21 March, 2010

This post is in: Digital engagement, Research sharing

Spreading knowledge of research into digital engagement

A lot has been going on recently with regard to digital inclusion and civic engagement. People keep publishing reports that I really ought to read for work, but just don’t have the time to; and even if I did, many of them are pretty impenetrable. So I’m going to spread the load.

In April I’ll be running three low-key pilot events here in Birmingham, where each time one person will share their knowledge of a report that they’ve read. They’re aimed particularly at people whose line of work expects them to be knowledgeable in this area, but anyone is welcome.

I’m calling them ‘pilots’ because if they don’t work I won’t have committed to anything long-term. I’m also a bit worried about them not being free to attend: the room I’m using needs to be paid for so I’m having to charge a £3 entry fee. I don’t have any real problem with that, but I think people have grown to expect this sort of thing to be free.  (I’m not making any money out of this, I’m simply spreading the financial burden.)

The events are taking place in Moseley Exchange on three Mondays in April, from 6.30pm.

  1. Monday 12 April
    Simon Whitehouse will talk about ’Policy options for geographic information from Ordnance Survey‘ and Ordnance Survey OpenData (eg about implications for public bodies opening up their data, the sort of new products that might be created, and pulling maps into your own blog posts).
    More information on Simon’s session [external link]
  2. Monday 19 April
    I (Michael Grimes) will share my understanding of the Hansard Society’s recent report ‘Digital citizens and democratic engagement‘.
  3. Monday 26 April
    Stuart Harrison will give a flavour of SOCITIM’s recent ‘Better Connected’ report on council websites.

Registration details (Eventbrite)

Digital engagement,Research sharing

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