Networked Cllrs - Some Initial Thoughts

What better way to end my hiatus from blogging than to reflect back on a Round Table discussion I was invited to attend today to discuss The Networked Cllr research piece.  The session was facilitated by the report author Catherine Howe (@curiousc) who was joined by a cracking panel of experts from across the sector - officers and councillors alike.

On a general note I feel the report has provided a bit of a hallelujah moment in that it has empirically and anecdotally given some real traction to areas which some of us have seen as really important for some time.  I've banged on in the past about councillors and social media and, along with others tried to do my bit to raise the profile of the importance of local representative democracy in a digital age.  All worthy stuff but there has always been a need for an evidence base to move us forward beyond what we intuitively thought was the right path.  I think we now have a sound platform from which to build as the report moves through its next iteration.  Comments and views are welcomed on the report and I would encourage you to inform the work as it develops.

In terms of my reflections, I'll start with some grumbles and then finish with some positives.

• Officers, Are You Helping or Hindering? - As a fully paid up member of the officer club I get little satisfaction from reporting that we could really do a lot better to support the development of Networked Cllrs.  Over two years ago when we were doing the CllrSocMed sessions in Yorkshire and The Humber there were a number of themes which emerged in all sessions.  One in particular was the reluctance of officers in IT to open up access to social media and the other was the inherent need for officers to develop codes, protocols and rules that councillors should abide by.  I am an officer who understands that an implicit part of my role is to protect councillors but I cannot ignore evidence that indicates in so doing we are putting barriers in the way of councillors embracing opportunities and potential benefits.  I'll probably look at this in more detail in another post, particularly in terms of the need for a different support model for councillors that is better equipped to tackle these thorny issues.

• Councillors, Are You Leading the Debate? - This grumble follows on nicely from the one above.  Councillors have the solutions to the real and perceived officer barriers at their fingertips.  They take the decisions, have a fundamental role in setting priorities and the culture of the councils they are members of.  If we accept that councillors need the IT tools for the job, access to social media and a support model that facilitates the development of the Networked Councillor then come on councillors start saying that these things are important within your own councils.  Surely a climate where councillors are the best and most effective they can be is one that benefits local residents, the council and, dare I say it, officers.

Moving swiftly on, some observations on parts of the report and todays discussion:

• The Case is Compelling - democratic participation is declining, election turnout figures demonstrate this.  On-line participation and accessibility  is growing.  There is a compelling case to connect these two issues for the benefit of local democracy.  Whilst not the panacea, the Networked Cllr concept is a powerful enabler.

• It's Not About Twitter - I am heartened that there is an increasing number of councillors getting more social media savvy - this is good.  I am even more encouraged that we are, hopefully, moving away from discussions about the tools and beginning to focus on the skills and etiquette of elected representatives operating in digital spaces.  A lot of todays discussion was about being effective in those spaces as opposed to "how do I use Twitter?" or "why should I bother?"  

• Identity and Reputation Are Important - whilst councillors do not want to be bound by rules and protocols (the existing ones suffice e.g. the National Code of Conduct) they are concerned about their identity and reputation in digital spaces.  In particular they want to better understand the rules of engagement in instances where they are interacting with "anonymous" users and those who are "challenging" - trolls.  I would hope that, as the Networked Cllr work progresses, thought is given to striking a balance between equipping councillors with the confidence and support to be effective whilst not binding them with protocols or frightening them off completely.

• Communicative, Collaborative, Co-Productive - I particularly like the way in which the report findings begin to explore the ways in which a Networked Cllr can be active in digital spaces.  The 3Cs provide a really helpful framework for addressing some of the issues raised above whilst also having the fluidity to ensure that councillors are not pigeon holed.  If I understand the concept correctly the 3Cs are inter-changeable and used as appropriate to particular circumstances.  They also provide helpful context around which to consider and construct development.

• Networked - Finally, one message was loud and clear.  Networked is not just about digital.  If a councillor is not networked off-line then chances are that he/she wont pull it off on-line.  This is perhaps obvious, but very true.  We mustn't forget this.

