Networked: Its more than Councillor haz teh internetz

This week is all about the recent report on Networked Councillors by  Public-i and Improvement East. I am hoping to stand for council in 2015, so obviously as I read it I have been reflecting on what the implications are for me.

Social media is the new normal, most people have access to it, most people use it. Yes, some older people will never use it by choice and, digital exclusion is a very real problem which we must continue to work on and see it as an indicator of poverty. However, back to ‘most people have access to it’! and they certainly will by 2015. And anyway, I do, so I might as well use those skills and knowledge to help me. Just like I did when a member of Sussex Police Authority, just as I did to help with my Policy role at the local CVA, in my current job at Public-i and even, with mothering my 4 year old!

But, I do need to skill up in using Tumblr and, even dun dun dun (that’s meant to be music of dread) Facebook! I can make short films, write blogs – even if for a tragically niche market (thank you niche market) so I can create content which is a key skill for doing social.

But being networked goes deeper than being able to broadcast using social media, it is about listening, about supporting the ideas and actions that others do, if you are the kind of person who likes to join in and to support others offline, online enables you to connect in a more spontaneous way, see the Riots Clean Up as the most high profile example. To illustrate this point I would point to being able to get to Brighton Breastfeeding Flashmob thanks to the tweets of @contentedmummy and join in with a cause I believe in. The Brighton & Hove Coats for Kids project was set up spontaneously last November via twitter and here I was one of the founders, our city responded to our community call for action on child poverty. I find social media just helps me to get to the things I would want to support like the global One Billion Rising event (here is Brighton and Hove’s contribution) and, for people who are put off by committees and formality the ability to just get together and act is amazing. This is why the word networked is important, because networks, especially complex ones, where lots of people have direct contact with lots of other people in the network are far more powerful than hierarchies. There are situations where networks are a lot more effective than hierarchies and formal systems. I want to ensure that the Council and group I work within is using the right tool for the right job and allows the city’s networks to decide and act to improve our communities and to solve problems. That we help and support, but that we don’t take over or spoil the activity.

I think it is essential to know what people in the city care about, both on an individual level and at community level, newspapers help, attending meetings is useful but on the doorstep, will someone show me all the photos of their new baby so that I can express how beautiful they are? Will I see their hopes and worries. Some relevant to me as a human being, some relevant to a councillor..what is their housing like? Are they struggling with bills, are they worried about schools? Are they having trouble accessing services because of changes to bus routes. Is it useful that this person can see I share these concerns, that I am affected by some of the same things. That I not only sympathise, often I empathise.

I want to use digital tools to reach more people, make my campaign more successful and relevant. I want to use it to learn from others around the country. And, I am not tribal about learning…happy to share and learn about digital and networked working from all.

I want to use digital tools to create a digital doorstep to complement the work done offline, and to let people know what we hear or experience on the offline doorstep. I want to run Skype surgeries…like the pioneers. I want people to argue, support and tell me stuff they want me to sort out, however they prefer. If via a twitter DM, fine. If by sharing a photo on facebook, great. If they want to post a letter, awesome. I don’t care how they get here…so long as people believe and grow faith in local government politicians to really connect with them.

A new frontier -Legitimacy, politics, social media….

When I was lead for public order policing on Sussex Police Authority I was lucky to get to a command course by Dr Clifford Stott on crowd psychology and protest policing. The idea at its most basic was that crowds only came into conflict with police when they considered that they were being stopped from doing something legitimate. The approach reduces conflict and reinforces police legitimacy to act by a process of constant dialogue.

I believe that politicians can reflect on this idea when engaging in and using social media. Their decision making requires a sense of mandate (or democratic legitimacy) ….falling participation in elections most notably the recent Police and Crime Commissioner elections at an all time low leaves a legitimacy issue. How can we think about this learning from the Stott model is my first question? I believe, that many PCCs are beginning to think about this and are considering how to make themselves more transparent, more accessible and to check their policies with the community on a rolling basis. The wise ones definitely are!

My second question is around a developing sense of what is legitimate crowd behaviour on social media especially in relation to social media. Three cases we could use for background for our thinking are Martha’s lunches and her NeverSeconds blog, Cllr Jason Kitcat’s standards experience and the experience of people who consider themselves to be citizen journalists.

