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Better Banking Blog (rss_2.0) (Urban Forum News syndication)
Bankers kick back in Davos whilst Parliament debates action on extortionate lending Reports from the World Economic Forum in Davos were full of stories of leading bankers, at various points; schmoozing G20 leaders, talking tough and pleading for forgiveness for the pain they have c...
Transparency hides a multitude of sins Last week Mark Kleinman (Sky News' City Editor) broke a story (http://blogs.news.sky.com/kleinman/Post:c63232fc-e28f-4e11-a04f-943ab67c641b) about secret talks between the high street banks and the ...
How can 60% interest for a credit card be too high, but 60,000% is okay? Urban Forum is supporting a new campaign to put an end to predatory lenders charging extortionate amounts for loans (http://www.endlegalloansharks.org.uk/). Here's why... Whether or not...

Steven Clift's Notes - Democracies Online (rss_2.0) (Your primary e-democracy source and community.)
[DW] Government 2.0 and Everyday Citizens and Democracy Speech to Council of Europe I’ve placed the audio from my 20 minute speech to the 47 nation Forum for the Future of Democracy organized last November by the Council of Europe online here: publicus.net/speaker.html Links to the extensive conference resources are available from that page as well. It includes some highlights from my Sidewalk for Democracy Online article and my [...]
Obama: Transparency and Open Government, Freedom of Information These memos are circulating all over the Internet. I would guess they will soon be up on WhiteHouse.Gov. “Government should be participatory.” I like it. For the many government friends, if you are looking for a source of ideas about how to use technology to operationalize such things, check out my slides and audio from “Great [...]
My One Billion Dollar Economic Stimulus Plan – Online Community Infrastructure Builders A little birdie told me that Obama’s transition team is looking for “shovel-ready” ideas. Creating jobs, that’s the goal right now. So instead of just concrete bridges, I’ve drawn up a digital bridge building framework to create 30,000 “Community Infrastructure Builder” jobs for about a billion dollars. While I know some of the people involved in [...]
How I would change Change.Gov, Pew survey on American’s great expectations for Obama online Every time I try to ramp up to tackle this post, I get struck by another by another, “oh, wow” when I visit Change.Gov. This week they have the Open for Questions experience (being discussed on our Consult@ group) and I just discovered their Seat at the Table option where groups can upload documents to [...]
Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the From: digitalyouth.ischool.berkeley.edu/report November, 2008 www.macfound.org Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project … Major Findings youth use online media to extend friendships and interests. Most youth use online networks to extend the friendships that they navigate in the familiar contexts of school, religious organizations, sports, and other local activities. They can be ï¿½always on,ï¿½ in constant contact with their friends through private communications [...]

Tim's Blog (atom_1.0) (Shared learning from Internet researcher Tim Davies.)
5-Stars of Open Data Engagement? [Summary: Notes from a workshop at UKGovCamp that led to sketching a framework to encourage engagement and impact of open data initiatives might contain] In short * Be demand driven * * Provide context * * * Support conversation * * * * Build capacity & skills * * * * * Collaborate with the community [...]
Exploring Open Charity Data with Nominet Trust [Summary: notes from a pilot one-day working on open data opportunities in third-sector organisations] On Friday I spent the day with Nominet Trust for the second of a series of charity ‘Open Data Days’ exploring how charities can engage with the rapidly growing and evolving world of open data. The goal of these hands-on workshops is [...]
Evaluating the Autumn Statement Open Data Measures [Summary: Is government is meeting the challenge of building an open data infrastructure for the UK? A critical look at the Autumn Statement Open Data Measures.] For open data advocates, the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement published on Tuesday, underlined how far open data has moved from a small geeks issue, to an increasingly common element in [...]
What does successful e-participation look like? [Summary: expanding on scribbled notes from a recent workshop on e-participation] A few weeks ago I took part in the YouthPart launch workshop in Berlin at the kind invitation of Nadine Karbach. YouthPart is a new project, led by the German International Youth Service exploring e-participation for youth engagement. I was there to give a short 10-minute [...]
