links for 2013-09-29
“Elefest takes all those stereotypes of Elephant and Castle being depressing and run down and waves two fingers at them.”
Bloody awful name, but there’s a lot of half-decent ideas contained within Elefest. A screening of The Harder They Come is always to be welcomed. As is anything that Don Letts does. Not sure about the South London connection with The Wicker Man though.
Celebrate The Elephant whilst you still can, Comrades.
The E & C is all set to change at a pace that will put even Brixton Vill-aaage to shame. The barriers are going up around The Heygate, foundations are springing up for the new Fusion swimming pool site, and soon the second of the ghastly roundabouts will be removed.
But you can’t but help ponder that The Elephant will lose something of a unique Transpontine, feel once the transition from a modern medieval ramshackle of a market to the Nu International Cool of South London starts to emerge.
For many folk The Elephant *is* the spiritual home of a South London identity. The grubby underpasses, the transient communities, a hellish transport infrastructure.
Glorious, glorious Transpontine living.
No worries - all of these still exist around the corner down the Walworth Road.
via @Londonist.
“Nearly 70% of IT professionals believe most interactions will be via the council’s website. Three quarters of those surveyed also said online transactions are the best way to improve service delivery.”
First things first - never trust a survey that cites ‘IT professionals’ - we’re all part of the online conversation / building process now, aren’t we?
It’s not exactly computer science to consider that localgov of the future NOW is going to be powered online. Which kinda makes the survey looking a little silly. It wasn’t commissioned purely for PR purposes now, was it?
The trick is not to simply put your localgov services online, but to encourage residents to understand the benefits in using them. Clear, clean functional design would be a half-decent start.
OH HAI @WiganCouncil.
Woh! That's more like it. @WiganCouncil ace example of #localgov usability http://t.co/JIeQ25mqNM cc @Skinner_M @FutureGov @gryastn
— Jason_Cobb (@Jason_Cobb) September 6, 2013
“Nearly 90% said a lack of integration is a barrier to delivering services via an online channel. However, a third of councils integrate less than 10% of Customer Relationship Management.”
Build or burn it, Comrades, as we say back in the Anarcho Situationist squat.
Pay me enough dosh and I can do either of these for you.
Ha. bloody ha.
“For an activist things can never be too local… A generic problem is that the cost of hyperlocal accountability using formal, recognised traditional structures is just too high and replication of formal meeting structures is too unwieldy.
Activists like me might piously say ‘you can’t put a price on accountability’ but that ignores the fact that, accountability done traditionally costs to engage staff time and there isn’t always money to pay for it. Traditional ways of doing it are horribly unwieldy.
As a local activist I am often frustrated by the lack of true localness in accountability structures. This is despite living in some of the smallest wards known to Western democracy.”
@willperrin on the increasing value of the New Model Activists.
ANY excuse to embed the ACE video from Richard Taylor shot at Huntingdonshire District Council.
Respect for, but not deference to civil authority…
Tell It Like It Is, Comrades.
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