The standard of debate at times online has never been lower on either side of the Atlantic. In a guest post a US communicator gives his own considered views.
by GUEST EDITOR Jim Garrow
Read more8 steps to help you jump and change the sector you work in
One of the shining lights of local government has left the building. But is changing sectors difficult? After all isn't comms is comms?
by Julie Waddicor
Read morewhy ethics and diversity are a big part of the unawards16
f you’ve worked in communications and PR for long enough you’ll have encountered times when you’re challenged around ethics and diversity. An all-new UnAwards category for 2016 wants to shine a light on the good work being done in our industry to tackle these issues.
by Phil Morcom
Read morelearning from the best - a tribute and a farewell to a real good 'un
Our industry is full of brilliant people, there’s not another I’d choose to work in because of this. But every now and then you come across someone really exceptional and a bloody good person to boot. This post celebrates one such person…
by Coventry City Council’s Communications Team
Read morethe unawards16 are open
The UnAwards are back – and here’s everything you need to know to enter, showcase your best work and attend the coolest communications event of the year bar none…
By Darren Caveney
Read moredeal or no deal – telling your devolution story
The Local Government Association has provided some very useful resources to communicators in the last couple of years. An all-new devolution communications good practice guide is the latest addition which you should take a look at.
by David Holdstock
Read moretime to combat the mental health epidemic in pr and comms
All the indicators say that PR and communications is a particularly stressful way to earn a living. You are not alone if you feel it as an issue. But the issue is often ignored. It's time to act. For you and for your team.
by Paul Sutton
Read more6 reasons why you can’t afford to miss #ukcomm16
There's an event you shouldn't miss if you are a public sector and work in communications, digital, social media or marketing. We'll be there too.
by Emma Howard
Read morebrexit and the need to brush-up on your media law
We're running a social media and media law workshop. Why? Because when the door flies open and someone important demands to know what you are going to do about that newspaper's Facebook comment you know where you stand. And Brexit isn't making things easier.
by David Banks
Read moreusing snapchat to combat child sexual exploitation
Snapchat is the hot channel. Young people love it. While there are benefits there are also risks. So the pioneering Young Scot charity have developed a Snapchat film to help combat those risks.
by Kirsten Urquhart
Read morelaunching the public sector communications academy
Networking with colleagues and listening to great speakers sharing their learning and insight is important time away from the office. A great place to do this is at the Public Sector Comms Academy, the premier two-day industry event in the UK.
By Simon Jones
Read moreyour chance to join a national survey to improve online council services
Do you need to get more of your services online? Got some new income targets to achieve? This new initiative and very kind offer, might be right up your street. Read on…
By Phil Rumens
The amount of things you can book through a council might surprise you.
From something as humdrum as organising a time slot to speak at a planning committee, hiring a sports pitch or booking a training course, right through to locating someone to officiate your wedding, councils offer tens of services that involve a booking element or “capability” as it’s sometimes referred to.
So if you work for a council comms team what should you be promoting, through which channels, and to who? If you work for a council digital team, what should you be looking to re-design and create online? Where’s the demand?
Point #1 of the Local Government Digital Service Standard says “Understand user needs. Research to develop deep knowledge of who the service users are” and at West Berkshire Council we’re looking to do just that as part of our Digital Transformation Programme.
We’re going to be asking our residents about what and how they currently book services, and one of the methods we’ll be using is an online survey. We’ll be asking them whether they have booked a cinema ticket, a function room, or a hire car online. From this, and other research, we’ll be able to build a picture of demand for different services and where we need to create online booking opportunities for our services.
What’s this got to do with you, though?
Well I’m also co-chair of LocalGov Digital, a network for digital practitioners working in local government, and one of our aims to promote collaboration between councils. If West Berkshire Council is running a survey, other councils could and should be able to benefit from this, and that’s the plan here.
We’ll make the survey generic enough so that it can be promoted by any UK council to its residents, and we’re happy to share the responses with others as we’re not asking for any personal information. If you work for a council and would like to promote the survey to your residents to get a better picture of their needs, whilst contributing to what could be a national survey.
You can see the draft survey here, and if you have any comments or would like to join this work then please email digital@westberks.gov.uk.
I really hope that lots of you will join us on this one. We’ll keep you posted on progress.
Phil Rumens is Digital Services Manager at West Berkshire Council and co-chair of the LocalGovDigital Steering Group
Image via Flickr Creative Commons
Do you need to get more of your services online? Got some new income targets to achieve? This new initiative and very kind offer, might be right up your street. Read on…
By Phil Rumens
Read morewhitehall loves an ad-man and woman
There’s a surprising amount of similarities between the work and challenges of an advertising agency to that of an in-house comms team…
by comms2point0 Panel Writer Rich Elwell
Read moredon’t be a magpie – put a little ‘retro comms’ back in your life
In the rush to be good at all things digital some of the core basics of communications, pr and marketing can be forgotten. So if that's you it's time to put some retro comms back in your life.
By Darren Caveney
Read moredigital transformation: who is chopping your lemons?
They say the best ideas are the simplest ones. At Pizza Express, the restaurant chain, it was all about the lemons. Who should chop them?
by GUEST EDITOR John Fox
Read morethe business impact of your intranet
The purpose of the intranet is to keep your staff better briefed and better prepared.
by Wedge Black
Read more6 principles to rule them all: encouraging digital change at unison
Digital innovation is all around us. And we’re all at different stages of evolution. But how about in a major union?
by Nick Scott
Read moreplanning your ‘mark-ercise’
Good planning: You just can’t get away from its importance. In this debut you post, one young marketer explains why and where it fits into her approach to effective communications and marketing.
by Laura Page
Read moredo you suffer from ‘groundhog day syndrome’?
Everyone has potential. But how do you identify it and then make the most of it? A free chat with a coach may help...
by Marcus Grodentz
Read moregoodbye dark arts, hello professional frameworks and processes
It’s been said many times before but maybe it needs to be said again. Whatever new tech and shiny new gifts come along to woo us in the comms industry we still need to be great at the basics - strategy and planning, research and evaluation.
by Amanda Nash
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