On Tuesday and Wednesday this week I was speaking at the Social Media for Government Conference in Edmonton put on by the Advanced Learning Institute with support from IABC, Canadian Women in Communications and SustainNet Software Solutions. The drive back home down the QE2, was a good chance to put together (in my mind at least) some of the ideas and experience I gained from participants and speakers.
I must admit that going into the conference I was not exactly optimistic about the state  of social media in Alberta. While I still don't see the province as leading online media overall, there are some outstanding examples that rank with the best Canada has to offer in public sector engagement.

First off, thanks to Walter Schwabe of Fused Logic for chairing the event. He did a good job of keeping things on schedule but he also set an interesting tone that I haven't seen at other social media and government events. Walter is BIG on Open Government. In fact if  he was on a University Campus in the sixties he would probably be leading the demonstrations. But he's not. He's in 2010 and is using the latest tools at his disposal to get the message out that transparency and openness in government is not really optional anymore. Look for him on Twitter as @fusedlogic or his website at http://www.fusedlogic.com/ where you'll find more on his views and how he thinks Government 2.0 can work for everyone. Read more

Another speaker who has really 'put some skin' in the open discussion game is Troy Wason of WMS Communications. Troy believes that social media and the many online tools that are readily available are invaluable in promoting discussion between people, institutions, and government. The slide he put up that said Social Media + Government = Fear Factor got the attention of everyone in the room and immediately made the social media rounds. As for how he has put himself on the line for open government, Troy's previous job was Senior Communications Officer  with the Alberta Government Caucus. Troy can be found on Twitter as @Imparo .

Nathan Freed of Alberta Education presented along with Manon Abud of Ascentum Inc. Nathan is one of the driving forces behind the Inspiring Education initiative, and Manon's experience in public engagement helped the Inspiring Education team get to where they are today. Without Education Minister Dave Hancock to champion an initiative such as this, discussions about education in Alberta would take place at the local coffee shop and in a myriad of online discussion sites with no real end game and likely little involvement from the policy and decision makers.
http://www.inspiringeducation.alberta.ca/  has changed that paradigm in a manner that education departments everywhere should consider. It is a public engagement process that brings face-to -face meetings together with social media to create something unique which goes well beyond the knee jerk reaction often experienced when education hits the headlines. From the Ministerial level to the community level, and from simple discussion groups to online video, Inspiring Education doesn't miss much, and Nathan's presentation showed everyone in the room how community engagement is not something to be feared. You can follow the initiative on Twitter as @InspiringEd or follow Education Minister Dave Hancock on Twitter as @DaveHancockMLA ( and yes, he himself does the Tweets ! ). The Minister's openness to encourage the project was a good illustration of what a high level supporter can do to make or break an idea.

Another notable presentation came all the way from down under with Dr. Crispin Butteriss from Bang the Table in Australia. Like Inspiring Education, Crispin's work with public engagement in Australia has shown how discussion can become useful and meaningful in a
social media world often dismissed as the place to post information about what you had for lunch. He offered ideas on how to generate discussion and on his own practical experience and research has brought him to the 90-9-1 rule:

His involvement with projects such as the Bays Precinct in Sydney, the Australian National Cultural Policy, or the Port Macquarie Hastings Council bears out the numbers and he felt that a seemingly lopsided ratio of readers to commenters is not a necessarily a  problem, assuming you have done all you can to remove barriers to involvement. For our own GenOmics news site on Facebook the ratio is quite similar and while we are working to tip the numbers to more discussion, people who simply read are still getting the information and they are getting it from us instead of another organiation. I've embedded Crispin's complete slide presentation below. You can see how Crispin's interacts with people on Twitter through @bangthetable or look for them on Facebook.

