Civic Leadership Blogging Guidebook

Civic Leadership Blogging
Guidebook
Second Edition
Published by the International Centre of Excellence for

Local eDemocracy, United Kingdom © 2007
www.icele.org
About this guidebook
This guide has been compiled from a number of sources, including
industry experts on blogging, with a particular focus on civic leadership
weblogging. Many of the examples are based on the experiences of a
government-backed pilot into blogging in the public sector.
The International Centre of Excellence for Local eDemocracy (ICELE)

provides resources for local authorities concerning good practice in
eDemocracy, and is a continuation of the Local eDemocracy National
Project funded by the UK Government.
This guide provides advice for civic leaders and councils regarding
good practice in relation to the subject matter.
ICELE would like to thank the following people for their

contributions to this guide:
Griff Wigley, Blogging Coach, Minnesota USA
The Hansard Society (Political Blogs – Craze or Convention?)
Wolverhampton City Council
For more guides, please visit www.iceleguides.org
© 2007: www.icele.org
Preface
The phenomenon of citizen journalism, facilitated by information
technology, is a worldwide success story. A weblog, or blog, is a
personal journal on the web. Weblogs express as many different
subjects and opinions as there are people writing them. Some blogs
are highly influential and have enormous readership while others are
primarily intended for a close circle of family and friends.
Weblogs are essentially free (or very cheap) lightweight and

disposable content management systems. Often they come ready-
packaged and provide an immediate structure for content.
The power of weblogs is that they allow millions of people to easily

publish their ideas, and millions more to comment on them. Blogs are
a fluid, dynamic medium, more akin to a ‘conversation’ than to a library
– which is how the web has often been described in the past. With an
increasing number of people reading, writing, and commenting on
blogs, the way we use the web is shifting in a fundamental way.
Instead of being passive consumers of information, more and more
Internet users are becoming active participants.
* *
It is estimated that there are 55.2 million blogs worldwide and 75,000
new blogs each day. Most bloggers update their pages regularly; there
* *
are about 1.2 million posts daily or about 50,000 blog updates an
*
hour. Around 55% of bloggers are still posting three months after their
blogs were created. This means that the ‘Blogosphere’ doubles every
six months; by 2009, there will be an estimated 8.8 billion blogs.
Meanwhile, most blog readers/users tend to follow a relatively modest

†
number of feeds . The number of feeds ‘that really matter’ is
comparatively small and only tends to double each year compared to
†
the bi-annual growth of the blogosphere .
Increasingly, other forms of post – such as video blogs (vlogs),

podcasts and amateur video clips – are contributing to the rich media
mix of citizen journalism. As such, the blogging platform of choice
must be able to handle, integrate and allow for easy manipulation of
new media.
*
Source: Technorati.com, April 2006
†
Source: Ebiquity group, April 2006
Contents
CHAPTER ONE: THE BASICS ........................................................... 1
What is a blog?................................................................................. 2
How to spot a blog............................................................................ 3
Who can blog? ................................................................................. 3
Why blog? ........................................................................................ 4
Key drivers ....................................................................................... 5
Which software?............................................................................... 6
What to consider in blogging software ............................................. 7
Recommended criteria for a successful platform............................. 8
What’s on offer? ............................................................................. 11
Examples of blogging platforms ..................................................... 11
Is keeping a blog difficult?.............................................................. 12
Who’s the best blogger? ................................................................ 15
CHAPTER TWO: UK CIVIC LEADERSHIP BLOGGING.................. 16
Local eDemocracy Pilot ................................................................. 17

Pilot community activity.................................................................. 18
Pilot successes............................................................................... 19
Conclusions from the pilot.............................................................. 19
CHAPTER THREE: THE BENEFITS................................................. 21
Citizens........................................................................................... 22
The local authority and senior officers ........................................... 22
Elected members and officials ....................................................... 23
The dangers of blogging ................................................................ 24
CHAPTER FOUR: GOOD BLOGGING ............................................. 26
What to blog ................................................................................... 30

CHAPTER FIVE: HOW TO BLOG EFFECTIVELY ........................... 42
How to promote a blog ................................................................... 54

Multimedia and mobile blogging .................................................... 57
Tech skills checklist........................................................................ 59
Blogging checklists......................................................................... 60
CHAPTER SIX: THE LEGALITIES.................................................... 61
Executive summary........................................................................ 62
General legal issues....................................................................... 64
Additional legal issues for council-funded sites ............................. 67
Political content .............................................................................. 68
Links to political websites............................................................... 71
What changes during election campaigns? ................................... 72
Other considerations ...................................................................... 72
Example of typical blogging terms and conditions ......................... 73
Example of typical acceptable use policy ...................................... 75
Example of typical legal page footers ............................................ 76
CHAPTER SEVEN: PROVIDING SUPPORT .................................... 77
Training .......................................................................................... 81
GLOSSARY ....................................................................................... 82
THE BASICS
This chapter explores the rudimentary questions around blogging and

the blogosphere. In this chapter you will find out what a blog is and
why it is a useful leadership tool. It also covers blogging software and
provides examples of some good blogs.
The biggest worry among civic leaders is “is it difficult to keep a

blog?”; we explore some of the issues and find answers from everyday
bloggers.
1
CHAPTER ONE: THE BASICS
What is a blog?
This used to be an easy question. However, as blogs become more
widespread, it gets harder to define them succinctly.
Starting with the basics – ‘blog’ is short for ‘weblog’. A ‘blogger’ is the
author/editor/owner of a blog. ‘Blogging’ is the practice of keeping a
weblog.
A blog is a website (with a few quirks) and can be accessed just like
any other site by using any device that has a compatible web browser.
The blogs of elected members from the ICELE programme board

are shown here.
Matthew Ellis is the chairman of

ICELE and Staffordshire county
councillor. His blog has a
distinctive look, in-line with his
political party.
www.matthewellis.org.uk
Mary Reid is the vice-chair of

ICELE and has been blogging
since January 2005. Mary is
also the serving Mayor of
Kingston- Upon-Thames and her
blog is an intriguing insight into
her daily duties.
www.maryreid.org.uk
2
How to spot a blog

Blogs are easier to recognise than they are to define. Blogs are online
self-publishing platforms. The graphical look of a blog, the subject
matter, length, volume and posting frequency of its content are at the
discretion of the blogger, but these variations are flesh on an
otherwise fundamental frame.
Blogs are diary-like in structure but run in reverse chronological order

with the most recent entry appearing first. Entries are commonly
known as ‘posts’; these can be visual but are usually text-based. Each
post is accompanied by a date and time stamp.
A blog is also identifiable from an abundance of links embedded in the

content of each post, and the ability visitors have to post comments in
response to blog entries.
Who can blog?

The beauty of blogging is that anyone can do it – you, your mum or
the Prime Minister. It requires a bare minimum of technical
appreciation but a fair amount of imagination and interest in writing.
Software for setting up a blog is readily available online and much of it

is free. Running a blog is a low-cost, easy-to-manage means of
maintaining a presence online. As a result, the practice of blogging
has quickly picked up mass appeal and looks set to expand as access
to computers and the Internet increases.
3
Why blog?
The people who keep blogs range from schoolchildren to government
ministers. Therefore, the subject matter for blogs can range from UN
treaty resolutions to pet rabbits. Just as themes vary between blogs,
so do motivations for joining the blogger ranks.
At a most basic level, some people just want to say to the world with
their blog, “I’m here!” Some people might start a blog to keep close
friends or relatives in touch with a public-facing diary. Many blogs are
like this.
Other blogs have objectives that are more definite. Some people – be
they recognised experts or not – use their blogs to collect informative
links that might prove useful to other experts or indeed to a non-expert
audience.
Many elected members blog because they recognise that they can
reach-out to a wider and more diverse audience and ultimately win
votes. A councillor blog can easily run-up 100 unique visitors per day
within the first year.
Corporations and institutions are increasingly turning to blogs as a

means of engaging their customers or the public in dialogue. However,
in doing so they have to contend with the many, many bloggers out
there who are taking advantage of the ‘free-speech’ platform provided
by blogging. These ‘free speech’ blogs have the object of countering
messages from big business and their top-tier management. For
example, in the recent US presidential elections, many bloggers took
up a scrutiny role in the face of mega-spend election campaigns and
partisan media coverage.
Increasingly, blogs are being used not to communicate with people on

the other side of the world but instead as tools for communication at a
much more localised community level – either among residents or
between representatives and those they represent.
To put it simply, people blog because they want to share thoughts or

information with a range of like-minded or opposed people, in a
manner that is cheap and easy to maintain.
4
Key drivers
There are a number of benefits for local authorities who embrace
blogs. Primarily these are about fulfilling government targets, such as
providing easily maintained websites for councillors, but there is also a
cost saving to be achieved over a full content management system.
Blogs can have real operational benefits:
• efficient internal communications for teams (private blogs)

• increased web traffic for the referring local authority
• networking of likeminded individuals on a particular problem,
issue or interest
These couple with some valuable personal benefits:
• the ability to chronicle your own life and look back on your
achievements
• reporting in your own words
• helps to consolidate your day in your own mind, potentially
providing slicker reaction to media interest
• self-marketing
The benefits of blogging are explored in more detail in Chapter 3.
Bear in mind that any individual can start a blog without the permission
or approval of their employer. A wothwhile recommendation for policy
officers would be to consider implementing employee policy on
blogging and citizen journalism relating to corportate affairs.
5
Which software?
There is much blog-publishing software available online. Each
presents a slightly different play on the tried-and-tested blog structure,
appearance and back-end content management system.
Because there is so much on offer, it can be difficult to know where to

start. Which software is easiest to set up? Which is the best for my
purposes? Do I buy into a ready-made service or customise and install
my own?
There are no easy answers to these questions. Much of the practice of

blogging is trial and error, and the initial setting-up stages are no
different. However, this should not count against blogging, but instead
be a recognised as a characteristic of any emerging technology or
mode of communication.
Bear in mind that the organisation that hosts or operates your blogging
platform can restrict the type of content that bloggers publish (see
Chapter Two for more details).
6
What to consider in blogging software

The main things to consider when choosing blog software are who
should host it, whether it should be ready-made or DIY, and how
content will be managed.
Hosting the blog
Like other websites, blogs need to be hosted on a server

(conventionally incurring a yearly fee). If you already have a website
then you can use its web space to host your blog as well. Otherwise,
you will need to either buy some web space or choose a blog platform
that comes with free hosting.
Ready-to-go services such as blogger.com provide hosting with their

blog software, so all you need to do is sign-up online and start
blogging.
Ready-made or do-it-yourself?
Many blogging services will build the blog for you, your role being
simply to input the content you want. Other options give you the raw
materials and it’s up to you to set up the blog as you see fit – though
this does require more time and technical appreciation.
The choice between ‘ready-made’ and DIY will also have implications
in terms of look-and-feel. Although there is an element of
customisation in most blogging software, being template-driven the
ready-made platforms restrict customisation. Basically, the more
involved you can be in the build, the more control you will have over
how the finished product looks.
7
Content Management
Updating is an essential aspect of blogging. The vast majority of blog

platforms come as standard with a password-enabled system through
which you will create, edit, delete or archive the text and pictures of
your blog.
Some blogs have more sophisticated management systems than

others have; some have none at all. Suffice to say you should always
check the software specifications to make sure of what you are getting
before you press ‘download’ or ‘sign up’.
Recommended criteria for a successful platform

