How We Keep Warm: Information Radiation

Posted on April 2, 2012 by JoannaH

It may be sunny in our Bristol office but like those at Government Digital Service (GDS), we’ve been radiating information on TVs around the office.  Ambient information in the workplace helps keep everybody up to speed on what’s going on and what issues there are (if any).

Daily, weekly and yearly stats for the consultations we’re running (updated in real time)

Status of the tests of our applications that are currently in development (green = everything is working; red = something is broken)

Financial stuff that we cannot share on the blog ;)

We’ve already talked about how we visualise the workflow using post-its on a Kanban board but since Delib now has a new Australian office it make sense for some things to be shown digitally. We’re planning to make it possible for these screens to be available to those in Australia and those that work remotely, so watch this space…

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An interview with Craig Thomler – new Delib Australia MD

Posted on March 30, 2012 by ChrisQ

Being a super social company we’re always keen to be as open as possible, and share as much information about us as a company, us as individuals and all the great stuff we do.   So we thought the best way to start introducing Craig Thomler – our new Australia MD – to the world was via a quick interview.  We did a couple a few months ago with Alison and Verne in Australia, so thought we’d use the same format (and questions).

So, here you go – first question . . .

When did you first use the internet, and what did you use it for?

I was using bulletin boards back in the 1980s before there was a publicly available internet in Australia, using a 900 baud modem, using it for games and chatting.

In 1995 I could see the potential of the internet – even though there were only a few thousand Australian users and I went to work at one of the first five commercial ISPs, running their customer service section for a few months before a group of us took off to found Australia’s first web content development and community management company.

What’s the most awesome online engagement project you’ve worked on?

Hard to pick one, but my heart always goes back to the work I did helping Telstra manage online engagement for the Wireplay gaming service in the mid-90s.

When it launched the service struggled technically to achieve smooth gameplay and there was an extremely vocal bunch of gamers criticising both it and Telstra. Though continuous community engagement and demonstrating how the community was being listened to, via online forums, we managed to turn views around. Some of their biggest critics even ended up working for Telstra!

What’s your top community engagement tip?

Listen to the community with an open heart and mind. Your community will almost always see things differently to you, have different concerns, wishes, perceptions and fears. Unless you listen actively you will never hear the true issues and will spend your time addressing symptoms – a more time-consuming, inefficient process that doesn’t deliver long-term outcomes.

Who’s your hero [and why]?

I prefer ‘small heroes’ to large heroes – there’s no-one I really look to as a perfect rolemodel, but there are tens of people who have one to two characteristics or skills I’d like to have. So here’s a list of a few people who have been heroes to me in various ways:

My wife Madeleine Clifford, who is one of the deepest thinkers and most effective strategists I know, who understands intuitively how to engage stakeholders, win and maintain their trust and deliver win-win outcomes

Pia Waugh, whose energy, enthusiasm and ability to build community and support is legendary

Rose Holley, whose vision for digitalising newspapers through crowdsourcing at the National Library is one of the most enduring and successful open government initiatives in Australia

Bernard De Broglio, who has almost single-handedly put Mosman Council on the global map as a Gov 2.0 leader

James Kliemt and Kim Charlton from Queensland Police, who have changed the game for emergency public engagement in Australia through the QPS Facebook and Twitter pages.

So there you go.  I hope you now feel you know Craig a little better.  If you want to get to know him even more, then follow him on Twitter @CraigThomler or drop him a mail craig@delib.net

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Chris and Craig’s April Australia adventure – dates

Posted on March 28, 2012 by ChrisQ

We’re big fans of alliteration at Delib. We’re also big fans of Australia. So, to celebrate the *official launch of Delib Australia* and the appointment of our new Australian MD Craig Thomler, we’re pleased to announce the dates for *Chris and Craig’s April Australia Adventure* – a tour of Australia by Chris and Craig in April.

