And Finally, Mr Briggs’ Presentation
July 9, 2009 by Ian Cuddy · 1 Comment
A superb presentation on the ‘Four Steps to Social Media Success’ from our conference chair, the masterful Dave Briggs, topped off a great day at PSFBuzz North East!
Beginning on how at a personal level, Dave explained how social media had ‘changed his life - taking him from working at a Benefits Office to suddenly being called up by Downing Street for advice. His anecdote served as an example of the “frankly scary” pace of change in which the web is altering the world around us and the way we live.
Here’s the slides:
Four Steps to Social Media Success
And here’s his four steps for how councils should get into social media:
1. Listen >> 2. Acknowledge >> 3. Create >> 4. Share.
Meaning (Thanks again for Sarah Lay’s indispensible notes of the session):
- Listen: part of the reason ppl say horrible things about you is because they think you’re not listening and they can get away with it!
- Acknowledge: even just realise there is conversation - step in!
- Create: incremental process, try stuff
- Share: open up data - more back to Stuart’s presentation.
The underlying philosophy, according to Dave, goes something like this: Start small, create a community, test, learn from mistakes and then move on. Learning Pool highlight this important message from his talk:
“Those that do it well will create a community with their followers; getting people to care about you is the absolute key. And if social media tools can help you to get people to care about their community, that can’t be a bad thing.”
And finally, don’t forget it to make it fun. Which brings us nicely to the final message of the day: JFDI!
Stuart Harrison’s TwitterPlan Presentation
July 9, 2009 by Ian Cuddy · 1 Comment
He promised us there would be lolcats, and he didn’t disappoint.
Stuart Harrison, Webmaster and Lead Developer at Lichfield District Council gave us all the inside track on his creation of TwitterPlan, one of the most noteworthy and innovative local government mash-ups to date. For the uninitiated TwitterPlan, launched earlier this year, gives out planning application alerts via Twitter covering an astonishing 300-plus councils and counting, making it definitely one to watch.
The session notes blogged by Sarah Lay make a great companion to Stuart’s slides, which you can view below to get an overview of the project.
Afternoon Kick-Off Presentation from Alistair Smith
July 9, 2009 by Ian Cuddy · Leave a Comment
Alastair Smith, Communications Adviser at Newcastle City Council kicked off the PSFBuzz afternoon sessions with what he modestly describes as ‘essentially a 25 minute rant on online reputation and shifting roles in local government communication’. His talk covered Newcastle CC’s Twitter Channel which, much like his presentation, seems to have gone a storm. The age of one-way communication is over, he said. ‘Broadcasting as we knew it is dead.’
Alastair has blogged his presentation which you can catch here (except if you’re of a very sensitive disposition). And check out his slides below:
Carl Haggerty’s presentation at PSFBuzz North East
July 9, 2009 by Ian Cuddy · 1 Comment
Not too long ago a PSF survey found large numbers of councils were routinely preventing staff from accessing blogs and sites like YouTube or commenting on websites. while other authorities took a dangerously laissez-faire approach. One of the major challenges which social media presents to councils, and brought to the surface at our first PSFBuzz conference, was the need to establish policies and guidelines for council staff on what they do online, inside and outside of the workplace - and ones that are coherent.
This was the topic tackled by Carl Haggerty, Enterprise Architect at Devon County Council, final speaker of the morning session. In his presentation, Carl underlined that instead of banning staff from accessing Web 2.0 sites, councils should be consulting with them on developing policies on internet use. He discussed the development of Devon CC’s own policy, which has secured senior management buy-in to the extent that the Council’s Chief Executive has become the social networking champion. He’s also very kindly provided us with a copy of the guidelines which other councils are free to tinker about with to their heart’s content.
Speech Enabling Social Networks: Slides from Ian Stuart
July 9, 2009 by Ian Cuddy · 1 Comment
Continuing the theme of Web 2.0 accessibility from Jack Pickard’s presentation, Ian Stuart from BrowseAloud gave a demonstration of how assistive technology can help councils extend the reach of their online services to users with learning and literacy difficulties.
Those #psfbuzz tweets in full
July 9, 2009 by Ian Cuddy · Leave a Comment
PSFBuzz North East was ablaze with Twitter activity - so much so that our conference wi-fi had trouble at times keeping up with bandwidth demand (yes, ahem, TweetDeck users, we’re looking at you…)
Search the #psfbuzz hashtag and you’ll see the bustling meta-conference of discussions, comments and questions which flowed alongside the main event.
We’ve aggregated all the #psfbuzz tweets into one handy spreadsheet which you download below. Et voilà! Ready-made conference notes on all the sessions.
Our thanks to Steph Gray and Dave Briggs for the hashtag search hack which made this possible.
Big Thank Yous to…
May 8, 2009 by Ian Cuddy · Leave a Comment
Hello!
Once again, we just want to thank all the folks who helped to bring about our first PSFBuzz event and make it such a success. Gold Stars (in no particular order) to:
- All the delegates who took the time to be there
- All our speakers for donating their time & support and making such a great programme
- Dave for his outstanding job as Chair and setting up the platform that is PSFBuzz
- Roving reporter Liz for covering the event beautifully as only she can
- All our #psfbuzz followers and tweeters for their contributions (#6 trending topic on the day below #swineflu - Wow)
Plus last but not least, our sponsors and exhibitors . Without them the event just wouldn’t have been possible. Our thanks again to the very good people of GOSS, Astun Technology, Learning Pool, Firmstep, BrowseAloud and Clicks & Links. Please check out their info below.
