Creating Community Conversations - Gallomanor

My Council - from the LGA

The Local Government Association has launched, my council, a new campaign to help people understand the range of services that local councils provide. The first poster appeals to me. A positive image that isn't the most obvious service. 

The posters include a drunk woman vomiting on the street, a close-up of a dog fouling in a park, alongside captions of how councils deal with binge drinking and keep the streets and parks clean.

All well and good.

But... 

The Press Release goes on to say:

“Most people just think that the council collects the bins and they haven’t the faintest clue of the vast range of services that town halls provide. From archaeology to zoology, from cradle to grave, councils provide over 800 services to improve people’s lives and help them get safe and sound through the day.

I'm concerned that most people might think that archaeologists belong in universities and zoologists in zoos rather than working for their local council.  I'm worried that most people might hear "800 services" and think that's why council tax is so high.  I'm sure the A-Z looks good when you're writing a press release like this, but I'm not sure it reflects the poster campaign nor what councils really want to say.

However from a democracy point of view the campaign's focus on service provision rather than community leadership is disappointing and unambitious.  Nothing about the role the council has in shaping the community, through planning or transport, nothing about support in emergencies and nothing about getting people involved in the democratic process. 

I'm sure they will all come out in a later phase of the campaign.

Your Personal President(ial Candidate)

The Obama08 campaign have always made a big deal out of the fact that they raise all their funds from ordinary citizens whereas Clinton and McCain have taken millions of dollars from lobbyists and political action committees.

The latest sales promotion that the Obama campaign are using is the chance to have dinner with the candidate himself.  And a nice dinner too by the looks of it.

Also very powerfully they are using personal stories from those who have already dined with him:

"It was an awesome experience -- Barack spent hours talking to us, and at the dinner table he was just like any other guy. It really felt like somebody invited friends over for dinner and good conversation.

My dad is a paralyzed vet, and his health care costs are huge, so I talked to the Senator about how he planned to provide for our veterans. He gave a thoughtful, detailed answer, and I could tell that taking care of our veterans was a big concern to him.

But we didn't just talk about politics. He talked about his children, and his wife, and how much he misses his family when he's on the road. And those of us with children shared stories about our families, too. He was a funny guy, and there was a good amount of joking around. All in all, it was a great conversation.

Ever since the dinner, I've remained active in the campaign. I was the precinct captain for my neighborhood here in Fernley, Nevada, and we won our caucus. I also went to the county convention, and we won there too.

I'm grateful to have been a part of this, because I know that beyond winning an election, we're also changing the way politics works in this country."

[via email]

Sadly this wouldn't be possible in the UK.  Unless the rules have changed from my Sales Promotion days on a game of chance like this promotion you need to state that no purchase is necessary.  That might suppress donations!

TV Advertising: £millions; Facebook: priceless

You spend £1,000s on developing an advertising strategy, £100,000 on creating some TV ads, £1,000,000's on advertising slots and some students from Poynton High create an homage on Facebook to "one of the greatest drama teacher's" ever.  For FREE. 

You can't buy this type of marketing and that is why it is so powerful.

Disclosure: Mike Zimmerman is a friend of mine.  I had no idea he was that good.

eDemocracy buses

A bit like the proverbial buses - you wait all year for an eDemocracy event and then suddenly three (and then some) appear at once.

Yesterday Sophia and I nipped across to the bright lights of Bristol and the Watershed for the Modern Methods of governance - democracy in action or mob rule?.  (A Webcast has been promised).

We heard from Tom Steinberg of MySociety about how ePetitions and "golden pages" can help draw people into engaging with democracy and government.  A view that was put forward in our evaluation of ePetitioner for ICELE (page 8).  Mary Reid continued on ePetitions and Mike Brewin added some Bristol detail.  Ian Wiebkin from Kirklees Council presented the DigiTV project and the imminent digital switchover was hailed as a potential tipping point when interactive TV services could become mainstream.  I am currently sceptical about interactive services on TV and the figures that Ian was able quote from Sky were not comforting.  90% of Sky users have used the interactive service at some point, but nothing about how often they used them and what for.  Personally I don't know anyone who has ever used digital TV to access a non-TV service, yet last night in the pub (not a Hoxton digirati crew) we found that Mr T, the farmer, was on Facebook and for the next hour a masterclass on social networking and virtual knickers ensued.  I have never heard that buzz about interactive TV services.