Audit of Political Engagement : Duty to Involve

The Hansard Society published its latest Audit of Political Engagement on April 1st. Makes for a fascinating read considering how much energy has gone into meeting NI4.

(NI4: National Indicator4 is a benchmark by which local authorities are judged on how empowered people feel at a local level.)

I have highlighted some of the most interesting parts from a public engagement perspective here below in green.

Perceived influence over decision-making at the local and national levels
An overwhelming majority of the public feel they have ‘not very much influence’ or ‘no influence at all’ over decision-making in both their local area (73%) and the country as a whole (85%). However, more people feel they have an influence in their local area than in the country as a whole (25% versus 14%).

So it seems as if there is a swing towards local influence rather than national, yet still the positive results are very low overall showing that the public at large still feel disengaged from the policy decisions that affect their lives.

Reasons for not feeling influential in decision-making
The most commonly cited reasons for not feeling influential in decision-making point to a belief that politicians and the political system overlook the public’s views. The top two answers, ‘nobody listens to what I have to say’ (29%) and ‘decisions are made without talking to the people’ (20%) convey a strong feeling among the public that they are ignored by decision-makers. Other popularly cited reasons include ‘the system doesn’t allow for me to have an influence’ (19%) and ‘politicians are just out for themselves’ (17%).

So, we have more opportunties than ever before to be listened to through a variety of initiatives at local and national levels – yet still people feel as if their input is not taken into account, that decisions will be made without them.

Desire to be involved in decision-making
Half the public do not actually want to be involved in decision-making in their local area. Even more – 55% – do not wish to be involved in decision-making in the country as a whole.

This is really the most interesting one for me – about half of us just don’t want to be involved… why is this – I have a number of ideas:

1) because we feel like we’re not being listened to by those in power as mentioned above.

2) We’re too busy and tired to get involved anyway, we have better things to do with our time (see below.)

3) The formats for engagement that exist require alot of time and effort for people to participate in them effectively-in other words, traditional methods are still letting us down.

4) The effects of ‘consultation fatigue’ or cynicism increase owing to many meaningless consultation tickbox exercises. These create a vicious circle, bringing down the standards and reputation of public involvement across the board, and reaffirming people’s feelings of not being listened to.

Barriers to participation among potential participants
People who do not currently feel that they have an influence in decision-making – but who say they would like to be involved – were asked what factors, if any, prevent them from doing so. Nearly half (40%) cite lack of time as the main reason.

Let’s have a quick dose of realism to finish off – it seems like we basically have better things to do with our time! The experience of public involvement at national or local level should be a pleasure, not a pain – it is just one of many activities and commitments that competes for attention in people’s lives. Too often, still, it is an uninspiring experience for those who do actually turn up at the town hall.

The Duty to Involve (which requires local government to involve citizens in decision making as a matter of course) has just come into play as of April 1st. I just hope that it leads to higher quality, more considered consultation and involvement – not just MORE consultation and involvement. If this is the case, then we should expect to see even worse results in these areas in next year’s audit.

So – if we want people to engage with services, with local decision making and with policy formulation then we are going to have to try a damn sight harder to make those processess better; making them more

1) Genuine

2) Open and Inviting

3)Enjoyable

4) Responsive (ie. tell people what happened afterwards.)

I am sure there are a few more to add to this… any ideas?

CauseWired : A Web 2.0 Book Review

Review In Brief: Causewired is a new book by Tom Watson which chronicles next generation social activism, or the ’causewired’ phenomenon – people connecting directly on social issues using the web to make a difference in real life. Its pretty interesting, has some good real life examples of the power of web 2.0 so you should probably go & check it out!

Review in Full: Its true that I don’t habitually get my news through the broadsheets anymore – and that when I do get the chance to spread out the newspapers and browse through them it feels like a luxury. Maybe its something to do with the amount of time and concentration it takes to rifle through and unfold the various supplements, find what I’m looking for without a search engine, and then read something with a wordcount longer than 500 in its entirety without any links to source material or comments from other readers to distract me…. ;)

Despite my lack of dexterity and slight attention dysfunction – I do still persevere with getting information in this way, albeit less often than I used to. Of course, this move away from the printed press doesn’t mean that I read any less information, or that I’m accessing it less often. In fact my information sources are far greater in number, infinitely more diverse and (too) frequently accessed by me than ever thanks to RSS, e-newsletters, blogs, Twitter, online journals, and regular Amazon deliveries of the latest books to take my fancy.

So… I’ve increased my digestion of online, interactive, peer to peer, user generated news and info alongside a scaled down consumption of the of printed stuff; but whatever printed articles and books I do choose to take the time out to read from this deluge of information - I’m reading them quite differently now.

