Socitm Insight, publishers of the annual Better connected reports on local authority websites, is to run a seminar on Web 2.0 as a curtain-raiser to publication of its forthcoming report Web 2.0: what it is and why it matters — a briefing for public sector managers.
Interest in online communities, mash-ups, tag clouds, user-generated content and other web 2.0 phenomena is running high in local authorities, while central government engagement with the topic has been signalled by the establishment of the Power of Information Taskforce and the Show us a Better Way competition, launched in July, inviting anyone to come up with ideas for re-using public sector data in new ways. A previous Socitm event on Web 2.0 held in June was a sell-out.
Speakers at the event include:
Tom Steinberg founder of mySociety, the organisation behind sites like WriteToThem.com, TheyWorkForYou.com, the No10 petitions website and WhatDoTheyKnow.com that supports Freedom of Information requests. Tom is also one of the authors of the Power of Information report and a member of the Power of Information Taskforce.
Ewan McIntosh the National Adviser in Scotland on Learning and Technology Futures and a member of the Channel 4 New Media Education. He is an international authority on social media and the potential of Web 2.0.
Steve Johnson is Director of Customer Services and Performance at Redbridge — the first local authority to have a website that fully embraces Web 2.0.
Lynne Featherstone is Member of Parliament for Hornsey and Wood Green. Her blog is highly regarded as a model of transparency, and has twice been nominated for the New Statesman New Media Awards.
Chris Head is author of the forthcoming Socitm Insight report Web 2.0: what it is and why it matters — a briefing for public sector managers.
The event will be chaired by Socitm’s blogging President Richard Steel (read the blog on the President's blog page), who has stirred up some controversy among web managers by his suggestions that the web and ICT have become indistinguishable.
According to Socitm Insight programme manager Martin Greenwood, the event will appeal to any public sector manager who has a keen interest in innovation and a desire to understand the potential of the next wave of web technology in transforming services and enabling engagement with communities of all kinds, including managers in customer services, web development, transformation, communications, e-democracy and ICT.
Every delegate will receive a CD-ROM with a copy of the report and hyperlinks to extensive web resources.
The charge for the event is £195 + VAT for delegates from Socitm Insight subscriber organisations, £295 + VAT for Socitm members nand £345 + VAT for all other delegates.
Further information on the Web 2.0 seminar can be found on the Socitm website.