[Australia image - thanks to FridayMash.com]

The idea behind the tour is for us to do some *showing and telling* of the new look Delib Australia headed up by Craig, and give insights into our visions of citizen engagement 2.0 from an Australian and Global perspective; having worked doing Gov2.0 stuff for Australian Federal Government for the last 5 years, Craig’s got some great insights to share from an Australian perspective, and I (Chris) have a whole bunch of interesting global insights from my travels around the world.

If you’re interested in us dropping by to say hi + doing a *show and tell session* we’d be happy to – just drop Craig a note – Craig AT Delib.net. Here are the rough dates we’ll be visiting the different Australian States:

  • Perth / WA - Wednesday 11th to Friday 13th
  • Sydney / NSW - Monday 16th to Wednesday 18th
  • Brisbane / QLD – Thursday 19th to Friday 20th
  • Canberra / ACT – Monday 23rd
  • Adelaide / SA – Tuesday 24th
  • Melbourne / Victoria - Wednesday 25th to Friday 27th
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Delib Australia launched

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Craig Thomler

There’s big news today from downunder, with Delib Australia launching with local staffing and hosting to service the Australian and New Zealand markets.

We’ve updated the Delib Australia section with details and below is the media release that’s been distributed to government and technology press in Australia.

Leading UK online consultation company expands to Australia

Delib – the ‘digital democracy’ company that helped the Obama Government run their first crowd-sourcing project and supported the UK Government’s first e-voting pilots – is expanding its operations to Australia.

Delib is one of the world’s leading providers of ‘out-of-the-box’ and custom online consultation and public participation tools, having worked with governments and commercial organisations in the United Kingdom, Canada, the USA and Europe for over ten years.

Delib has already assisted local Australian governments from its UK base, however its Australian office will ensure local governments and organisations benefit from local expertise.

‘We’re excited to announce the launch of Delib Australia,’ said Chris Quigley, co-founder and CEO of Delib.

‘Having a local base allows us to better support our existing Australian customers and offer our Citizen Space and Dialogue App services to support online consultations for all levels of Australian government, corporations and not-for-profit organisations,’ Chris said.

‘Increasingly, governments and organisations are seeking innovative yet cost-effective ways of engaging with the public, and this is where Delib Australia can help.

‘We offer Australian governments and companies the ability to enhance their public engagement practices while using our management and analytics capabilities to reduce the cost and time to design, manage and respond to consultation processes.’

Delib Australia has appointed Craig Thomler – a leading open government advocate and marketing professional – to the role of Managing Director.

Delib Australia will initially be based in Canberra and cloud-host its services within Australia to provide governments and corporations with higher speed, reliability and security.

About Delib

Delib is a UK-based ‘digital democracy’ company specialising in the development and support of web-based online consultation tools for governments, not-for-profit, resources, property and infrastructure sectors.

Established in 2001, Delib worked on the first e-voting pilots in the UK and crowd-sourcing projects with the US government from 2008. The Obama Government used Delib’s Dialogue App in 2009 to run their first open government crowd-sourcing project.

In 2010 the company developed the Citizen Space platform in partnership with the UK government, a cloud-based online consultation system for governments. Citizen Space meets high standards of accessibility, security, and ease-of-use at a cost-effective price.

Delib is now one of the leading global providers of out-of-the-box and custom online consultation and public participation tools. The company works with governments and commercial organisations across the United Kingdom, Canada, US and Australia , as well as with the European Parliament.

Delib Australia is a new company founded in March 2012 as a partnership between Delib UK and Craig Thomler to deliver Delib’s services and expertise to Australia and New Zealand.

More information about Delib and its services is available at www.delib.net

About Craig Thomler

Craig Thomler is one of Australia’s leading social media and Government 2.0 advocates and practitioners.

As an entrepreneur he has founded and held senior roles at a number of early-stage technology and resources companies in Australia and overseas since 1995.

From 2006 to 2012 Craig worked in the Australian Public Service in senior online communication roles, where he developed an interest in improving public governance through strategic and innovative use of digital technologies.