For bloggers
• usage statistics
o history function and referrer data
• easy posting
o WYSIWYG editor with spell checker
o automatic resizing of photos
o easy to insert links
o easy to insert podcasts or vlogs
o includes design templates
o draft entries
o publish posts on future dates
o tags (to sort posts)
o blog categorisation
o post from a mobile phone or email
o preview feature
o ability to edit posts in HTML
o 20MB or more of space
• easy management of comments
o moderation options
o censor list (i.e. reject comments based on bad word lists)
o email alerts when new comments are posted
o spam filter on comment forms
8
• advanced rights management

o group blogging with multiple authors
o invitation of ‘co-authors’
o mark entries as ‘external’ or ‘internal’
• other pages
o About me
o Contact me (via web form)
• linkage
o RSS
o blogroll
• security
o secure login (https)
o password reminders and expiration
• other
o ability to forward your own domain name to the blog, so its
URL is more memorable
For readers
• indexing of blogs
o search tools
o location-based searches
• ease of making comments
o understand that a comment has been submitted and how
it will be acted-upon
o ability to view and navigate blogs
• design
o compelling design
o accessible
o works in a number of main internet browsers
o trackbacks
o RSS feeds
o syndication of the most interesting portal activity
9
For administrators
• disclaimers
• rules
• adherence to standards (e.g. web accessibility)
• user administration
o newsletters
o warnings / sign-up procedure
10
What’s on offer?
Blogging is ‘big business’ today and there is an established roll-call of
companies offering the ‘ready-made’ blogs. These compete with
developers who, individually or collectively, develop free-to-download
ready-made or self-set-up blogs.
‘Webmasters’ amongst us could of course whip up their own blog

platform. However, given that the appeal of blogging is its low-cost,
ease of initiation and straightforward maintenance, most of us will
choose a ‘ready-made’ solution.
Examples of blogging platforms

Here are a few links to those platform providers with the biggest
market-share (constituting a mix of free and paid-for-services):
• www.drupal.com
• www.tblog.com
• www.fotolog.net
• www.blogger.com
• www.livejournal.com
• www.movabletype.com
• www.wordpress.org
• www.21publish.com
• www.readmyday.co.uk (operated by ICELE)
It’s best to have a look at the blogs built using these platforms before
going ahead with one.
If you decide to start your own blog then please register it at

www.readmyday.co.uk. Doing this will ensure that ICELE has a
comprehensive directory of UK civic leadership blogs.
11
Is keeping a blog difficult?

Once you have set up your blog, its destiny is in your hands. The
maintenance of a blog can be the most demanding part of the whole
process. The difficulty is not technical; rather it is about staying
motivated to update content, interact with visitors and develop the
potential of your blog.
So, before starting to blog, consider the following aspects of blogging

and build a rough game-plan around them so that you are going in
prepared.
Authoring
The spirit of blogging demands that a blog be updated on a regular

basis. This doesn’t mean every day, but it does mean making a
commitment.
Ideally, this commitment is honoured by the person who owns or is the

‘face’ of the blog. However, there is no hard-and-fast rule about who
does the updating. For example, some blogging MPs delegate
updating duties to members of their staff. Blogging can also be a
group activity, with each member sharing responsibility for maintaining
the blog.
Authoring is flexible. However, it is recognised as ‘good form’ in the

blogging world to be completely truthful about the identity of the
person who has carried out each update.
Linking
Blogging is driven by its network potential. Alike blogs make a habit of

linking up with each other and cross-referencing content. This practice
is about making information as widely available as possible and
establishing networks and communities. It also makes your blog more
visible.
Linking was certainly what sparked off blogging and some would
argue that it remains at the core of any blog. Although a blog shouldn’t
become a mesh of links, the standard practice is to include links
wherever possible within individual posts or in side-columns.
12
Commenting
Not all blogs allow visitors to comment on posts. Some platforms allow
no commenting at all; others allow their authors to switch the facility
off. This is considered ‘bad form’.
Commenting is not something to be feared; rather it is to be positively

encouraged. Commenting is perhaps the most fundamental feature
that differentiates a blog from a common website.
Some blogs or posts receive no comments. When comments do

appear, some will be in agreement but some will put forward
alternative viewpoints. The ability to have this dialogue is the ‘social
function’ that blogs fulfil. Commenting allows the free-flow of ideas and
the sharing of information, and promotes free speech.
Our experience is that blogs attract very few comments compared to

the number of viewers of a particular post. This can be for a variety of
reasons, such as a feeling of hesitancy based on a readers’
perception of their ability to join the debate. Most of the time it’s simply
down to the time and effort needed to engage.
People that leave comments tend to provide short and succinct

statements that don’t necessarily form conversation threads.
Encourage active participation by providing incentives or implementing
simple feedback mechanisms such as post ‘star ratings’.
On occasion, commenting facilities are subject to misuse or irrelevant

posting. A competent platform will allow authors to delete such posts
or filter them before they arrive. For any blogger who checks up on
their content on a regular basis, this sort of thing should prove no
more than a nuisance (if it ever happens at all).
13
Add-ons
Blogging is one of the fastest-developing areas of the web. Although

there is a standard structure to blogs, there are plenty of tools
available that can add extra layers of functionality.
Some add-ons are useful (search forms, audio players, news feeds),
others are just quirky (weather forecasts, random image generators,
Space Invaders games). It is worth trying different tools to improve
your blogging capability, technical skills and the blog’s overall appeal
amongst the millions of others out there.
One of the most useful add-ons is called ‘feedburner’. Feedburner

(www.feedburner.com) allows blog owners to provide a subscribe-by-
email function on their weblogs. For more information, see Chapter
Five.
14
Who’s the best blogger?

A good blog is all in the eye of a beholder. The success of blogs
depends on many factors such as subject matter, writing ability and
visibility on search engines and other blogs.
Below is a short list of blogs that command a fair amount of respect in

the ‘blogosphere’:
www.technorati.com... Not so much a blog as a good directory of

blogs and what’s currently hot in the blogosphere. This site trawls links
and conversations taking place on blogs and rates their popularity
accordingly.
www.blogpulse.com ... Similar to Technorati, it trawls all the blogs out

there to see what’s being talked about. This is a good place to start
navigating your way around the blogosphere.
www.dear_raed.blogspot.com ... This blog shot to attention at the start

of the Second Gulf War. Its author, Salam Pax, was at the time one of
the only Iraqi voices audible in the maelstrom.
www.ziboy.com ... This is an example of a photo-blog. It belongs to a

young Chinese journalist who provides an insight, without words, into
modern living in big-city China.
www.callcentrediary.blogspot.com ... ‘Call Centre Confidential’

provides an insight into working as a team leader in a call centre. It’s
one among an increasing roll-call of ‘workblogs’.
www.downingstreetsays.com ... ‘DowningStreetSays’ grabs data from

the official Downing Street site’s Press page and then re-presents it to
allow the public to make comments on what was said.
www.tom-watson.co.uk ... Tom Watson was hailed in the UK as the

‘first blogging MP’. His remains one of the best attempts at blogging by
a parliamentarian.
15
UK CIVIC LEADERSHIP BLOGGING
Political blogging is well established in UK to the extent that

directories of blogs are already comprehensive
(http://www.voidstar.com/ukpoliblog/). Most of these tend to be
‘personal’ blogs started on free platforms that have a mixture of blog
types (e.g. www.blogger.com).
The state of blogs in the civic leadership and local authority domain is
less well formed; nevertheless, there is a growing collection of
personal pages and local-authority sites such as
www.matthewellis.org.uk and www.chesterblogs.co.uk. However,
there are comparatively few government officer blogs.
The restriction on political content governed by the Councillor Code of

Conduct and the concerns of Communication and Press Officers has
meant that councillor and chief executive blogs are also scarce. The
Local eDemocracy National Project addressed this with the
ReadMyDay pilot (www.readmyday.co.uk), which was an
independently hosted free platform for civic leader blogs.
16
CHAPTER TWO: UK CIVIC LEADERSHIP BLOGGING
Local eDemocracy Pilot

Although some individuals have spearheaded the use of blogs for
political or leadership purposes, the Local eDemocracy National
Project was the first to explore the concept on a large scale.
A pilot project was started in 2004 to develop models for weblogs

specifically for use within local government. Officers, chief executives
and councillors had the opportunity to start their own individual and
customizable blog, and to get involved in a community of bloggers
who shared ideas, experiences and the civic leadership theme.
Under the web portal www.readmyday.co.uk, civic leaders were

provided with free weblog space, technical support and off-line and
online coaching over a three-month period.
An issues forum was set up alongside the blogging service so that

participants could chat informally and contact the virtual web-coach.
After the pilot, civic leaders were provided with continued free use of
the service and their own free domain name, such as
www.yourname.me.uk, that linked to the blog.
The aims were to expand the capacity of local-authority weblogging for

democratic and civic purposes by
• reviewing how the blogs have developed and changed over a

short pilot period
• comparing and contrasting how effective weblogs are at
raising awareness of the work of chief executives and
councillors, and engaging citizens in a meaningful way
• identifying how weblogs could be used in engaging and
consulting citizens more effectively
• providing recommendations and establishing best practice in
the use of weblogs by elected representatives
• providing guidance for bloggers with respect to UK legislation
• increasing awareness of blogs and providing education and
training on blogging for participants
17
• providing a bank of resources for bloggers, including links to

available blog platforms
• providing a free-to-use and expandable platform for bloggers
Pilot community activity

