The following article is a piece I wrote for Monmouthshire County Council‘s internal staff e-zine and republished here with the permission of Helen Reynolds. I thought I would share it beyond those original walls as I have had comments that suggested the piece would be useful [...]]]>

The following article is a piece I wrote for Monmouthshire County Council‘s internal staff e-zine and republished here with the permission of Helen Reynolds. I thought I would share it beyond those original walls as I have had comments that suggested the piece would be useful to other public servants trying to make sense of the value of engaging with social media.

Esko Reinikainen

“I am Spartacus!

If we are to believe Daily Mail commentator Quentin Letts, public servants ought to be faceless automatons. As the privileged recipients of the public coin, we should be expected to function as efficient machines, have no personality, and demonstrate no human emotion. Mr Letts took it upon himself to crucify a Department of Transport employee, Sarah Baskerville, for the heinous crime of demonstrating via her Twitter feed that she is a human, with a personality, and in her own time likes to relax and have a drink. Following this ordeal, a chorus of support from public servants across the UK invaded the social media sphere with labels like #welovebaskers and #iamspartacus.

I spent some time with Sarah Baskerville recently, and I can report that she is a fiercely intelligent woman, a valuable asset to any public organisation, very fun company, and a thoroughly decent human. And that last point is the key, her crime was to reveal that public servants are also real humans, with all that entails.

Now consider the default perception of ‘the council’ by citizens. It is often negative, and we regularly have to overcome some false assumptions or lack of trust before we can engage in constructive dialogue with citizens. Why is that? Is it maybe that we have subconsciously projected ourselves as the faceless automatons Mr Letts requires us to be, just because our wages come out of the public purse? And why am I banging on about this in the social media edition of Team Spirit?

First off, if you are still one of those people who dismiss social media on principle, then you can count yourself among those who, in the 1960’s with the phone, and in the 90’s with email, failed to recognise that what could have passed as a fad has in fact become completely mainstream. The consequences of not accepting that a communications shift has already happened are a potentially crippling competitive disadvantage. It’s also why your kids look at you funny.

The thing with social media is that it is a very human medium. It requires honesty, dialogue, openness; all these things come naturally to us among our social peers, yet are not how most people would characterise relationships between ‘the council’ and citizens. Culturally we face a big challenge, because what social media asks is for us to reframe how we project our personality. As individuals and as an organisation. Or in other words, it has created an expectation that when we promote one of our corporate values as ‘openness’, we will truly live that value. And we will engage with people on the platforms of their choosing, in a manner expected and defined by those contexts.

We are public servants, and the public now has choice. If they don’t get value from a controlled broadcast channel, they will go somewhere else to have the discussions we have a duty to be involved with. And if we can’t engage as an organisation of open and honest humans, it won’t be long before we have to question our relevance… “

Dear friends,

Following from the positive reaction to the first guide, I’ve been asked to follow it up, this time I will go into a bit more detail.  We have learned a lot in the past week about the value (and challenges) [...]]]>

Dear friends,

Following from the positive reaction to the first guide, I’ve been asked to follow it up, this time I will go into a bit more detail.  We have learned a lot in the past week about the value (and challenges) of using new social media to show our support for the protest movement in Iran.

In this guide I will segment categories of engagement, and I urge you not to step beyond your capabilities in choosing which category to confine yourself in, there where you can make the most constructive contribution. Below the general principles you will find sections for the three categories of Supporter, Activist, and Cyberwarrior.

General Principles:

• Immunise yourself from becoming a mis-informant. Knowledge and critical thinking are the key.
• Separate facts from opinions.
• Be extremely wary of any messages implicating Israel, advocating violence, asking for money, or making wild claims about tanks or acid from the sky. Check, check, and check again before spreading information. False information kills people.
• Relational empathy – put yourself in their shoes.  The protesters, the regime, external agitators.
• Think about your audience, who is your message going to?
• Do NOT churn out retweets from any of the #iranelection related hashtags unless you are 100% CERTAIN the information is 100% reliable and safe.  False information kills people.

Supporter

This is the most basic level of engagement.

1. Inform yourself -

First get a basic general understanding of the Iran and the context in which the current protests are happening. A good place to start is this BBC Iran profile page.

Next you want to read recent and accurate updates from the evolving situation on the ground.  The safest way to do this is by reading one of the liveblogs.  All of the information on these has been verified to some extent, and if not, that will be explicitly stated.  Huffington post, Guardian, NYT can be trusted and Andrew Sullivan’s excellent liveblog contains good twitter updates from inside Iran.

2. Inform others

Only once you have  a good grasp of the issues will you be in a position to make a constructive contribution.  Spread the word through your blogs, mailing lists and twitter feeds.  Now that you have done your research, you will recognize those tweets that are confirmed information. You have already seen them confirmed, they are safe to distribute.

