Press officer Geoff Coleman reflects on an eye opening and hugely productive afternoon at Hyperlocal Govcamp West Midlands.
My wife recently attended an event in London where one of the key speakers suggested that the world outside the capital had been slow to realise the possibilities of social media. The general patronising gist was that ‘you’ll soon catch up’.
The unnamed and ill-informed speaker should have been in Walsall on Wednesday for Hyperlocal Govcamp West Midlands – an inspirational afternoon of learning, sharing, evangelising and err…cake.
The event – my first unconference – was organised by, in no particular order, Simon Whitehouse of Digital Birmingham, Stuart Harrison of Lichfield Council, Andy Mabbett of Birmingham City Council, Mike Rawlins of Talk About Local and Dan Slee of Walsall Council.
Through weeks of hard work the five of them brought together a collection of social media specialists, bloggers and local authority officers (some attendees were all three and much more) to discuss, debate, pass on tips and generally share knowledge and insights that will hopefully help us develop a healthy and mutually beneficial working relationship.
The event was timely, because as Dan Slee recently put it:
“For me, in Autumn 2010 Local government people, hyperlocal bloggers and open data geeks are at three points of the same Venn diagram.”
That constantly changing media landscape represents a whole raft of new demands for your average local government press officer. We must continue to serve traditional print and broadcast journalists but must also be mindful of the growing hyperlocal scene.
That was one of the key reasons behind the development of www.birminghamnewsroom.com Our aim was to provide an online resource for journalists, bloggers and of course residents who care enough to take an interest in the workings of Europe’s biggest local authority.
We wanted to open access to news releases, press statements, photographs, videos and much more and I take great pride in the fact that the newsroom has been a big success, consistently attracting over 30,000 unique users a month.
So far so good, but what Hyperlocal Govcamp West Midlands underlined for me was that we’ve only just begun. The demands will grow as the hyperlocal movement gathers momentum and the increasingly creative use of open data creates new stories, angles and issues.
One interesting and at times heated debate focussed on what bloggers want from local authority communications staff. The demands were far from unreasonable but of course they will result in extra work.
So, now comes the balancing act. At a time of budget restraint, we must find ways to address existing and new demands. That’s far from easy and I know I have not always responded to requests from bloggers as quickly as I might.
Saying things will improve is easy but actually finding the time may take longer. In the meantime events like Hyperlocal Govcamp West Midlands will keep open the lines of communication, ensuring our region remains at the forefront of the relentless social media revolution…whatever the ‘experts’ elsewhere might think.
- Unconference: An informal conference that allows the agenda to be chosen on the day.
- Hyperlocal: Web sites that report news and deliver other content at the neighbourhood, or hyperlocal, level.
- Open Data: A philosophy and practice requiring that certain data are freely available to everyone, without restrictions from copyright, patents or other mechanisms of control.
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