Although citizens were encouraged indirectly to read their local leader
blogs (via national and local press releases), the nature of the pilot
was such that direct marketing was deemed inappropriate. The project
also consisted of a review panel (a mix of citizens from various socio-
economic backgrounds) to provide critique to the participants, and
Hansard Society evaluation papers.
Participants were encouraged to spread the word about their blog

within their circle of influence; T-shirts promoting the platform were
printed as a mechanism for members to advertise their blog outside
this remit should they wish to do so.
To complement the online coaching provided by Wigley Associates,

the Hansard Society ran two seminar workshops in Westminster. The
first workshop put blogging in the wider context of eDemocracy in the
UK, and the keynote speaker was one of the leading Westminster
bloggers, Richard Allan MP, Secretary to the APPG for eDemocracy.
The second workshop highlighted the pros and cons of blogging for
elected representatives and civic leaders, and the keynote speaker
was Clive Soley MP, another MP blogger.
This workshop was also a unique opportunity for the participants to

hear a face-to-face presentation from their online coach Griff Wigley
(our US partner in this project), together with one of their civic
leadership bloggers, Scott Neil, City Manager of Eden Prairie,
Minnesota.
Griff and Scott also toured UK councils for a period of one week during
February 2005. This was a key part of a national recruitment and
education drive.
18
Pilot successes
The enthusiasm of the participants was surprising. Although there
were cases of apathy, it was found that the number of bloggers who
maintained their personal pages without encouragement was
excellent. Furthermore, many civic leaders who went on to read their
colleagues’ blogs also wanted one of their own.
Given that there were 626 posts to the ‘blog issues’ forum from only
20 participants during the project, it was clear that the pilot had worked
in bringing a likeminded community together.
Today (April 2007), readmyday.co.uk attracts around 1200 visits a day

and has over 100 members (of which 57 have posted in the last
week).
The success of the ReadMyDay pilot is attributed not only to the

capability of the tool but also to the supporting blog coaching, legal
guidance and community nature of the service. In essence, it offered a
‘one-stop shop’ for local-authority blogs, which allowed unrestricted
political content.
Conclusions from the pilot

The bloggers stressed the importance of new skills and challenges
encountered in the pilot:
• marketing and publicity among citizens

• the Digital Divide
• IT literacy
• legal guidance
• time constraints
One of the participants in the project summed up the main challenges

a busy civic leader faces when taking up blogging: “Making time
available; learning a new skill is hard in a pressured environment; as a
Council Officer it could be a risky business; and trying to be both
honest and apolitical.”
19
Mary Reid, Chair of the National Project Board and one of the
ReadMyDay bloggers, concluded her impressions about this project:
“This is a quick and easy way of fulfilling the (then) ODPM National
Priorities around councillor websites. I would strongly recommend this
as a solution instead of council-funded CMS systems, as it allows
councillors to act as the elected representatives that they are and not
be constrained by restrictions on political activity.”
Despite the listed challenges of this pioneering project, the participants

were unanimous about the great contribution that blogs could make to
the UK’s political process. Griff Wigley summed up the advantages:
“They can increase accountability, allow us to reach an audience

that’s interested in what we’re doing even if they’re critical of the way
we do it. They can help us think things through and show how we
learn and develop public policy as a result of our learning. They can
help develop a positive impression of the places we live in.”
A legislative guide is provided in Chapter Six; this is based on the

current interpretation of the law and outlines the permissible content of
blogs and highlights the danger areas.
Though it is not a legally binding document, it should help new

bloggers, councillors and local-authority officials to build confidence in
this innovative way of working with their constituency, and provide
guidance about linking between blogs and council websites.
20
THE BENEFITS
This chapter provides the justification for civic leadership bloggers.

The benefits cover the three main eDemocracy audiences: citizen,
councillor and council.
As well as benefits, there are pitfalls. Although we believe strongly that

the benefits outweigh the dangers of blogging, it is necessary to
familiarise yourself with the issues that an ill-conceived blog might
encounter.
21
CHAPTER THREE: BLOGGING BENEFITS
Citizens
The practice of weblogging is making local-government sites more
attractive to visitors, replacing the often dry, formal and static content
of traditional government websites.
Blogging allows an open discussion to take place, in which everyone

can see the dialogue. Although the pilot did not set out to benefit
citizens immediately, the use of blogs by an increased number of civic
leader bloggers should strengthen the democratic process on a
number of levels. First, there is a new communication channel by
means of commenting on posts. Second, the citizen can access first-
hand information rather than going by media reporting.
It is hoped that citizens will better understand the workings of

government by reading blogs. Furthermore, they may come to better
appreciate that political decisions are not solely work-centric, and
understand the schedule of a local-government representative.
The local authority and senior officers

Although no financial benefits are immediately realised, local
authorities can benefit from increased exposure of their leaders.
Likewise, cross-county developments can be monitored.
Weblogs are perfect for internal communication and provide a way of

cutting down the huge burden of email. Department Heads could set
up weblogs to communicate with staff members, or committees could
use weblogs to post minutes, to-do items and the status of projects.
Blogs can be used for internal knowledge management, by
encouraging key staff to blog their collective knowledge rather than
keeping it locked up.
There is also a management benefit. Staff blogs could help managers

know better what was going on in their organisation. Conversely, it
would also let staff know what their manager was doing.
Of course, government staff have the right to set up blogs

independently of the department, and being draconian about things
would just send bloggers underground. The best option is to create a
fair weblog policy that lets staff know where they stand.
22
Elected members and officials
Councillors from North Lincolnshire receive training
Councillors have a running commentary of each other as well as

officers via blogs. This benefit, as well as exploring consensus by
asking audiences questions in the blog, can improve the effectiveness
of a councillor. There is efficiency in posting to a blog instead of
replying to a number of emails, and councillors will undoubtedly
appreciate the transparency.
Blogs also offer a direct independent information channel for citizen

communication that may be preferred over personal councillor
websites. Updating a blog is much more straightforward and
convenient in many instances and so information tends to be much
more up to-date. For example, a blog could be updated via SMS (text)
or MMS (picture) messaging on a mobile phone. Moreover, a blog can
easily be updated with audio, which is useful for those councillors with
little time to write articles.
23
A blog can help demystify the workings of government, while at the

same time creating a sense of empathy and trust. For the ministers
and departments themselves, a blog is a great way of getting
important information out to the public, unfettered by the media. If
government blogging became popular, editors and journalists would
subscribe to government blogs, so it would be a great way of getting
information out to the media as well.
The dangers of blogging
Blogs tend to be informally

written, poorly structured,
prone to spelling and
grammatical errors, and
feature non-traditional
content. This can expose the
blogger to a raft of criticism
and, at worst, legal action.
Despite a voice of authenticity, blogs can also be used to deceive or

jibe publicly – comment threads can become unpleasant and bloggers
require regular contact with their readers. Once a blog is formed, there
is an expectation that it will be maintained, and that the blogger will
provide images (i.e. bloggers need the mobile technology to make
interesting posts).
Examples of adverse activity on the ReadMyDay platform were

leakages of policy, claimed deformation and cases of deleted
comments, which attracted unwelcome press coverage.
Even so, the strength of the blogging community, and nature of the
disclaimers used on ReadMyDay, has not resulted in any action being
taken against the bloggers or operators of the system. Likewise,
bloggers have benefited from increased publicity and tracking by the
media, which has resulted in invitation to debate on issues at a
national level.
24
A weblog is a communications tool, typically without an editor. So a

few cautions are in order:
• Never post something in a blog that you wouldn’t say to a

media reporter. Composing weblog posts is typically done
when you’re alone and able to be reflective, but don’t let that
lull you into mistaking your civic blog for a journal or diary
where “the truth” as you see is put down in writing. Never lie,
but be selective with your truths.
• Blog posts can be deleted and edited, but the original text gets
out on the Internet very quickly via RSS feeds and search
engine spiders. Therefore, it’s best to keep your posts in draft
mode until you’re certain that they’re ready for prime time.
• Be sure to reveal any conflicts of interest in a post. For
example, if you’re welcoming a new business to your city and
you sit on the board of directors of that company, include that
in your post.
• Realise that your blog will be read very closely by your political
opponents.
• If your blog becomes popular, it’s easy to devote too much
time to blogging at the expense of more important areas of
both your professional and personal life.
25
GOOD BLOGGING
In the course of any leader’s week, there are literally hundreds of

interactions with colleagues, constituents, staff, media and other
members of the community. Whether these interactions are face-to-
face, by phone, electronic or paper-based, they comprise the bulk of
how leaders exhibit their day-to-day influence.
A phone call from a constituent, a conversation with a staff member at

lunch, an email exchange with a colleague, an off-topic discussion at a
team meeting – all are likely evaporate into thin air, for all intents and
purposes, as soon as they’re concluded.
Even most paper documents, such as memos and reports, are quickly
relegated to the trash, the shredder, or the filing cabinet, never to be
seen again.
26
CHAPTER FOUR: GOOD BLOGGING
With a weblog, leaders can select from among this never-ending

parade of interactions the ones that they deem strategically significant,
and give them a longer ‘shelf life’. With a post to their blog, the story of
the interaction immediately gains a wider audience, while making it
significantly easier for that audience to pass the story around to others
who they think should know about it.
Prospective civic leader bloggers frequently ask, “How much time is

blogging going to require?” It’s a fair question. Blogging feels like just
another task when you first start out, and it does require some time
commitment to work it into your week. But once you experience
feedback from your blogging that not only are others reading your blog
but that it’s starting to have influence, your attitude towards the task of
blogging changes because it becomes strategic. “I’m going to blog this
because I know that she’ll read it and pass it on to…” “When this
group of people sees what I’ve blogged about this, then they’re more
likely to…” You start to realise that your blog leverages your
leadership strategies in time-effective ways.
¾ Use a voice of authenticity to have a one-to-one conversation

with an audience.
27
A local-government or organisation website, in most cases, is a static

collection of documents – information-rich but often perceived by site
visitors as a dead brochure, its pages often written by anonymous
authors in an impersonal, public-relations style. A weblog, however,
can bring a voice of authenticity to a website, with a more personal
and engaging tone that has wider appeal.
During the depression era of the 1930s, U.S. President Franklin

Roosevelt began using the mass communication medium of radio to
address the American people about public issues in a series of what
he called ‘Fireside Chats’. The effectiveness of these addresses was
in part due to FDR’s ability to deliver them in an informal and relaxed
tone, while making listeners feel as if he were talking directly to them.
Likewise, the radio addresses by Winston Churchill during World
War II had a direct conversational quality.
Although the issues are less weighty and the audiences vastly smaller,
a weblog offers a civic leader the same opportunity – a one-to-one
conversation with an audience of many.
¾ Provide another way for people to interact with you.
A weblog is primarily a software publishing tool, one that gives its

author a platform where ownership is not in question. But most weblog
platforms allow a ‘comment’ feature to be turned on, thereby creating
a means for public interaction with blog visitors. A blog also stimulates
private email responses, either via a ‘contact me’ form on a web page
or via a publicly posted email address. Much private email can be
answered via a weblog post, as explained later in this document in the
section titled ‘Answer your email with your blog’.
¾ Convey your message directly to citizens instead of

depending on media institutions.
Local government is frequently at odds with local media in how it is

portrayed. This is exacerbated by the fact that politicians and
journalists are rated equally low by the public when it comes to ethical
standards. So, rather than relying on the media to convey one’s
message to a mistrusting public, a weblog offers local public officials a
chance to communicate with the public directly.
28
¾ Extend your presence with a selective window into your day.
Above: Blog post reporting on car congestion
Broadcast media (radio and television) has an advantage over the

written word in that it can report news and other events live. This real-
time element makes many news stories more compelling to the public.
Leaders who blog soon learn that, by giving their blog visitors a
selective, near real-time window into parts of their workday, they make
their blogs more compelling to read and therefore more influential.
29
A proven technique is to post photographs of your engagements and

to contact the institutions you visited with a link to your blog at the end
of your day. This is particularly effective if you have a public-facing
role such as Mayor.
¾ Make public life more real to the public.
Much of what goes on in the day-to-day life of a public servant goes

unreported. Conflicts and partisan political manoeuvring tend to get
the media coverage, while doing ‘the work of the people’ often gets
ignored. A blog allows public officials to give the public a more realistic
view of their day-to-day work.
What to blog
New bloggers often are at a loss on what to write about. Experienced
bloggers often fall into a pattern of blogging on a narrow range of
subjects. Here’s a list of types of posts that can help keep your range
broad… and thus make your blog more interesting for your audience
to read and for you to write.
• illustrate your values, mission, goals and strategies

