Back from Amsterdam conference
March 31, 2008 Posted by stephencoleman in : Bristol , 26 commentsI’ve just returned from a two-day conference in Amsterdam, organised jointly by Amsterdam University’s School of Communication (ASCOR), which is the biggest communications school in Europe, and Leeds University’s Institute of Communications Studies (ICS), which is the biggest communications school in the UK. We were talking about the changing nature of political communication. Not only new media effects, but other ways in which democratic citizenship and its mediation are changing. It was a very intellectually productive conference - unlike so many others that leave one feeling frustrated and powerpointed into total numbness. I think that it would be useful - and perhaps provocative - for me to use this space to make a few comments about how I think citizenship is changing in the twenty-first century. I will know whether this makes any sense to anyone by the flood or dearth of subsequent responses.
So, point one: I think that the rules of the political game are changing in three ways. Political representatives are now more visible and reachable than ever before. They are being judged less on the basis of ideology or even policy than personal persona and integrity. And citizens expect to be able to influence them in more ways than very occasional voting. These three changes are forcing smart politicians to adopt new stategies, often utilising new media technologies to manage their visibility, appear human and suggest that citizens can influence them.
Point two: these strategies often don’t work, partly because they are not entirely intended to work. That is to say, politicians are not convinced that they need to take the new rules of the game seriously, even when they realise that there are new rules and they ought to be seen to be doing something.
Point three: citizens are more bewildered than ever. At least the old rules were clear: you voted; you crossed your fingers and hoped for the best; you voted the rotters out if/when you caught them being rotters. Now the rules seem to be different, but are unexplained. What should citizens expect from the new political-communication environment? This is about more than producing codes of conduct - although one or two well-designed codes of digital citizens’ rights wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Final point about this (for now - but we have a week to develop these points): all of this is happening at a time of profound social risk. In past times politicians not only knew the rules of the game, but also believed they understood most of the issues that were confronting them in the policy arena. Now they understand neither very well. New rules; new issues - could lead to a horrible mess; could lead to some creative thinking and policy-making. What do you think?
Introducing Professor Stephen Coleman
March 28, 2008 Posted by Stephen Hilton in : e-democracy, Bristol, Guest Bloggers , add a commentSome people effortlessly span seemingly irreconcilable divides, for example, by being both anti-establishment and mainstream; a leading academic and a man of the people; a commentator on technology and perhaps also a bit of a technophobe?
Stephen Coleman, Professor of Political Communication at Leeds University, is one such enigma and personally I am delighted that he has volunteered to blog for Connecting Bristol in the coming week.
Stephen Coleman has spent many years exploring and writing about the relationship between digital media and citizenship. His new book ‘The Internet and Democratic Citizenship’, written with Jay Blumer, will be published by Cambridge University Press later this year. He argues that e-democracy calls for profound cultural as well as technological changes.
Bristol’s association with Stephen began 4-5 years ago when he was Professor of e-Democracy at Oxford University. Stephen worked with us to evaluate the Local e-Democracy National Project. The series of reports that were produced caused some discussion in certain Government quarters… they have probably just about got over it by now, so over to you again Stephen…
Sign up for the 'New Media Workshop for Business'
Posted by Kevin in : Bristol , add a commentDo you want to increase sales using a new generation of web applications? From online video and conference webcasting to training and ecommerce, speakers will outline strategies for interacting with web visitors and keeping a website sticky to increase its effectiveness at selling goods and service. Hosted by Mendip Media, sponsored by Connecting Bristol and supported by Buiness West.
It will be held at the Watershed on Wednesday 21st May
0900-0930: Registration & Coffee
0930-1130: Seminar presented by Nicky Robertson (Mendip Media), Kevin Redpath (Redpath Productions), Ray Buckler (Sitemakers)
1130-1200: Question & Answer
1200-1230: Networking in the cafe
The price is £10 per person (which covers administration of the booking). To book a place email events@businesswest.co.uk or call Jenny Siddons at Business West on 01275 373 373.
Does the End of Civil Serf mean Civil silence?
March 27, 2008 Posted by Matt in : Bristol , 4 comments
Civil Serf, the civil servant secret blogger, was silenced recently after Whitehall launched a hunt to find her. Whatever your political persuasion, and some of her posts were not flattering to her employers, one has to ask, surely, that isn’t a blog part of free speech? By definition, it is the opinion of an individual and therefore (currently) exempt from the powers of the Press Complaints commission. The Head of the Press Complaints Commission makes a valid point when he said that “if you want to see what the newspaper industry would be like unrestricted, take a look at the internet.”
Many bloggers have come out in Civil Serf’s defence. Dizzy Thinks is a big fan. But more surprisingly the newspapers across all political spectrums from the Daily Mail, Telegraph, Times and Guardian also made the point that she was doing a service to the tax paying public by lifting the lid on Whitehall. We deserve transparency, in order to build trust and understanding in the public sector, don’t we?
I saw an interesting debate on Guido Fawkes’ blog that made a good point. Many civil servants, especially senior ones (which Civil Serf seemed to be), are covered by the Official Secrets Act. Therefore, bloggers like Civil Serf had no legal leg to stand on when releasing official secrets. Of course I agree that secrets that affect national security should be kept secret and Civil Servants do have official channels they can pursue under the Whistle Blowing Act if they feel it necessary. But the sort of things that Civil Serf blogged about hardly fell into the official secrets category – embarrassing, yes, but top secret? No.
So where do we go from here? I would advise that as many big organisations such as Dell and Starbucks open up themselves to the blogosphere, the public sector should not shut up shop. If the public sector in the UK is to truly engage with the public, more transparency, interaction and therefore blogging is needed.
How do we do this? Well perhaps some “rules of engagement for blogging” would be a good start and blogging should remain encouraged in the public sector. One thing is for sure, blogs will not go away and as Civil Serf goes, others are springing up, such as “To Miss with Love”, about the trials and tribulations of a teacher in London.