I'm sure there is much more to share, but plenty of time as the discussion will continue - join in if you haven't already

Councillor - You've Been Warned

By chance I came across an article in the Independent yesterday with the headline - Councillor, 18, Gets Facebook Warning.  OK, lets unpick this one before I let my biased views come spilling through.

Lets look at the facts.  We have a young councillor - this is good.  We have a councillor who is a user of social media - this is good.  We have a council that rightly wants to manage its reputation and support a new councillor in their new role - this is good.  

The problem is, none of these are the main features of the story.  The portrayal is one of a bureaucracy seeking to clip the wings of a new comer who might have some desires to use these social media gadgets to make "inappropriate comments". 

I think this cameo piece illustrates a lot of the challenges that forward thinking authorities and their councillors face.  The easy headline, which coincidentally portrays the councillor and the local authority in a less than positive light, perpetuates a climate where both retreat into a place that hinders innovation, engagement and dialogue using new media.

Bit of a shame really.  Lots of work still to do then.

Linked Posts:

Cllrs - Why Bother?

On- Line Councillor of the Year
Councillors! Here's How Not to do Twitter

Democratic Digital Engagement - A Blueprint for Local Government?

Democracy Dude

This post was born across the Twittersphere - an appropriate product of the social media age given the subject matter.  Social media facilitated off-line contact between two (as it turns out) like minds.

Anyone who is interested in local democracy, the role of councillors, decision making and forward thinking practice in terms of democratic engagement should follow Dave McKenna (@localopolis).  I did and have nothing but admiration for the work he and colleagues are doing at Swansea.

We have developed a dialogue over the last few months, a dialogue based on our shared passion for local democratic legitimacy and the opportunities that social media presents. Our on-line dialogue very recently progressed to a telephone conversation where we kicked about a few ideas (and our shared liking for New Model Army) and loosely agreed to do something, but we weren't sure what. 


Three e-mail conversations (and much work by  Dave) later we agreed to share what we have so far.  We have tried to take our passions, interests and day jobs and try and set out some ways in which this whole local democracy thing can be made, well, more engaging, exciting and meaningful to local people.  As we pinged e-mails back and forth the challenge was clearly where to stop (should we present our views in the context of the Localism Bill, what about local politics, what are the implications for officers?...).

We came to the conclusion that the best thing would be to share our initial thoughts in their raw form to, hopefully, stimulate a discussion.  Presented below is the fruits of our on-line and off-line labours. It is a first pass at "Five Essential Features of Local Digital Democracy"

What is Local Digital Democracy?

§  Local digital democracy means using social media to make a bridge between the formal world of local politics and the real world of real people

§  It means being clear that local government is not just about services – it has a distinct and important democratic role with elected local councillors at its heart

§  It means recognising that the world is changing.  Social media is changing the way the world works – local democracy needs to catch up

§  It means recognising that local democracy needs stronger citizen engagement

§  It means building from the traditional ways of doing things and using online tools to make them work better and reach more people

Why Local Digital Democracy is Good for Everyone

• The council as a whole is more effective, innovative and efficient  - it helps employees get better connected with decision making and each other 
• The reputation of the council is improved both internally and externally
• Councillors can raise their individual profiles and get their messages across more effectively
• Improved citizen engagement makes for better policy development and decision making 
• Citizens learn more about their elected councillors and can hold them to account better
• Councillors will have better information and intelligence about the patches they represent.  Better informed councillors can lead the debate in their communities and in the council. 
• Councillors can make better decisions by getting the right information at the right time
• Councillors can reach more of their constituents quickly and easily
• Citizens can quickly and easily find information about the decisions that affect their community and the issues that they are concerned about
• Officers can conduct research more quickly and easily saving them time and the council resources
• Young people are provided with a greater opportunity to engage with the democratic process on their terms
• Local politics can reach a wider audience and encouraging more people to vote and maybe even consider public office - local digital democracy can help attract the next generation of councillors and this will definitely be online!

