So as you guys already know, I was at the LocalGovCamp in Lincoln last Friday and was fortunate enough to talk to Andrew Beeken (in video above), who was “the man of the hour” and ask him about what he thought about the whole unconference. I mean, I personally thought it was great and definitely different from the previous LocalGovCamp in Birmingham just because it was a smaller crowd and we had more time to chat to everyone who was there. Having the capability to network rather effectively and have a more open table discussion, certainly made this LocalGovCamp a more cosy and intimate affair.

Being a student and possibly sometimes out of the loop on innovative things like this, it was refreshing to listen to Joss Winn talk about WriteToReply.org…

A site for commenting on public reports in considerable detail. Texts are broken down into their respective sections for easier consumption. Rather than comment on the text as a whole, you are encouraged to direct comments to specific paragraphs. The full texts for comment are listed on the right under ‘Texts’.

Its quite interesting to see throughout my research that there are still some traditional web ‘thinking’ going on within the public sector that deters them from fully exploiting the new web’s potential and opportunities. But this is not due to the lack in sufficient technology or gadgets.

It all comes down to insufficiency in skills and knowledge on how the new web is demanding more softer social skills and specific technical skills to enhance public services and public sector’s relationship with citizens on the new web.

I recently attended the Digital Engagement Event organized by Ten Alps Communications and managed to catch up with the Ten Alps Managing Director to ask about what was going on their website that supports their events. They have some improvements lined up that they wish to share with delegates. Hope you’ll find this useful!

Here’s a collection of interviews I did during my social reporting job at Socitm09. You can find more about the event at the official blog http://www.socitm09.net

An interview with Josh Bernoff, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research. Over the past thirteen years, Mr. Bernoff has become one of America’s most frequently quoted research analysts. His analysis, which aims at a deeper understanding of people and how they use technology, has been cited by sources from The Wall St. Journal to “60 Minutes.”

He is the co-author of the book “Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies,” which offers myriad data-based strategies for companies that want to harness the power of social technologies like blogs, social networks, and YouTube.

Dave Briggs writes about digital engagement and community building for government. Dave is Learning Pool’s Community Evangelist as well as a freelance consultant.

Digital Democracy has been working for two years with the Burmese community in Thailand,Bangladesh, India, and China as well as with resettled Burmese populations in Indiana, Washington, DC and New York. D2 staff have published and presented research on Burma with an emphasis on technology use by displaced Burmese groups. In addition to Burmaʼs borders, we have conducted research in Cuba, Armenia, Mali, Zimbabwe,South Africa, and Israel.

This interview covers the following issues and questions:

Steven talks about his most recent project – Neighbourhood to neighbour engagement.
Steven talks about how local authorities get involved within this online neighbourhood.
Citizen to citizen engagement and value.
Does the local authority make themselves known as an authority to the public within the online community?
Mix of email and online forum.
What are the main tools that you use? Groupserver.org
People need to choose their own technology.
What does it mean to you to have an open government?

I met Peter while I was in NYC attending the Participation Camp (PCamp) and Personal Democracy Forum 09. Its funny how it might seem that I just bumped into him on the street but actually we were on our way back from PCamp and walking towards the subway when I asked Peter if I could do a quick video interview with him. And he was kind enough to agree to do so eventhough the rain was starting to pour ! (Thank you Peter!). We talked about alot of different things.