice nurtured since childhood, I bounded along to the local branch of a well known national video game retailer, planning to grab myself a copy of a newly released and hotly anticipated game. On arrival, I was shocked to discover that the price tag on the game was a whopping £5 more than advertised on their own online store – a 14% mark-up. On principle, I left empty handed.
Luckily, I have the luxury of going home tonight and browsing for a better deal online. But what about those who can’t shop online? They would be stuck with paying the premium rate.
Last year we won a number of accolades for our use of social media to promote the 2009 Scottish Youth Parliament elections. I blogged at the time that we would be ramping up our efforts for the 2011 elections campaign, and I’m delighted to say we’ve won further recognition for that work.
The campaign has scooped the award for “best use of social media by a public sector organisation”, as well as being shortlisted for “best use of social media by a non profit/charity organisation”, at the Some Comms Awards 2011 in Manchester last week. It also bagged the “Grand Prix” award, singling it out as the “best of the best” of all the entries.
I recently attended an inspirational workshop on Mobile Accessibility, hosted by Mobile Monday Edinburgh. The event saw a number of speakers presenting a range of innovative projects around the theme of using technology to improve real-world accessibility, and was partly aimed at generating ideas for the Vodafone Foundation Smart Accessibility Awards:
a new contest to promote the development of IT applications designed to improve the lives of those with disabilities and people that are older, to help them get more actively involved in society.
Read more about the event and the various innovative presentations
A while ago, in a conversation with the web manager of a major UK charity providing information and advice, I asked where their web presence would stand if they had to make harsh cuts (as was being speculated upon at the time). He replied that they saw the website as the ‘beating heart’ of the organisation – and that even if everything else was cut, there would always be a website and someone at the end of a phone.
I was reminded of this sentiment again recently at a web accessibility talk. Someone made the point that one of the reasons why web accessibility has become so vital is that it is fast becoming the main or only way of transacting with some organisations. Gone are the days when websites were a gimmick, a luxury, an add-on. They now act as the beating heart of many large organisations.
But a few recent conversations have had me worried about where local government websites might be heading, in the light of increasing budget pressures, and one project in particular has brought this to a head.