In each of these cases the attempt to ‘control’ citizen reporting failed and were seen to be undemocratic. For me, the key lesson is, presumption of openness unless breaches confidentiality rules. All involved in democracy, politicians, chief executives and chief constables and democratic services need to assume the instant real time sharing of process and debate. This will look messier but it will be more engaging. No longer can engagement be bottled into packages delivered by community development officers and housing workers. It will not be a timescales you decide. If you resist, you will be accused of conspiracy by the social media crowd.

Politicians who block critics who don’t breach what the online community believe to be legitimate questions and debate will lose voters in my opinion. The crowd will judge this behaviour. I know @curiousc will comment with useful stuff on crowd behaviour online.

There you go guys, a provocation….what are your thoughts? Fancy a cup of tea to discuss?

Hacking local democracy

So how about we hack local democracy? What am I talking about?

Hacking is associated with coding, but as I learned at bluelight camp..essentially it means taking a thing and modifying it to make it work better. I know that lots of policy people, active citizens, politicians, public authority officers and others have really good ideas about how we could create projects which modify local democracy to increase participation.

Why does local democracy need a reboot?

(This is my list…please add more)

• People feel that they only connect with politicians around election time, yet I am sure that the vast majority of Councillors work very hard all the time. A similar problem is felt in policing where people feel there is a lack of ‘bobbies on the beat’. Of course the chances of randomly bumping into your Pcso when you walk along the road is remote. Social media has to an extent helped the police address the need for a direct relationship with people and to show that officers are present in an area. Could Councillors learn from this? See @curiousc Networked Councillor Blog
• The language and structure of local democratic meetings has become unintelligible to modern communities – requiring enormous interpretation and support to navigate. I refer to this is in my citizens agenda blog and so many local councillors ( from all over the country) related to this point making me positive that councillors are ready to lead change.
• Democratic moments (HT to @demsoc) are too spaced out and mostly negative. In essence between elections there are too few opportunities for citizens to participate in decision making. Plus, in all other aspects of our lives we expect swift reaction and interaction/ feedback/ outcome. In local democracy, you can complain and object but to work positively requires massive effort and going to local partnership meetings etc. structures around positive engagement tend to be designed for the council structures and are over anxious about risk, stifle debate (conflicting points of view are generally perceived to be ‘a problem to be avoided’)
• National scandal has tainted local politics (expenses/ links to corporate vested interests) as well as a perception that politicians are a class apart, groomed from birth via various routes depending on the tribe and not ‘of the people’. Yet again, to a certain extent some of these issues are shared by policing, and the idea that policing happens by the people for the people has been widely underlined by online policing communities. Trust and respect are vital for both police and politics to create a sense of legitimacy for decisions and actions taken. Digital can provide a transparency, it can give people the opportunity to directly question and scrutinise, as well as community reporters and bloggers to provide local and hyper local citizen journalism. Citizen journalism is I believe an asset to democracy, but it is often perceived as an annoyance. John popham and I were discussing this today. Hopefully a session could run on this at hacking local democracy.

There are lots of non tech ideas I would expect to arise which meet the challenge of increasing trust, confidence and participation in local democracy…list yours in the comments or tweet me!

But my list of techy solutions that could support some of the behaviour change that local democracy requires:

• Doorstep app- let people see routes and allow for pop up events. Use text/emails to alert people so they can ask you to call in (or not)
• Pop up community surgeries to respond to hyper local issues swiftly
• Citizens agenda – see my previous blog
• Develop e-petitions to enable community discussion

 

Citizens Agenda – making local democracy more relevant

The Pitch – A Citizen’s Agenda Item

At City Camp Brighton, I made the winning pitch of a citizens agenda item on the local council meeting agenda. The pitch won and got feedback that this idea would be most likely to create a citywide, sustainable change which benefits people. If you want to see the pitch, made as part of a team including Kirsty Walker from the Trust for Developing Communities, Annie Heath from the BHCC tenant involvement team, Luke Flegg from changethefuture.org and Simon Bannister from the Safe in the City partnership please view here. [Thanks to Jonathan Tilley for videoing!]

What is the problem?

Local election turnouts have been much lower than general election ones, and with a 76% in 1979 to the lowest turnout in 1998 of 28.8%. At the last local elections in 2012 there was a turnout of 33.1% although turnouts always rise to c.60% when held in the same year as a General Election. I think that it is time that we worked to ensure that local government isn’t the poor relation of UK democracy.

Local government and representatives have the greatest opportunity to connect with citizens and make decisions with and for residents that are relevant. Traditional media has, in my opinion played a part in this Cinderella story but so has the risk aversion and unwillingness to share power with local citizens.

