iNews

This will be an all-day event (9am - 5pm) on the 4th March 2010 in partnership with IDeA. Venue: Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9AG.

LocalGovCamp will keep it *very* local so as to not get confused with UKGC10.

Themes will be relevant to anyone working with local government in the social media/digital engagement space. We are aiming to create spaces for discussion and engagement, the sharing of experiences and creation of new ideas. Conversations are encouraged. We will have lots of parallel sessions and break-out spaces. In the tradition of localgovcamps, you set the agenda in the beginning of the morning and afternoon sessions.

Apart from local authorities, MPs, councillors, ICT and social media specialists, we are inviting arts centres and other local heroes to work with us on involving their existing communities in learning how to engage online.

So even if you’re not able to make it for the whole day, come for however long you can!

You can register for your ticket on the Eventbrite page.


'Over 25 authorities are booked onto the LocalGovamp in March and I'm really looking forward to meeting with colleagues from around the country, many of whom I follow on Twitter or have emailed but never met. Social media and its implications for public sector work is a fast moving, ever changing area. It's really hard to keep up with all developments so these events are a great way to share stories and experiences. I hope to learn a lot from the others there and contribute what I can!' - Hollie Snelson, Internal Communication Manager for KCC.

- A special thank you to Anke Holst, whose blog can be found here: http://theanke.wordpress.com/

Picture: The LocalGovCamp logo: orange background with 'An unconference for local government' written underneath.

---

What next? • Subscribe to iNews • E-mail us your ideas/thoughts

More Articles • The Social Civic Nudge • The 'Why Don't You?' Web • Event: Innovating Out of the Recession

LocalGovCamp is ON!

Some of you may have noticed the numerous blog posts that have appeared on the right under 'January' on the right hand side and may be wondering what this mass of posts is all about. Well the team have just hosted an 'Innovate To Save' workshop on the 17th December and we wanted all our speaker's presentations to be accessible to all even after the event...so here they are on our blog!

Below is a list of links to the presentations and contact e-mail addresses for the speakers.(You may notice that underneath some of the presentations are questions, if your answer to any of them is 'yes' please drop me an email at kirstyjoanna.russell@kent.gov.uk):

We have now uploaded all the speaker's presentations. Below is a list of links to the presentations and contact e-mail addresses for the speakers:

Innovate to Save – Tips

Presentation: http://transformedbyyou.blogspot.com/2009/12/innovation-tips.html

Dr. Alan Kennedy - X Factor or Why Not Factor? Turning ideas into innovations

Presentation: http://transformedbyyou.blogspot.com/2009/12/smarter-or-sharper.html

Damien Kennedy - Aggravation or Collaboration? Developing innovations between agencies

Presentation: http://transformedbyyou.blogspot.com/2009/12/smarter-or-sharper.html

Would you like to explore your team taking part in a KCC pilot of the Key Innovation Programme?

Tim Milner - 50:50 or Call a Friend? A problem shared is a problem solved

Presentation: http://transformedbyyou.blogspot.com/2009/12/5050-or-call-friend-problem-shared-is.html

Would you like to explore innovative ways you can search and organise knowledge online?

Will Perrin - Empowered communities fighting decay? The unlikely role of the web in regenerating local areas

Presentation: http://transformedbyyou.blogspot.com/2009/12/kent-innovate-to-save-workshop-kcc.html

Hollie Snelson - Social Media for improved internal communications

Presentation: http://transformedbyyou.blogspot.com/2009/12/social-media-for-improved-internal.html

Noel Hatch - Here comes everybody? Using technological innovation in a recession

Presentation: http://transformedbyyou.blogspot.com/2010/01/resolutions-wont-be-televised.html

Would you like to explore innovative ways in using digital technologies to influence behaviours?

Andy Collett - Do you get the picture? Simplifying complex information

Presentation: https://knet2.kent.gov.uk/directorates/chief-executive-s-department/teams-and-units/business-solutions-and-policy/change-through-innovation-team/news-and-events/Andy%20Collett%20-%20IBM.ppt/view

Andy Collett has requested that his presentation not be placed on any public sites (e.g. Slideshare, iNews), therefore we have had to upload the presentation to KNet which can only be accessed by Kent County Council staff, we apologise for this inconvenience. If you would like the presentation, please email me on kirstyjoanna.russell@kent.gov.uk.

Would you like to explore piloting Many Eyes or Pic and Mix or other innovative ways to visualise and re-use data and information?