3. Show your support

Iranians don’t need or want overt interventions from the outside world, but they do need to know that we are supporting them.  Make noise in your community, gather supporter, go to rallies, wear green, turn your profile pics green, make green ribbons, sign petitions.   Take pictures and post those.  Iranians have thanked us for our moral support and they need to know that is a constant.  The regime can also feel it, but we must be careful not to give them the opportunity to label this support as foreign interventionist meddling in Iranian affairs.

4. Keep the momentum going

We must not tire.  This is a long game.  When the hashtags stop trending, and the next celebrity break up hits the red tops, the brave Iranians still face the batons and the bullets.  We must keep supporting them until they get the change they are after.  They will let us know when our work is done.

Thank you for your continued time and effort as a Supporter of the Iranian election protest movement, it’s really valued!

Activist

This level of engagement requires application and a good deal of time investment, it is not a hobby.  If you are not willing or able to make this commitment, please continue to be a constructive supporter.

1. Read around the subject, get a good grasp of the context. Read up on Iran’s history, internal politics, international relations, regional politics, and shia islam.  To understand the legal basis for the protests, read the Iranian constitution, take note of article 27.

2. It is worth understanding the 3, 7, and 40 day cycle of martyrdom.  It will help you understand when certain spikes in protest activity may happen.

3. Understand the layers of complexity in Iranian politics.

4. Monitor hashtags, there are quite a few now.  You want to be on the lookout for consistently good sources of information.  Reports that in time keep getting consistently verified. Resist the temptation to retweet something *new* and *exciting* until you are sure the info is good.

5. Look for disinformation, there has been a lot of secret police activity on twitter lately.  Some of them are even getting quite good.  They will retweet good info for a while and then they they will throw out a really bad one, asking people to call a (Basiji) number for help with wounded protesters. If you spot someone laying traps like this, you must expose them.  I recommend you follow agitators for a while to learn their patterns. Here is a few to get you started @Aminiran , @rey_diaz , @EyeRanProtestr. When you find one you can notify @FindTheRats who keeps a track of them in his follow list.  There is also a list of corrupt twitterers kept at twitspam.

6. Damage limitation. When you monitor someone on the hashtags RTing bad information from regime or other agents, politely send them an @ explaining why they should not trust that source or spread their message. Even better, ask them to delete their message.

7. Confuse government agents and other agitators. Once you have identified one, have fun with them.  Take on a new persona and befriend them.  Start occupying their time with your sympathy to their cause and create wild goose chases for them.  Learn from the anti-nigerian scammer groups.

8. Identify counter-intelligence agents and methods.  This is a cat and mouse game, both sides are learning fast. There are good communities emerging to provide advice for the protest movement.  The starting point for counter-intelligence is getting a grasp of the interest someone is trying to advance.  They can use blunt force or very subtle infiltration techniques.  Look through the previously linked site and see if you can find evidence of an interested country’s intelligence services trying to manipulate the message.

9. Hashtag discipline – let direction come from iran, like #neda, don’t get creative yourself

10. Monitor for legitimate urgent protester requests and channel them constructively

11. If you don’t have trusted contacts in Iran, channel your information to people in the west who do, if you can’t figure out how to find them, better go back up to the supporters group.

Thank you Activists!

Cyberwarrior

This is where I reach the limits of my competencies so I will simply refer you to people who know what they are talking about.  All I will say is that you must only risk hardware you can afford to lose as you face the distinct possibility of attracting a robust counter-attack.  Also please only engage is surgical DOS strikes against targets that are specifically designated by trusted Iranians, and only during the designated windows of time.

1. If you are looking at providing Proxies or TOR components, this is the place to go.

2. If you want to go hardcore, neda has a net, go find ESR.

Today I had lunch with a fascinating man…

He is a man with a passion for the spoken word, and a vision for how the fading oral traditions from around world will have a place to explode back into our consciousness, and feed a void that grows within us.

This is a great list doing the rounds of the hurdles that public sector organisations face when trying to take on board the opportunities of social media.  I see this every day, and this initial analysis will go a long way to helping us help people confront the institutional [...]]]>

This is a great list doing the rounds of the hurdles that public sector organisations face when trying to take on board the opportunities of social media.  I see this every day, and this initial analysis will go a long way to helping us help people confront the institutional prejudice that exists within our organisations.

Overcoming the Hurdles

There are many small hurdles to effective use of social media and technology in public services. In democratic engagement and participation; communications and outreach; education; or just about any other area of work – the same soluble barriers hold up action.

This wiki builds upon this blog post and offers a space to share learning about how to overcome the many small hurdles.

Select any of the Hurdles listed below to add your comments, insights and experiences on how they affect the uptake of social technologies, or how they can be overcome.

