Digital Inclusion, Get on Line and Digital Champions

It would appear that today is "National Get Online Day'

Did you know that?
I didn't.

I discovered about today online, surfing the net, drifting in the flow of information and knowledge that streams across my computer screen.

I've been taking an interest in Twitter, investigating a range of Twitter tools and watching Political Twitter activity. I've been watching is called HMGOV, "an unofficial service of official news feeds from UK Government". I'm one of 161 people following this feed which to date has issued 10, 473 updates! I don't know who provides this service, or how. I guess it's a mash up of some kind, taking government news feeds and tweeting them.

It makes for interesting reading, BUT to be honest the output is overpowering. It is one of those feeds that may just need to be culled :)

Earlier today I noticed the following tweet :-

#WalesOffice Paul Murphy unveils new role of Digital Champion: A new high-profile Digital Champ.. http://twurl.nl/rj4rty

Following that link I discovered all sorts of interesting facts.

Paul Murphy is the Minister for Digital Inclusion, who intends to appoint a Digital Champion as part of the Government's Digital Inclusion agenda.

Do you suppose the Champion might become known as Cyberman or Cyberwoman?

The job description is a bit vague, in fact I don't think it's written yet.
They'd like a Champion but don't know what he / she should do.

“The post of Digital Champion will be independent of Government, but
will work closely with myself as Minister for Digital Inclusion, the
Cabinet Committee and the cross-Government Digital Inclusion Team. The
Champion will work as a high-profile public figure who can raise the
profile of this agenda, gaining support from industry, the third and
public sectors, plus central and local government, whilst maintaining
their independence.

“The exact role and responsibilities of the Champion are not yet
agreed, that is why we are asking people to respond to this
consultation to help us shape our plans for the future. We are eager to
hear people’s views on how this new post can work most effectively, and
indeed to suggest individuals or organisations to fulfil this role.”

There's a forum where you can discuss the main themes of the Digital Inclusion Action Plan.
No ones chatting there yet, but it's only been there two days ......

PS.
Paul Murphy can be found here and here.
Somehow I sort of thought that the Minister for Digital Inclusion might have had a news feeds, or a range  of digital media, or a Twitter feed.
Perhaps the Minister should follow the Foreign Office.

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On American Politics, the Internet and Twitter.

You will remember some months ago I commented upon the way in which Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama were using Twitter to pursue their political objectives. I followed them they followed me.

Hilary is no longer as involved but Barack continues to lead the way in his use of technology.
Take a look at his web site.

Here is a politician who is really making every effort to connect and stay connected with his electorate in the United States, and with admirers world wide.

Looking at his web site we see a complete mastery of the internet as a medium for mass communication. This election campaign and his digital presence has raised the bar for politicians everywhere. He has achieved a world wide ambient presence.

On his web site, the home page is easily navigable, neat and clearly laid out. The navigation bar guides or leads visitors to information quickly and elegantly.

Casual and determined browsers are invited via rollovers to learn about Barack and his team and to discover what he thinks about the major issues. Users are offered a rich choice of Barack media sources (wallpapers, music and the like) and direct links to all the different types of people who have chosen to support Barrack. Additionally the site provides a Blog, a store for Barack merchandising and links to local Barack websites in each American state. And as you might expect there are opportunities for the faithful to contribute financially.

There is a list of things to do, including a reminder to register to vote (lets face it Americans need help in coming to terms with Democracy). There are videos, news articles, messages to Hilary's supporters and an astonishing list called Obama Everywhere.

Obama Everywhere provides links to sixteen yes sixteen places on the Internet where Barack can make his presence felt ..... worldwide.
So comprehensive is this list that I am copying it here.

Obama can be found on

Facebook, MySpace, You Tube, 

Flickr, Digg, Twitter, Eventful, 

Linkedin, BlackPlanet, Faithbase, 

Eons, Glee, MiGente, MyBatanga, AsiaAve 

and 

DNC Partybuilder.

This man is connected! (he even has his own app on the iPhone).

__________________________________________________

Knowing that Number Ten Downing Street can be found on Twitter I thought I'd have a little look round and explore the world of political tweets.

Consider the statistics (as of 6/10/08)

Plaid Cymru are on Twitter with 35 followers.
The Labour party are on Twitter with 133 followers.
The Liberal Democrats are on Twitter with 542 followers.
The Conservative Party is on Twitter with 606 followers.


