OK, this is a hasty post – and one that is subject to this caveat. It’s far too early to trash the Big Society initiative, and as someone who doesn’t support either of the parties behind the incoming government, it’s quite painful to see them picking up so many ideas that are basically great ones [...]
Posts under ‘Uncategorized’
Can games save the world?
Mashable is pointing to a games designer called Jane McGonigal who is making the case that the increasingly complex video games may be developing the kind of skills that can be applied to real world problems: “McGonigal asks what would happen if we were able to tap into the emotional resonance and powerful feedback loops [...]
Elsewhere
I’ve just had this article published by The Telegraph. Sometimes, it’s only when you read yourself elsewhere that you see that you buried your more important point under less significant ones. “Since the 2005 election, we have raced past the tipping point. Facebook has 23 million British users. About half of the eligible voters are [...]
Empowerment research – yes – actual research….
I went to an interesting seminar last week at the CLG (yes – unusual!) where Prof. Lawrence Pratchett and Dr Catherine Durose from De Montfort University talked about a recent systematic review they have carried out of a number of different empowerment tools. You can find the full report on the CLG site and its [...]
The Silver Surfer
A few years ago, I looked at the whole notion of the Silver Surfer as part of a project for Age Concern. At the time, it was a useful concept for an organisation such as that to get into the public domain. Moving it on, Kathryn Corrick asks a few questions here – well worth [...]
Twitter and conversational politics
Here’s Jonathan Fryer, a Lib-Dem blogger on the way that Twitter can change conversational dynamics and add something new to politics: I’ve been finding it hugely useful in recent weeks and have noted how one can enter into dialogue with politicians of other parties as well as with journalists and bloggers of all persuasions, who are quite happy [...]
PICamp will be part of Reboot Britain
Over the next few weeks, this site will carry a number of posts outlining some of the themes that will come up in the Political Innovation Camp (PICamp) strand of NESTA’s Reboot Britain event, taking place on the 6th July 2009 in central London. I’m hoping that the event will cover a wide range of [...]
An offer to political parties
Both Labour and the Conservatives have moved to take away the whip – and effectively deselect – MPs that have offended public morality with their expense claims. But is this really enough? Are we simply to be satisfied that a few examples are made of the most egregious cases of an abuse of parliamentary expenses [...]
Viral visualisations
A while ago, I highlighted a visualisation that helped to explain a policy issue. The upside was that it was plainly something that enhanced to quality of public conversation because it was a beautiful design. The downside was that it was in Spanish – largely a closed book to me. Here’s a new one – [...]
Cllr David Cameron, MEP
The Conservatives have given up all pretence that the local and European Parliament elections are about local government or Europe. Instead, they are campaigning on Gordon Brown, the NHS and the fiscal position, none of which are in the control of local government or Europe. Here’s David Cameron (quoted on the BBC): With every Conservative [...]
A blog about representative democracy, social media and a conversational politics. How will peer-to-peer communications change local democracy? How is representation changing? 
