Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Guidebook
Second Edition
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.
This guide provides advice for civic leaders and councils regarding
good practice in relation to the subject matter.
© 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.
* *
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.
*
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
Citizens........................................................................................... 22
The local authority and senior officers ........................................... 22
Elected members and officials ....................................................... 23
The dangers of blogging ................................................................ 24
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
Training .......................................................................................... 81
GLOSSARY ....................................................................................... 82
THE BASICS
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.
www.matthewellis.org.uk
www.maryreid.org.uk
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CHAPTER ONE: THE BASICS
3
CHAPTER ONE: THE BASICS
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.
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CHAPTER ONE: THE BASICS
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.
• 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
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.
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CHAPTER ONE: THE BASICS
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.
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).
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CHAPTER ONE: THE BASICS
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.
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CHAPTER ONE: THE BASICS
Content Management
• 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
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CHAPTER ONE: THE BASICS
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
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CHAPTER ONE: THE BASICS
For administrators
• disclaimers
• rules
• adherence to standards (e.g. web accessibility)
• user administration
o newsletters
o warnings / sign-up procedure
10
CHAPTER ONE: THE BASICS
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.
• 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.
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CHAPTER ONE: THE BASICS
Authoring
Linking
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.
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CHAPTER ONE: THE BASICS
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’.
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CHAPTER ONE: THE BASICS
Add-ons
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.
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CHAPTER ONE: THE BASICS
15
UK CIVIC LEADERSHIP BLOGGING
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.
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CHAPTER TWO: UK CIVIC LEADERSHIP BLOGGING
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.
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CHAPTER TWO: UK CIVIC LEADERSHIP BLOGGING
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.
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.
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CHAPTER TWO: UK CIVIC LEADERSHIP BLOGGING
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.
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CHAPTER TWO: UK CIVIC LEADERSHIP BLOGGING
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.”
20
THE BENEFITS
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.
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CHAPTER THREE: BLOGGING BENEFITS
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CHAPTER THREE: BLOGGING BENEFITS
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.
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CHAPTER THREE: BLOGGING BENEFITS
25
GOOD BLOGGING
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.
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CHAPTER FOUR: GOOD BLOGGING
27
CHAPTER FOUR: GOOD BLOGGING
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.
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CHAPTER FOUR: GOOD BLOGGING
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CHAPTER FOUR: GOOD BLOGGING
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.
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CHAPTER FOUR: GOOD BLOGGING
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CHAPTER FOUR: GOOD BLOGGING
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.
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CHAPTER FOUR: GOOD BLOGGING
33
CHAPTER FOUR: GOOD BLOGGING
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.
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CHAPTER FOUR: GOOD BLOGGING
‘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.
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.
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CHAPTER FOUR: GOOD BLOGGING
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CHAPTER FOUR: GOOD BLOGGING
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CHAPTER FOUR: GOOD BLOGGING
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.
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.
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CHAPTER FOUR: GOOD BLOGGING
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CHAPTER FOUR: GOOD BLOGGING
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.
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CHAPTER FOUR: GOOD BLOGGING
41
HOW TO BLOG EFFECTIVELY
“Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the
people.”
42
CHAPTER FIVE: HOW TO BLOG EFFECTIVELY
Master the art of quickly adding relevant links to your posts. Why?
¾ Tell stories.
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CHAPTER FIVE: HOW TO BLOG EFFECTIVELY
• 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
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CHAPTER FIVE: HOW TO BLOG EFFECTIVELY
• 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.
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CHAPTER FIVE: HOW TO BLOG EFFECTIVELY
¾ Insert photos.
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CHAPTER FIVE: HOW TO BLOG EFFECTIVELY
Photos also help to ‘set the scene’ for your storytelling and, as images,
they break up text-heavy posts.
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CHAPTER FIVE: HOW TO BLOG EFFECTIVELY
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.
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.
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CHAPTER FIVE: HOW TO BLOG EFFECTIVELY
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CHAPTER FIVE: HOW TO BLOG EFFECTIVELY
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.
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.
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CHAPTER FIVE: HOW TO BLOG EFFECTIVELY
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.
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.
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CHAPTER FIVE: HOW TO BLOG EFFECTIVELY
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CHAPTER FIVE: HOW TO BLOG EFFECTIVELY
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 do decide to pack in your blog, it’s just polite to say thanks for
the memories and au revoir!
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CHAPTER FIVE: HOW TO BLOG EFFECTIVELY
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CHAPTER FIVE: HOW TO BLOG EFFECTIVELY
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CHAPTER FIVE: HOW TO BLOG EFFECTIVELY
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CHAPTER FIVE: HOW TO BLOG EFFECTIVELY
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CHAPTER FIVE: HOW TO BLOG EFFECTIVELY
• www.phoneblogz.com
• www.hipcast.com
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CHAPTER FIVE: HOW TO BLOG EFFECTIVELY
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CHAPTER FIVE: HOW TO BLOG EFFECTIVELY
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.
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THE LEGALITIES
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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.
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CHAPTER SIX: THE LEGALITIES
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CHAPTER SIX: THE LEGALITIES
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
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CHAPTER SIX: THE LEGALITIES
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.
Copyright
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CHAPTER SIX: THE LEGALITIES
Data protection
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CHAPTER SIX: THE LEGALITIES
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.
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CHAPTER SIX: THE LEGALITIES
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.
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CHAPTER SIX: THE LEGALITIES
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”.
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CHAPTER SIX: THE LEGALITIES
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.
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CHAPTER SIX: THE LEGALITIES
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.
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CHAPTER SIX: THE LEGALITIES
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.
Facts about councillors, such as contact details and roles, can safely
remain – councillors, unlike MPs, remain in office until the election
actually takes place.
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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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.
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CHAPTER SIX: THE LEGALITIES
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CHAPTER SIX: THE LEGALITIES
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CHAPTER SIX: THE LEGALITIES
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.
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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.
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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.
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CHAPTER SEVEN: PROVIDING SUPPORT
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.
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.
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CHAPTER SEVEN: PROVIDING SUPPORT
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.
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CHAPTER SEVEN: PROVIDING SUPPORT
Training
1. www.theblogcoach.co.uk
2. www.wigleyandassociates.com
3. www.icele.org
81
Glossary
blog a personal journal on the web
82