The way I access and absorb information has become far more interactive. As I read, I am more actively re-evaluating the text than before, wondering what other people I know think of the material and (much to the irritation of certain print fanatics!) am constantly writing notes in the margin of printed articles/books and intermittently googling references as I go…wondering more than ever before ‘what does this actually mean in practice for me, for my work, friends family?’ etc.

So, bearing in mind all of the above, I hope you’ll better understand what I did when I received a copy of Tom Watson’s new book CauseWired last week and why it matters.

What I did when I received Tom Watson’s CauseWired last week … and was it worth it?

Unsurprisingly perhaps, I started reading from the beginning, marking the interesting sections in the margin (of which there were many) and then googling my favourite references and quotes in what proved to be a fascinating chronicle of the way in which social media and connectedness is changing the face of philanthropy and activism.

Tom W writes clear and interesting accounts of how regular people have used social media tools to highlight the ongoing issues they face in their community or that they care about across the globe. He disscusses the citizen-led coverage of New Orleans post Katrina, of how Darfur and cancer research centres came to be so well supported on Facebook, of how the face of political campaigning is being changed forever, and many other fascinating practical examples of social web tools in action. I googled all of this stuff, and proceeded to skip around a few chapters back and forth and skimmed some bits, went on to discuss the references with colleagues and IM’d a couple of friends about what I’d read. Then I joined the Facebook group and contacted the author on Twitter to let him know I’d be writing something up about his book on my blog.

Then I lent the book to someone else interested in online stuff – and I hope to get it back to read the bits where I left off to go googling… :) Then I watched some Obama videos on YouTube, joined a Darfur campaign group on Facebook and sent an awareness raising video to a few friends, and finally, I clicked online to donate some money to a small charity in Africa that I only heard of and keep in touch with through email/blogposts.

The book is a great resource for anybody who wants to better understand what all this web 2.0 stuff actually does, and what it means for ordinary people right across the globe when it comes to social change.

So, yes, it was worth reading; and what is more, it was worth passing on, so I wrote it up here on my blog.

Web 2.0 is changing everything we do in a whole variety of ways both online and crucially in our everyday lives -some of these shifts are more subtle than others and they even apply to a bog standard book review like this one.

So below, please find the rest of my web 2.0 book review, or in other words – check out these links for more info. What you choose to do with that info will be the interesting part… :)

Max Gladwell

Steve MacLaughlin

The Mongoose

David Bailey

Only Connect

So, I’ve been getting some stick as to what this blog is about exactly -  and would refer you on to the about section…. if you’re too lazy to click, have copied it in below!

—-About—-

Only connect

The more we fill our lives with tasks and objects, the less time we have to connect with one another and with ourselves. 

This blog is all about repairing and renewing our connections – whether that is to yourself and your inner motivations or to friends, family, neighbours, strangers and structures of governance and power. I look at these ideas through the rather blurred spyglass of engagement, personal empowerment, public participation and involvement and aim to focus in on ideas around communities, people and connections in a way that brings it all back to practical outcomes and end results.

In a world where ‘anger and telegrams’ define our urban environments more often than ever – the call for connection has become ever more urgent.

Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon. Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, And human love will be seen at its height. Live in fragments no longer. Only connect…

Without it we are meaningless fragments, half monks, half beasts, unconnected arches that have never joined into a man. With it love is born, and alights on the highest curve, glowing against the gray, sober against the fire.

–E.M. Forster, Howards End —

Bla bla blah….etc.

The last word.

I originally said I would run this blogsperiment for three months. The original first post which explains my rationale can be read here.

Well, three months have gone by pretty quickly, and sadly, its time for me to say goodbye :’(

Thanks to my mother, my one anonymous commenter- and of course the viagra spammers for making this a really special three months.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Only joking!!!!!!!!!! I have decided to stay on with the blogging – has been a really rewarding experience so far. :P Thank you to everyone who has been supporting the idea behind the scenes and of course particularly to the commenters! Over the summer, expect to see a facelift on this blog, maybe even a transfer to another blogging platform…. and a general tightening up and organisationfest. But whatever happens expect to see more of me and my participation ponderings and terrible, terrible jokes.

Two weeks on : update on the blogsperiment

Well I’ve been blogging away for two weeks now. Time to take a quick look back and see what I’ve learned so far… plus a quick note on Jemaine’s lips.

Originally, I said I have been put off blogging before for three main reasons:

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’.

Well, in response to the concerns above I have learned the following:

1) I have actually enjoyed it so far and particulary the meeting of new people with plenty of enthusiasm and ideas who I probably wouldn’t have beein in touch with otherwise. Time to update is the main problem for me so far – there are a couple of draft blogs waiting to go up that I haven’t had time to finish off properly. For me, the best blogs are brief and to the point with a few key  links – I feel that works best.