• provide recognition of an employee, a colleague, an
organisation or business in the community
• leverage your media diet
• chronicle a decision or a current, unresolved problem
• teach about a service, programme or department
• point to changes or additions to your website
• reveal aspects of your non-work life
• teach about the complexities of an issue
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¾ Illustrate your values, mission, goals and strategies.
Most of us find it difficult to remember the organisational statements of

mission, purpose and values that are plastered on our walls and
websites, even ones that we helped write. It takes real-life examples to
make them come alive. Blogs provide a convenient way to tell short
stories that indirectly convey your values and illustrate the overall
direction of your organisation, your current individual focus, and the
strategies being deployed to get there.
In this post by Andrew Crisp, Surrey County Councillor, his short

story tells much about his values and his beliefs about the
mission of a councillor.
31
¾ Provide recognition of an employee, a colleague, an

organization or business in the community.
Effective leaders typically have many ways to acknowledge the

contributions of people in an organisation or organisations in the
community. Formal types of recognition have some duration to them;
they last beyond the moment of acknowledgement because others
keep finding out about it. Here are some examples:
• the employee of the month who gets written up in the

organisation newsletter has their story seen by others over the
course of an entire month
• a volunteer who receives a plaque at the annual meeting gets
to hang it on a wall where others can comment on it in the
months and years ahead
• the non-profit organisation who gets an official recognition at a
city council meeting gets written up in the local newspaper and
is congratulated by others who weren’t at the meeting
•
However, good leaders know that these formal kinds of recognition are
rare. Therefore, the informal forms of recognition – the verbal pat on
the back, the thanks on the phone, the email kudos – are often more
important for acknowledging people and organisations.
Moreover, the spontaneity of these makes the acknowledgement feel

more authentic and more personal to the recipient. One of the most
effective ways to acknowledge someone informally is to tell someone
else a story about them. Why? Because it has a better chance to
spread around, just like the formal recognitions described above.
32
Stephen Hilton, Communications Manager for Bristol, posted this

short story about a former employee, triggered by a recent email
from her.
A positive remark directly to the person being acknowledged generally

goes no further because to most people it would feel like bragging to
tell someone else. But if the positive remark is made to someone else,
the recipient is very likely to repeat the story to others.
33
A blog post recognising an employee, a colleague, an organisation or

business in the community is an effective way to accomplish the
informal form of recognition with the impact of the formal.
Others see the post and mention it; some pass around its
URL/permalink via email to others, thereby widening its impact; and
the search engines store it indefinitely, thereby providing opportunities
for serendipitous acknowledgement far into the future. Here are some
technical tips: include a recent photo; insert photos of the people being
recognised; insert the logos of organisations being recognised and link
to their websites.
Andrew Brown, Lewisham Councillor, blogging about organ

donation at the request of a fellow councillor.
34
¾ Leverage your media diet.
‘Media diet’ refers the range of content one regularly consumes from a
variety of media: newspapers, magazines, newsletters, TV and radio
shows, websites and weblogs, etc. As a civic leader, you can select
items from your media diet and blog those you think your readers
might find interesting.
In the not-too-distant past, many leaders would photocopy important

articles and hand them to colleagues and staff members. More
recently, emailing the text of the article or the link to it is more
common.
But blogging the media item (and linking to it, of course) and then
adding your own commentary on it gives it additional ‘shelf life’ and
makes it seem less like email spam. The link encourages your readers
to deepen or widen their understanding about an issue; as a public
official; one thing you want to encourage is a more involved, more
informed citizenry. In addition, the author or publisher of the original
piece will likely appreciate the link, and it encourages the search
engine spiders to keep returning to your blog.
Durham Councillor Paul Leake used a link to a local-newspaper

article about poverty to heighten awareness of local conditions.
If your media diet includes other bloggers, it’s acceptable to attach a

comment to their post. But it’s generally more interesting (and there’s
more of an incentive) to write in your own blog about what you read
and then link to the blog post that you’re writing about. That’s how the
blogosphere works. It helps widen your audience, as you’ll likely get
others doing the same to your blog, thereby steering readers to you.
35
¾ Chronicle a decision or a current, unresolved problem.
If you have an important decision to make, or are facing a difficult

problem that’s not likely to be resolved any time soon, use your blog to
chronicle the way you’re dealing with it. Using your blog in this manner
is a way to become better informed about an issue prior to a policy
decision. Writing about what you’re experiencing and learning
deepens and clarifies your understanding. Just stringing a few
sentences together as you attempt to describe the problem can often
trigger ideas.
Blogging before a policy decision increases the likelihood that others

will contribute suggestions and ideas about it because they sense that
you are learning and are willing to be influenced. They may offer some
insights based on similar experiences.
36
Blogging publicly about how you go about becoming better informed

gives the public and your colleagues a better idea about how you
approach complex issues, which can strengthen your potential
influence on the issue. The archived blog posts show your efforts to
understand the problem and increase the likelihood that people who
disagree with your decision might appreciate the thoroughness of your
approach to it.
Blogging about a problem or upcoming decision as you go along

brings the issue alive for those who are marginally interested. Many
citizens may not care about an issue that doesn’t immediately affect
them, but observing how a local leader struggles with it can ignite their
interest.
Durham Councillor Paul Leake blogged about how he was getting

better informed about a process for public involvement at council
meetings.
A final benefit is that the archive of your blog posts provides a

convenient way to refer back to your thinking about an issue, a
problem or a decision. When the day comes that you find yourself
changing your position on an issue and having to explain yourself, it
adds credibility to be able to point to those weblog postings where
your thinking at the time is detailed. It can make your new position
seem less like ‘spin’ to your readers and can minimise the impact of a
‘flip-flop’ charge by your opponents.
37
¾ Teach about a service, programme or department.
Government websites usually provide an overwhelming amount of

information on the services, programmes and departments that serve
the public. This is usually in static form: HTML pages, PDF documents
and pages of internal and external links.
But people still like to learn from other people. The demand for
teachers (at all levels) is not diminishing in this age of information
ubiquity. A weblog post, written in the conversational tone of a
personable teacher, can be the next best thing to a face-to-face
conversation where the information is conveyed.
A blog post also offers some things that a face-to-face conversation

doesn’t typically offer, namely links for the interested reader who
wants to go deeper, and a record of the information that can be
referred back to at one’s leisure.
So use your blog to teach. Help citizens see what their taxes are being
spent on and the benefits accruing from it. Wrap your message around
a recent story, including the names of people involved, if possible. Use
photos and images to attract attention as well as to inform. And link,
link, link – to web pages on your own organisation’s website as well as
to other sites so people can easily go deeper if they want.
In the future when you need to revisit some aspect of the service,
programme or department, you don’t need to repeat yourself. Just link
to your own original post and expand from there.
38
Tower Hamlets Councillor Louise Alexander blogged about

Community Plan Action Groups.
¾ Point to changes or additions to your website.
Website visitors typically don’t mouse around a site looking for

anything that’s new since the last time they visited, but they will expect
your blog to be constantly updated. Therefore, your weblog can be an
effective conversational kiosk, alerting people to other parts of your
local authority’s website that have recently changed. Let your staff and
colleagues know you’re willing to do this.
39
¾ Reveal aspects of your non-work life.
Citizens don’t often get to experience their civic leaders in roles other
than their public ones. There’s seldom an appropriate venue for a
leader to do this with an audience of any size. However, a weblog
allows you to tell a story from your non-work life – family, friends,
hobbies, leisure time – with no other purpose than to put a human face
under your bureaucratic hat.
You simply want to convey that you’re not any different from the public
you serve. You’re a taxpayer, a family person, a user of the parks, a
community volunteer, etc. You have a personal stake in the overall
health and vibrancy of the community you live and work in, just as they
do. The more that people see you as they see themselves, the greater
the likelihood that they’ll treat you with civility and respect.
Tower Hamlets Councillor Louise Alexander’s famous

‘refrigerator manifesto’ blog post.
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A civic leader’s blog is not a place for mentioning your personal

problems, nor for deep, personal reflections. A non-work blog post
should never be revealing to the point of causing any discomfort to
readers. Composing weblog posts is typically done when you’re alone
and able to be reflective, but don’t let that lull you into mistaking your
civic blog for a journal or diary.
¾ Teach about the complexities of an issue.
In age of media sound-bites, issues often get reduced to simplistic

‘either/or’ characterisations for the public. Leaders more often must
take the time to understand the complexities (the shades of grey) of an
issue where others see only black and white. A blog offers an
opportunity for leaders to share some of their deeper understanding
with the public. A series of posts, each embedded with a recent story
that illustrates one aspect of the issue, can provide a palatable way for
a leader to teach about the issue.
41
HOW TO BLOG EFFECTIVELY
“Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the
people.”
William Butler Yeats
Once you understand why blogging can be an important leadership

tool, you’ll increasingly have more than enough ideas for topics (the
‘what’). However, there’s a bit of craft involved in knowing how to blog
effectively. In this section, we explain the ‘how’.
• Link, link, link

• Tell stories
• Insert photos
• Insert relevant images
• Post short and frequently instead of long and infrequently
• Answer email with a blog
• Promote discussion via a blog
• Give notice if you stop blogging
42
CHAPTER FIVE: HOW TO BLOG EFFECTIVELY
¾ Link, link, link.
Master the art of quickly adding relevant links to your posts. Why?
• it allows your readers to easily go deeper and broader

• search engine spiders come back more frequently when they
see links in your posts, as their algorithms depend on them
• those you link to generally appreciate it and are more likely to
link back
¾ Tell stories.
Why do we go to more movies than lectures and seminars? Stories.