In 2009 Craig was awarded the inaugural Government 2.0 Individual Innovator Award by the Australian Government’s Government 2.0 Taskforce and in 2010 he was named one of ‘The Top 10 Who are Changing the World of Internet and Politics’ by PoliticsOnline and the World eDemocracy Forum in Paris, France.

Craig blogs about social media, open government and Government 2.0 at http://eGovAU.blogspot.com and presents regularly at conferences in Australia and overseas.

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The Psychology of web design – tips for app UX design from SXSW

Posted on March 16, 2012 by ChrisQ

We’re dedicated to constantly developing and improving our web apps, so they provide the best experience for citizens and provide the most friction free interaction with government as possible.

One of the key aspects of creating a friction free citizen experience is UX design – making the way users interact as easy and engaging as possible.

So it was great to get to listen to Jason Hreha, co-founder of West Coast Behaviour design company Dopamine, who’s a real UX fiend.  Here’s what I learnt – which I’m hoping we can embrace more to improve our apps (even more).

The key thing Jason discussed was the *Fogg Behaviour Model* which states that 3 things need to coincide for behaviour to change:

  1. Ability: what can someone do on a website
  2. Motivation: how you can drive people to do the things you want them to
  3. Trigger: when do you get them to do whatever you want them to do

1) ABILITY

When looking at the *ability factors*, the key question is:  *are we asking too much?*:

  • Time e.g. proxy for how hard / streamlined the expected experience is.
  • Money e.g. payment plans (freemium)
  • Physical effort e.g. text.  Is there too much copy?  Twitter is a great example – by limiting copy.
  • Mental effort e.g. are we asking for too much information?  Is it difficult to understand?

And following this, the core question is *what is absolutely necessary*, and the key response is to get rid of everything else.  The Power of Simplification rules.

2) MOTIVATION

When it comes motivation there’s two areas to consider 1) motivation driven by the product, and 2) motivation driven in screen.

  • Product motivation comes down to the basic questions *does the product provide users with value?*  and *Does the product solve a pain point?*  If you’re not solving a true problem, then app may be treated like a game and once the user’s finished playing there’s no driver to return.  Jason pointed out that in his mind Turntable.fm has this characteristic.
  • In-screen motivation comes down to providing constant positive feedback to users, so that they’re constantly rewarded for their behaviour encouraging further interaction and engagement.  A  simple example of this kind of positive feedback are progress charts in surveys (like in Quick Consult).

3.TRIGGER

The basic reality is that people are probably going to forget your product / app, so you need to provide triggers to remind them to interact with it.  A basic example of this is sending emails.  Jason pointed out that there are 2 main triggers, onsite triggers and offsite triggers.

  • Onsite triggers are mainly based around calls to action (CTA).  Calls to actions may have varied levels of ability thresholds – an example of a high threshold trigger is asking people to *make a post*;  an example of a low threshold trigger is asking someone to heart / like something.
  • Offsite triggers are mainly based around *push messaging*  like emails and text messages.  So for example, you may provide users with the ability to sign up for weekly email alerts.  Jason pointed out that ensuring you provide ways to opt out and control this messaging, then you won’t disengage a user.

So there you go.  Some simple tips on how to improve UX design for your app courtesy of the nice people at SXSW.

 

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Thoughts on consultation practices in the NHS

Posted on March 14, 2012 by GillC

Here at Delib we are intensely interested in the way others are consulting their stakeholders, nothing makes us happier then those practising digital democracy well.

I have recently been working with the NHS to assist with the grand ideal which is Digital Democracy, and came across various methods which are used. I thought this may interest others involved in social media and online consultations so thought I would share my findings with you all.

Many of the health organisations I have spoken to are using methods of engagement which take place in the community; Forum Groups are a good example of this. These are a wonderful ideas but in practice this does alienate those who are unable to physically attend.

I have also seen online membership bodies used, which allow a more relaxed approach to patient participation. Once again there is a problem where potential users are forced to sign up and apply to join. In practice this enables demographics of the population to be monitored by the organisers, but can be intimidating for those of us who wish to be active in having their say without attention being drawn to them.

