Minutes from meeting held on 5 November 2009

Martin Stewart-Weeks
My contribution to the ‘agenda’ for next time (as I don’t have everyone’s email, feel free to circulate to the rest of the team):
1        Work with leaders and maybe some laggards, but don’t spend too much time with the ‘luddites’ – they will come along later
2        A showcase for successes and projects that add real value to local government mandate and mission; show people how the technology capabilities help Councils do their core work even better – engaging with their communities, saving money and being more efficient, better planning decisions or whatever the priorities are
3        Connecting ‘bottom up’ initiatives, including by third parties, that are doing interesting work on community engagement or broader community development work, not necessarily just focused on local govt itself.
4        Find the places where people in local communities are already ‘meeting’ on online and using other Web2 tools to talk, complain, raise issues etc, and encourage Councils to reengage and contribute (“go to where people already are, don’t expect them to come to where you are”)
5        Create a ‘social media tracker’ service, a bit like Media Clippings, perhaps third party but also with some kind of endorsement or imprimatur for Councils to start seeing what is happening on the social networking space as a safe way to become more familiar with it and understanding the potential to get great information and intelligence about issues, sentiment etc
6        Create award and recognition platforms – give people/Councils public status and recognition for great projects and initiatives
7        Do a “LocalGov HackFest” along the lines of the Task Force Hackfest – maybe even leverage some of those applications into a local govt context but also using realtviely easily available data – State Govt, ABS data – to give hacker and web designer communities the challenge of building some new specifically local govt apps
8        Find a council or two willing to fund a “FixMy Street” app in their area, especially from the cost saving perspective initially
9        Use the ROCs to see if some of these initiatives would fly better at a regional rather that individual Council level
10    Find a Council (or a university maybe?) willing to fund some empirical research on the costs and benefits of web-based tools in Council, starting with the value of the website – and looking at the costs of not going down this path more widely.
Lobby the Govt and Opposition in NSW to establish a Loval Govt 2.0 Task Force – I know it’s a but long-term, but always worth keeping up the pressure at that level!
Great discussion yesterday and thanks for hosting and agreeing to be the focal point for now.  A really good start…
 
 
 
 
Matt Crozier
1.  Specific actions:
 
a.  Enhance social media monitoring
b.  Rewards/ recognition for LG that engages online
c.  Media strategy to gain community recognition for engagement initiatives
 
2.  Other people to attend meeting: Rachel Trigg at Marrickville Council mcr@marrickville.nsw.gov.au 
 
3.  Blogs www.onlinecommunityengagement.com
 
Bernard De Broglio
Specific, practical actions
 
1. Give LG employees unfettered access to the internet. Maybe a statement from Fed Govt & peak bodies aligned with practical advice from AGIMO, APS?
2. Help us with recordkeeping. Pick a service like Twitter and show theoretically and practically how we can fulfill our recordkeeping obligations for this particular service. (Advice being given is too general and managers choose not to engage beyond their own systems. This project could also generate some code for the benefit of large & small councils alike.)
 
Notes from earlier this year: http://www.stapisi.com/articles/what-id-like-govau-to-do
 
 
Nominating another
 
Librarian Martin Boyce, Sutherland
 
 
Some links
 
Birmingham's digital activists - see this blog post for various links - http://www.stapisi.com/articles/the-twain-shall-meet
 
Media monitoring - so important, so easy - Matthew Crozier's idea that there be formal advice or a badged service available to Councils is excellent - my blog post on a simple DIY method: http://www.stapisi.com/articles/local-information-awareness
 
 
Alex Gooding
In terms of follow-up, my suggestions include:

• Set up a seminar or forum for councils on the use of Web 2.0/online applications to reduce their costs and as part of this, include a section on social media. In other words, don't make social media the primary focus, but put it in the context of a suite of applications councils might like to consider. Try to get councillors rather than (or as well as) staff to attend
• Produce a short (one or two page) summary on the benefits of online applications and social media which can be circulated to councillors and staff
• Set up a session similar to yesterday specifically for councillors who like Patrick are social media/web 2.0 "savvy" or at least might have some interest (I know this would be a small group initially)
• Either through that group or separately approach a ROC to develop a trial with member councils, developing a regional approach to using social media for specific activities. Whilst I still have contacts at WSROC, it may be better to consider starting off with a smaller ROC such as NSROC

The link for the .id website regarding census and other profiles is: http://profile.id.com.au The WSROC regional profile can be found at: http://profile.id.com.au/Default.aspx?id=303 Nine of the 11 WSROC Councils also use census and other .id products and their profiles can be reached either directly or through the WSROC website.
 
Patrick Kelso
I think it's vital that a Councillors are provided with training to drag them kicking and screaming into at least the 20th century.

Same goes for senior management.

I think the LGWebNetwork needs to be expanded, so that it becomes a daily ritual for IT and Web staff at Councils to check the forum and see what's going on. I'm not sure if Google Groups is the correct place for this.
 
Reem Abdelaty
I think everyone has covered all the things that are front of mind for me. Educating senior staff on the value and cost savings available using tools, rather than them being scared by the technology and the risks is the way to go.