Confessions of a Better connected reviewer

Last summer I joined the team responsible for conducting the annual Better connected survey of local gov websites, published today. Find out how I got on. Continue reading

Going public – a council blog case study

My department has just gone live with a public blog, after running a successful internal blog for nearly a year. Find out the hows and whys. Continue reading

Facebook in the public sector – lunchtime digest

Today I’m reporting from an event in Glasgow exploring the use of Facebook in the public sector. We’re enjoying an impressive line up of folk doing some great stuff with the social media platform de rigueur.

You can follow the proceedings via the hashtag #fbps12. If you’ve struggled to keep up, though, here’s a short “lunchtime digest” of the morning so far. Continue reading

IslandGovCamp shows potential of remote attendance

Last weekend saw #islandgovcamp in Orkney. I’ll blog more about the event soon, but I wanted to quickly mention one of the main (I think) triumphs of the weekend – showcasing the potential for technology to facilitate meaningful, engaging remote attendance. Continue reading

Could the EU cookie law be harming web accessibility?

The EU’s Privacy and Communications Directive came into force last May, and was arguably so complex to implement that UK organisations were given a year to work out how to comply. As organisations start to implement their various solutions, I take a look at the potential accessibility and usability issues. Continue reading

IslandGovCamp call for ideas

Following successful Scottish GovCamps in Edinburgh and Aberdeen, the next gathering is taking place in picturesque Orkney, on 25-27 May 2012.
Whether you’re able to attend or not, we’d love to hear your suggestions for topics to be discussed over the weekend. Continue reading

Tartan Tweetmeet (in 500 words or less)

Last night’s Tartan Tweetmeet was, by all accounts, a great success. Continue reading

5 things to leave out of a social media proposal

In my organisation, staff are normally asked to write a short proposal before they can set up an official social media account. This works quite well – it means they … Continue reading

Social media guidelines for social workers

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 … Continue reading

Getting social media right (or, how NOT to do Facebook)

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 – … Continue reading