Another barrier this project seeks to address is the language barrier that formal and archaic governance processes throw up to the lay person. Notice of motion, amendment, petition, prayer, ‘through you Madam Chairman’. etc etc. Even the most experienced officers and local politicians get in knots with procedures and language. It’s sometimes hilarious but mostly mystifying.

What tools and resources would you need to create a Citizen’s Agenda item?

The Citizen’s Agenda would be shaped positively by the people who live in a local government area. Existing routes could be used to help people deliberate, such as Local Action Teams, community development workers, resident involvement staff could support and signpost people to participate in setting a proposal for the elected Members to debate and consider.

I believe digital tools should be the primary route however, maybe developing the e-petition tool to enable community building and evidence submissions or, perhaps using a brand new tool such as the one that Luke Flegg is developing at ChangeTheFuture.org where people can submit pros and cons, rate other contributions for relevance and importance and develop policy working as a digital community. Being able to help refine a proposal, as well as show how those most affected by the decision feel about it would be invaluable to delivering coproductive council and citizen relationships.

What are the milestones?

Are politicians interested in this project? – During the #ccbtn event at least one politician from every party in the city supported the principle via social media. We will need to submit more detailed proposals for the groups to consider.

Are there constitutional barriers? I am going to meet with the city’s Democratic Services team to find out if there are barriers and if so, plan how to overcome them.

Can we get people to participate? We could build on the Neighbourhood Governance pilot work with Kristy from Trust for Developing Communities to develop skills and interest in the project in order to create a test Agenda Item to see how the project works.
How to choose which item is discussed? What happens if the Council don’t ultimately control the policy decision or budget? Could the Health and Wellbeing Board and PCC participate in the project?

Perhaps every year there should be a Young Citizens Agenda Item chosen and supported by schools?

Please comment, add ideas, barriers and to-dos! We need your help.

Thanks from Emma – Citizens Agenda #citizensagenda @huxley06

Update 1/5/13 was signposted to a Finnish project similar to this one called Open Ministry (Crowdsourcing Legislation)

U.N.I.T.Y “who you callin’ a bitch?”

So, here are my thoughts on being a woman entering local politics and how I want to be treated, and how I want to behave…mostly. It’s also peppered with my thoughts on how women get treated who want to, whisper, run this town.  I am a feminist. This is what it means to me.

How I want to behave as a local politician:

1. I am sister first, politician second. There is no place for sexist ‘putting her in her place’ remarks in the democracy I want. I don’t care if I oppose her politics, I respect her position and know that it was often more difficult for her to find her voice. I have heard local female activists sniggering over comments men make about the women in their own party. It’s wrong. It’s never right. Stamp it out. Take active responsibility within your own groups and party for making this happen.

2. Play the issues not the person. The people involved in local politics are hardworking, often have a caring responsibility, this is more likely to be the case for women remember, so when they are making the time to represent their communities when you throw your verbal ‘sticks and stones’ this person may have been up all night with a baby or elderly relative. They never claimed to be an expert, or a diplomat, they care about making positive change for their community. When you juggle work, caring for family and politics it is hard not to be ground down by the personal. But don’t be ground down, and don’t toughen up. Just be.

3. In confrontation, frequently the language is gender related too. Implying a ‘shrew’ that needs to be tamed, an irrational hormone ridden harpy, or a terrifying matriarch when they refuse to lie down. I say to my fellow women activists of all parties, don’t change to fit in either as ‘pet’ and a darling or back down from your ground when you are accused of being ‘hard’. Or as the Queen Latifah puts it “Stop dropping so low”. Its a challenge, because I tell myself I must toughen up. I spent an evening in tears because someone I respect, but often disagree with, challenged not my point but my right to make it. I am going to stop to telling myself to toughen up and so should you.

4. We need to reject the culture and trappings of political confrontation. It wasn’t designed by us. It wasn’t designed by the men who inhabit the space today. But in this case, the figures rather than the hips, don’t lie. We are half the population and we inhabit very little political space. We are put off by confrontation, not because we can’t do it. BELIEVE – reference the excellent Cllr Mears and her ability to crush in this way. But because we don’t see the point of confrontation. How does it illuminate an issue? How does it engage and build consensus with our local communities?

Consensus is important and confrontation is the enemy of moving forward. Confrontation is the friend of the status quo and the bread chucking, pass the port and let the officers really decided what is good for communities. It is possible through local government in a way that would be far more difficult to achieve in Westminster.