Who are the best lecturers? Those who fill their presentations with
stories. Storytelling as an organisational and leadership strategy is
currently undergoing a bit of a boom. Magazine articles, books,
workshops and whole conferences are now devoted to the subject.
Why?
43
From The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the Art and

Discipline of Business Narrative, by Stephen Denning: “Leadership is
essentially a task of persuasion – of winning people’s minds and
hearts. Typically it proceeds inductively by argument from one or more
examples towards a more general conclusion about the goals and
assumptions we should adopt towards the matter in question.
Storytelling is thus inherently suited to the task of leadership.”
We all have a knack for telling stories in an informal social setting.

“Hey, guess what happened to me today” we say to our family
members and friends. Listen to the conversations at parties and you’ll
hear a constant stream of storytelling. So the idea is to use storytelling
in your blog in much the same way as you use it in informal social
settings – but towards a leadership or management goal.
• Sparking action
• Communicating who you are
• Communicating who the company is – branding
• Transmitting values
• Fostering collaboration
• Taming the grapevine
• Sharing knowledge
• Leading people into the future
44
Denning says it’s a myth that “the effective use of storytelling in

organisations involves crafting and performing a ‘well-made story’,
with a hero or heroine, a plot, a turning point and a resolution”. There
are levels of complexities to stories and certain elements need to be
included, depending on your purpose. Even the smallest incident is
more compelling reading when framed with a short, simple story:
• “I ran into a citizen in the hallway yesterday and she asked…”

• “My colleague [name/link] handed me the latest issue of
[periodical/link] this morning and suggested I read the article
on….”
• “On my way home from work last night, I passed the park
where…”
Most leadership storytelling strategies are focused on the why and

how of oral, performance-oriented storytelling where tone, voice
inflection and gestures come into play. That makes sense whenever
there’s a face-to-face audience available, or if the storytelling is to be
broadcast.
However, written storytelling via a weblog can be an effective,

alternative delivery method, and it has some advantages over oral
storytelling:
• Your audience-of-many is always available

• A blog post (via its permalink) can get easily passed around
via the web and email.
• The permalink of the blog post never dies. If your story turns
out to have long-lasting impact, its web address can be linked
to indefinitely.
Here are some weblog storytelling tips:
• The real names of people involved can help to make the story.
Include them, with the people’s permission. Frame your story
with time and date, such as “yesterday…”, “earlier this
morning…” or “last Tuesday…”.
• Describe the place, or at least name it. If you don’t have the
time or skill to ‘set the scene’, it can help to use a photo.
45
• There’s hardly a blog post that can’t include some elements of

storytelling. Imagine yourself talking to a colleague or friend
about what it is you’re blogging and then bring that tone to
your post.
¾ Insert photos.
Most of us have a slice of vanity in our emotional makeup and having

our photo appear in a civic leader’s blog is a little ego boost. The
word-of-mouth factor then comes into play – a blog post with a photo
increases the likelihood that its permalink will get passed around via
email and linked to in other blogs, as well as mentioned verbally, e.g.,
“Hey, I saw your photo in whatshisname’s blog this week…”.
Roy Taylor, Director of Community Services in Kingston on

Thames included this photo of his staff who accompanied him on
a recent trip.
Photos can also be instructional. Use them to illustrate a situation or a

problem, with or without people in the shot.
In addition, it’s often easier to take a photo of a flyer, poster, map, or

other visually-oriented document and put it into your blog than to
obtain the original digital document that was used to create it and
upload it to your blog.
46
Digital cameras and camera-equipped mobile phones make it

considerably simpler and more cost-effective these days to include
photos in your blog. Get in the habit of taking a camera with you
everywhere and looking for opportunities to capture information and
people that are relevant to your civic leader weblog.
Expect to be reluctant – shy, even – to use your camera to take

photos of people. It initially feels awkward, that you’re intruding on
people when you don’t know them very well. It’s surprisingly hard to
overcome this, but once you start getting feedback on your photos it’ll
spur you on to get over your shyness to do what needs to be done!
When approached about a photo, people often make comments about

how they’re not suited for it – their clothing or hair or how they always
take terrible photos. It’s often enough to just say something like, “Well,
this is just for my blog, not a fashion magazine” in a light-hearted tone
and they’ll go along with it. Otherwise, tell them they can see the shot
after you take it, and can approve or reject it. But never be insistent –
you don’t want a paparazzi reputation.
Photos also help to ‘set the scene’ for your storytelling and, as images,
they break up text-heavy posts.
47
¾ Insert relevant images.
The general public is one of the audiences for your civic blog, and the
media culture they live in is heavily visual. If your blog is 99% text,
you’re likely to have trouble getting them to be regular visitors to your
site. Print-based newspapers, newsletters and magazines all have a
long history of using page-design, headlines and graphics to draw the
attention of readers’ eyes and to make it easier for them to read. The
simple format of weblogs tends to encourage a blog author to just
write and post, without giving much thought to visual appeal.
Anne-Marie Darroch, Communications Officer for the Wychavon

District Council in Worcestershire, included this council tax
‘pizza leaflet’ image in her blog post.
The content and writing style of a text-heavy post might be compelling

enough to engage the reader all the way through. However, more
often than not, a civic leader doesn’t have the time or talent to make
most of their public policy posts compelling enough for the average
citizen to at least be tempted to give it a glimpse.
Therefore, it’s helpful to use freely available images from the Internet
to both give the reader a visual cue as to what the post is about, and
to break up the text so that the post isn’t so overwhelming.
48
Durham Councillor Paul Leake included a map in a blog post

about a planned bus lane.
The most likely candidates for images are as follows:
• the logos and banners of organisations that you’re mentioning

in your blog post
• clip art
• images that help explain the content, such as maps and
diagrams
49
¾ Post short and frequently instead of long and infrequently.
Long (more than a screenful), text-heavy posts to your blog when you
need the space to explain something in detail are perfectly
appropriate. Use the blog software’s ‘extended entry’ feature, if it has
it, to only display the first paragraph or two. This gives people the
option to read on if they’re interested and makes skipping to the next
post in chronological order easier.
However, beware of falling into the trap of thinking that you always
have to have long, substantive posts. It will likely discourage you from
posting frequently. Short, frequent posts help you maintain your
audience, and they develop your blogging discipline.
¾ Answer email with a blog.
As a leader who blogs, you can expect that you’ll increasingly be

contacted via email and phone by individual citizens, colleagues,
potential collaborators and, of course, detractors. As a novice blogger,
you’ll likely appreciate this attention for the most part because it can
mean that your blog audience is growing. But there may come a time
when the volume of email (and associated phone calls) generated by
the interest in your weblog starts to feel more burdensome than
exhilarating.
Part of the problem is that when people contact you individually (by
email or phone), the natural expectation is that you’ll respond to them
individually. It seems like the polite and professional thing to do.
However, your blog gives you an option that you didn’t have before:
the ability to respond to an individual so that all your readers can hear
or read it. You leverage your response so that it has the potential to
deliver the most benefit.
You’ve probably done something very similar to this already when

giving a speech. Someone near the front of the room raises their hand
and asks you a question. You start to answer their question and
someone towards the back of the room shouts out, “Can you repeat
the question?”
50
You respond with “Oh, I’m sorry, certainly. The question from this
gentleman here in the blue suit in row two was…” as you face the
audience. Then you turn back to the questioner and, looking them in
the eye, start with your response to them, with occasional glances at
the audience. You’re having a one-to-one conversation with the
questioner while many other people listen to it. Your blog can work
much the same way.
When you get an email or a voicemail, ask yourself “Could my weblog

audience benefit from my reply to this person?” Instead of replying
with a return email or phone call, consider FIRST posting a note to
your weblog: “I got an email yesterday from a citizen who was
wondering why the Council…. Others might be interested in my
response, so I’m posting it here.”
¾ Promote discussion via a blog.
While a blog is primarily a publishing tool for you, it can also be used
for interaction with your readers. At the most basic level, it means
having an email address (a ‘mailto’) listed on the sidebar of your blog.
It’s preferable, however, to have a link to a ‘contact me’ form on a

separate web page. This prevents spambots from harvesting your
email address. Moreover, people are more inclined to use a form
rather than a ‘mailto’. You can then include a link to this page in the
body of your blog posts occasionally, e.g., “If you have suggestions on
this issue, Contact Me.” When you get email responses, resist the
temptation to reply via private email and use your blog instead, as
described above.
Most weblog platforms allow you to switch on a comment tool which

enables people to attach comments in message board fashion to
individual weblog posts. The number of comments is typically shown
next to your name and the permalink, e.g., ‘Comments (3)’.
Subsequent visitors can click on the number to read the attached
comments of others.
51
MP Clive Soley’s blog post about his presentation generated 14

comments
By enabling comments on a blog post, interaction occurs in a group

and is immediate. It’s a simple way to convene an instant town
meeting on a single subject, any time of the night or day. It helps to
present your blog as a listening post and not just a soapbox.
Here are some cautions regarding weblog comments:
• If you don’t participate in the discussion threads that develop,

your readers might be offended, as if you invited them to your
house for a roundtable discussion but then didn’t show up to
participate. One way around this is to turn on comments for
only those posts in which you intend to fully participate, and to
state this in your blog post, e.g., “I’m interested in discussing
this issue with you for the next 10 days or so. I’ll turn on the
comment feature and join you in message thread.”
• Just like in face-to-face venues, you might get comments you
don’t like or ones you aren’t sure how to handle. Comments
can be ignored, of course, and even deleted. But if this
becomes a pattern, then you leave yourself open to criticism
that you can’t take the heat.
• The weblog software should provide email notification for
comments, i.e., whenever a user posts a comment, you should
get an email alert. The software should also provide comment
spam prevention, since spammers use automated techniques
to add URLs to weblog comments as a means of raising their
profile in search engine results.
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¾ Give notice if you stop blogging.
Your readers will likely feel disrespected if you stop blogging without
an explanation. If you’re travelling and don’t plan to blog, consider the
safety implications of revealing that your residence will be unoccupied.
At least let your readers know not to expect anything from you for the
duration of your absence. Likewise, let your readers know if you’re
expecting to be too busy to devote any time to blogging for an
upcoming period of time.
If you’re thinking of quitting blogging altogether, consider taking a

break from it for a few weeks before making the decision. You need
not reveal your indecision, but it’s important to let your readers know
that you won’t be blogging for a defined period of time. Also, consider
talking to a weblog coach and some of your colleagues about your
blogging situation during this break to see if they have some feedback
about what could be done differently with your approach to blogging.
If you do decide to pack in your blog, it’s just polite to say thanks for
the memories and au revoir!
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How to promote a blog