  

The Five Essential Features of Local Digital Democracy

1.         Online Councillors

• Whether blogging, tweeting or facebooking, councillors are the human element of the local democratic process – local digital democracy won’t work without ‘em
• Councillors have democratic legitimacy through elections – their participation gives online democracy legitimacy
• Councillors will need skills, knowledge and tools to be key players in democratic digital engagement.  They will therefore need support from their Councils
• Social media can help local political parties to work more effectively by improving internal and external communiciatons
• Check out ….. to see what is already happening…  CllrSocmed

2.         Social Council Decision Making

• Agendas, minutes and reports tell the story of local democratic deliberation and decision making but the way they are presented and organised makes engagement close to impossible to all but the most dedicated
• By breaking everything down into bitesize chunks, like status updates or tweets, it becomes possible to share, tag and comment.
• Bitesize chunks can also be made transportable so they can be used on whatever social media platform people are using
• You can find some more thinking along these lines at Localopolis

  

3.         Social Council Meetings

• Council meetings are the live action of the local democratic process
• Live tweeting and blogging brings the action from council meetings to a wider audience
• Social media interaction can facilitated to allow online citizens to feedback and ask questions
• Engagement through social media may be the first step to observation and even participating in person
• See the Kirklees experience

4.         Social Local Elections

• Local elections are the most dramatic aspect of the local democratic process but campaigns can be lost in the traditional media in the noise of national politics
• Digital engagement can create spaces, such as online hustings, for local campaign issues to be aired and debated and for candidates to promote their campaigns
• Digital engagement also provides a way for election teams to raise awareness of the elections and encourage higher levels of registration and turnout
• Having social media elections, with social media candidates, who become social media councillors helps a wider group of people make the connection between the ballot box, the individual and their role as community leader and decision maker
• You can find an example here from Calgary

5.         A Local Digital Democracy Community

• Digital engagement in local democracy is not the same as engagement in local government – often this is seen as being just about delivering services
• The promoting of citizenship and online local democracy through initiatives such as Local Democracy Week (I’m a councillor get me out of here) needs a distinctive identity both locally and nationally
• Every local area has a digital ecosystem that can be cultivated and supported – someone needs to be making sure everything works together to produce the best results
• Local councils should take the lead locally and act as local democratic hubs, organisations such as the LGA and LGIU need to take the lead nationally
• National social media platforms, such as the Knowledge Hub can provide the platform for a national democratic community to share good practice and ideas

Themes

Underlying local digital democracy are five themes that help the local digital ecosystem to flourish and need to guide those involved:

§  Connectability – Everything needs to be designed so that it connects to everything else (widgets, links, transportability)

§  Customisability – Everything needs to be set up so people can decide who and what they want to engage with

§  Sociability  - Effective digital engagement will require a whole new language for those involved in the local policy process – the arcane language of council meetings won’t work on facebook.  It also means putting real people at the front of engagement, not functions, teams or meetings.

§  Accessibility – Not everyone is online and not every online person ‘does’ social media.  This means both ensuring that non digital remain effective and that opportunities and encouragement are there for those ‘new starters’ that want to engage

§  Openness – This means both being willing to share information and ideas at all stages but also ensuring that there is clarity, honesty and realism about engagement so that there are no false expectations, and clear   

I Blame the Officers

Last week saw the last of our social media sessions for councillors.  It was a great finish in Leeds where we had a cracking group of enthusiastic and interested councillors from across the region.  Full details of those sessions can be found at Cllrsocmed.  


Over the course of the five sessions there was one theme that was coming out loud and clear - the officers are the problem.  Now let's make it clear, I am a fully paid up member of the officer corps and have worked with councillors a long time.  The officer / councillor dynamic is no different to any relationship, it's complex, multi-faceted and often subjective.


That said, the majority of the councillors who attended our sessions were clearly of the mind that their organisations and their officers were barriers to progressing their social media journey.  It gives me no satisfaction to say that IT, Web, Comms and Democratic Services all came in for some degree of criticism.  Problems ranged from the outright banning of social media, to the lack of developmental support and the provision of tools (telephony in particular) that were not up to the job.  Whilst councillors did not want to be spoon fed, they did want a degree of importance placed on this whole agenda by their own organisations.  The word "culture" cropped up a few times and I think this is important.


