Open Alberta

Just over a week ago, fusedlogic worked hard on behalf of our client the City of Edmonton to provide our live webcasting services.  We helped the City break new ground by also providing live translation into French as well.  The day went very smoothly, here’s the Open City Workshop (video archive)

Open Government Framework

As Chris Moore, CIO for the City of Edmonton states, it’s time to “enlarge the circle.”  With that in mind, I’m calling for an Open Alberta.  The Government of Alberta (GOA) needs to begin to put in place an Open Government Framework.  I think that there are many within government who understand that the GOA doesn’t have a monopoly on creating “public value.”  Citizens also have an opportunity, and in my opinion, a responsibility for creating value that positively impacts the quality of life for Albertans and Canadians.

If we take a moment to think about this, Open Government initiatives are a tremendous opportunity to share openly.  To communicate that the government is willing to listen and collaborate with citizens rather than simply appear to placate, which is so often the criticism many in the provincial government hear from Albertans.

Is Open Government risky?

I believe Open Government is only risky to those individuals working (at all levels) within government who would rather see citizens not enter the discussion and thereby affect the way their job is performed.  Unfortunately, these people exist, I know because from time to time I’ve had conversations with them.  You may know an elected official or bureaucrat that believes in this philosophy, claiming this is the way an efficient government works, “we know best and citizens need to butt out,” they’ll say.  This can be the result, when people don’t vote and/or get involved in public debate.

What about privacy?

Open Government doesn’t mean that the Government of Canada should start sharing everyone’s Social Insurance Numbers or personal information on a wiki.  What it does mean, is that data which is already generally available should be properly organized into machine readable formats and offered for use by the private sector or citizens.

Election Issue!

I suggest that during this municipal election year people make the concept of Open Government an election issue.  True, many elected officials have been sitting on the sidelines regarding the use of social media and Web 2.0 technologies.  This is no longer tolerable. Further, if the candidate for your ward, or those going to the top job of mayor know nothing about Open Government, don’t vote for them.  Simple. The same goes for the next provincial election, if your MLA, party of choice has not exhibited the fact that they understand, or the government hasn’t initiated an Open Government Framework by that time, don’t vote for them either.  Open Government isn’t the future, it’s the present.  If you don’t know about it you’re living in the past.  This isn’t about being harsh but direct.

Is it really that important?  Not only is Open Government important, it’s critical.  Critical that our leaders get this concept and move quickly in this direction.  Many have yet to realize that this is the most transformative time in government in our lifetime.  Hold meetings and chat all you want about how your government isn’t performing.  More than talk, Open Government is where the rubber meets the road, it’s transparency, participation and collaboration in action.  Open Government represents citizens and government elbow to elbow working together for a better future.

The Alberta “statusphere”

The “statusphere is re-defining authority.” – Brian Solis, next09

Many have walked into the Alberta legislature and stood in awe of the building, the staircases and marble columns. I feel a little sense of majesty every time I go there. However, I must admit, to never having the pleasure of being in the Premier’s office. From the pictures, I think it sends a message of “old world” power and respect.

Interestingly, as soon as, Premier Stelmach’s staff send out a status update on the web, we welcome him and his team into another office of power and respect. The Premier has entered our virtual office within the social web.

Now one might suggest that the playing field is level in that case, but I wouldn’t. Actually, I firmly believe the playing field remains seriously tilted in the citizen’s favor. In recent weeks this “tilt” has applied considerable pressure on the government. Starting 19 days ago with Paula Simons (@Paulatics) of the Edmonton Journal writing a hard-hitting article on the use of a Northumberland, England picture in the Alberta Brand project. That article was referred to by Jeremy Fritsche (@jeremyfritsche) who tweeted the following which alerted the Alberta Twitter community.

jeremyfritsche Authenticity should be the key to a good brand – where is Alberta’s? http://tinyurl.com/c6ery7 #albertabrand #YEG #ABLeg

Of course, applied pressure is not unique to social media. The example above of citizens within mass media exercising their right to “free speech,” has also been a key. The difference here is that the social web amplifies the conversation around each issue. The social web enables many more people to organize, voice their opinion and share it in near real-time.

