I know this is off topic, but I'm sure we can relate this to the public sector in some way! Ideas?

Gives me goosebumps every time I watch this...about 35 seconds in...but the commentary is worth a listen all the way through!

-pc.

If you're wondering what on earth I'm wittering on about with the title of this blog post, then I have just one thing to ask of you; hear me out. I'm going to talk about unconferences.

It seems to me that a good many of the 'events' that we (that's everyone, not just me and the other guys at MBS) go to leave us grumbling about content, the speakers, the format or the topics. This is after we've read the blurb, signed up, paid our money (in some cases), made our way to the venue and spent a few hours with the other delegates.

I'm not saying that this is true of all events, no siree. But, come on, we've all been through this scenario.

So, what's the solution to this? More precise detailing of the event focus by the organisers? Well, yeah, I guess that would help somewhat...but let's face it, event organisers are going to try and appeal to as many people as possible so they can get those seats filled. This may result in the event becoming less focused than it could be and you're expectations not being met. It may. That's all I'm saying (fends off event organisers arrows).

Or perhaps, it's just that the speakers don't cover what you think they will. Not much the organisers can do about that. Brief them better? It's possible that there'll always be a disconnect between brief and delivery...not least in the diverse minds of the attendees.

So, it's never going to satisfy everyone, let's just forget it and get on with spending our money on events that we aren't satisfied with.

If you've read this blog in the past you may remember my rattling on about Reboot, SHiFT and Lift - three European social media conferences that I've had the pleasure of attending. To some degree, these three all used 'unconference' techniques in some way.

So, what is this unconference word I'm using all about. Well, an unconference is a conference or event organised by the people who attend. You set the agenda, you set the topics, you decide who speaks and what they speak about. That speaker could even be you.

Unconferencing puts the people who have paid their money at the centre of the event. How far you go with that concept depends on how bold you want to be. So, consider...

Here's what I'm proposing. I want to see these 'meetup' style of events gain some traction in the public sector. So, I'm proposing that we get one going...either in London or Manchester or wherever you can get yourselves together. This is OpenCoffee for the public sector.

I'll take the lead on doing the logistical organisation if you guys back me up in saying that you think this is a good idea.

I'm calling it 'SpeakUp' - it's your chance to come along and talk about some of the things that are going on in your public sector world. I'm going to come up with some loose 'titles' that we can bounce around as the topics for the first few and we'll see what we can come up with.

So, what do you think? Am I barking mad? Are you guys up for the challenge...and I know there's a great many out there reading this...I haven't racked up 20,000+ hits on this blog by hitting the refresh button repeatedly.

Let me know. You can vote below, but I'd be happier if you'd leave a comment and let me know who you are. That way we can get Speakup off the ground you see!

-pc.

A few weeks ago I was having a rally good chat about using social networks at work. You know, how useful they can be for making connections to other people, sharing information, chatting about work, chatting about things other than work...you know - all that human type stuff.

"ah yes", they said, "we can use them, but only outside of core hours. After 9:30 we can't access."

I was pretty surprised...so much so that I asked if I could write this blog post about it. It amazed me that an IT organisation would go to such lengths to change firewall rules, or access control rules at a specific time to stop people from accessing certain sites.

I've been in the IT guys shoes though, so I speak from experience. Ten years of managing hundreds of corporate servers, thousands of networked PC's and systems that spanned the globe. So, I know a thing or two about locking down desktops, maintaining access to critical systems and battling viruses.

All these things are interlinked. Lock down the desktop to minimise the risk of viruses getting in so you can maintain access to critical systems. It's all a circle and there are some very good reasons for maintaining control.

And yet, I am still surprised by this move. Perhaps it is because I wear a different hat nowadays, a hat that sees me advocate the use of social networks and support TALK. Or, perhaps it is because these kind of applications weren't a global phenomena when I was working in IT.

You see, I don't recall any so called 'leisure focused' web applications that infiltrated professional environments like they do today. The web is ubiquitous and so interwoven into our lives that the lines between leisure and work use are blurring.

Let's consider Facebook. Last year we had a flurry of activity around banning access to the rapidly growing social network site. Swathes of companies banned access (British Gas, Credit Suisse, Dresdner Kleinwort, Metropolitan Police), the TUC advocated restraint in banning it outright (in favour of time based blocking like the opening example) and there was a report that Kent County Council had blocked it entirely.

Since then, the hullabaloo seems to have calmed down a tad, whilst the user numbers on Facebook have exploded. This time last year, Facebook was a bizarre place where you could turn your friends into a vampire or play meaningless games. A year on and it is a slightly different world...my experience is that it's now more about networking and sharing media.

The Facebook platform has evolved and it may be time now to revisit the debate over whether it should be allowed within corporate firewalls.

Here's why I think we should be looking again:

• Social networking sites have crossed the chasm and are now embedded in our daily internet use.
• It is often difficult to separate our personal and professional lives and sites like Facebook provide brilliant vehicles to mesh the two.
• The purpose of sites like Facebook has evolved. We now use them as networking and communicative mediums.
• Gen Y, the employees of the future use these sites a s a primary communication method. They don't understand the world of email, let alone agendas, meetings and minutes.

In short, I think employers must adapt. We're applying rules and regulations that were appropriate in the days when we could more clearly demark between leisure and work. Those days weren't that long ago and whilst society has built new ways of communicating, socialising and yes, working, our organisations have struggled to get their heads around what this means and how best to harness it.

And at it's centre, this is a debate that swirls around issues such as respect, understanding, training and development, not least trust.

I'll leave you with this statistic from a recent survey by Telindus - 39% of those aged 18 - 24 would consider quitting their jobs if social networking was banned. The organisations that do adapt will attract the next generation of employees. Those that don't, well, what will become of them?