Finally a special tip of the conference hat to the 2 self proclaimed old guys who were the final act of the 2 day main agenda. Glen Taylor, Mayor of of Hinton, and Ken Chapman of Cambridge Strategies were in some ways the surprise hit of the conference. No powerpoint slides, but like a well oiled presentation team they stood at the front of the room and talked about their passion for the area they live in and their passion to revive the economy by involving the people who live and work there.
They have worked hard to nurture the Grande Alberta Economic Region, create a social media presence, and generally raise the bar on how and why government needs to  involve people in helping to shape the future of where they live. The area has been hard hit by the Mountain Pine Beetle problem, changes in the resource economy and the general recession and the work of these two showed everyone what can be done to bring together diverse people and ideas. You can follow Ken Chapman on Twitter as @KenChapman46 and Glen Taylor as (what else ) @mayorhinton where he defines himself as someone who "believes in progressive politics and accountable governance".

These are just a few of the standouts because there isn't really room to mention every presentation but here are a few of the other government and social media folks who presented at the conference and who are definitely worth checking out to see how social media can be put to good use in a public sector setting. 

Gisela Hippolt-Squair, Alberta Geological Survey, who reminded us you will have some missteps along the way but that is okay

Kelly Rusk, Media Miser who profiled 4 media champions

Diane Begin, Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, who has a a CPRS National Award of Excellence for Social Media so walks the talk 

Jas Darrah, City of Edmonton, who helped everyone walk through the process of getting government buy-in for social media

Jacob George, City of Calgary, with is a  key part of a truly exceptional municipal social media effort

Aaron Wrixon, Workplace Safety and Insurance Board of Ontario, where monitoring social media sometimes all you need to do

Getting More People Involved: Keeping More People Involved
View more presentations from Bang the Table.

Social Media and Government in Alberta

January 29, 2010 8:15 AM

Filed Under: Mikenomics

On Tuesday and Wednesday this week I was speaking at the Social Media for Government Conference in Edmonton put on by the Advanced Learning Institute with support from IABC, Canadian Women in Communications and SustainNet Software Solutions. The drive back home down the QE2, was a good chance to put together (in my mind at least) some of the ideas and experience I gained from participants and speakers.
I must admit that going into the conference I was not exactly optimistic about the state  of social media in Alberta. While I still don't see the province as leading online media overall, there are some outstanding examples that rank with the best Canada has to offer in public sector engagement.

First off, thanks to Walter Schwabe of Fused Logic for chairing the event. He did a good job of keeping things on schedule but he also set an interesting tone that I haven't seen at other social media and government events. Walter is BIG on Open Government. In fact if  he was on a University Campus in the sixties he would probably be leading the demonstrations. But he's not. He's in 2010 and is using the latest tools at his disposal to get the message out that transparency and openness in government is not really optional anymore. Look for him on Twitter as @fusedlogic or his website at http://www.fusedlogic.com/ where you'll find more on his views and how he thinks Government 2.0 can work for everyone.

Another speaker who has really 'put some skin' in the open discussion game is Troy Wason of WMS Communications. Troy believes that social media and the many online tools that are readily available are invaluable in promoting discussion between people, institutions, and government. The slide he put up that said Social Media + Government = Fear Factor got the attention of everyone in the room and immediately made the social media rounds. As for how he has put himself on the line for open government, Troy's previous job was Senior Communications Officer  with the Alberta Government Caucus. Troy can be found on Twitter as @Imparo .

Nathan Freed of Alberta Education presented along with Manon Abud of Ascentum Inc. Nathan is one of the driving forces behind the Inspiring Education initiative, and Manon's experience in public engagement helped the Inspiring Education team get to where they are today. Without Education Minister Dave Hancock to champion an initiative such as this, discussions about education in Alberta would take place at the local coffee shop and in a myriad of online discussion sites with no real end game and likely little involvement from the policy and decision makers.
http://www.inspiringeducation.alberta.ca/  has changed that paradigm in a manner that education departments everywhere should consider. It is a public engagement process that brings face-to -face meetings together with social media to create something unique which goes well beyond the knee jerk reaction often experienced when education hits the headlines. From the Ministerial level to the community level, and from simple discussion groups to online video, Inspiring Education doesn't miss much, and Nathan's presentation showed everyone in the room how community engagement is not something to be feared. You can follow the initiative on Twitter as @InspiringEd or follow Education Minister Dave Hancock on Twitter as @DaveHancockMLA ( and yes, he himself does the Tweets ! ). The Minister's openness to encourage the project was a good illustration of what a high level supporter can do to make or break an idea.