Dr. Norman Lewis - The power of social networks: Social Network Analysis and Collaborative Software.

Presentation: https://knet2.kent.gov.uk/directorates/chief-executive-s-department/teams-and-units/business-solutions-and-policy/change-through-innovation-team/news-and-events/Dr%20Norman%20Lewis%20-%20Open%20Knowledge.ppt/view?searchterm=norma

Dr. Norman Lewis has requested that his presentation not be placed on any public sites (e.g. Slideshare, iNews), therefore we have had to upload the presentation to KNet which can only be accessed by Kent County Council staff, we apologise for this inconvenience. If you would like the presentation, please email me on kirstyjoanna.russell@kent.gov.uk.

Would you like to explore social network analysis to identify and make sense of your networks with partners and communities?

Dougald Hine - The "Why Don't You" Web? Using online tools to help each other in the real world

Presentation: http://transformedbyyou.blogspot.com/2010/01/why-dont-you-web.html

Would you like to explore piloting these tools or other innovative ways that use digital technologies to make use of untapped resources to help people?

If you attended the event, we would love to hear your feedback so that we can make any improvements to future events we may host. If you have a spare moment (it will literally only take you 5 minutes), we would appreciate it if you could fill in our survey which can be found here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TS3VVGM

If you have any questions or queries about the event, presentations or the survey, please do not hesitate to drop me an email.

- Kirsty Russell

---

What next? • Subscribe to iNews • E-mail us your ideas/thoughts

More Articles • Event: Innovating Out Of The Recession • Having Trouble Finding A Video? • Can Twitter Increase Your Sales?

The Aftermath, Presentations and All!

Have any of you read the latest government paper on public service reform? Despite being called Frontline First, it is aimed mainly at policy makers with the added bonus of new buzzword or should I say hashtag in town "smarter government". Further down the paper, it talks about creating a sharper government. Whether or not there is a ladder that government needs to climb to get from smart to sharp is up for debate, but what stuck out was this:

"We will drive innovation across government, with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills rolling out a package of support to all departments before Budget 2010. This package will include adapting a tool from the NHS National Innovation Centre to provide a cross-government showcase of the best innovations and a number of practical interventions such as innovation capability building exercises to support departments in tackling key challenges." (Frontline First)

Before asking our favourite “community translators” to tell us what this actually meant, we invited both the NHS and BIS to reflect on how the original concept works for health and how the new programme might help us work better with our colleagues in Whitehall and other town halls.
With the NHS Innovations South East taking us through how this can work with staff coming together with ideas to develop innovations, this really set the scene for how the Key Innovation Programme might look like.


The first slide really puts the challenge of collaboration in context. If people don’t have enough time to innovate in the first place, if they want you to guarantee that every idea will be successful and if they only want to innovate their way not yours, how can you bridge the gap between individuals coming up with great ideas and groups of people working together to develop innovations?

The two most important breakthroughs that this system could tackle are enabling people to work on an innovation across agencies on the same outcome (such as public health or worklessness) and take this all to the way through to sounding and testing the market. It even provides a way to engage SMEs to show concepts that could meet the need you’re trying to tackle. What’s also useful is that it will link up to other projects like Civil Pages and the Knowledge Hub.

From my experience, ideas are sparked for very different reasons. Often people won’t put forward an idea because they don’t feel it is fully formed or because they don’t have expertise to bring it to fruition. It would be unrealistic to expect that you need to be an expert at understanding how citizens live their lives, how the technology works and how to secure funding. That’s where the Key could come into its own as you can bring all these people together on one project.

Let’s say you want to promote positive behaviours amongst young people and there’s a fund coming up asking you to tackle this in an innovative way. You may have youth workers who can make sense of what the issues are on the ground, a government official who has a helicopter view of what other partners are doing and university departments who are experts around behaviour change. You also meet entrepreneurs who have an amazing idea on how people can share their concerns.

They will all have different views on defining what the issue really is and ideas to help tackle it. You could start conversations with them and also look for similar projects using a great search engine. Then, when you’ve got the bid together, you could explore what kind of expertise and tools you might need to procure. A few months down the line, you’ve completed the pilot and now it’s time to show the world what you’ve done, reflect and adapt.

In the real world, we know things don't necessarily work as smoothly as that, but this system could help narrow the gap between rhetoric and reality. If you're part of a KCC team and want to know more about how you could be involved then contact Noel Hatch. If you're not part of KCC but are interested in the KEY, then contact Damien Kennedy to find out more.