Plus, it troubles me that as we build TALK into a social site for local government and the public sector, will we be stifled by these policies? Is TALK just ahead of it's time for the sector?

I'm going to save that question for another time, but tell me about your place of work? Are you able to use Facebook, Bebo, MySpace et al? Is it blocked or is there partial access?

-pc.

I'm a proud Northerner. Born in Lancashire, raised in Lancashire and have spent some of the best years of my life in northern towns and cities including Sheffield, Halifax, Leeds and Manchester.

But apparently, I shouldn't have bothered and I should have packed up and moved to the South at the first opportunity because all of these places are doomed. Doomed because they are in the north.

That's according to the 'think tank' (although I'm not sure they did much thinking on this one) Policy Exchange who today have published their 'Cities Unlimited' report.

By their reckoning the regeneration efforts over the last few years have been of little benefit. Places like Liverpool and Sunderland have lost their 'raison d'etre' because the ports aren't as strong as they used to be.

Manchester? Well, Manchester was unlucky because it got the cotton industry whilst London got finance. Finance has blossomed whilst cotton has withered and died.

And, by extension, the 'think tank' argue that the northern towns and cities should wither and die, that investment should be put into expanding London and a.n. other south easterly located city and if we want to have more prosperous lives, we, residents of the north, should move down there.

That's because Manchester, Newcastle and Leeds don't have the 'pull' to support suburban locations such as Rochdale, Sunderland and Bradford - hmmm...I suppose I could take the daily inward migration of commuters into Manchester as a single, direct counter that statement. At a very, very basic level, if Manchester wasn't supporting the regional towns there wouldn't be gridlock on the M61, M66, M67 and M60 every morning.

I don't know about you, but I've not heard anything quite so offensive in a long time. I find this a personal affront on the cities and towns that we all live in, up here in the desolate wasteland that is the apparent destiny of the north of England.

Absolutely fuming, as I'm sure many of us are. Not surprising that the politicians are scrambling to distance themselves from this utter muppetry.

You can read the entire report here, comment from the BBC and some discussion over at The Guardian. You'll note that none of these will use the word 'muppetry'!

Twitter switched off incoming SMS updates today for users outside the US, Canada and India.

That was a big mistake and could be the final nail in the coffin for the death defying microblogging startup, at least in Europe. There are a number of business models they could have gone for, but switching it off (without any notice, I add) wasn't the best one to choose.

I don't know how many more glitches Twitter can take before it sinks...we've had numerous outages, lost IM updates, pagination on the website and now, SMS.

But, we all still love it. Right? Even if it is becoming almost useless when you're on the move...which is at least 50% of it's value.

Not sure how many of those little birds there are left to drag the whale out of the mire.

-pc.

We hear a lot of talk about carbon footprint nowadays as we all scramble to get to grips with how our individual actions impact on the world around us.

There's another footprint that we all need to consider in this day and age, and that is our 'digital footprint'. As you may have worked out, your digital footprint is the mark that you leave on the web as you post content, comments, images, video etc on various social networks.

Your digital footprint isn't like the one you leave on a sandy beach though. There's no tidal water lapping on the shore to remove it, which means you need to pay particular attention to where you leave this footprints and how you want it to look.

In reality, this is no different to the impression that you leave with other people whenever you talk to them, stand next to them in a bar or even pass them in a street. Our human actions leave an impression on other people, whether we know them or not.

Your digital footprint is just the same, except that it lasts for much, much longer (almost indefinitely) and it's reach is much wider than your immediate vicinity.

But, don't let that scare you. Just be conscious of what you are doing and consider the following:

1. Don't blog/write/post anything that you wouldn't say in public.
2. Be prepared to back up your contributions if comments start to roll in
3. Engage with those who interact with you (acknowledge comments etc)
4. Remember your audience: Consider that people who look at your Facebook profile may not just be your social circle - work colleagues may look at it as well...do you want them seeing your holiday photos?
5. Keep it fresh...this is an ongoing conversation so if you start to use social tools, try and keep them updated and interesting!
6. Don't be afraid. Once you get into the flow of social networks, status updates and managing your online life, you'll wonder how you survived without it!

So, just a few tips for you. What have I missed? How do you manage your digital footprint?

-pc.

Coming Next - Why local authorities need to manage their digital shadow.

Errr, I found this quite disturbing...what's your view? Random stop and search, no comeback, no right to refuse, no choice.

-pc.

jaiku the microblogging platform that was bought by Google last year has popped back up on the radar.

Since the acquisition, Jaiku was pretty much mothballed - an unfortunate turn of events for the Euro answer to Twitter that has seen it's growth stunted. New users couldn't sign up, so whilst Twitter exploded, Jaiku fell further back.

But, Jaiku has/had some great functionality that made it a great alternative to Twitter - back channels, threaded comments, a usable mobile app to name three that promised much.

In the intervening few months, Twitter has seen it's user base expand rapidly but its service crumble as they struggle to scale under the weight of such rapid expansion.

So, will Google kick Twitter when it's down (they have a lot of opportunities coming up I'm sure) and put the resources behind Jaiku to become a serious competitor? You'd like to think that Jaiku's move to the Google App Engine will ensure that they won't have anything like the scaling problems that Twitter have had, at least technically.

But the major question is whether they can gain ground on Twitter in terms of user numbers. Services like Twitter are only as useful as the people you know/follow on them, else they seem lonely and pointless.

Even though gaining new users will be one of, if not the most important task for Jaiku in the coming weeks/months, you still can't sign up for the service directly. You need to know an existing Jaiku-er...so if you want to try it out, let me know and I'll send one over to you.

-pc.