www.involve.org.uk

Online Participation

• Public participation• Research• Practice• Cross-policy

www.involve.org.uk

• Public participation not just online• Not for profit• Non-partisan• Online best practice and planning tool for public participation www.peopleandparticipation.net

About you...

• Social networking site• Rated a service online• Read a blog• Commented on a blog• Written a blog

Who is online?• Over 60% of households (15million people)• Younger people...yet increasingly older people

Who isn’t?• The rest of us!• 60 and over• Socially excluded groups

But...more and more of us are going online!

What are they doing?

• Finding out information on goods and services (circa 80%)

• Using email (circa 80%)

• Using government sites (circa 60% of existing users do this)

What Web 2.0 can do for you.

...hang on – what’s Web 1.0?

• Information-giving• Limited interactivity• One-way flow of information• Top-down structure• Old-fashioned websites...?!

Web 2.0 is . . . Jargon?• Participative• Seeking interaction and input• Two-way flow of information• Not top-down• Collaborative• User Generated Content

What does that actually mean?

• Blogging• Social networking• Wikis• Forums and discussion groups

It is a tool to engage and involve people

Goes well with...• Tailored information provision• Multimedia• Accessible websites• Offline/ Face to Face Participation

A few examples....

Blogs

• Made up of user-generated content

• Like a diary• Purpose defined by its owner• Individuals or groups

Blogging – Why bother?

• Sharing resources and knowledge• Building new and open networks• Developing ideas/innovating• Reaching out to draw in new voices• Transparency and better communication• Personal development/reflection

Why don’t we all just...blog?

1. Convinced I won’t have enough time or inclination to update it.

2. What’s the use? I won’t have anything interesting or useful to say that hasn’t already been said by someone wiser.

3. Blogging is something other people do - I’m a commenter not a writer! It’s just ‘not me’.

My blogsperiment

Post blog reflections on...

1. Convinced I won’t have enough time or inclination to update it.

2. What’s the use? I won’t have anything interesting or useful to say that hasn’t already been said by someone wiser.

3. Blogging is something other people do - I’m a commenter not a writer! It’s just ‘not me’.

Blog in Groups

• Great way to start• Build a community• Take away the time-strain from

individuals• Share more!• All in one place - themed

Social Networks: A small selection

• Facebook www.facebook.com• Meetup www.meetup.com• YouTube www.youtube.com• Twitter www.twitter.com• LinkedIn www.linkedin.com• Flickr www.flickr.com• MySpace www.myspace.com• Bebo www.bebo.com

Why is it useful?

• Goes to the people• Organisational tools• Bridging online/offline• Convenience• Personal tailoring

A word of caution...

• Discourage anonymity• Encourage personal responsibility• Consider disclaimers – provide freedom• Remain transparent-

motives+boundaries• Use your privacy settings tactically!• Be open to criticism – respond and use it!

SummaryThere’s a great deal out there to use and explore The web as we know it is changing - and fastIt is worth investing time to see for yourself.

Other stuff...Specific tools like pledgebank, theyworkforyou Social bookmarking like del.icio.us, diggRSS feedreaders like bloglines, browser basedPersonalised startpage like pageflakes, netvibes

Take-Aways

• A Supplement not Substitute• Share Smarter• Nurture Innovation and Learning• Go to the People• Involve Users in Development• Evaluate

A new kind of ending...

http://cased.wordpress.com

alice@involve.org.uk

www.peopleandparticipation.netwww.icele.org

Share your thoughts and concerns. Find solutions with help from others!

Thanks to...

• Jared – creative commons image• ONS – statistical info• Tim Davies – inspiration for ‘reasons to blog’• Slideshare – this presentation will be made

available on slideshare.

See you online!