Another notable presentation came all the way from down under with Dr. Crispin Butteriss from Bang the Table in Australia. Like Inspiring Education, Crispin's work with public engagement in Australia has shown how discussion can become useful and meaningful in a
social media world often dismissed as the place to post information about what you had for lunch. He offered ideas on how to generate discussion and on his own practical experience and research has brought him to the 90-9-1 rule:

  • 90% of the visitors to discussion pages are just looking
  •  9% of them get a little involved
  • 1% do most of  the work.

His involvement with projects such as the Bays Precinct in Sydney, the Australian National Cultural Policy, or the Port Macquarie Hastings Council bears out the numbers and he felt that a seemingly lopsided ratio of readers to commenters is not a necessarily a  problem, assuming you have done all you can to remove barriers to involvement. For our own GenOmics news site on Facebook the ratio is quite similar and while we are working to tip the numbers to more discussion, people who simply read are still getting the information and they are getting it from us instead of another organiation. I've embedded Crispin's complete slide presentation below. You can see how Crispin's interacts with people on Twitter through @bangthetable or look for them on Facebook.

Finally a special tip of the conference hat to the 2 self proclaimed old guys who were the final act of the 2 day main agenda. Glen Taylor, Mayor of of Hinton, and Ken Chapman of Cambridge Strategies were in some ways the surprise hit of the conference. No powerpoint slides, but like a well oiled presentation team they stood at the front of the room and talked about their passion for the area they live in and their passion to revive the economy by involving the people who live and work there.
They have worked hard to nurture the Grande Alberta Economic Region, create a social media presence, and generally raise the bar on how and why government needs to  involve people in helping to shape the future of where they live. The area has been hard hit by the Mountain Pine Beetle problem, changes in the resource economy and the general recession and the work of these two showed everyone what can be done to bring together diverse people and ideas. You can follow Ken Chapman on Twitter as @KenChapman46 and Glen Taylor as (what else ) @mayorhinton where he defines himself as someone who "believes in progressive politics and accountable governance".

These are just a few of the standouts because there isn't really room to mention every presentation but here are a few of the other government and social media folks who presented at the conference and who are definitely worth checking out to see how social media can be put to good use in a public sector setting. 

Gisela Hippolt-Squair, Alberta Geological Survey, who reminded us you will have some missteps along the way but that is okay

Kelly Rusk, Media Miser who profiled 4 media champions

Diane Begin, Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, who has a a CPRS National Award of Excellence for Social Media so walks the talk 

Jas Darrah, City of Edmonton, who helped everyone walk through the process of getting government buy-in for social media

Jacob George, City of Calgary, with is a  key part of a truly exceptional municipal social media effort

Aaron Wrixon, Workplace Safety and Insurance Board of Ontario, where monitoring social media sometimes all you need to do

Getting More People Involved: Keeping More People Involved

Posted by Mike Spear at January 29, 2010 8:15 AM

Comments

Gisela Hippolt-Squair email - www.ags.gov.ab.ca

Mike,

Nice article and good job highlighting the key aspects of the presentations. And thanks for the mention. :)

Mike Spear email - www.genomealberta.ca

I would have loved to give you a longer mention but so much to say, so little time and space to say it in.

As I mentioned at the conference though, you had a very good way of walking through the basic sites and tools from the easiest and least threatening to the more complex and likely more difficult to get buy in.

Walter Schwabe email - www.fusedlogic.com

Mike, it was a pleasure meeting you and listening to your presentation on how Genome Alberta is leveraging SM to get the word out. I enjoyed your perspectives...thanks also for the mention here on the blog...

Cheers,

Walter

Nathan Freed email - www.inspiringeducation.alberta.ca

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the terrific summary of the Social Media for Government conference.

I certainly agree with your analysis that the Inspiring Education initiative "has changed that paradigm in a manner that education departments everywhere should consider." I would go farther and say all government departments would benefit from the Inspiring Education model to public engagement.

Your presentation focusing on the innovative work that your organization is doing with social media has inspired us to add some new functionality to our website, especially around community submissions. That was one of the main take-aways I had from the conference. Thanks for sharing with us!

Nathan

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