Challenging Myths about Young People and the Internet [Summary: Workshop report from the Internet Governance Forum, Nairobi, 2011] I facilitated a workshop at this year’s Internet Governance Forum on the topic ‘Challenging Myths about Young People and the Internet‘. The workshop report is available on the IGF Website, and also available to read below. I hope it can act as a useful resource [...]
Random Hacks of Kindness – Oxford – 3rd/4th December [Summary: Volunteer for Random Hacks of Kindness, Oxford] Random Hacks of Kindness events bring together digital innovators to work on building practical open technology with the goal of making the world a better place. As a follow up to the open data day held in Oxford last December, this year White October are hosting a [...]
Deeper and wider: dialogue at the Internet Governance Forum [Summary: Reflections from the 2011 Internet Governance Forum] I was asked by Nominet to put together some reflections on this years IGF for their blog ahead of the Parliament and the Internet Conference last week. As I’ve not posted about IGF since I got back, it’s also reposted here… The challenge faced by the Internet Governance [...]
PhD and Practice [Summary: study as part of practice] This week was my first as a full-time PhD student with the Web Science Doctoral Training Centre and the Social Science department at Southampton University. It’s just under a year since I put in an application to start, and the start-date has pretty much fallen in one of the [...]
The Risk-Opportunity discourse is broken: Rethinking responses [Summary: Slides and paper given at EU Kids Online Conference yesterday] Yesterday I rather hurriedly (last presenting slot of the workshop at the end of a long day…) presented at the EU Kids Online conference around the draft model that emerged from the Youth Work Online Month of Action and other prior work to use the [...]
Digital innovations are not always digital (and other reflections on youth-focussed digital innovation lab design) [Summary: assorted learning from participation and hack-days applied to ideas about a youth-focussed digital innovation lab.] Right Here, Comic Relief and Nominet Trust have a really interesting tender out right now for someone to deliver two ‘Innovation Labs’ focussed on helping “young people to look after their mental health and to access appropriate help and support”. [...]

Designing for Civil Society (rss_2.0) (David Wilcox on social media, engagement, collaboration)
The birth of Our Society As I wrote earlier, one of the problems with the Big Society idea, when promoted as a brand by Government, is that it wraps together policies for a smaller state with practical action to promote local social action, social enterprise...
Back off the #bigsociety brand - let people choose their own label Two articles in today's Prospect magazine highlight for me why the Coalition government should scale back promotion of its contentious Big Society brand - if it wishes to see significant take up of its best ideas. Stop worrying Labour will...
Nat Wei explains Big Society: it’s like the Internet Nat Wei, one of the origjnators of the Big Society idea, and now a government adviser, uses his new blog to post what seems to me one of the most significant set of insights we have heard from someone close...
Community organisers for Big Society from both sides Ben Toombs, blogging at RSA projects, explores the role of community organisers, now being promoted by one Labour leadership candidate as well the Coalition. Does anyone know what plans there are to train the 5000 organisers promised under Big Society?...
Recent posts at socialreporter on evolving Big Society I posted four pieces at socialreporter.com giving my perspective on Big Society developments: this is the summary pieces with some first ideas on networking. Amplify’d from socialreporter.com Here’s a catch-up on the posts I’ve written over the past few days...

Neighbourhoods (rss_1.0) (Kevin Harris on neighbourhoods and neighbourliness, social inclusion, social capital, community engagement, citizenship, space and place...)
Dickens 200: that quote again "My faith in the people governing is, on the whole, infinitesimal; my faith in the people governed is, on the whole, illimitable." Charles Dickens, born 7 February 1812.
