Public servants are humans too

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… “

#iranelection – Part 2 – the beginners guide to cyberwar

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. Continue reading “#iranelection – Part 2 – the beginners guide to cyberwar”

A bright future for the spoken word…

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.

We now have the potential to connect with an infinite pool of like minded people without consideration for geographic boundaries or distance… Social media can connect us to the people we need to engage with in a way inconceivable not a decade ago. With new technology we develop new social skills, fitting for the society and tools we constantly evolve.

But what of the old society, what of the old skills, what of the old traditions that formed the social human as it is now?

We talked of Saxon halls, Celtic roundhouses, and Scandinavian longhouses. Those altars where the basis for modern human communication evolved. We discussed ritual, discourse, poetry, theatre and debate. The forms of communication that, each in its own right, expanded the horizons of the human within and the potential of society evolve to the beyond.

image credit wili_hybrid - http://www.flickr.com/photos/wili/

I was reminded of a very dear friend, decendant of the shamanic traditions, dismissed by a modern society as defunct and a lost cause. He can be found most days anaesthetised from his rejection through the medium of booze. Yet he is a keeper of all of the traditions that have brought us to this amazing present. And in our modern connected online utopia we no longer value him…

A long time ago we sat around the fire in a circle and shared stories. Now we tweet and blog them without ever needing to make eye contact. It is the cherishing, the traditions, the forms, and the practice of the spoken word that have brought us from the fire to where we are now.

And the man I had lunch with today, he has a grand vision for the spoken word. That its traditions be preserved, propagated, taught, championed, housed, and celebrated. In some years time, when this vision has been realised, I know which fire I will be heading for.

The man I had lunch with today…, his name is William Ayot, and you will hear his name again.

Overcoming the hurdles: public sector engagement and social media

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.

RSA – Clay Shirky – 18 March 2008

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.