Comments for BASIC CRAFT

Comment on This world is crap, can I go live in the net? by Ross Ferguson

Ross Ferguson — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 23:41:12 +0000

riposte. right on. i’d like to read that article. have a look at:

- http://www.myjamfactory.org

- http://www.fixmystreet.com

- http://www.tescopoly

- http://www.meetup.com/

Comment on This world is crap, can I go live in the net? by Andrew Walmsley

Andrew Walmsley — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 19:57:48 +0000

Hi Ross

First don’t dismiss sites like Stardoll. Eight million “little girls” love this site, and it’s really important to them. It really does open up a world of friendships to them.

Second, the hypothesis isn’t based simply on Stardoll and Facebook – there are hundreds of sites like this through which millions of people across the world reach out to each other – but with just 650 words to play with, a list wouldn’t really add much interest to the piece.

I don’t think that observing that for many people these online communities are more real and relevant for them than local communities is a particularly controversial statement. It’s not a narrow understanding either – what it says (note the word ‘often’) is that online community has added a new layer to people’s capacity to socialise.

It is true that for many this is more relevant to their lives than local community. But it doesn’t mean that local community doesn’t exist – just that for some this is more important.

That’s a pretty important thing. It reflects the widespread impact of the internet on the centrality of geography in our lives, and it’s an important thing for marketers to think about. I don’t think anyone will be confounded by the thought (as you do), but it is pretty patronising to consider that Marketing readers would be.

You say this was a missed opportunity to talk about local community, and you say this would be more interesting and valuable.

I’d say that’d be interesting too (neither more nor less), but perhaps it would be a different article.

Best wishes
Andrew Walmsley

Comment on Government’s Principles for participation - the early sessions by jkerrstevens

jkerrstevens — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 10:53:53 +0000

Ross,

Good to see that your original principles have been taken-up. I agree, now it’s time for action - I’m interested to see what will happen next!

Comment on Government’s Principles for participation - the early sessions by Ross Ferguson

Ross Ferguson — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:51:35 +0000

Useful for all - apart from the one that says don’t get involved unless you have the government’s say-so, obviously :)

Comment on It’s getting to that time again - the general election on the web by Alteration

Alteration — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 10:44:59 +0000

Somehow i missed the point. Probably lost in translation :) Anyway … nice blog to visit.

cheers, Alteration.

Comment on Fixing Up My Street by Hendybug

Hendybug — Thu, 29 May 2008 17:31:38 +0000

Good blog Ross, it’s what ICELE has been saying from the outset. Attempts at direct democracy without involving local authorities (particularly as the recipients of traffic in this instance) seriously undermines our eParticipation efforts.

That said, I love these types of tool…and so do most audiences I show!

Unfortunately this is the sort of piloting opportunity that ICELE could offer pioneers but nobody took-up. Now we’ve completely lost any kind of co-ordination for LA’s as CLG has pulled the plug :(

And what happens in Redbridge/Lewisham where they have their own “official” tool?

Comment on It’s getting to that time again - the general election on the web by Michelle Lyons

Michelle Lyons — Thu, 15 May 2008 11:14:48 +0000

Interestingly, when Justin Kerr-Stevens (http://extendedreach.wordpress.com/) and I attended the politics online conference (http://polc.ipdi.org/) in Washington earlier this year we heard about how online campaigning by politicians was used to drum-up voter support for their cause and raise money. These campaigns used social media as a new channel to interact with people it may not have other wised reached, which is seemingly a huge selling point for UK politicians. However, I would question whether it is possible to transfer the lessons learned in the US to the UK given the different democratic structures and processes.

Having said that, it is still worth investigating and I’m particularly interested in the outcomes of the event you highlighted as it directly relates to the work that I’ve been tasked to do at DIUS, which is to engage with existing online communities on how to stimulate innovation in the public sector (corporate function) and the regions. As Ministers are very keen for officials to explore new channels of collaboration and deliberation with citizens if they then chose to enter these online discussions does this classify as campaigning? Perhaps this is a question for the panellists.

I will be sure to tune into the FT webcast of this event. Thanks for bringing this to my attention, Ross.

Comment on Avoiding innovation at the extremes by David Evans

David Evans — Fri, 02 May 2008 14:17:03 +0000

I agree that historically central government has adopted a formal approach to involving citizens in the development of policies, on which we can improve. The increase in the use of the internet provides organisations, government and individuals many more opportunities to interact and form relationships which we should take up. And collaborating with online communities can help co-produce innovative new policies and initiatives. We in DIUS have been trying to:
(a) identify community-led groups which we could work with;
(b) work collaboratively with these communities to share knowledge, experiences in order to stimulate and drive innovation; and
(c) be open and transparent about our approach and to provide feed back at every stage of the process.

If you have any ideas about how DIUS could achieve these goals we would like to hear from you.

Comment on Blogging moves into the Second Chamber by Ross Ferguson

Ross Ferguson — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 17:34:29 +0000

Appreciate your thoughts (and your visit).

It’s a good blog so far; they’ve done well.

I think the best thing that we public can do for them is keep reading, commenting and providing constructive feedback. Right?

Comment on Blogging moves into the Second Chamber by ladytizzy

ladytizzy — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:53:07 +0000

Hi, directed here from a recent post from Lord (Clive) Soley at http://www.lordsoftheblog.net/ (’Partytime’,30 April 2008)

I don’t know why the Lords didn’t do this earlier. The pioneers have, in large, made a great effort in replying to the diverse questions and comments, giving insight and a dollop of humour alongside.

The challenges you mention above are, however, very real and I do hope Barry is thinking ahead.

I’m going to spend a bit of time looking at your site now!

Tiz