Ten Downing Street is on Twitter, with 5,104 followers.
The White House is on Twitter with 1,174 followers

McCain is on Twitter with 2,451 followers.
Obama is on Twitter with 92,256 followers.

Note John McCain also has a web site, but in my opinion it's not a slick as the Obama offering.
Take a look and see what you think.

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American Thoughts

Powerful piece of writing from Dave Winer.

"
Fact is the people who run this place aren't qualified to run it."

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On "American Politics"

Of late, much has been broadcast, written, and blogged about the rapidly approaching American Presidential Elections.

Some say that there is too much comment.

I'm not going to comment but I am going to point in the direction of this CBS interview showing Sarah Palin talking about her Foreign Policy experience and geography.
 
(The clip begins with an advert, be patient).


Be scared, very, very scared!

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On Social Networking and Plaid Cymru

I read that Dafydd Iwan folk singer and politician has been re-elected as president of Plaid Cymru.

A strange event to be worthy of comment here On the Hill except that Mr. Iwan, a clever, passionate influential Welshman has promised

"to bring the party into the 21st Century with an emphasis on making the most of social networking sites to build support".


I wonder how he proposes to do that in a country where the digital divide is still causes concern.

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On Exams, Christopher Glamorganshire and blogging.

While reading Chris Cope's excellent "Dancing the Polka with Miss El Cajon" I have to confess that his observations about writing under exam conditions reminded me of something I have thought for a long time.

Students (and I was and am one) work all through the academic year using their desktop or laptop computers and then in examination rooms they are asked to write longhand.

Why?

During their course all submitted work has to be word processed and either printed or submitted electronically (or both), then in the exam they are asked to write longhand under extreme pressure.

Why?

During lectures those that take notes (and not many do) will write in longhand, copying down the thoughts of their lecturers; but note taking is not essay writing and to my mind provides little preparation for answering exam questions. In writing this post I am rather dependent upon my word processing skills, constantly changing the order of sentences, words and paragraphs. Word processing has changed the way that I work. The examination system used in Higher Education no longer reflects the way that we work in the real world. What are we to do?

Perhaps the time has come for word processing facilities to provided in examination rooms. Or is it time we reconsidered the role of the essay in examinations.
Either way something needs to be done.

Hidden away in the comments on Chris' blog an anonymous respondent asked about Christopher Glamorganshire which led me to this article.

It seems that an Assembly Government civil servant who lost his job for keeping a political blog has taken his case to an employment tribunal. It's likely that the case will hinge on whether or not his contract allowed for blogging.

Employers and employees will need to check their contracts and conditions of service.

Are you allowed to blog?

Facebook and Privacy

Like toothache some doubts just never go away.

The Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Group based at the University of Ottawa has filed a complaint against Facebook citing 22 separate breaches of privacy law in Canada.

As is ever the case Facebook refutes the charges suggesting that

"We pride ourselves on the industry leading controls we offer users
over their private information. We believe that this is an important
reason that nearly 40% of Canadians on the internet use our service.

"We've reviewed the complaint and found it has serious factual
errors, most notably its neglect of the fact that almost all Facebook
data is willingly shared by users."

Notice the phrase "almost all Facebook data is willingly shared by users".

I think that is just not the case.
Many , many Facebook users have no idea how their personal data is used, manipulated and exploited for Facebook's commercial advantage.

The concept of social networking and privacy seem incompatable.

Perhaps it's time for us all to become hermits.

On Politics and Web 2.0.

I see that Gordon Brown, our Prime Minister is taking an interest in Web 2.0 technologies.

Here on the Downing Street Channel he's posted a video, launching a sort of Prime Minister's Question Time on the Internet.

Members of the public can leave a question for Gordon, between 30 seconds and 1 minute long with "no party political content"!
Submissions must be made by June 21st.

We are invited to "come back soon to vote on your favourites". Then having considered the "wisdom of the masses"
Gordon will answer the top voted questions on YouTube sometime towards the end of June.

It's not exactly what you could call instant interactivity, but it's a start.
I think it's quite an interesting and brave experiment.

Looking at the video on YouTube, away from the Downing Street Channel I see that Gordon's introduction has been viewed 13,230 times. That's not bad for a 40 second video clip that was posted barely three days ago.

I also notice that the channel has 3,725 subscribers, while webcameronuk has 846 subscribers.

As you might expect mainstream media has picked up on the story, here, here and here.
Apparently several thousand people have already submitted questions.


PS Gordon already has a presence on YouTube. You can sing along here.