5. So when you see it, call it. No party tribalism. “Who you callin’ a bitch?”

So, thanks to Queen Latifah and the excellent elected representatives of all parties in Brighton and Hove who make me proud to call them sister…even when they renounce feminism *sigh*. I hope I can soon join you in working towards a better democracy and a better city.

UNITY for Women’s Day – Friday 8th March

Comment away…

Blue Monday – addressing the democratic deficit

PCCs waking up to the news that the elections failed them, and failed the electorate won’t be surprised. Many of them made representations during the run-up to the election that this was a poorly implemented policy. Most tried really hard to be everywhere and made a massive use of social media during their campaigns to raise awareness. Probably most frustrating was the lack of a direct mailshot to households about the candidates.

The fact that only 10% of people know the name of their Police and Crime Commissioner is depressing given the importance and power held by the successfully elected post-holders. The Electoral Commission said they had been handed a “poison chalice”. Frankly this is so much old news to the PCCs collectively, they knew the scale of the issue when elected: Turnout figures, spoilt ballot paper protests and, the reform of police pay and conditions alongside cuts to policing budgets generally provides them with two key challenges. Here I am interested in the challenge which is the democratic deficit.

When the APCC analysed the candidates’ manifestos the most frequently repeated phrase was community engagement. As a former police authority member I was pleased to see this, authorities were too ‘remote’ from the public and if this post is to be a success, for me, a genuinely improved sense of engagement and control of policing and crime prevention would be proof of concept. There are some obvious measures that you could judge the role by and the people inhabiting the role. Electoral turnout would be a key measure in my opinion. But, this won’t happen unless PCCs are making fundamental changes in design now. To have any chance of a meaningful citizen engagement, three years is fully required to make a difference. 800 responses to a survey from populations of c 1million isn’t meaningful,  it won’t shift perception and it won’t get people to the ballot box.

PCCs can’t wring their hands in response to this report, and I don’t believe they will. The response of the PCCs to this issue is already positive and serious:

-Using social media to manage reach and increase transparency

- Many are planning to arrive at genuine citizen engagement and control of policy and budgetary decisions

Hands up to being an optimist but in spite of the implementation ‘blundering’, these new posts could provide more meaningful democracy than the existing ones if for no other reason that, necessity *is* the mother of invention.

 

 

“That’s democracy, son…”

‘How can we rehabilitate politics and democracy?’ is a question I spend a good deal of time thinking about. So when Durham County Council invited me to their participatory budgeting event in Crook where £500,000 was available for the local community to allocate I jumped at the chance.

It snowed. A lot. But it made no difference at all. As we walked into the school, a father and his 11 year old walked in next to us. The boy had on wellies and was clutching his ipad. He asked his father “What do I have to do though?!” His father said,

“You look at all the ideas and you vote for the ones you like best. That’s democracy, son.”

The event was busy all day. There were queues of people registering to vote, at each stall to learn more about the projects they could choose from and then at the polling station. People of all ages attended, mostly in family groups or going with their friends. Held in a local school, the event was staffed by council workers who had been recruited specifically to develop a participatory approach, they have honed their skills and it ran very smoothly with people ably shepherded through the different elements of the process.

Cllr Henig talking with residents at the event

People queue to vote at Crook Participatory Budgeting Event

I accompanied the Council Leader, Cllr Simon Henig who is a real democracy geek. (He teaches politics at a local university). He has run local referendums, devolved hundreds of thousands to be spend via these local area partnership structures and he was visibly thrilled to see the queues going out through the doors at this event, seeing people motivated to vote. This is just one element of the work they are doing to increase democratic participation and it was very successful. Over 1000 people voted out of a population of around 12 -13,000.

Do I think using digital tools could work with this style of event? Of course! All the projects made videos which could be shared using social media, conversations and Q&A on the projects could have happened before or during the event for local people who couldn’t make the event for some reason…maybe because they were working for example. If people register on the website then even voting could happen online. You can use online polling for example. Having participated in the event, it would be great to keep the conversation live using social media. You might find that the event has provoked the interest of people who want to help with a project and this ongoing conversation would enable the projects and the council to enable this volunteering and further participation.

What I thought was best about this approach? Definitely that age 11+ kids were voting and participating. This opportunity to participate in the democratic process makes sense on so many levels: To encourage participation in the successful projects; To encourage an interest in local democracy from the earliest possible age. I think you could even include much younger children, many of whom were at the event and really interested in what was happening.