Neighbourhood care groups Neighbourhood care groups and organisations provide an astonishing social resource which seldom penetrates the policy-media consciousness. Some I know a little about, such as Brighton and Hove Neighbourhood Care Scheme, and Tower Hamlets Friends and Neighbours (where I was a trustee for a while). Now, thanks to Bernard Leach, erstwhile head of sociology at Manchester Metropolitan University, I’ve been learning a little about a group which has been active in Chorlton, Manchester for 44 years. Chorlton Good Neighbours (CGN) was established in 1967 by local people and has evolved to become a well-established charity offering a range of services to local older people. It currently has over 250 users and 70 volunteers. The group offers a range of practical support including transport and odd jobs for example; and various activities such as exercise classes, cooking sessions, and trips out. CGN recently carried out their own research with a view to capturing the benefits that are generated by organising care collectively and providing a context for volunteers. The research was based on a survey which asked about levels of confidence to meet and socialise; health, well-being, independence and self-worth; sources of information and advice; sense of safety; and feelings of involvement. This exercise illustrates the great value in having high quality informal local arrangements for people in need of help and support. Take this quote for instance: ‘there is also a policy of ringing up people if for example, they don’t turn up for sessions they normally come to, or if a volunteer notices when delivering a newsletter that there is a lot of mail uncollected... We go the extra step, not just because it is the correct professional thing to do, but because volunteers and users know each other and care for each other.’ Or consider the chart below, which hints at the benefits felt from the range of activities run by the group: The report suggests that: ‘Overall, the evidence base points to the conclusion that CGN’s activities do change users’ attitudes, lifestyles and their mental and physical wellbeing. It is reasonable to go on to conclude that such care services can lead to significant savings for both the NHS and the Local Authority’s Social Services… Core activities such as home visits, wheelchair support, coffee morning, Sunday teas and day trips will remain at the heart of what we deliver as they provide a haven of friendship and support – neighbourliness – which enrich the lives of all those involved with Chorlton Good Neighbours.’ For more details about the report, contact Bernard Leach – btleach { at } gmail.com.
Is inequality the new exclusion? In the late 1990s and early 2000s, ‘social exclusion’ was, rightly in my view, a major political issue in the UK and the theme under which a good deal of positive social change came about. But I sense that the concept is being replaced in our vocabulary by increasingly assertive discussion about ‘social inequality’. Two recent examples may in time come to illustrate this. Yesterday we had the director general of the Institute of Directors, Simon Walker, unhappy that Sir Fred Goodwin, former boss of RBS, had been stripped of his knighthood: “To do it because … you don’t approve of someone, you think they have done things that are wrong but actually there is no criminality … is inappropriate." So he still doesn’t get it, and shouldn’t be surprised if he is stripped of any credibility he may have had. My dad was a bank manager. He would have been appalled at the crass contortions being attempted by financial services cronies trying to justify their greed at the expense of several million other people. The ramifications of the behaviour of people like Goodwin, who arrogantly remoulded their roles in crude attempts to exclude social responsibility from banking when, as my dad would have observed, it is fundamental and ineluctable, are causing widespread poverty, stress and grief. But today we heard from someone who sounds a little more grown up, the chief executive of Deutsche Bank, who warned of a 'social time-bomb' from wealth and income inequality. Let’s be thankful that this man has shown awareness and a willingness to speak out. Who knows, he could start a trend. And maybe the money from the RBS chairman's declined bonus could go towards copies of The spirit level given to people like Goodwin and Walker and thousands like them, as part of mandatory workshops run by the Equality Trust? It would be good to see them shamed into learning something. Social exclusion as a principle theme of policy emerged from long-standing debates in Europe about poverty in the 1980s, which mattered because they expanded to include other forms of exclusion. Will something similar happen with ‘social inequality’, which is emerging in the context of 'public concern' about relative wealth? Social inequality is not just about wealth, is it? When do we get to the bit about power?
Compound interest Here's a lesson in grassroots democracy, from Libya. The BBC have a short report from Gabriel Gatehouse on a local democratic initiative emerging from the ruins of Colonel Gaddafi's former compound in Tripoli. After Gaddafi's cronies fled, apparently some 68 families moved in to the various buildings, some of which are extensive villas, some 'little more than concrete bunkers'. There is public discussion about turning the compound into a large park, but the squatters have organised themselves already, formed a residents' assocation, sent a petition to the national transitional council, and begun the process of negotiating another solution.
