Diary UK January 2010 Edit

• 23 Ukgc10, "about creating a shared vision for UK government web activity", and 'who should attend?' includes "all who work in the UK government digital media community..., supporters, observers, and critics."

Proposed involvement Edit

Comment 2011 Westminster World Heritage Site and Parliament Square a national disgrace, Hansard Society, October 25 [1] New vision putting citizen and visitor at its heart needed. place, topic High Speed 2 consultation "a train wreck", say CPRE, 28 February [2] Councils and hyperlocal ‘bloggers’: It’s the council system which needs changing, not how people are allowed to cover them, David Higgerson, February 23 [3] Eric Pickles: Citizen journalists and bloggers should be let in to public council meetings, 23 February [4] "If nothing else the transparency that the social web embodies and that government says it wants to deliver with #opendata means that we will no longer be able to hide our policy programmes in big black boxes that we only open up on launch day" Catherine Howe, January 23 [5] Your comment - Contribute via our Forums or a comment type article, or on any article via its talk page - click on 'talk' link at top of page

Phil Green - Sustainable Community Action wiki 3 tags - Participation - local - Co-production Session ideas - Citizen centred participation Other sessions might be interested in - What hasn't happened since the last two 2009, 2008 Post event comment Forum:Participation and countering the 'it isn't representative' argument

2010 session offer: Citizen centred participation Edit

Open session plan - based on something like a 45 min slot, but adaptable

1. What do citizens want from participation? - brief (< 5 mins) intro, then roundtable
2. ...how might government help deliver it? - open discussion
3. recap and review

Intro

As others, for example David Wilcox (ref?), have noticed, whilst a lot has been written about participation, it tends not to be considered from the point of view of citizens.

In a more resource constrained future it seems to make sense to make best use of our greatest resource - us, our ingenuity and creativity. For example it's arguable that we haven't got much hope of meeting our carbon reduction targets unless we're all involved.

If the 'Open Declaration on Public Services 2.0 in the European Union' http://eups20.wordpress.com/ put down a marker for the values of transparency, participation and empowerment, is it possible to flesh out the participation bit (a big enough topic in itself) of this specifically in a UK context? In the context of participation by citizens with government, local government and institutional civic society?

Is it possible to be relentlessly citizen centred about participation? Is it possible to counter, with something more positive, each and every resort to defensiveness which can seem to put the narrow interests of government as institution ahead of a much richer potential of government as enabler of the wellbeing of us all?

Q. What do citizens want from participation in policy making? A. influence, opportunties for involvement, and recognition via transparency

i. influence, can be direct, subtle

• on policy, design, implementation and evaluation
• on the design of involvement processes, including processes of synthesis and where necessary conflict resolution
• on the scope and context of involvement processes

ii. opportunties for involvement

• opportunities for involvement including self created, self organised ones,
• opportunties for all interested parties not just a favoured few
• opportunties to be proactive not just reactive
• opportunities which will tend to be always open

iii. recognition via transparency via fully open and complete online record of involvement and influence, for purposes of recognition, reward, respect, trust, and, last but not least, learning and not having to keep reinventing the wheel

Notes and useful links Edit

• abstract of Copons project, Catalonia, Spain, on Social by Social, 2nd comment
• How the Warwickshire iPhone App will lead to open data, January 8, 2010. "Suddenly everyone works for the council!"
• Basis for participative public services on The IdealGovernment Wiki
• Is Climate change The Reason that Local Authorities will Embrace Social Media? on Social by Social, January 6, 2010
• Designing an associative life, doorsofperception.com, December 15, 2009
• Participation and Open Government Web Sites, Joe Goldman, AmericaSpeaks, Joseph Peters, Ascentum, December 18, 2009 PDF
• New Media Directors: What to Do, By John Wonderlich on 12/10/09 Sunlight Foundation Blog
• EU Public Services 2.0 - detailed document Participation
• In April-June 2009, 35 per cent of people felt they could influence decisions in their local area; this is lower than in 2001 (44 per cent). Eighteen per cent of people felt they could influence decisions affecting Britain; this is lower than in 2001 (25 per cent). Source: Citizenship Survey: April - June 2009, England, Communities and Local Government, 29 October 2009
• Session Idea: Innovative Consultations: how can citizen input have more impact?, ukgc09
• Citizens at the Center: A New Approach to Civic Engagement, The Case Foundation, 2006

