Why I think this group is important

Thanks everyone for joining. Here's a bit on why I started the group, and what we might do. I'm a bit obsessed with transparency of process, so please bear with me:-)
I first became interested in the potential for social tech in local communities in the mid 1990s after a visit to the US, and on returning co-founded UK Communities Online. Back story here . We got support from Government, BT, IBM and others sponsors, ran events, and developed online resources like these (excuse broken links). However, far fewer people were online then, and it proved difficult to develop sustainable models for most local networks, or a national network. I sense that the time is now right - and I would like to help.
There are now a number of national initiatives, several of which are funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government, to promote what's become known as hyperlocal activities. I've listed the main ones I know about here: Community Voices (Media Trust); DC10plus; Local 2.0 (Young Foundation); RSA Connected Communities; Talk About Local; Timely Information to Citizens; IDeA/local authorities. (I haven't yet listed programmes being developed by major media concerns: that's another linked story).
From what the programmes say on their sites - and conversations that I have had - they are each aiming to do some or all of the following:
* research what's already happening in localities
* identify "what works"
* provide funding and/or training for local projects
* run national and regional events
* develop howtos or toolkits
* set up online networks

That is potentially a terrific package of support, involving investment of several million pounds of public money. However everyone, as far as I can tell, is currently planning to do things on their own. There may be some joint events, repackaging of materials, and one-to-one project collaborations ... but I suspect that for community activists and practitioners it will be pretty confusing, and it is unlikely to provide value for (public) money.
This seems crazy in a field where we are generally committed to collaboration, and the social tech tools we are using and promoting make collaboration much easier - at least in theory. I suspect that the problems are the usual ones:
* each programme has bid for funds in competition with others, and agreed deliverables with funders who don't know necessarily know what other funders are doing. Collaboration isn't in the contract.
* Some of the the people involved are good at research, community and organisational development ... but don't know much about social technology. The reverse is true for others ... so there isn't a common language, or framework.
* Despite personal commitments to collaborate on the part of many of those involved, organisations operate in a fiercely competitive environment, and are cautious about sharing.
* People don't know other people are doing.
So - it isn't the people ... it's the system. Just the sort of system many of us want to help change through the use of social technology and new open, collaborative, innovative approaches.
Can we do that here?
My commitment is to volunteer some time starting this group and developing the associated wiki. That includes sharing content from the Social by Social handbook I've co-authored with Amy Sample Ward, Andy Gibson, and Cass Business School.
However, I am a freelance (details here), and will be on the lookout for funding and job resulting from all this. I hope it will create opportunities for others too. Yes, I'm really interested in collaborations:-)
First tasks ... I think:
* overall, does this make sense? What's your view?
* anyone want to help on facilitation and research?
* will any of the main organisation and programmes commit to a collaborative approach? I'll be inviting them to do so.
* Let's invite more people to join in

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ellie Stoneley on July 28, 2009 at 1:31pm: That's great David - thanks for setting the group up - I think also important to identify and learn from 'what doesn't or hasn't worked'

My personal view is that only the collaborative approach will work, along with on and offline linkage (not just at 'practitionner' level - but grass roots level) and it is important to respect existing local successes and nurture wider trust in what are seen as 'funded' approaches.

Anyway that is why I joined the group, having worked at grassroots level for 8 years with community and village websites and understood the way that reliance and trust in short term funded projects can lead to a negative rather than a positive longer term outcome.

So yes - lets link, share, promote, teach, listen and learn to from and with each other.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by David Wilcox on July 28, 2009 at 2:10pm: Thanks Ellie - I've now added a space for more information about national programmes and the scope for joining up here; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Paul Nash on July 28, 2009 at 8:53pm: This response is going to come in parts. There are some things that are immediate, and some that need a bit of research and reflection. What David is talking about reflects the enormity of the changes which we are experiencing. It's a personal view, but I don't think that we are as far forward as we believe and there are fewer people who understand that than we suspect. David is right, there are a lot of initiatives and there is a lot of money in play but - it only scratches the surface.

I have two main reasons for saying this, there are probably more, but, as I said, I have to think about this.

Look at the American experience: here, here, and here, I believe that what these sites show is a level of embeddedness (not sure that's a word) that we ahve yet to experience here in the UK.

The other part, for now, is that the initiative in England is now split, politically, between CLG and BIS. The Digital Champion initiative sits within BIS. The other stuff sits withi CLG and we have yet to learn which Minister will take responsibility. From the citizen empowerment perspective this is important. Politically, citizen empowerment is important. If anybody out there believes that just giving people a voice on the web is going to change things in a big way is - to be blunt- delusional. We are not talking about thousands of individuals distorting the market for a product here we are talking about communities influencing local decision and this is about channels and how channels are received. Most - I wont say all, local authorities are hierarchical organisation with a focus on outgoing messages. Incoming messages have to be moderated and the channel has to be controlled. The mind shift from this starting point to the embedded understanding of how social media positions citizens as part of the solution and not part of the problem is vast.

The result, is the plethora if initiatives, not joined up, championed by self interest (sometimes) and likely, ultimately to fail unless something like the initiative that David is talking about takes hold. But let us not believe that the outcome is self evident, far from it.