Internet Access

1. Access to Web 2.0 sites is blocked or filtered;

2. Requesting that a website is unblocked requires a form to be filled in and the request may not be actioned for 24 hours or more;

3. A site that has previously been unblocked is suddenly blocked again;

4. A site is only unblocked for the computer a staff member usually sits at – and they are unable to access Web 2.0 Sites from another part of the office or another desk;

5. Web 2.0 Sites can only be accessed during lunch hours;

6. Managers see abuse of ICT resources as an ICT issue rather than a management issue;

7. ict staff see access to Web 2.0 sites as an issue for ICT decision making rather than for team leaders and managers;

8. There is no capacity to provide staff with internet-enabled mobile phones even if a business case can be made;

9. Staff are not aware of the ict internet access and mobile phone/internet access resources they can legitimately ask for;

10. Permission to use Web 2.0 is granted ad-hoc but not enshrined in policy so a change in ICT manager could make access more difficult;

Office Technology

11. Computer only have out-of-date Internet Browsers (E.g. IE6);

12. Staff cannot change their browsers home-page;

13. Staff cannot install browser plug-ins or add-ons and key plug-ins like Flash are out-of-date versions;

14. E-mail sign-up confirmations from Web 2.0 sites regularly get caught in spam filters;

15. Staff cannot install desktop widgets and utility software (e.g. Twitter clients RSS readers etc.) Many widgets have regular updates that staff cannot install themselves. So even if IT install the widget once, it soon needs a new install;

16. Office computers have no ability to play sound;

17. There is no easy way to get a photo onto an office computer. For example a personal photo to use as a profile picture online;

18. Any customisations staff add to their computer log-in are regularly lost;

19. There is no WiFi in meeting rooms and guests cannot get access to the internet in the building;

20. There is a one-size fits all IT policy;

Systems and Procedures

21. There are no finance procedures or company credit cards to pay for low-cost online subscription services;

22. There are no systems in place for backing up content from Web 2.0 tools;

23. There is no secure password vault that can be used to keep track of ‘corporate’ memberships of Web 2.0 sites;

24. There is no agreed way of notifying other staff members of plans for using Web 2.0 tools;

25. There are no policies or procedures for responding to positive or negative online comments;

26. There is no processes for carrying out CRB or Independent Safeguarding Authority checks on staff or sub-contractors involved in the use of Social Media to engage with young people or vulnerable adults;

Policy and Guidance

27. There are no policies on personal use of Social Networks and Social Media sites;

28. There is no accessible guidance available to staff on personal use of Social Networks and Social Media sites;

29. There is no policy on Safeguarding and Child Protection in digital environments;

30. There is no policy on Data Protection in digital environments – and no guidance on items of data which should not be shared in digital environments;

31. There are no policies on appropriate levels for official staff engagement with Web 2.0

32. Consent forms and model release forms make no mention of possibly sharing photos or videos from events and activities online;

Organisational Culture

33. Senior managers see Web 2.0 and the Social Web as something to be scared of;

34. Senior managers see Web 2.0 as a passing fad or at best a persistent distraction and minority interest;

35. Staff see Web 2.0 as an extra burden to add to already busy and pressured days;

36. Ideas from outside the organisations are treated with suspicion;

37. The organisation wants to be in control of any discussions that take place about it online;

38. The organisation wants to moderate every discussion that it is any way responsible to convening or starting;

39. The organisation wants to put it’s brand front-and-centre in every online engagement;

40. Service-user engagement is not valued;

Technical Skills

41. Staff have never received basic training in how a web browser web addresses and search engines work;

42. Staff are not aware of tabbed web-browsing;

43. Staff do not make use of search tools;

44. Staff find it difficult to adapt to and remember new ways of working digitally;

45. Staff are not able to download edit and upload images in web formats;

46. Staff do not know how to install new utility software or browser plug-ins;

47. Staff have no opportunities to share skills and develop their understanding of digital environments;

Leadership and Management

48. Managers do not support staff exploration and experimentation with Web 2.0;

49. Managers take no ownership over exploration and experimentation with Web 2.0 and provide no support to their staff;

50. Managers react to initial teething problems with Web 2.0 engagement by shutting it all down and banning further exploration of the potential;

This list originated on Tim’s Blog and now resides on the wiki at  http://www.practicalparticipation.co.uk/wiki/socialstrategy:start

Thanks to @AndrewPWilson and @levyj413 for bringing this to my attention.

Clay Shirky 18 March 2008

Here Comes Everybody: the power of organising without organistions

Clay Shirky’s lucid and penetrating analysis will steer us through the online social explosion and ask what happens when people are given the tools to do things together, without needing traditional organisational structures.

via [...]]]>

Clay Shirky 18 March 2008

Here Comes Everybody: the power of organising without organistions

Clay Shirky’s lucid and penetrating analysis will steer us through the online social explosion and ask what happens when people are given the tools to do things together, without needing traditional organisational structures.

via RSA – Clay Shirky – 18 March 2008.