High Quality
Open the downloaded document, and select print from the file menu (PDF reader required).
ITadviser Autumn 2008
What is Web 2.0?
The term ‘Web 2.0’ has been attributedto Tim O’Reilly o O’Reilly Media, whichhe used to describe the applications andsotware that acilitate interaction andthe sharing o inormation betweenusers. It has come to represent a groupo technologies which have becomeassociated with the terms: blogs, wikis, podcasts, RSS eeds etc. These acilitatea more socially connected web whereeveryone is able to add to and edit theinormation space. I there is a Web 2.0then we might assume there must have been a Web 1.0. A simple defnition o thedierence is summarised as ollows:
✱
Web 1.0
relied upon specialist skills tocompose, ormat and publish content tothe web, and consequently was limitedto people and inrastructures that hadthese skills and capabilities. It was also primarily (though not exclusively) used asa broadcast medium or the disseminationo inormation.
✱
Web 2.0
technology enables anyoneto become a web publisher by hidingthe (web) complexity behind simple andeasy-to-use interaces, resulting in the prolieration o personal blogs (short or‘web log’). It also acilitates creativity,collaboration and knowledge sharingthrough web-based communities andsocial networking sites (e.g. Facebook).In this article, Web 2.0 is usedsynonymously with the terms ‘socialnetworking’ and ‘social media’, and allthese terms reer to people, sotware andapplications.
Web 2.0 and localgovernment
Take-up o e-government services inthis country, compared to others such asScandinavian countries, has been slow.The switch by customers to electronicdelivery channels in large numbers isdeemed to be more efcient and costeective. There is evidence (WillemPieterson and Jan van Dijk, 2007) thattrust in an organisation is a actor inconsumers choosing to use new channels.Use o social media is one way in whicha local council could become moretransparent, accountable and possiblyincrease citizen/customer perceptionso trust.Levels o trust and transparency in political institutions can explain thedecline in voting and uneven rates o participation in civic aairs. This hasled to the development o the themeo community empowerment. Thegovernment clearly anticipates that Web2.0 will acilitate access to the “… neworms o community out there whichgovernment is unable to talk to…” (TomWatson MP, Minister or TransormationalGovernment, 1 April 2008). Alongsideintroducing new statutory duties or localauthorities to engage with its citizens, ithas launched a Power o Inormation TaskForce to consider how public servants canuse the new social media to engage withits citizens and enhance local democraticrepresentation.Web 2.0 is also being promoted as thedemocratisation o voice, conversation andopinion. It is no longer necessary to beelite or amous, or have a newspaper, TV or production company behind you in orderto be heard. The cost o participation istrivial, where anyone can blog, or uploadtheir clip to YouTube, or their photos toFlickr. However, this is not to trivialisethe dierence between having a digital presence, whether it be a blog or a videoclip, and actually being heard. This iswhere local councils can make a realdierence, by utilising Web 2.0 technologiesto enable the voice o the community to beheard. This promotes the ideals o citizenempowerment, as endorsed by the recentCLG White Paper ‘Communities in control:real people, real power’.
Examples of Web 2.0 usage
One exemplar o how citizen’s opinionscan shape policy or modiy behaviouris the initiative Patient Opinion (
www. patientopinion.co.uk
). The objectivehere is to encourage hospital patientsto comment on their experience in theirlocal hospital. These comments are thencollated, categorised and aggregated beore being automatically directedto the relevant manager in the NHS.Though each comment may ocus on somemicro aspect o the service – e.g. “Theward orderlies never knocked”, or “Theconsultant never once washed his hands”,collectively they have the same power as ahighly organised lobbying group.Patient Opinion is a private sector,not-or-proft social enterprise thatgenerates income via subscriptionsrom Primary Care Trusts and StrategicHealth Authorities. Other examples o where social media innovators in the private sector have been busily active increating citizen-centric solutions aroundWeb 2.0 are sites such as MySociety(
www.mysociety.org
), with servicessuch as FixMy Street and PledgeBankdemonstrating how the technology can be used to engage directly with citizens.The entrepreneurial spirit is also evidentwith reelance individuals developing sitessuch as Local Gov Glossary (a wiki in thespirit o Wikipedia) and LGSearch, but thequestion remains as to why these sortso services are not developed, sponsoredor supported by local authorities. Perhapsthey will be in time.On a positive note, there is growingevidence that more councils are becoming
UtilisingWeb 2.0 inlocal government
How and why should local authorities be planning to exploit the collaborative features of Web 2.0 technologies?
Stephen Dale
investigates.
The author
Stephen Dale is an independentconsultant specialising in Web2.0 solutions for knowledgemanagement and communitycollaboration. For more informationgo to
www.semantix.co.uk
ITadviser Autumn 2008
actively engaged in developing onlinecommunity techniques within councils’own web services, with Redbridge (
www.redbridge.gov.uk
) being a notable example.Their use o online polls or getting eedbackon post ofce closures, and use o interactiveorums is pretty much ground breakingstu or local government. The whole sitehas that 21st century look about it, andmany other councils are now beginningto see the potential or integrating orenhancing their services using Web 2.0.One emerging trend is where councilsare using Web 2.0 to engage with a widerdemographic. By using social networkingand social media sites such as Facebookand YouTube, they can engage witha younger, harder-to-reach audiencewho would not normally read council publications, and it is a lot cheaper thanother alternatives. Durham County
web 2.0
Add a Comment