• "In April 2009, a ‘Duty to Involve’ came into force which requires all local authorities to embed a culture of engagement and empowerment through their delivery of local services and decision-making. The Government has also set out its ambition to have participatory budgeting on all major budget decisions in all local authorities by 2012 (CLG, 2008a)." ^[6]

• "People first - The review has confirmed our starting conviction that in order to understand participation we need to understand it from the point of view of the individuals doing it... Much of the literature on participation, and particularly on public participation, tends to start with the institutions..." ^[7]

• "Attendees will want a voice in the discussion, learning and decision making process. The gap between the experts that are speaking on stage and the amateurs in the audience has never been smaller. Attendees are well educated, informed and have information at their fingertips. As this gap continues to shrink, attendees will expect to be part of the discussion, learning and decision making processes. No more speakers talking and attendees listening!" ^[8]

• "Following a critical review of Directgov - the Government's central online portal - the official consumer champion Consumer Focus promised a campaign to ensure that users of digital public services get a better experience in future. What's needed to achieve this, Consumer Focus believes, is a stronger user perspective on digital service delivery from the very start." ^[9]

• Using Google Wave to debate climate change, 14 Jan 10 ^[10]

• missing components to the standard mind-map of what good engagement is, Jan 11th, 2010, by Paul Evans.

• The myth of easy engagement. Who should participate and how… October 17, 2009 by Tim Davies. "Engaging some groups is easier than others. Although – as I heard it put at the recent Beyond Twitter conference, that’s not because some groups are ‘hard to reach’, but because from some places in your local area, the council is harder to reach."

• How to crowd source an IT strategy, January 18, 2010 by BankerVision

• The Revolution Will be Locally Funded, Lamar Clarkson, Jan 13th, 2010 Next American City

• How to Use 12 Principles of Permaculture to Grow Sustainable Organizations, By David Jaber, Published February 01, 2010 greenerdesign.com

Related Edit

SCA Forum:Community involvement vital for adequate response to climate change Forum:How to go beyond politics-as-usual Forum:Will Gordon Brown be remembered for fiddling with community involvement while the planet burns? Forum:Local forum idea for sustainable communities Forum:Climate change and the environment, UK citizens too Forum:A role for ordinary citizens in UK sustainable development Participatory carbon budgeting Local involvement leads to happier communities Sustainability for all Open involvement Community involvement global news Community involvement UK How can Community Strategies be turned into Sustainable Community Strategies? Do our top sustainability organisations get active citizenship? Participatory budgeting UK Sustainable Communities Act	Wikipedia BarCamp W Coproduction of public services by service users and communities W	Wikisphere Web 3, on greenlivingpedia (deleted from Wikipedia) We-think Collaborative intelligence

External links Edit

• US Now video on YouTube

Diary - Index - International - UK - Village pump

SCA Wiki - Places, projects & networks - Ideas Bank - News - Diary - Resources - Community / Avoid adverts

References

1. ↑ hansardsociety.org.uk,
2. ↑ cpre.org.uk, 28 February 2011
3. ↑ davidhiggerson, February 23, 2011
4. ↑ communities.gov.uk, 23 February 2011
5. ↑ curiouscatherine, January 23, 2011
6. ↑ Understanding participation: A literature review, p9, pathwaysthroughparticipation.org.uk, December 2009
7. ↑ Understanding participation: A literature review, p.40, pathwaysthroughparticipation.org.uk, December 2009
8. ↑ 10 Ways Social Media Will Transform Events in 2010, by Samuel J. Smith, January 12, 2010
9. ↑ Developing better digital public services through user involvement, David Wilcox on January 14, 2010
10. ↑ The Debatewise blog,14 Jan 10