Without the oxygen of serendipitous feedback, your motivation for
blogging will gradually die. You need to know that others are visiting
and, better yet, you need to know your blog is having some influence.
Therefore, as soon as you launch your weblog, it’s important to work
on promoting it.
Here are some strategies to consider:
• Create your own blogroll and ask to be on the blogrolls of

others.
When you follow one or more blogs, and start blogging

occasionally about what you’re reading on those blogs,
consider adding them to your blogroll. A blogroll is a list of
links to other weblogs, typically ones that you like and
frequently follow. You can add and edit these links manually
on your blog’s sidebar or use a service like blogrolling.com.
Once you add a weblog to your blogroll, consider asking the

blogs you follow to add your blog to theirs. If they don’t know
you or your blog very well, they may want to postpone adding
your blog until they’ve had a chance to get to know it.
• Ask your local-government authority to link to your blog.
If you’re an elected official, ask your local authority to put a

link to your weblog from one or more pages on their site. They
may have to post a disclaimer with it, as your blog may
occasionally contain political posts.
If you’re a government employee, a link to your blog from your

department’s web page is a must, as it’s part of your job. It’s
better yet if the blog is embedded right into the site. Also, ask
to have your blog’s URL printed in any community magazine
that your local authority produces.
• Ask media and civic organisations to link to your blog.
Many media and civic organisations have directories of

relevant links on their websites.
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• Include your weblog in your email signature file and on your

business card.
An email signature file typically contains your street address,

phone numbers, and organisation’s website address. Add your
weblog to this, including the word ‘weblog’ and its URL.
If you’re an elected official, you may need to include a disclaimer at

the end of your signature file.
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• Include your blog address in communications with the media.
Whenever you write a letter to the editor, author a column, or

have any reason to communicate with the media, be sure to
include your weblog, either by working it into to the body of the
text or by attaching it at the end with your name.
• Invite media coverage of your blog.
Even if you already have a website, the addition of a weblog to

it is news. Let your media contacts know about it.
• Provide an email subscription service.
You can provide a ‘blog updates by email’ subscription service

by using a third-party add-on called Feedburner at
www.feedburner.com.
Start by registering your blog RSS feed on the Feedburner

website, then copy the HTML code provided into your own
blog to include a subscribe box in the sidebar. Feedburner will
allow you to track who is subscribing to your blog.
Above: subscription option at www.matthewellis.org.uk using

Feedburner
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Multimedia and mobile blogging
Weblogs have been primarily a text and image communications

environment. Now audio and video are making their way onto the
scene. Furthermore, mobile phones are now a viable composition
platform, not just computers.
• Audio blogging is adding an MP3 file of your voice to your

blog, rather than typed text. It’s typically done by establishing
an account with a service that automatically adds an MP3 of a
phone call from you soon after you hang up. It’s particularly
advantageous for those who feel more comfortable in front of
a microphone than a keyboard. If you’re a hunt-and-peck
typist, audio blogging is for you. You’ll still need to add a bit of
text to your blog post so site visitors know what the audio is
about.
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• Podcasting (or blogcasting) means that others can

automatically subscribe to your audio blog posts via RSS
feeds and have those audio files automatically downloaded to
their PCs, iPods and similar devices so that they can listen to
them at their leisure.
• Moblogging (mobile blogging) refers to the process of adding
content to your blog while you’re out and about – away from
your PC – typically via mobile phone. You can now use your
mobile phone to add audio, photos, and even video clips right
to your weblog.
• Vlogging (videoblogging) is adding video to your blog. This is
starting to become more popular with the advent of software
that turns your computer screen into a teleprompter and
makes it easy to add video effects, titles and graphics.
Hipcast and PhoneBlogz are useful third-party services for adding

audio to your blog in a simple and convenient manner. This includes
the ability to record blog entries using a telephone.
• www.phoneblogz.com
• www.hipcast.com
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Tech skills checklist

Successful blogging presumes a few tech-related skills that need to be
acquired before or soon after blogging begins:
• right clicking an item with a mouse to access additional

choices from a menu
• having two or more browser windows open at a time and
knowing how to quickly jump back and forth between them
• using keyboard shortcuts, primarily Ctrl-X (cut), Ctrl-C (copy),
Ctrl-V (paste) and Ctrl-A (select all)
• using Google or a similar search engine to do web searches
• using the bookmark/favourite feature of a browser
• knowing some basic tech lingo: clipboard, alt text, URL/web
address, status bar, up/download
• capturing/saving an image found on a web page
• using an image editing tool to resize photos and other images
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Blogging checklists
Use these two checklists – ‘What to Blog’ and ‘How to Blog’ – to track
the types of blog posts you make over the course of twelve weeks,
and to assess the skills you’re using.
60
THE LEGALITIES
This chapter considers the legal implications of civic leadership

blogging.
It was compiled from a legal source during the Local eDemocracy

National Project.
61
CHAPTER SIX: THE LEGALITIES
Executive summary
There are several ways for councillors to use websites, ranging from
the personal to the political. The best councillor websites contain a
mixture of aspects.
• Councillors need time to learn how to use a website. As well

as access to good examples, they should be given support
from officers who understand what councillors may want to do,
help from fellow councillors who have established sites, or
guidance from specialist service providers. Otherwise, many
councillors will struggle.
• Councillors need to know that maintaining a website is a good
use of their time. They should be told about the number of
visitors to their sites. Good sites do attract worthwhile numbers
of visitors, including groups such as young people who may
otherwise be hard to reach and local journalists. Maintaining a
website should now be seen as a normal part of the role of
councillors.
• There are several different ways to provide councillor
websites, each with different strengths and weaknesses.
Council officers responsible for providing this facility for their
councillors should consider all the options, and councillors
should be aware that there are other options available to them
besides the one their council offers.
• Legal issues about councillor websites cause more concern
than they should. The legal principles are the same as in other
more familiar contexts and, in practice, complaints about
improper use of websites are extremely rare.
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• Councillor websites provided by councils must not be used for

party political purposes or personal image making. However,
using them to comment on council policy and to raise
controversial issues should be allowed, providing this is done
in a fair and balanced way. Nevertheless, some councillors
may prefer to use non-council-funded facilities where they can
express themselves more freely.
• Links from council sites to external sites containing party
political material are believed to be permissible, subject to the
use of an appropriate disclaimer process. These links, and
most content of council-provided councillor websites, should
be removed during pre-election periods.
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General legal issues

There are some legal issues that may affect councillors as website
authors or bloggers. Almost all of these issues originated before the
growth of the Internet and are not specific to websites. Often there is
some uncertainty about how these laws apply on the Internet, with
little specific legislation or case law to help. However, this also means
that the legal issues are not new. Councillors should already be aware
of them in relation to other media such as newsletters, and should not
be discouraged from using websites because these issues arise there
too.
This chapter aims only to give a brief summary of the legal issues for
councillor websites. There is more detailed discussion of these issues
in the National Project’s previous publications Guidance notes on key
legal issues in e-democracy and Civic Leadership Blogging: legal
guidance. It should be stressed that these documents cannot cover
every eventuality, and are not a substitute for expert legal advice
about a specific situation.
Defamation
Defamation takes place when an untrue statement is made about a

person, damaging that person’s reputation. Defamation is known as
‘libel’ if the statement is recorded (such as in writing or in an email). It
is known as ‘slander’ if the statement is made live. The conventional
rules of libel still apply on websites, even in the personal and
conversational style of blogs. There is some risk in providing a link to
another website containing defamatory material; this risk can be
minimised by using an appropriate disclaimer.
Bloggers must also be aware of their responsibilities as hosts of

discussions where comments are invited from readers, and must take
action if they become aware of unlawful content being posted in such
discussions.
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Bloggers are not liable for such content if it was posted without their
knowledge, until they become aware of it. It is recommended that
councillors ensure they have the technological tools (and the time) to
moderate or vet comments before publication. However, councillors
should be aware that if they moderate, they will share liability for any
unlawful content which they allow to remain.
Prompt removal of unlawful comments is an acceptable alternative to

active moderation. If an abusive exchange develops between
contributors where it is clearly likely that unlawful content will be
posted, permission to comment should be withdrawn from those
involved. It is recommended that hosts draw up a set of rules for
hosted discussions. The discussion rules on ReadMyDay may be
used as a basis.
Copyright
Copyright is the right to prevent another from carrying out

unauthorised copying. The usual copyright rules apply to websites, so
copying text or images onto a website from a copyrighted source is
likely to breach copyright. In some circumstances, ‘deep linking’ into
material on other websites without permission may also breach
copyright in the linked page, although the law in this area is very
unclear.
For both copyright breaches and defamation claims, enforcement

action may be taken in foreign jurisdictions. Internet publishing means
the potential readership is truly worldwide, and claimants can often
choose the easiest jurisdiction in which to bring a claim. Defending
claims in a foreign legal system can be very difficult and costly.
Website authors should be aware that they may be sued in any of the
following:
• the country where they reside or are based

• the country where their server is situated
• in the case of defamation, any country where the damage is
done to a person’s reputation
• in the EC, the country where a consumer lives
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Data protection
Data protection legislation generally prohibits the publication or any

other use of personal data about individuals without their knowledge.
Where data is sensitive, consent should also be obtained. Where it is
not sensitive, it is good practice (but may not be mandatory) to do so.
Councillors who wish to publish information about someone else, even
simply their contact details, should make sure the person concerned is
aware that they are doing so. If any personal data is published on a
councillor website not hosted by the council, there may also be an
obligation on the councillor to register with the Information
Commissioner (known as ‘notification’).
Failure to notify is a criminal offence. If you have any doubt as to

whether notification is necessary, it would be advisable to check with
the Information Commissioner. A website hosted by the council will be
covered by the council’s notification.
It is a criminal offence to publish obscene material or to send it via the

Internet. However, the definition of what is obscene is constantly
changing, and the current situation is that only extreme material is
likely to carry great risk.
Legislation prevents incitement to racial hatred as well as

discrimination on the grounds of race, sex or disability. This applies to
the content of web pages. Where pages constitute a service, sites are
expected to make reasonable adjustments to allow for access by
people with disabilities such as blindness or poor motor control, who
may be using specialist access software rather than normal browsers.
The general standard for UK local government sites is level AA of the

Web Accessibility Initiatives Standard (version 1.0), although this
probably exceeds the minimum required to comply with the law. The
technical details are complex, but council websites and specialist
services for councillors should have been designed to meet
accessibility requirements, so if councillors follow the procedures and
guidance given to them they should not have to worry about these
issues when using a council-provided facility.
On a private website or a blogging service, civic leadership bloggers

should check that the site is designed to comply with established
accessibility standards, and make sure they understand how those
standards affect the way they write their material.
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Members’ Code of Conduct
There are also aspects of the Members’ Code of Conduct that can
apply to websites. For instance, councillors must not publish
information on their websites that they have received as confidential
(which could also be an unlawful breach of their duty of
confidentiality), or use their website in a way which brings their office
or the council into disrepute or which does not treat others with
respect.
Members who have a quasi-judicial responsibility, for example in

determining planning or licensing applications, must take care not to
publish statements which might suggest they do not have an open
mind on issues about which they may later be required to make such
decisions.
The use of a website to set out a clear position on a particular issue in

advance of a decision could be taken as evidence of bias. Any
account, after the event, of how a decision was taken must also be
accurate and even-handed.
In a pre-election period, expenditure on political campaigning is

restricted, and councillors should be aware that resources spent on
their websites may count towards their total limits on election
expenditure.
Additional legal issues for council-funded sites

