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Office of National Statistics Small Area Geographies Consultation Blog

Method(s) Used


Name of person who posted the project:

Kerry Ryan


Location of project:

United Kingdom


Date when the project started:

2006


Date when the project ended/project ongoing:

2007


Background to project:

The Office for National Statistics is the principal provider of official statistics about the UK; its information is used by government to make decisions about society and the economy. Its material is also available to members of the public.

Purpose of project:

The ONS is keen to establish a long-term small area geography policy which will be used for Census 2011 and the development of Neighbourhood Statistics. The aim is to support the production of coherent and useful data that can be used with confidence by a range of organisations. To this end, the ONS produced a policy proposal and opened it out for consultation. The proposal was to develop stability with the existing Super Output Area geographical hierarchy, meaning that where there has been significant population gain or loss, areas will be subject to simple maintenance changes at the time of the Census.
The blog was launched alongside the conventional consultation response routes and an online survey. The blog entries were to follow the structure of the main points of the policy proposal, but it also provided the consultation team with a place to react to what they had read, heard or seen as the consultation moved forward.
The team was keen that stakeholders - and members of the public - used the blog to keep up to date with the progress of the consultation, and as a means of drawing the ONS' attention to particular issues related to their proposals.
The proposed policy affects the whole of the UK.

Project activities:

Weblog (third-party build, design and hosting).
The blog author (Nick Stripe) was a policy official. He was supported by the ONS communications division, which was responsible for promoting the blog; the communications team was available to moderate comments when the author was unavailable.
Moderation of comments was carried out prior to publication; this was principally the responsibility of the blog author.The blog was public and anyone could comment; although name, email and acknowledgement of the terms and conditions were required.

Project results:

Strengths
  • This exercise was an innovative use of a blog application in a consultation context;
  • The blog�s purpose was clear to both its managers and users;
  • Driven by the innovative medium, the tone of the consultation was unique;
  • Respondents were provided with a choice of online submission routes (blog, email and survey);
  • The consultation team had a clear idea of who respondents and blog users would be;
  • The blog generated a good quantity and depth of user comments in a short time-frame;
  • The blog had a comprehensive set of basic technical features in place.

Potential for improvement

  • The initial intention to structure blog entries around consultation themes (in the consultation paper) was not pursued;
  • To sustain initial interest the blog required more frequent interactions between users and the author;
  • More should have been made of the stakeholder community that formed around the blog. Providing direction on where users could follow-up on this activity should have been the minimum.

Contact details:

www.onsgeography.net

Source: 'Digital Dialogues Second Phase report' - Hansard Society/Ministry of Justice 2007

eDemocracy Programme,
Hansard Society,
40-43 Chancery Lane
London WC2A 1JA
e - edemocracy@hansard.lse.ac.uk
t - 020 7438 1222

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