I am pretty sure that organisational culture is not entirely determined by its officers.  It is for this reason we turned these discussions back to the councillors in the room.  They and their councillor colleagues provide the political leadership, they take the decisions.  Perhaps they have a considerable role in what happens next on their social media journey.  I got the feeling that some of those councillors intended to take the discussions back into their organisations and affect the necessary cultural change.  I hope so.  Through Cllrsocmed we are hoping to keep in touch with those councillors and find out "what happens next".  Watch this space.

Its Your Council - Join In (A Positive Footnote)

A few weeks ago I blogged about our webcasting / Tweeting Council meetings experience at Kirklees (Its Your Council - Join In).  The reason for  the post was to share our learning and generate some interest and debate.  Looking back now, I was genuinely surprised at the attention it attracted and the discussions it sparked.  We received enquiries from officers across the sector and were the subject of a case study by those lovely folk at Tweety Hall.


All of this is brilliant in itself, but there is now another dimension to the experience, one that is worth sharing.  You may recall that in the post I wanted to give another perspective on Tweeting meetings, one that differed from the pervading media line that had been reported so regularly elsewhere.  It was the line that focussed on the negatives - councillors not showing respect, not concentrating, using Twitter like naughty schoolboys / girls electronically passing notes across the Council Chamber.  The benefits of opening up democracy, stimulating public engagement and interest, raising awareness around decision making, seeing politicians in action - none of these stories featured.  Where are the positive stories?


Well, here's one - Hundreds Tune in for Kirklees Council Webcasts.   It would have been easy I guess to write more of the same negative stories that have been a feature in the past.  Credit where credit is due - the piece is a very positive one.  

I hope this post provides encouragement to other councils considering exploring social media to open up democracy - there are some good news stories.  Finally, I would add that evidence is invaluable in making a compelling argument - the stats are an important consideration when trying to make the business case.

 

Councillors, Meetings and Banning Technology

I came across an article the other day that I thought added another dimension to the whole tweeting in meetings discussion.  I've blogged previously about this, seeking to present another perspective to the whole debate.


You can imagine that when I stumbled across the headline "Councillor Calls for Blackberry Ban" I was naturally suspecting that this was another re-run of the usual tweeting in meetings story - same dialogue, different cast.  It transpires that the story, emanating from Canada, had another dimension to it.  The main issue causing consternation seems to be that councillors are using their devices to communicate with each other in the meeting, particularly to "debate issues and plan voting strategy".  I'm not sure what to make of this one to be honest.  On the one hand it sort of has the feeling of school children passing notes in class whilst the teacher isn't looking and on the other it begs the question what are the party whips doing.  Party whips, at whatever level of government, have a key role in party discipline, which includes being clear as to voting intentions.  

That said, I think this article poses some greater and more fundamental questions.  Firstly, I'm not sure that "banning" per se is often the answer to many challenges and societal developments.  In this case it feels at least like one step forward and one step back.  Secondly, the most interesting part of the article to me was not the one that attracted the headlines.  A footnote to the article includes a quote from a councillor who defends the use of hand held devices in meetings:


"Councillors use their BlackBerrys to do Internet research on issues that are being discussed and to communicate with their office staff to get information on a file being discussed which might be pertinent to the debate."


There might be a real case for the research argument - informed debate is, one would think, a cornerstone of democracy and political dialogue.  Do tools like Blackberries enhance this?  Furthermore, communicating with staff (presumably those employed by the councillors / political groups in whatever capacity) during the meeting is a fascinating scenario, one that I have not come across before.  I'm not sure what I think about this, there are opportunities and potential pitfalls when applied to our own system of local government.  What do you think?

Case Work Keeps Coming Through Thanks to Twitter

The other week I came across a cracking little case study.  I follow Stockton councillor David Harrington on Twitter (I recommend you do the same - @cllrharrington).  On that day he tweeted:

“Received two DM's with ward queries. Thanks to Twitter residents sent me a DM knowing the problems with email.”

Now on the surface this may not seem like such a big deal.  Two pieces of case work amongst what I am sure is a heavy volume doesn’t exactly grab the headlines, but it got me thinking.  We’ve all begun to depend on e-mail as part of what we do.  Like most things its great when it works.  After the telephone it’s the main point of contact between residents and their councillors.  Expectations have been created.  What this little example shows is that there are some real alternatives, especially when the more traditional media break down.

