Stuck in the middle - tensions for e-engagement

The E-Engagement Stream has kicked off with presentations from DirectGov, AbilityNet, Bristol Connects and Chris Batt - opening up a wide debate around online engagement. Tomorrow, to work towards the Digital Engagement Manifesto we'll be boiling down ideas & input five key e-engagement big ideas under the themes:

• Technology;
• Ethnicity;
• Disability
• Disadvantaged communities;
• Local authorities;

But before that we get to that tomorrow, the sessions are going to be exploring, and have already explored a number of e-engagement tensions. Not always explicit, but under the surface of much dialogue.

Talking tech vs. Talking Democracy
There is consensus that 'It's not about the technology'. It's a consensus almost always stated at some point in a digital engagement presentation, but we nearly always still spend quite a bit of time talking tech.

Chris Batt offered us the idea of thinking in terms of the 'Public Value Chain' (AudioBoo interview here) to help us think about all aspects of engagement - from start to finish, with technology somewhere in the middle, rather than the focus. But, as Chris alluded, we've then got to get to talking about how e-engagement changes the balance of power and influence, not just the balance of people connecting to public sector information.

Text vs. Multimedia
Stephen Hilton from Connecting Bristol, still one of the few people in local government able to describe his role as "looking at all the new technologies out there and asking 'How we can use these to achieve our vision?'" pushed us to look beyond text-based engagement and to see when multi-media tools can best support us to engage well. If you're dealing with a visual issue - why not deal in photos and videos.

But in general the engagement opportunities local authorities offer are still based around text. Can local authorities really engage with the more creative forms of online and offline communication? Especially if that involves new investment in technology kit, infrastructure & staff training.

Accessibility vs. Engagement
David Banes from AbilityNet reminded delegates that we're all getting older - and that gives us all a self-interest motivation to focus on accessibility. But David wasn't asking us to look back and stop using Web 2.0 because it might impact on disabled technology users - rather he encouraged us to keep track of the growing range of personal assistive devices and build services ready to interface with the assistive technologies of tomorrow.

Should we hold back on trying out rich multi-media engagement opportunities because they may not be entirely accessible? Or should we focus on making sure those with disabilities are aware of the assistive technologies and support available to them?

Information Provision vs. Listening
Jayne Nickalls, Chief Executive of Directgov suggested that whatever vision of open and participative government we're striving for "Information is the currency of democracy."

But is information provision enough? Jayne shared news of Directgov exploration and experimentation with citizen feedback on content, but Joanne Jacobs still wanted to hear more about how Directgov and others are developing not only their information strategies, but their strategies for listening.

Networking individuals vs. Connecting Groups
The Nintendo Wii has been part of a technology revolution David Banes suggested. A physical technology around which people gather and connect, rather than individual technologies being used for virtual connections.

Is the future about services delivered to individual access devices through the web? Or about pervasive technologies like multi-touch tables blending into the environment and giving us new opportunities to connect and engage in conversations face-to-face?

Top-down taxonomy vs. Emergent folksonomy
Why are so many local authority websites structured around the organisation, rather than the content or the users? One delegate suggested the ESD toolkit bound the hands of local government - whilst a call for letting local citizens to tag and organise information based on the categories that make sense to them emerged from the panel. But how does local government respond to the top-down pressure to use national standards for information sharing, and the need to organise information around a local bottom-up folksonomy?

A creative tension for local government? Or a case of getting stuck in the middle?

Anonymity vs. Authentication & Data Sharing
If citizens are to be able to get the information that they want from public services when they want it then services will need to explore personalisation - and personalisation that goes beyond the drag-and-drop boxes around your council website approach that's current in vogue.

But personalisation involves handing data over to government - and that involves citizens giving up anonymity.

Directgov are working on developing trusted remote authentication systems to overcome the technology hurdles - but do we want to 'trade data for service' with government?

Tensions? Solutions? Your ideas...
I'll be checking comments and posts on e-engagement before tomorrow mornings session and making sure the session Chair is aware of the ideas and inputs you have been sharing... so add your comments below...