So, I'm supportive, positive and upbeat and I will do a second part to this, when I've thought about it, I welcome people's comments about my initial thoughts and a debate. I believe that we need to be strategic in our thinking because the driver in the UK is political, in the US the driver was commercial. Not the same thing.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by clarewhite on July 28, 2009 at 9:00pm: Happy to be involved David. And I think you're on the right track with what you've started.
On the whole, I just think it's a matter of continuing to do what we do and perhaps continuing to learn from the social media culture in America (why we're lucky to have Amy S-W working here now) - we're in a very confusing period at the moment because of the explosion of interest and the remnants of a funding system that rather forces people who want funding down a competitive path. Plus, perhaps, an adjustment from a time when many of us were working in isolation to developing new networks of trust, which is reasonable. All of us who are interested in this can contribute by continuing to draw new people into the networks, identify and showcase other people's work and, for those who want to, taking personal responsibility for sharing online resources with people who are disconnected.

The advantages we have now are these:
- people working socially can be much more competitive cost-wise - we can take the ethos from open source programming that 80% of the work is free and openly available and people pay for the 20% of customising. This, generally, involves investment in time more than tech which is good for jobs (maybe more jobs with good salaries than few jobs with massive salaries).
- everything we're doing is, by its nature, searchable and as we become more networked it will all become easier to find. The mainstream media are our friends in this respect for the way they can amplify grassroots activities (where they do it constructively at least).
- also intrinsic to what we are doing is that there can be collaborations, again built through trust, between local expertise and the other types of expertise that are relevant to whatever is being funded. If there's one thing I hope continues and grows, it's the understanding that community involvement is valuable and that different communities don't benefit from the same solutions sold to us off the shelf.
- many of us are experienced in operating in different spaces where people speak different languages. We don't have to necessarily worry that groups still don't understand each other, though we can encourage them to be more transparent, but we can play a part by trying to translate and pick up linkages that haven't been made obvious.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Gary Copitch on July 28, 2009 at 10:26pm: Dave

Brilliant idea. The only way will ensue that society will improve is through proper collaboration and joint working. I am happy to commit People's Voice Media to this way of working. We need to think differently and we have the tools to do this. Lets lead the way in developing a new approach; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Mandeep Hothi on July 30, 2009 at 1:23pm: Hi David,

Thanks very much for setting this up. The Young Foundation is very happy to join the growing online community of enthusiasts, practitioners and activists in this field. Our Local 2.0 project has been kicking around for a couple of years and we now have some funding to take our project forward. The project builds upon the Young Foundation’s previous work in this field, including Fixmystreet, SI Camp and an ill-fated neighbourhood wiki (as well as our experience in offline engagement).

Your post highlights issues we are mindful of and we want to reiterate our commitment to collaboration and openness. We are currently working hard to have conversations with those who are running projects and those who are very experienced in this field. These are proving really useful and we will undoubtedly be collaborating with some of the projects you have mentioned, such as the Media Trust. We will update everyone of our progress via networks such as this, plus a blog we will set up and a newly created Twitter account. We won’t be daily Tweeters, but will send out messages when we have info to share.

From the people we have spoken to thus far (which include yourself and Kevin Harris, Ingrid and Adam and IDeA, Media Trust, Office for the Champion of Digital Inclusion) collaboration wont be as fiercely resisted as you suggest. Most of us have funders and contractual obligations, but from our point of view these do not restrict or de-incentivise collaboration (ditto for competitiveness – it doesn’t stop us sharing).

So you have our commitment to collaborate and share information and we really look forward to learning from everyone. We also wanted to say that – although there are several projects in this field – they do differ in ways which your synopsis doesn’t quite pick up on. Local 2.0 is particularly focusing on ways in which the public sector, local people and voluntary agencies can collaborate to utilise social technology at the very local level. The response to our call for local authority partners has been great – with around twenty having expressed an interest in working with us in the last few weeks - reinforcing your view that the timing could be right for this agenda. We will keep everyone posted as to how we get on!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by David Wilcox on July 30, 2009 at 3:42pm: Thanks Manny for leading the way with such a strong commitment to collaboration. As you suggest, that should start to surface publicly as people get to know each other through one-to-ones. If other projects join in here - or elsewhere - we could do some mapping of who is doing what, and open up some specific opportunities for joint action.
For example, I know Young Foundation, Media Trust and Talk About Local are all thinking about events in the autumn. Maybe some early discussion of plans could help tease out whether these have different audiences and purposes, or whether there is scope to combine?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by David Barrie on July 30, 2009 at 6:52pm: This is a great departure. I come at the subject from an urban regeneration perspective and an almost unhealthy commitment to the idea of communication as a device for cutting through the rigidities that divide and paralyze a community. There is a potential 'land grab' going on that needs direction and co-ordination and as broadcasters and others at the top level work out what they are going to do in the context of the National Plan for Digital Participation, this direction and co-ordination is vital.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Mandeep Hothi on August 3, 2009 at 5:11pm: thanks David and agreed regarding events - we are currently talking to the Media Trust about a joint event in the Autumn. I will update everyone once we have a broad outline for the discussion and we can go from there.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by David Wilcox on August 3, 2009 at 5:18pm: Thanks Manny

Antonio Irranca has now responded in the Collaboration Workshop discussion on the new Local Communities Network asking if people would favour CLG doing some convening. Hope you'll drop in a comment here

I personally think it would be great if we could get all main players together

Mandeep Hothi said:
thanks David and agreed regarding events - we are currently talking to the Media Trust about a joint event in the Autumn. I will update everyone once we have a broad outline for the discussion and we can go from there.; ▶ Reply to This