As well as the general legal issues, there are additional restrictions on
the use of council resources, which may affect councillor websites.
These restrictions arise both from legislation and from the Code of
Conduct for Members. Like the general legal issues, they are not
specific to the Internet; it is often unclear exactly what they mean in
this context, and there is little case law to help. Unlike the general
issues, many councillors find that some of these restrictions affect
what they see as reasonable and appropriate ways to use their
websites. As a result, this is a difficult area where conflict between the
views of councillors and officers is likely, and current practice in
different councils varies widely.
It is good practice for councils to give their councillors specific

guidance about these, and the general legal issues, when providing
website facilities.
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Some sites publish the guidance, linked from each councillor’s page,
and invite website visitors to complain if they believe the rules have
been broken. This enhances accountability to the public, and
experience shows that, in practice, complaints are very rare.
Political content
According to the Code of Conduct for Members, a councillor must not
use local-authority facilities “for political purposes unless that use
could reasonably be regarded as likely to facilitate, or be conducive to,
the discharge of the functions of the authority or of the office to which
the member has been elected or appointed”. There are very different
views on what this means in practice.
Some would argue that explaining local issues and policy choices to
citizens is a key function of the office of councillor and should be
encouraged, provided this does not include direct party political
statements.
Others believe that any reference to such debates, particularly if it

includes airing arguments against council policy, is unacceptably
‘political’. Complying with these rules is basically the responsibility of
the individual councillor, although their council should support and
advise them. Increasingly, the interpretation and enforcement of the
Code of Conduct for Members is a matter for the local Standards
Committee rather than a national process, so there is scope for
different practice in different councils. This should be consistent with
the approach taken locally to the use of other resources provided to
councillors.
There is, for instance, varying practice on whether council computer

equipment provided to councillors must only be used for council
business, or may also be used for personal purposes to some extent
(on the argument that this does not cost the council anything extra). A
councillor website not provided by the council might be regarded as
personal use, in which case it could be affected by this.
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From the point of view of officers, a council must not publish material
which “in whole or part appears to affect public support for a political
party” (Local Government Act). The Code of Recommended Practice
on Local Authority Publicity (“the Publicity Code of Practice”) states
that publicity material issued by councils about individual councillors
“should not be, or liable to misrepresentation as being, party political”.
However, publicity “touching on issues that are controversial, or on

which there are arguments for and against the views or policies of the
council” is permitted, provided that issues are “presented clearly, fairly
and as simply as possible” (but without over-simplifying). It adds that
“publicity may also include information about individual councillors’
proposals, decisions and recommendations only where this is relevant
to their position and responsibilities within the Council”.
It is the council’s responsibility to comply with these rules. Officers are

often nervous about the risk of a councillor breaching these rules on a
council-provided personal website, and may consider it essential for
sites to be reviewed by an officer to ensure that the council will not
break the law by publishing them.
It is difficult for an officer doing this to avoid also considering the

somewhat different wording of the Code of Conduct for Members,
taking on a responsibility which should be for the councillor. There is
also a real danger that councillors will see it as censorship by officers
of their communication with their constituents.
At least one councillor has complained that “the leadership’s views

and policy are seen as merely statements of the council policy and, as
a result, not political, whereas any alternative view or proposal is
political … and is silenced by the censors”. This can be a particular
issue for opposition councillors. It may result from a misunderstanding
of the Publicity Code of Practice.
The main thrust of this section of the Code seems to be that

“personalisation of issues or personal image making should be
avoided”, whether that is by an executive member or a member of the
opposition. If councillor websites are to be a real tool for councillors to
communicate with their constituents, they should not be limited to
transmitting only the same messages as the council’s corporate
communications.
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Despite the level of concern and discussion about these issues, and
the considerable scope for interpretation in the wording, the risk of
legal action appears very low in practice. Some councils, and the
LGA-supported councillor.info service, have taken a relatively open
approach for some time, and complaints are almost unknown.
The Standards Board for England’s case summaries show no instance

where misuse of a council-funded councillor website for party political
purposes has even been investigated and only one (case no.
SBE255.02) where there has been action against a councillor as a
result of any misuse of a website.
There has never been an action against a council alleging breach of

the Local Government Act or Publicity Code of Practice requirements
in relation to a councillor website. Officers should perhaps be more
aware of the opposite risk – that by limiting publicity about ‘political’
issues and debates, they may prevent the public from understanding
the role of councillors and the difference they can make, and so
contribute to a perception that local democracy is irrelevant.
It is noteworthy that former minister David Miliband now has a public

blog on the Defra website. Although the legal position for national and
local government is not exactly the same, the content of this gives
some indication of how the DCLG (the body responsible for the
Publicity Code of Practice) interprets restrictions on ‘political’
expression using public resources. There has already been some
discussion on his blog about these issues.
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Links to political websites

If a councillor has a website not provided by the council, it may be
questioned whether the council website should include a link to it. The
councillor website may well contain clearly party political material.
By providing a link to this material, the council is certainly drawing

attention to it, and might appear to be endorsing it, contrary to the
Publicity Code of Practice. However, if a council does not provide
links, it makes it harder for citizens to find out about political
campaigns which may affect council services, and misses a key
opportunity to encourage democratic participation. In addition, the
amount of council resources used in providing a link is minimal.
This is another instance where the legal risk appears very small in
practice, provided reasonable care is taken, although the interpretation
of the law is not clear-cut. A number of councils have long provided
links, not only to external websites for their councillors but also to the
sites of political parties, MPs, etc., without challenge.
Such links should be made in a way that clearly distances the political
site from the council one, using a prominent disclaimer drawing
attention to the fact that the council does not support the linked site or
endorse its content.
The disclaimer text may be shown adjacent to the link. Alternatively,

there may be a ‘gateway’ page – the website user following the link is
not taken immediately to the external site, but first sees the disclaimer
and must register their acceptance before proceeding.
It is, of course, also essential for links to be provided even-handedly to

all councillors who ask for them.
Councils and councillors also need to be aware of restrictions on

political donations and expenditure. If these guidelines are followed, it
is not likely that a council-provided councillor website will count as a
regulated donation. However, a link to a councillor’s own pages could
come within this definition.
The link is permissible under the Representation of the People Act

1983 provided that its value, including any time spent on maintaining it
and providing technical backup, comes to under £50, which would
usually be the case.
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What changes during election campaigns?

It is standard practice, supported by the Publicity Code of Practice, to
withdraw certain facilities normally available to councillors during the
period between the notice of a council election and the election itself.
The rationale for this is that current councillors should not be able to
use that position to gain advantage, particularly in terms of publicity,
compared with candidates who are not councillors.
It is common, and probably advisable, for councils to suppress most

content of the councillor websites they provide during this period, and
to remove links to external councillor websites.
Facts about councillors, such as contact details and roles, can safely
remain – councillors, unlike MPs, remain in office until the election
actually takes place.
Councillors should also be aware that their expenditure in setting up

and maintaining a website or web pages, incurred in connection with
an election, should be included in the returns which they have to
submit accounting for election costs.
Other considerations
The Code of Conduct for Members also prohibits a councillor from
using local-authority facilities “improperly to confer on or secure for
him or herself or any other person, an advantage or disadvantage” –
so use of a council-provided website for personal gain, such as to
promote business interests, would certainly not be permissible. There
is no controversy about this aspect.
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Example of typical blogging terms and

conditions
1.1 <your org> owns the intellectual property rights in this
project and the contents of this website, including, for the
avoidance of doubt, information provided by participants to the
website [However, the pages of individual bloggers belong to
those bloggers and] the views expressed on them are not
necessarily those of <your org>. <your org> is not responsible
for the content of those pages and excludes all liability for
such content to the fullest extent possible under English law.
1.2 By registering on this site you agree to the processing of

any personal data in your blog post and comments and to the
reproduction of your message by <your org> for research and
evaluation purposes.
1.3 Potentially unlawful statements (including potentially

defamatory statements) may be removed from the site at any
time without notification. Any references to, or of allegations
of, criminal activity may be passed on to the Police in your
locality.
1.4 Posters on the <your org> website must be aware that the
site is accessible to the public and should not disclose any
personal information (such as their telephone number, home
or email address) that they do not wish to be made public.
About your posts: All use of this site is subject to English law
and jurisdiction and is subject to the acceptable use policy.
2.1 Contributions must be civil and tasteful.
2.2 No disruptive, offensive or abusive behaviour:

contributions must be constructive and polite, not mean-
spirited or contributed with the intention of causing trouble.
2.3 Harassing, defamatory, abusive, threatening, harmful,

obscene, profane, sexually oriented, racially offensive or
otherwise unlawful or objectionable material is not acceptable.
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2.4 No spamming or off-topic material. Please don’t submit (i)

the same or very similar contributions more than once, (ii) the
same or very similar contributions to more than one
discussion, or (iii) off-topic material in subject-specific areas.
2.5 Advertising is not permitted, however <your org> reserve

the right to add a small banner at the top of blogs or in the
administration area advertising the activities of <your org>.
2.6 Contributions containing languages other than English

may be removed.
2.7 No impersonation or anonymous postings.
2.8 No inappropriate (e.g. vulgar, offensive etc.) user names.
2.9 You must have appropriate permission to use any material

which is not your own original work, such as quotes or extracts
from publications.
2.10 No use of oversized fonts, JavaScript, etc.
2.11 If your status as a civic leader is revoked, you become

unemployed or your job changes then you must inform <your
org> team within one calendar month of the change. Failure to
do this may result in suspension of your membership.
2.12. If you breach these Terms of Use: If you fail to abide by

these terms of use or our acceptable use policy (or any
amended version which may be published on this site), we
may edit or remove your contribution. We will usually send you
an email which informs you why your contribution has been
removed or edited, but we cannot guarantee this.
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Example of typical acceptable use policy

About your posts:
• Contributions must be civil and tasteful.