Local democratic participation and parking I sometimes wonder whether, in late medieval cities, there were disputes about where people left their carts. Car parking is a major issue in contemporary neighbourhoods, and inconsiderate parking infuriates people. Maybe some kinds of personality just get sparked by the very idea of public space, and always have done. I’m not known for defending car drivers, but when you have situations where residents cannot get their own cars out of their driveways because others have left their vehicles in the way for long periods of time, you have to ask whether there’s a problem understanding that others have a right of access to public space. A week ago I designed and ran a consultative process for a public meeting about car parking, in a large village on the outskirts of Sheffield. The material I had to work with included a lot of written remarks in open questions from an online survey, many of which suggested solutions and many of which consisted of repeated annoyance at inconsiderate drivers. The process I came up with may have helped move things on. One reason is that most participants apparently were expecting a conventional public meeting in which councillors said something from the front, were shouted at by a few worked-up voices from the rows, and nothing much changed as a consequence. There were no rows (in either pronunciation) – the chairs were set around tables, people had the chance to shape their own agenda (and therefore found it hard to complain if the meeting did not discuss what they wanted discussed); they had the opportunity to augment and comment, in groups, on every live proposition as it was passed round, using pre-formatted sheets which included a street map; and they had the chance to vote, at the end, on preferred options to address the parking problem. There was no disruption. It was local participative democracy in action. What was striking for me was the genuine sense of novelty among the participants, which I’m still absorbing. The sceptical might argue that just because some southerner comes in with an arty-farty creative approach, it doesn’t mean anything will change as a consequence. That remains to be seen. But I sensed from various comments afterwards that some people were grateful for a completely fresh experience of genuinely participative local democracy, which was, well, revelatory to them. That’s change, in itself. The car resembles the traditional meeting as symbolic of communication confusion: it helps us to share some information (like status, power or detachment); in a car you can say ‘we’ve been through’ somewhere much as the conventional meeting ‘goes through’ an agenda. And cars really mess up interaction, and all the unseen benefits that go with interaction.

thinkpublic » blog (rss_2.0) (The social design agency)
Mad Inventor? Curiosity Tickler? Reality Explorer? Apply Within! We’re on the lookout for Mad Inventors, Curiosity Ticklers and Reality Explorers! If you’re a Service Designer with a zeal for creating services that make people’s lives better, then we may have just the job for you. Find out about our opportunities for Reality Exploration here. We’re also looking for a Curiosity Tickler to to be our Head [...]
MANIFESTO: What we want from online public services As Government accelerates towards a world of public services that are digital by default, is this going to deliver the kind of digital services that move the public with them? To find out, thinkpublic partnered with Consumer Focus to undertake detailed research into some of the fundamental questions and issues that users of digital public [...]
From Hospital to Home Looking after the most vulnerable children: From Hospital to Home Children born with breathing problems need additional support, sometimes they need this support indefinitely. The Long Term Ventilation Team, based at the Royal Brompton Hospital, provides support for these children and help to train parents in the looking after their children. We’ve been working with [...]
Social Innovation through Sport We’re delighted to announce that thinkpublic in partnership with the Fitness Industry Association (FIA) is one of four winners of the national Keeping Connected Business Challenge run by the Design Council and Technology Strategy Board. Our winning venture is The Big League – Keeping Men Connected Through Sport. The aim of the Keeping Connected Business [...]
Season’s Greetings from thinkpublic! Rather than send out the traditional (and a bit wasteful) seasonal cards to our clients and friends, this year we decided to do something a little bit different, providing lots of fun and raising meaningful cash for charity. So it was that yesterday the thinkpublic team and our friend Eleanor Shipman ran an innovative Christmas [...]

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