Main Sponsor - Goss
GOSS has a proven pedigree and substantial Public Sector client list. Over the last 10 years GOSS has developed partnerships with in excess of 60 Public Sector organisations.
GOSS understands the pressures to meet online strategy standards but our flexible partnership approach ensures the deployment a dynamic Web 2.0 solution, such as www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk. GOSS Interactive enables you to create and manage:
• Personalised homepages
• Dynamic search
• RSS, Widgets and Gadgets
• Social Networking
• Mapping
• Blogs/Vlogs and Forums
Follow us on twitter for more: www.twitter.com/GOSSInteractive.
Contact Tel:01752 517350 Fax:01752 517110 Email: info@gossinteractive.com Web: www.gossinteractive.com
Main Sponsor - Astun Technology
Police and Local Authorities are looking for effective software solutions to cut costs, transform processes, improve operational efficiency and enhance service delivery. Astun Technology’s iShare data integration and publishing platform enables organisations to make the most of their own data, extracting it, transforming it and publishing it both internally and externally. It can serve call centres via systems integration and citizens via the web with a rich mix of information and maps while delivering real savings through avoidable contact and transactional services. iShare also provides a direct communications channel to citizens that subscribe to its automated My Alerts service. Easily configured and completely automated iShare is a unique mix of the Astun’s own purpose built modules and the best Open Source components. In use with over twenty authorities the award winning iShare platform continues to evolve to meet growing e-services needs.
Contact: Mike Saunt Tel: 01372 440143 Email: mikesaunt@astuntechnology.com Web: www.astuntechnology.com
Main Sponsor - Learning Pool
Learning Pool provides e-learning subscription and content services to the public sector in the UK. Our services help local authorities deliver the transformational government agenda, create efficiency savings and develop a modern workforce.
We provide online e-learning content, authoring technology, Web 2.0 technology , hosted platforms and consultancy to over 86% of councils in the public sector community.
To find out how other public sector are using social media technologies to help deliver their learning and development strategies, or if you want to join one of the most exciting communities in local government, please visit us.
Contact: Sam Barbee Tel: 0207 101 9383 Email: elearning@learningpool.com Web: www.learningpool.com
Exhibitor - Firmstep
Firmstep works with 30% of UK local authorities in helping them achieve their ambition of world-class citizen services. Firmstep for Government allows the creation of personalised self-service portals so you can provide great customer service online through a single, secure view. The Firmstep platform includes some of the best web technology in the areas of personalisation, identity management, service delivery, and social collaboration. Authenticated customers can access and track services, complete transactions, and engage with the community by subscribing to social networking feeds, blogs, and forums. The platform includes leading technology components AchieveForms and AchieveBookings for online forms and bookings.
Contact: Elizabeth Adams Tel: 07838 148146 Email: elizabeth.adams@firmstep.com Web: www.firmstep.com
Exhibitor - BrowseAloud
BrowseAloud is the world leading text-to-speech solution from Texthelp Systems Ltd, which is designed to improve website accessibility for those with literacy difficulties, learning difficulties such as dyslexia, mild visual impairments or where English is a second language. With a choice of 17 high quality voices covering 9 languages and a number of unique features, BrowseAloud is quickly being adopted as the product of choice worldwide.
Texthelp Systems Ltd was formally incorporated in 1996 and specialise in the design of assistive software solutions to support those struggling to read and write. The company is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, Adobe Solutions Network Developer, Apple Business Partner, HP Business Partner and is ISO 9001:2000 accredited. For the past 9 consecutive years, Texthelp Systems Ltd has been a Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Award winning company.
Contact: Email info@browsealoud.com Web: www.browsealoud.com
Exhibitor - Clicks & Links
Formed in 2000, Clicks and Links Ltd has an extensive track record of delivering web based solutions and consultancy to the public sector and communities, as well as managing the essential consultation processes involved. We have worked on a number of high profile public sector projects including the development of Eastserve, voted one of the top 7 intelligent communities in the world (2007), setting up the ground-breaking EDT Innovation Centre to showcase innovative public and private sector ICT innovations, and have played a crucial role in the formation of the DC10 (top ten finalists of the Digital Challenge) community, as well as recognition within the UK public sector, having been awarded Government Gateway Alliance Partner status. In addition the company, via Second Places Ltd (a joint initiative between Clicks and Links and Fusion Unity Ltd), has been recognised for virtual worlds in delivering public and educational services. Second Places is dedicated to providing a full end-to-end professional Second Life service including consultancy, design, building, event planning, community development, island management and hosting. We have already built up an extensive portfolio of these services and are now one of the leading UK and European companies in this field.
Contact: Vin Sumner, Managing Director T. 0161 273 5252, F. 0161 273 5293 M. 07799 881969. Email: vin.sumner@clicksandlinks.com Web: www.clicksandlinks.com
PSFbuzz Twitter- RT @DavidGaleUK: @SocitmPresident "Technology increases councils' productivity by £230m pa. http://bit.ly/c0ygu2 " not even half what could be achieved
- RT @PSFbuzz: Town halls 'saving millions by embracing new technology'? http://bit.ly/coFRKs learn more here http://bit.ly/agSQfw
- Town halls 'saving millions by embracing new technology'? http://bit.ly/coFRKs so learn more here http://bit.ly/agSQfw V ltd free places.
- RT @PSFbuzz: Town halls 'saving millions by embracing new technology'? http://bit.ly/coFRKs #in
- @tomcalver thanks Tom much appreciated.
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