Archives - February 2009


National Hack The Government Day

Open access to public data is a Good Thing. Collaboration for social good is a Very Good Thing. I’ve posted before about the Power of Information Task Force’s Show Us a Better Way project (on behalf of the government), and the Guardian’s Free Our Data campaign – both of which I urge you to check out and support.

The FT recently wrote an article about the power of hack days to drive innovation – it stands to reason that if you get a load of really talented people in a room and the freedom to go nuts, you get amazing stuff out.

So Rewired State have issued a call to arms:

Government isn’t very good at computers. 
They spend millions to produce mediocre websites, hide away really useful public information and generally get it wrong. Which is a shame.

Calling all people who make things. We’re going to show them 
how it’s done. If you can make things, and think you can do better than government 
signup below.

I’m really really hoping this doesn’t get me into trouble. I work on a lot of COI business at Naked, developing communications strategy for different government departments, including Directgov – the government’s consumer-facing information portal, offering ‘public services all in one place’. But I know they would absolutely admit that it’s very much a work in progress, as the rollout of the transformational government programme evolves. And they’re definitely open to external input & innovation, as evidenced by the newly launched Directgov Innovate developer network, and the fact that Directgov developers participated in UKGovCamp and will be joining in Hack the Government Day. So I hope if anyone I work with reads this, it’s taken in the spirit which it’s intended – that initiatives which work to improve access to public information and services are a great thing, wherever they come from.

So, if you’re a designer, a coder, a creative thinker – if you make stuff, and want to make stuff for the common good, to improve public information and digital services – then sign up for National Hack the Government Day.

Here endeth the non-party, non-political broadcast.

February 6, 2009 in Technology | Permalink | Leave a Comment

IPA Social Media Needs You!

The IPA Needs You

This is a shameless repost of my friend and esteemed former colleague John’s post, in the interests of being social and getting the message out there.

Following Nigel’s brief on where we should take the IPA Social Media Report next, (and here for more background) here’s a pithy summary of what we think needs doing:

i) We want to make this report on Social Media more socially involving and distributable…

…so that…

ii) …many more people in the IPA’s membership are interested and engage with the topic…

…so that…

iii) …we, as an industry and individual agencies, can use the resource to tell clients ‘this is real’ and ‘here’s what we should do about it’…

…so that…

iv) …we help clients form better relationships with the people they want to engage with; clients, people and agencies are all better off. Happily ever after, the end etc.

So John’s suggested breaking down the job a little to find a little team for each little bit:

The builders


A team to…

- help create a space
- develop it as stuff arrives there
- ensure that it as social & accessible as possible

 

The academics

A team to…

- read the original report
- add crucial ‘further reading’ pointers
- make it easy for others to learn from

 

The publicists


A team to…

- spread awareness of its existence
- encourage initial participation
- … to bring more people fully into the project

 

Now we just need volunteers… I know there’s a lot of interest out there in this, and it shouldn’t be a massive draw on anyone’s time if we get good teams on this.

So, please do volunteer… send an email to nigel@ipa.co.uk with either ‘builder’, ‘academic’ or ‘publicist’ in the header, and we’ll go from there.

I’m on board – are you? Social is as social does, you know….

February 4, 2009 in Communication | Permalink | 1 Comment

Morph gets a makeover

Morph celebrates his 30th birthday with a photoshoot for Esquire. Who gave him a bit of a makeover. Apparently Aardman model makers spent three weeks creating tiny designer outfits for Morph for the March issue.

This really tickled me.

[ via the beeb ]

February 1, 2009 in Art & Design | Permalink | 2 Comments
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