Advertisement
Promo

Compliance Toolkit

Public-sector 'laggards' resisting Web 2.0

Nick Heath silicon.com

Published: 16 Sep 2008 08:14 BST

  • Email
  • Trackback
  • Clip Link
  • Print friendly
  • Post Comment

Blinkered public-sector thinking that blames sites such as Facebook for office time-wasting is stunting the take-up of Web 2.0 in government, according to an association for IT professionals.

"Laggards" in local government are doggedly resisting user-generated content, blogging, mashups and social networking on council websites, according to a report, Web 2.0: What it is and why it matters from public-sector IT body Socitm.

The report warns chief information officers, communications managers and councillors to allow the public to shape their communities through forums and to engage with community websites and blogs or risk being branded "Luddite".

More than 80 percent of the public-sector organisations surveyed strongly disagreed that the public should be able to "customise the presentation of our website for their own use", with more than 70 percent opposing podcasts on their site and about half against offering email or text-message alerts linked to site updates.

Almost 80 percent said concerns about time-wasting were preventing greater use of social networking and wider Web 2.0 adoption, with less than half letting staff use social-networking sites such as Facebook and Bebo and only just over half allowing employees to use business social-networking site LinkedIn.

The report states: "With one or two exceptions… those who are laggards find it very difficult to shake off that mantle. More importantly, the defensive approach amongst teams, and a culture of maintaining the status quo that seems to go with it, is difficult to shift."

Read this

Feature
How to use social networks for business gain

If managed in the right way, applications like Facebook can actually improve business collaboration...

Read more +

"The only choice is whether to be in the vanguard, pursuing an exciting path of controlled experiment and learning, or to be dragged along as a reluctant follower with a Luddite reputation in the eyes of your community," the report adds.

A spokeswoman for Socitm said: "Web 2.0 is not very well developed at the moment. There is a school of thought among some managers that social networking is nothing to do with work, which ignores the professional benefits such as networking with colleagues or sharing information."

The spokeswoman pointed to the success of the London Borough of Redbridge, which hosts the mayor's blog on its website and recently consulted voters online over which services should be boosted and which should be cut.

Councils should also look at partnering with existing community sites, the spokeswoman said, pointing to the success of parenting support website Netmums, which has allowed a small group of mothers to reach an audience of thousands.

Credit: Public sector says no to web 2.0 from silicon.com

  • Email
  • Trackback
  • Clip Link
  • Print friendlyPrint with EPSON

Did you find this article useful?


Full Talkback thread

0 comments

Company/Topic Alerts

Create a new alert from the list below:








Video icon

Video

Cloud Watch Special Report

Five cloud computing myths exploded

Five cloud computing myths exploded

Analysis The cloud is providing a fertile habitat for the marketeers and their exaggerated claims. We examine the hokum and debunk the five most frequently peddled misconceptions about the cloud

More Special Reports

Sentry Posts Blog

This Crap Site

How utterly stupid - I am ranked #40 in the top 100 - as a member of this site..... I mean HOW utterly stupid.... I have done sweet FA, I have only rejoined this site after a 3 or... More

Post a comment

Microsoft Security Update: November Pa...

Apologies for this late update to our core Patch Tuesday update. Here is a summary of the update .... The November Patch Tuesday update from Microsoft follows the largest patch and... More

Post a comment

DNA details of innocent will be kept f...

The government has announced that it plans to keep innocent people's DNA details for up to six years. In response to a consultation it launched last December, the government said... More

4 comments


Skip Sub Navigation Links to CNET Brand Links

Help

Become part of the ZDNet community.

Newsletters