- Noel Hatch

---

What next? • Subscribe to iNews • E-mail us your ideas/thoughts

More Articles • Event: Innovating Out Of The Recession • Knowledge Management: The Importance of Pen and Paper • Wallace, Gromit and their Cracking Ideas!

Smarter government or sharper government?

'Lenham Parish Council wanted to update the way in which Transport and Highway issues were recorded and shared with other committee members and other groups. It was felt that the old spreadsheet system was difficult to monitor as members were never sure if it was the most up-to-date copy available.

Therefore a solution was sort so that everybody only ever had one copy and it was always up-to-date. This was achieved by the use of Google docs, a free internet service where you can upload a spreadsheet which is then available to view or amend 24/7 online. You can then protect this by means of a secure password so that only the selected users can work with the document. Another option is to invite viewers to see the document and, as this suggests, they can only view the document and not alter it in any way. The Parish Council linked this free service with a Google mail account, so that all correspondence was in one central location.

So now we are now always up to date, and have more time to devote to the job in hand rather than constantly sending emails out with new file updates. We can share the workload as and when required, which we believe gives the community a better service without any extra costs.'

There you have it, parish councils and county councils alike can use a little bit of initiative and innovation to solve problems and make working life easier and more efficient. Please bear in mind though that not all council teams and departments have the resources to carry out such a large-scale project as the one illustrated above and the process is often long and time consuming, but a little thinking outside the box and an enthusiasm for improvement may prove to be fruitful.

- A special thank you to Lee Davison of Lenham Parish Council for the post, if you would like more information you can contact him at leetonidavison at hotmail dot com.

Picture: The title 'Google Docs' with related words such as 'collaboration', 'free forms' and 'documents' in a smaller font beneath, with thanks to Nedral for publishing under a Creative Comms license some rights reserved.

---

What next? • Subscribe to iNews • Leave a comment • E-mail us your ideas/thoughts

More Articles • Can simulation lead to negotiation? • myPublicServices • All consuming Google?

Enter your email address:


Delivered by FeedBurner

So, you think you can't innovate?

This is the beginning of a long and fruitful (hopefully!) series on the Team's top 5 Delicious Links on the topics we are researching into.

To start the ball rolling, here are our top 5 links on Knowledge Management and Sharing:

1) If you do one thing this week…Share your knowledge

Part of a series called ‘If you do one thing this week…’ on The Guardian's website, gives a great overview of why more organisations should encourage employees to share knowledge between themselves and the barriers that need to be overcome. Learn More.

2) Mining the Web for Feelings, Not Facts

Very interesting article on how the rise of blogs, social media sites such as Twitter and reviews has led to a ‘collective consciousness’ of internet users and has given rise to a new field, ‘sentiment analysis’.

Example: a quick search on Tweetfeel, for example, reveals that 77 percent of recent tweeters liked the movie “Julie & Julia.” Learn More.

3) The sum of knowledge -- online and accessible, no less

Exciting technological project – software has been created which can join and make millions of documents from hundreds of companies accessible - it has the potential to make the whole of mankind’s knowledge reachable! Learn More.

4) MyConnections: The jazzed up online phonebook

A case study on how Oxfordshire County Council replaced their old centrally-managed online phonebook with a self-service staff directory – like a business Facebook – together with 'Communities of Practice' (CoP) and blog software for all staff. Truly inspirational, it shows how a problem can be dealt with and solved imaginatively incorporating social media tools. Learn More.

5) OurBournemouth

Up and coming project, OurBournemouth will allow people who are living in the area to put forward suggestions on issues important to them, which will not only bring it to the attention of those in their community but also their councillors who represent them. Learn More.

Picture: A cloud of what 'knowledge sharing' is, with thanks to Choconancy1 for publishing on Flickr under a Creative Commons license some rights reserved.

---

What next? • Subscribe to iNews • Read our October Newsletter • E-mail us your ideas/thoughts

More Articles • Are you a young politician in the making? • The event: myPublicServices • Are you in the Red Zone or the Blue Zone?

Enter your email address:


Delivered by FeedBurner

Top 5 Delicious Links - Knowledge Management & Sharing

Look What We Found Online.. Top 5 Websites.

Media will help Kent during Climate Change

HR Business Intelligence

3 Click Answers About the Workforce

The Talent Management Programme:

Future Proofing Your Best Asset

Knowledge Management