• No disruptive, offensive or abusive behaviour: contributions
must be constructive and polite, not mean-spirited or
contributed with the intention of causing trouble.
• No unlawful or objectionable content: unlawful, harassing,
defamatory, abusive, threatening, harmful, obscene, profane,
sexually oriented, racially offensive or otherwise objectionable
material is not acceptable.
• If you use multiple logins for the purpose of disrupting the
forum or annoying other users, you may have action taken
against your accounts.
• Readers be patient: allow the moderators time to check your
message before it is posted on the site.
• No spamming or off-topic material: we don’t allow the
submission of the same or very similar contributions many
times. Please don’t re-submit your contribution to more than
one discussion, or contribute off-topic material in subject-
specific areas.
• No advertising.
• Contributions containing languages other than English may be
removed.
• No impersonation.
• No introduction of content that may result in actions for libel,
defamation or other claims for damages.
• No inappropriate (e.g. vulgar, offensive, etc.) user names.
Representation of the People Act restrictions
During election times (from the ‘notice of an election’ to the election

itself), councillors who use this site must suspend links to their local
authority. Visitors will still, however, be able to contact them through
the website.
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If you breach this policy
If you fail to abide by these house rules when taking part in the
consultation, you will be sent an email which informs you why your
contribution has been failed or edited. This mail will also include a
warning that continuing to break the rules may result in action being
taken against your account.
This action may include your relevant account being placed into
temporary or permanent suspension.
If you post or send offensive or inappropriate content anywhere on the

forum or otherwise engage in any disruptive behaviour on <your site>
and the team considers such behaviour to be serious and/or repeated,
the team may use whatever information is available to it about you to
stop any further such infringements. This may include informing
relevant third parties such as your employer, school or email provider
about the infringements.
The team reserves the right to delete any contribution, or to take

action against any account, at any time, for any reason.
Example of typical legal page footers

<your org> owns the intellectual property rights in this project and the
contents of this website, including, for the avoidance of doubt,
information provided by participants to the website [However the
pages of individual bloggers belong to those bloggers and] the views
expressed on them are not necessarily those of <your org>. <your
org> is not responsible for the content of those pages and excludes all
liability for such content to the fullest extent possible under English
law.
<your org> does not accept any responsibility.
76
PROVIDING SUPPORT
When first setting out to establish their own website, most councillors
will look for training about the technical procedures to update the
content, add links and images, and so on. They may also recognise a
need for continuing technical support to help them deal with problems
as they arise. Councils providing website facilities for their councillors
will probably anticipate and provide for these needs.
One-to-one training has generally been found to work best. Different

councillors will have very different levels of ICT skills and experience,
and group sessions often alienate the less accomplished. Councillors
who have computers at home particularly value home visits for
training, which, as well as being more convenient for them, can cover
their individual equipment.
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CHAPTER SEVEN: PROVIDING SUPPORT
What may be less obvious at the start is that councillors also need to
learn how to use a website effectively, and to receive continuing
encouragement about the value of their site and suggestions about
how to improve it. For nearly all councillors this is an unfamiliar
medium, and it takes them some time to appreciate its potential and to
develop a valuable website. One way to help is to show them good
examples of other councillors’ sites, with a variety of formats and
approaches. There are several ways in which this can be done.
One-to-one support by officers can be valuable if they understand not

just the technology, but also what is likely to be useful for a councillor
website. They will need to put some effort into identifying ideas and
examples from elsewhere, to show their councillors how they can
make good use of a website. This guidance document provides a
starting point. However, there are differing views between councils on
whether and to what extent officers should help councillors use their
websites, or even produce sites for them. Some take the view that a
poor councillor website reflects badly on the council, so officers should
ensure that all councillors have adequate sites even if that means, in
some cases, writing it for them. Other councils consider that if some
councillors have poor websites, that must be seen as entirely their
own responsibility, so officers should avoid any involvement at all and
let the electorate decide if the site is unacceptable.
Mentoring or ‘buddying’ – a one-to-one link with another councillor

who has already established a website and will share their experience
– has proved very effective in some cases. This may be organised
through the council, or informally arranged by the councillors
themselves. As well as helping a newcomer get started, this can be
useful as an ongoing arrangement to help both parties continue to
develop the use of their sites. In some areas with multi-member
wards, one councillor in a ward maintains a website on behalf of all the
ward councillors – but although this can produce an effective website,
it is not encouraging the other councillors to learn.
Wider sharing of experience is available through specialist service

providers who support the websites of councillors from many
authorities. They may provide regular updates highlighting good sites
and interesting new approaches being tried by councillors from all
parts of the country who use their service.
78
As well as what to do with a website, many councillors are unclear

about why they should do it. A few enthusiastically embrace the new
opportunity to communicate, but many are initially unconvinced about
the value of a personal website and reluctant to find the time, in their
already busy schedules, to maintain one. There are several ways in
which they can be persuaded.
Telling sceptical councillors about the numbers of visitors to their

website, and to those of other councillors, is one of the strongest
arguments. The busiest councillor websites now receive up to a few
thousand visits per month. More typical sites receive perhaps a few
dozen – but even that compares reasonably well with the number of
people who are likely to attend councillors’ surgeries or contact them
in other ways. Many website visitors are likely to be from groups who
are difficult for councillors to contact in other ways.
For instance, there are indications that younger people are unlikely to
talk to a councillor on the doorstep – for them, a website is a more
convenient, credible and culturally appropriate form of communication.
Some visitors will not be constituents or even from the council’s area,
and it is difficult to tell how many are, but indications from a few sites
are that the proportion may typically be about half. Many councillors
with existing websites would like to see more detailed analysis of their
visitors, which might reveal more about how the sites are used, who
the visitors and what they are looking for.
One way to generate more visitors to councillor websites is to highlight

them with links from the council’s website – perhaps even having a
‘councillor website of the month’ on the home page. This also shows
councillors that their websites are valued by the council.
Local journalists are very likely to visit a councillor website that has
any substantial content. The Internet is now a primary tool for
journalists’ research, and some councillors consciously use their
websites to cover stories that they would like to see reported in the
local press. This may be useful as a counter-argument to those
councillors who still believe that nobody in their ward uses the Internet
– even if that were true, there is an audience that the most traditional
of councillors will recognise as important.
79
Peer pressure from other councillors can be persuasive. If those who

already make active use of websites talk to their colleagues about the
response they get and the results they achieve, it can be more
convincing than any national guidance or advice from officers –
particularly if the councillor talking is not seen as an obvious
enthusiast for technology. A degree of competition between
councillors over the number of visitors to their websites can also be a
motivator!
Active support from party groups has made a significant difference in

some councils. If the leader of a party group makes it clear that group
members are expected to maintain websites, this can carry
considerable weight. It shows that using this new medium is
something that is now expected as part of being an elected
representative, in the same way as councillors have traditionally used
surgeries and paper newsletters.
On the same lines, some councils have made training on website use
part of their induction process for new councillors. This establishes it
from the start as a normal part of the role. A few have linked this with
other electronic tools for councillors, such as those for handling issues
raised in surgeries or for claiming expenses, to make it clear that using
technology is now essential to being an effective representative.
80
Training
Councillors in North Lincolnshire converge for a group crash

course on blogging.
Two types of training are needed: technical training on the platform

itself (assisted by online help texts) and training on how to create
alluring posts. Coaching in the form of workshops and an ongoing
point of contact are required to successfully deploy a solution.
Finding expertise on technical training is not very difficult, but finding

UK trainers on the subject of good practice blogging is difficult. Some
options are provided below:
1. www.theblogcoach.co.uk
Rates based on a half-day or full-day workshops; a full day is £650 for

a maximum of eight people.
2. www.wigleyandassociates.com
Griff is an experienced web coach from Minnesota, USA.
3. www.icele.org
ICELE can organise training for large groups on your behalf.
81
Glossary
blog a personal journal on the web
blogosphere the collection of all blogs on the web
blogroll a collection of links to other related blogs
HTML HyperText Markup Language – the raw code used

to create web pages
ICT Information and Communications Technology
PDF Portable Document Format – a device-independent

format for printable documents
permalink a URL that will continue to point at a particular blog

post even after it has moved from the front page to
the archive
RSS Really Simple Syndication – a method of providing

links to the latest set of posts on a website
MP3 a highly compressed format for audio files
spam unsolicited commercial email
spambot software that browses the web looking for email

addresses to which spam can be sent
URL Uniform Resource Locator – another term for a

web address
vlog a video blog
weblog another word for ‘blog’
WYSIWYG ‘What You See Is What You Get’ user interface
82

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Civic Leadership Blogging

Published by the International Centre of Excellence for

The International Centre of Excellence for Local eDemocracy (ICELE)

ICELE would like to thank the following people for their

Griff Wigley, Blogging Coach, Minnesota USA

The Hansard Society (Political Blogs – Craze or Convention?)

Wolverhampton City Council

For more guides, please visit www.iceleguides.org

Weblogs are essentially free (or very cheap) lightweight and

The power of weblogs is that they allow millions of people to easily

Meanwhile, most blog readers/users tend to follow a relatively modest

Increasingly, other forms of post – such as video blogs (vlogs),

CHAPTER TWO: UK CIVIC LEADERSHIP BLOGGING.................. 16

Local eDemocracy Pilot ................................................................. 17

CHAPTER THREE: THE BENEFITS................................................. 21

CHAPTER FOUR: GOOD BLOGGING ............................................. 26

What to blog ................................................................................... 30

How to promote a blog ................................................................... 54

CHAPTER SIX: THE LEGALITIES.................................................... 61

CHAPTER SEVEN: PROVIDING SUPPORT .................................... 77

This chapter explores the rudimentary questions around blogging and

The biggest worry among civic leaders is “is it difficult to keep a

The blogs of elected members from the ICELE programme board

Matthew Ellis is the chairman of

Mary Reid is the vice-chair of

How to spot a blog

Blogs are diary-like in structure but run in reverse chronological order

A blog is also identifiable from an abundance of links embedded in the

Who can blog?

Software for setting up a blog is readily available online and much of it

Corporations and institutions are increasingly turning to blogs as a

Increasingly, blogs are being used not to communicate with people on

To put it simply, people blog because they want to share thoughts or

Blogs can have real operational benefits:

• efficient internal communications for teams (private blogs)

These couple with some valuable personal benefits:

The benefits of blogging are explored in more detail in Chapter 3.

Because there is so much on offer, it can be difficult to know where to

There are no easy answers to these questions. Much of the practice of

What to consider in blogging software

Hosting the blog

Like other websites, blogs need to be hosted on a server

Ready-to-go services such as blogger.com provide hosting with their

Updating is an essential aspect of blogging. The vast majority of blog

Some blogs have more sophisticated management systems than

Recommended criteria for a successful platform

• advanced rights management

‘Webmasters’ amongst us could of course whip up their own blog

Examples of blogging platforms

If you decide to start your own blog then please register it at

Is keeping a blog difficult?

So, before starting to blog, consider the following aspects of blogging

The spirit of blogging demands that a blog be updated on a regular

Ideally, this commitment is honoured by the person who owns or is the

Authoring is flexible. However, it is recognised as ‘good form’ in the

Blogging is driven by its network potential. Alike blogs make a habit of

Commenting is not something to be feared; rather it is to be positively

Some blogs or posts receive no comments. When comments do

Our experience is that blogs attract very few comments compared to

People that leave comments tend to provide short and succinct

On occasion, commenting facilities are subject to misuse or irrelevant

Blogging is one of the fastest-developing areas of the web. Although

One of the most useful add-ons is called ‘feedburner’. Feedburner

Who’s the best blogger?