Headstar E-Government Blog

By Tristan Parker.

In today’s world, technology changes so rapidly that one barely has the time to adjust to one new type before the next comes along. The microblogging service Twitter is already becoming commonplace, in as short a time-span as it first gripped the public interest as something new, strange and exciting. Whereas not long ago it was innovative and daring for local authorities to send out Twitter updates, allowing residents to keep track of council services and events, it is now rapidly becoming the norm.

Now an interesting new question is increasingly being asked in local government. We know that social media can increase engagement between an organisation and its customers, but can it also be used to improve internal communication and staff efficiency within an organisation?
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The need to meet legal requirements and a desire to enhance corporate social responsibility are the two main drivers behind organisations’ work to make their internal and external ICT systems accessible to people with disabilities, a new survey reveals.

Some 70% of respondents cited these factors as ‘strong’ or ‘very strong’ drivers for ICT accessibility policies in a survey carried out by Bloor Research in conjunction with E-Government bulletin’s publisher Headstar and Ability Magazine. Only 15% of respondents rated increased revenues or reduced cost as a driver.
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New media tools are not a panacea for increasing public participation in a petitions process, according to a new report from the Scottish Parliament.

Technology must not be relied on to deliver all of the parliament’s participation goals, says the report from the parliament’s Public Petitions Committee. “It must be recognised that technology is only an enabler of participation … ICTs should be used as a means of enhancing traditional methods of engagement.”
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The use of interactive ‘web 2.0’ social media tools inside an organisation, to boost staff efficiency, is being tested extensively by one UK council, E-Government Bulletin has learned.

Twitter, Yammer, YouTube and wikis are among tools being used by staff to improve internal communication, efficiency and productivity within Brighton and Hove City Council (
http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/ ).
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There has been much debate recently about proposed changes to the systems, processes and powers whereby the UK’s public agencies can gain access to citizens’ ‘communications data’. The issue is a complex one and cuts across several sensitive areas including privacy, freedom of expression and data protection.

Communications data is information about any instance of technological communication between individuals other than the contents of that communication. This includes for example the time and duration of a mobile telephone call; the numbers between which the call was placed; and the location of the phones or devices involved.
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The creator of the world wide web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, has been appointed to assist in the “opening up” of access to government data, Prime minister Gordon Brown announced last week (see
http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page19579 ).

Berners-Lee will head a panel advising the Cabinet Office on how to make government-held public data available to as wide an audience as possible, including the creation of a single online access point for the information. “I think there’s a public demand for transparency. This is way beyond party politics and beyond global borders,” he told BBC News.
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‘E-participation’ – the use of online tools to help people engage with the democratic process – has a “surprisingly weak” effect on democratic decision-making, according to a new study.

‘Empowering communities to influence local decision making – A systematic review of the evidence’ (
http://fastlink.headstar.com/clg1 )
was produced by academics from De Montfort University and University of Southampton for the Department for Communities and Local Government.
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Only a “tiny handful” of UK councils are making significant use of mobile technologies to transform services and generate efficiencies, a leading industry figure has told E-Government Bulletin.

Mark Armstrong, head of public sector at mobile network provider O2, told EGB in an exclusive interview that a range of factors are holding councils back from widespread mobile working in areas like social services and home-working.
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Article by Cory Allen Heidelberger.

Asking an advocate of democracy to justify citizen participation in public policy is like asking a geometer to defend the claim that any two points may be connected by a straight line. To the democrat, citizen participation is axiomatically good.

Citizen participation, however, is also hard work for both citizens and public officials. Participatory budgeting projects in Brazil and elsewhere demonstrate the time-and-resource-intensity of efforts to involve citizens in public decision-making. Citizens must educate themselves about complicated budget issues. Citizens and public officials must attend public fora and navigate the challenging dynamics of large-group discussions.
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A wide variation in public and private sector organisations’ attitudes towards making their ICT systems accessible to people with disabilities has been found by an ongoing survey by Bloor Research with E-Government Bulletin publisher Headstar and Ability Magazine.

Despite the potential financial benefits, moral imperatives and legal requirements relating to accessibility, only a minority of organisations recognise the need for significant work in this area, early survey results have found.
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