The Premier, despite having this pressure applied to him and that of his government, has a tremendous opportunity. I believe the majority of hyper-connected Albertans would embrace Premier Stelmach reacting personally online and thereby increasing access. Further value could be generated by directly sharing ideas, building relationships, learning and inspiring Albertans personally with every tweet. The following tweet doesn’t quite qualify in that regard.

@premierstelmach Photos of Premier Stelmach enjoying pulled pork sandwiches on the Leg grounds — http://twurl.nl/v47jwv #ableg

And citizen’s counter the above with Tweets with sentiment similar to below.

dblacombe @premierstelmach does no one monitor this account “Steady Eddie”? You should take a page from @g_campbell who actually speaks here!

The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them. – Albert Einstein

Prediction: Albertans updating their status online on Twitter and else where will continue to influence public opinion, and ultimately government. Hyper-connected Albertans are learning to inspire action.

Due to this combined pressure from all sides on the government regarding a number of issues, such as the new Alberta Brand and the continued dust raised over Bill 44. Don’t be surprised if there’s a “cabinet shuffle” after the current session ends.

In effect, one might say that with every tweet, the “statusphere” is playing a key role in re-defining Alberta’s authority.

March Social Web Meetup

Monday’s Social Web Meetup had a lot going on and we had more than 30 people out. We started out with Victor Rubba of CrazedCoders talking about the application they’re developing for the iPhone. They’re taking an established social networking app and adapting it to the iPhone as well as creating a standalone program you can run on your desktop.

It’s not ready for public consumption yet, and the iPhone app will be available through iTunes.

The program seems to be an internal social media tool and with project management elements. It will be interesting to see the final product. I think it’s something that could be quite useful for most companies.

Edmonton social media community expanding

We started out our discussion about social media in Edmonton by watching a CTV story about Twitter, with several Edmontonians featuring prominently in the story.

Media interest in Twitter has grown substantially in Alberta, particularly in Edmonton lately. Many media organizations have jumped on board and are now experimenting with the medium.

With this media interest there has been curiosity among its viewers and consumers, and according to Mack Male, the number of Twitter users in Edmonton has grown by 50 per cent over the last month. Nice!

Social media community changing?

Edmonton has a vibrant social media community and we’re quite friendly. There was a question whether this will change as time goes on and the community grows. One thought was that instead of meeting as one large group as often happens, people will begin to gather in smaller groups.

There were some comments about people joining Twitter and billing themselves as social media experts or social media gurus. Typical hype. Kind of hard to bill yourself as a social media expert when you’ve been on Twitter for a week, nobody’s following you and you’ve Tweeted a couple dozen times.

One person who could legitimately bill himself as a social media expert in Alberta is Walter Schwabe (@fusedlogic). There aren’t many in Alberta, but the number is growing across Canada. Mack Male’s another one here in Edmonton.

Mainstream media and social media

My favourite part of the discussion was also one of the more contentious ones. Recently mainstream media organizations have been going through a lot of difficulty due to the recession. There seems to be some glee in social media circles about their difficulties.

Mainstream media in Alberta is beginning to join the social media community, and Edmonton’s media especially. It’s obvious they’re quite new to the medium and are having a few growing pains. Who hasn’t though? I’m willing to give anyone new to Twitter the benefit of the doubt, except for spammers or the instant social media experts.

My only observation is that Alberta media organizations seem to have jumped into the game without much of a social media strategy. I could be wrong. I they think they could use an effective social media strategy to cut their learning curve and increase their social media impact.

Continuing the discussion about social media

We again made our way to Brewster’s Pub in Oliver Square for drinks and discussion. I had reserved for 15 people but we had many more people than that. Not bad for a Monday night!

