Even I have been impressed by my colleages at Barnet Council recently and the extent to which they have embraced an open and transparent approach to government, throwing open the doors to previously unseen internal meetings.
I give you exhibit A, a video openly shared via the council’s YouTube channel showing feedback from a recent external review of the council.
What this highlights yet again is that while social media tools make open government possible (cheaply and easily), it is as ever the willingness and commitment of the leadership to publish and share quality, meaningful and authentic content that is where the real gains come.
Culture change rulez ok!
That is impressive. I don’t know of any other council that’s put this sort of ‘behind closed doors’ meeting on the web, and there aren’t many I know that would even think about doing it. Showing a cabinet meeting that is open to the public anyway is one thing, but opening up a meeting that the public won’t even know is happening is another.
The editing is a bit jumpy, though I understand the need to get a long presentation compressed to under 10 minutes. I started to get a bit concerned when the first few bullet points from the speaker were all positive, and wondered whether the messages were begin ‘spun’ a bit. This worry went away quickly for two reasons:
1) some negative messages were also included, and
2) why would the council choose to put this presentation up at all if all they wanted to do was spin it? They could have put out a selective press release that cherry-picked the best bits of the peer challenge and left it at that.
So just the fact that this sort of meeting has been put on the web has increased my trust in Barnet Council as a place that is open to scrutiny. Now I’m waiting for the CAA feedback meeting also to be shown…Would the Audit Commission agree to that?
Nice one Barnet.
Stuart
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nothing to be scared off in showing the film and highlights that we are trying to harness ‘social network’s to create a dialogue with the ‘silent majority’ rather than the ‘usual suspects’ who can often dominate other communications channels
I am heartened to read Stuarts comment. As Director of Communications and Consultation for the council what interests me is that social media may allow a more mature discourse about democracy to develop. I think that its important to acknowledge the political leadership in the council because often its difficult for them to articulate the good alongside the bad – since in traditional media contexts the bad, or areas that need improvement, get jumped on in the adverserial political/media ring. If there was more space for open discussion (which social media offers) and if everything was not reduced to soundbites it would give everyone a chance to understand the bigger picture and the complexities of local government. Can’t see why the Audit Commission of all people should have a problem with CAA – but we shall wait and see – I for one am up for it!
Emer