2) I think I’m over my insecurity complex on that, though there is a related point here….

3) I guess what I mean by this is that on the web I usually find time to post up a quick reaction or two on others’ blogs or consultations from time to time but previously hadn’t naturally been inclined to find the spare time to write my own longer articles up just for the sake of it. I think this is still true – my preferred blog posting style is more of a comment than a developed article – I save that stuff for my dayjob!

Just to let you know how its going statswise 

My least popular day was the first Sunday when a mere 4 readers came on to check out my genius. (Quality not quantity darling) then went on to peak at an astounding, mindboggling 76 in one day. Yes, I know- this is the bigtime.

I am currently looking at how I can make this blog more useful to people looking for tips on blogging and Web 2.0 in general and will be creating pages with ‘how to’ sections in the near future looking at things like social bookmarking, writing your first comment on a blog, creating your own blog, offline participation/facilitation tips, using rss feeds, using youtube - whatever else comes to mind.

Hopefully this will be helpful for those many confused souls out there looking for a bit of basic support! If anyone has suggestions then let me know.

Update over- will keep you posted on similar matters in another couple of weeks.

PS. Only one person has clicked on my Larry David blogroll link in the whole two weeks. Nobody at all has clicked on Flight of the Conchords! Tragoedia :’(

The least you could do is to check out Jemaine’s lips!! This is the real life incident that inspired the same scene in the show…not that I’m the fanbase or innything.

There’s a plan?

Yes, the rumours are true – there is a plan…

I’ve been thinking how to structure this blog thingummy in a way that will make it a useful resource – and moreover to make sure it hits the spot somewhere between interesting and informative – hopefully managing both simultaneously! See my introductory post. 

So … I plan to split up the subject matter as best I can into three areas:

1.Public participation in all its many and varied forms (tag/category:pubpart)

2.How my blogging is going – documenting my learning and general web-based flailing around (tag/category:blogging)

3. A few links to interesting bits and pieces that I find lying around the wwweb – all work and no play is dull after all…. :) (tag/category:stuff)

To try and help you order this info I’m going separately tag all of my off topic non-participation related posts categorise as ’stuff’, then make sure that all of my public participation and blogging posts have either blogging or pubpart on there as a tag and category. Simple eh?

Er, yes you blogging novice, but what’s this pubpart thing?

Well, what it is not, is something to do with hanging around having a hearty drink, nor is it the opposite of privatepart. (Although thanks for those suggestions people!)

What it IS, is a way of trying to bring together all of the many diverse participation-related resources and information from across youth, health, development, community - all policy areas both online and off by marking them with a recognisable tag in a community tagging project. This could work much like the nptech tag monitored by Beth Kanter in this weekly digest or along the lines of the tag aggregator recently used by ruralnet in their co-design process.

Please check out Tim Davies’ far more considered explanation of how pubpart will work here.

A public participation community certainly exists both in the UK and internationally but as a whole is so loose and fragmented across a number of policy areas and interests that there are few places that draw together expertise from across the board.

[Check out www.peopleandparticipation.net for one such cross-policy participation effort. I think its a good start, but then I am quite biased as I do work for Involve! Let me know what you think about the site on here:) ]

The idea of using a community tagging system like pubpart is one way of further unifying the many different voices out there which touch on various aspects of public participation and involvement, be it edemocracy, social media, PPI networks etc.

I’d be really interested to know what you think about the idea and to know if you’ll be joining in yourself.

—-

My link of today: 

Do poor people use Yahoo and those better off use Google?

If this is so, what does it say about online cultures?

A blogging experiment begins…

I don’t blog. I think blogs are for other people. That’s about to change…

I work for www.involve.org.uk on all things participatory (more about that later). You might think that would include online participation, and yes it does in the broad research sense – but  on a personal level I have consistently put off starting a blog of my own for these main reasons: 

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’.

So what made me change my mind?

Well, I met up with Tim Davies last week and had a very interesting chat about blogging, the barriers and the ways in which people use webtools in the context of real life. It got me thinking that it would be really useful to try out an experiment where somebody whose brain is not naturally prone to neatly categorise thoughts nor document them in a timely way (ie. me) to have a shot at blogging.

So, I’m beginning this blogsperiment with these goals in mind:

1) To share my own learning

2) To help better connect public participation people and related ideas

3) To add a dose of realism to the world of the already immersed bloggers out there

4) To have fun and share some personal interests

I will run it initially for three months, trying hard to connect with others and write useful regular posts  and then let’s see where we get to!

So, thanks to Tom for giving me the final push and thanks to Lisa Sabin-Wilson for writing WordPress for Dummies.

I’m starting for real on Monday 18th and will re-assess in three months time on May 19th.

Over and out.