Councillor Harrington was able to let his followers on Twitter know that he wasn’t contactable by e-mail.  He was able to use social media to broadcast this message.  More importantly he was able to use Twitter as another tool to carry out his ward councillor role.  

Now I don’t know the nature of those two pieces of case work, and nor should I, but they could have been urgent issues that local residents needed sorting.  Being able to access their councillor in this way meant that their issues were communicated and progressed.  There is significant potential in this small case study for councillors and the organisations that support them.  We need to explore and embrace the alternatives that can work alongside and complement more traditional ways of working.  Powerful stuff eh?

Councillors, Social Media, Chickens and Eggs

This blog has been inspired by some of the work that we (@steventuck and @spencerlwilson) have been doing regionally across Yorkshire and the Humber. Thanks to the support of Local Government Yorkshire and the Humber we have been running social media sessions for councillors, the full details of which can be found at cllrsocmed.

So far we have done two sessions, both of which have been real contrasts and posed different questions and challenges. At the heart of the issue is where do you start and what do you cover. This is a real conundrum for which, it seems, there is no consistent answer. Right at the outset it was clear that there was a real cross section of councillors at the two events, and I am not referring to their political affiliation. When recently facilitating the Local By Social on-line conference discussing councillors and social media I referred to four types of councillors in this context:

1. Perpetual sceptics - unlikely to be convinced (if you can crack the tough nuts, you're home and dry)

2. Curious yet cautious / fearful - with support and encouragement will begin to dip their toe

3. Grab it with both hands and run with it - self explanatory, they are the evangelists and will be key to supporting the curious yet cautious

4. The next generation - future councillors who will walk through the door following their election expecting social media as a tool in the same way that a computer and email are now seen as tools for the job

I think it would be fair to say that our first two sessions have had a good blend of types 1, 2 and 3. I look forward with interest to see if the May elections deliver a raft of type 4's. Whilst not wishing to generalise I think that our two sessions provided a microcosm of the current councillor / social media landscape. This is the whole point of this post - it's tough, it isn't one size fits all and it's a balancing act for anyone seeking to deliver support and development sessions.

On the one hand it is important to explore some of the concepts, understand the benefits and identify the risks. Some councillors wanted to know what all of the fuss was about, why should they even bother with this social media stuff, how was it going to help them in their roles as councillors? Some wanted to discuss and explore the problems and their real fears, some of which were technical, some reputational. On the other hand some councillors just wanted to be shown how to use the tools - "how do I get started" and "what do I do" were common questions. I guess that this all emphasises that councillors are coming to this debate from different starting points, with different needs and with different learning styles. It poses the dilemma - which should come first context / business case (chicken) or let's dive straight in (egg).

My personal view is that there needs to be space for all of this, but our sessions lasted over four hours and I felt we were still scratching the surface. The councillors who co-facilitated the sessions with us (@cllrtim and @simonmagus) were brilliant at bringing the whole debate to life from a councillor perspective - they thoroughly covered the "what's all the fuss about" dimension. I think we only partially satisfied those councillors who wanted to roll their sleeves up and get on with it. We perhaps needed a bit more social media surgery, but we ran out of time.

Since the session @steventuck has pulled together some on-line tools and posted them to cllrsocmed which we hope will be useful to those councillors who just want to get started. In future sessions we hope to look at how we can better strike the balance between context and getting started.

In summary, for others who might want to do some of this stuff for their councillors we have learnt:

- All councillors are different and come at this agenda from different starting points. This may be obvious but will need to be managed as part of any session

- Be prepared to be flexible with your session plans - we don't even bother with a structure now

- Co-deliver with councillors - they have the unique understanding from a councillor's perspective

- Be prepared for a little bit of a hard time - sorry but both sessions have been characterised by a segment where councillors DEMAND to be convinced why they should bother with this. Given that they are already very busy people I think that this is reasonable.

- Have a balance between democratic services and web team officer support on the day

- Get there early to make sure the technology is working

- Have a post-mortem / reflective meeting to share thoughts and learning

- Post your learning and keep in touch