We were lucky to have Alberta MLA Doug Griffiths join us at Brewster’s. He’s also on Twitter as @GriffMLA. The Alberta government has made a strong push to get involved with social media. It was good to hear Doug’s perspective on it. He said he’s had lots of good feedback on the Alberta government’s social media efforts. On a side note, I thought it was interesting that he was on the CBC show The Week the Women Went.

Social Web Meetup at NAIT

Without a doubt, the turnout for last night’s Social Web Meetup was the best so far. I didn’t do the count but I think there were around 30 people in the room!

We were in NAIT’s new Nexen room that had two very large screens. They might give Imax a run for the money. SomethingTV was there chronicling the event and there were so many cameras there you’d think that it was a press conference.

Alberta government successfully implementing Web 2.0 & social media strategy

Our mystery guest was Troy Wason (@imparo on Twitter) and Troy gave us a great presentation about mypcmla.ca. Troy is the Senior Communications Officer – Social Media, for Government Caucus Communications.

That’s quite a mouthful, but boiling it down, Troy is helping the Alberta government with web 2.0. Yes, our government is successfully moving forward in engaging the public with modern new communications tools. That’s a good thing.

He said that there are some people who knock what he’s doing, but people would knock the party in power no matter what they did anyway. Regardless of your party affiliation, don’t you think that having your government open up a two-way dialogue online is a good thing? How can it be bad? As long as it’s a two-way dialogue, that’s a good start.

The site has only recently been rolled out and you should be seeing it change in the future. It’s worth checking out. If there’s something you’d like to see on the site, let them know.

Social media conversation at Brewster’s pub

We reserved a couple of large tables at Brewster’s pub in Oliver Square for a little socializing afterwards. At least half the people showed up there and we had a good time. Keeping on the theme of social media we had a good time talking about social media. I think it ended up being a popular choice, partly due to the 32 oz Schooner beers being on special.

Cameras were another popular topic, particularly Bruce Clarke’s new Canon 5D Mk II. I’m partial to Canon as well, having a Canon 30D on hand for the evening.

All in all it everyone seemed to have a really good time and it was nice to put faces to some of the names of people we might already be following on social media such as Twitter.

Next Social Web Meetup

Local realtor Jerry Aulenbach (@zoomjer on Twitter) sponsored the evening with refreshments. Thanks Jerry!

Our next Social Web Meetup is March 2 and will again be held at NAIT. Make sure you sign up on the site and RSVP whether or not you’ll be attending. Hope to see you there!

Alain Saffel

Barrack Obama and social media

If one is still wondering on how effective social media can be, they only need look at the social media efforts of the Obama campaign.  Reports of US$639 million raised from over 3 million donors the vast majority of them online – social media had a undeniable impact on this.  I’m fortunate to be speaking at a Rotary Club luncheon this afternoon and I intend on mentioning this fact during my speech.  In the meantime, here’s an interesting Business Week article today about Obama’s efforts regarding social media and how future campaigns will never be the same…

I was invited to attend a CIPS dinner last night, the event was sponsored by Bell Canada as part of the ICE Conference and directed towards top CIO’s and business people.  I’m writing an article on social media and large organizations for the Edmontonians magazine and thought this would be a good place to get a quote or two.  Interestingly, I was able to speak with a number of Bell exec’s from several different departments and the answer was the same.  “No we’re not using social media externally.”  There’s a definite wait and see attitude throughout their culture on this issue.  I’m wondering if the Bell brain trust has been paying attention to the US presidential election lately or at all?

During that same dinner, I was also able to speak to a couple of people who work for the Alberta Government.  It seems as though they too are grappling with the use of social media among their ranks.  As one AB Gov director said, “the upper management doesn’t think it’s being used but among the younger employees it definitely is…”  There are reports of a planning across all ministries but it’s slow moving.  Out of that discussion, I’ve been invited to present to one of the key government departments on social media.  This may also have been due to the fact that we’re already working in this space to some extent.

Regardless, there is no denying that Barrack Obama broke the mold in many ways during this election, the world has changed forever (for the better I think and hope) and in my opinion so has the discussion regarding social media ROI.