Doctors surgeries have recently ‘upped the ante’ with Patient Participation Groups trying to engage with their patients through new methods. Many are done through emails, however coffee mornings are rather popular too. Rotherham NHS have been letting the CCG’s in their areas use their consultation hub. They found that this solved the problem of patients not being able to attend meetings and widening the scope of participation by allowing them to register their opinions remotely.

These are just a few of the ways we’ve seen health organisations engaging their residents and the problems they have faced along the way. We constantly take these learnings on board trying to ensure all our apps help to remedy as many of these problems as possible by allowing a wider pool of stakeholders to be engaged.

If you would like to see how Citizen Space or Dialogue App can help your organisation please contact us, and we’ll try to help!

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Awesome Citizen Space version 1.6.2 new features now out!

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Alex

Citizen Space 1.6.2 has just been released with some really awesome new features.  This is part of our commitment to keeping Citizen Space constantly improving and evolving with the ever-changing times.

Both current and future clients can now benefit from a range of new features, including these two great additions worth explaining in detail:

1) Generated graphical PDF reports

All Quick Consult consultations now include an extra link on the consultation dashboard to create a summary report in PDF format. Citizen Space administrators have the option to create a report which can be used to both track open consultations’ progress or provide a quick and easy to use summary report of closed consultations’ outcomes.

We are really excited about this new feature and have already been chatting to our current clients about some of the potential benefits and use cases. The analysis of results and subsequent consultation feedback loop back to the public can now be much quicker and easier.  For example reports can be generated quickly for a meeting with stakeholders and policy makers to review/assess progress.

  • For questions where respondents can select at most one answer, such as radio buttons or a drop down, a pie chart is displayed:

  • For questions where respondents can select more than one answer, such as checkboxes, a bar chart is displayed:

2) Mailing list sign up for Quick Consult respondents

Respondents can now have the option to opt-in to a mailing list once they have completed a response.  The email list can then be exported and used to keep respondents informed on consultation outcomes and results. The email address opt-in feature can be enabled on a per-consultation basis to ensure that it is only used on relevant consultations.

The text above the email opt-in option can be easily edited by the administrator to ensure that respondents will know how their email address will be used.

It is possible to view the number of email signups at any stage of the consultation on the dashboard without needing to download the list.

We also included continuous improvements across the app that many of our users will no doubt appreciate; such as a nice bright ‘Jump to a page’ bar on the ‘view response’ page:

For more information on Citizen Space or to request a demonstration please contact one of our Team on 0845 638 1848.

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#IndyRef

Posted on March 12, 2012 by BenF

On January 25th Alex Salmon announced that The Scottish Government would be consulting on the measures that will influence the proposed independence referendum of 2014. The consultation paper seeks opinion on a variety of measures includes voting age, days to vote and even the nature of the ballot paper itself. This is arguably the most contentious and important consultation of the year, influencing as it does, the potential breakup of the Union. Recognising the importance of the consultation, and the number of potential respondents The Scottish Government chose to use Delib’s Citizen Space, owing to, amongst other things, it’s unparalleled record of running the UK’s largest online consultations. Naturally, I therefore thought it would be worth a quick blog post to see how they’ve utilised the system.

The first thing you notice upon landing on the ‘Your Scotland, Your Referendum’ page is the clarity of the information presented. A participant can choose to look at the supporting documentation in addition to clear succinct headline information. The latter point is often overlooked, especially by organisations new to digital tools, who feel the need to promote transparency by bombarding a participant with a discouraging amount of information.

Once you click through into the online consultation which uses the ‘Quick Consult’ module within Citizen Space, you notice the way in which the offline survey has been mirrored online. Often internet tools can struggle with things such as multiple answer components, or indeed the ability to upload documents to support an answer; not so here.

And finally…
It’s worth noting that the consultation seeks views from all UK residents, and not just the Scots, and I therefore implore you to take part. You’ve got until the 11th of May which, in combination with the ‘Save your response to return later…’ feature, gives you no excuse not to.

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Can laughter change the world? (notes from SXSW)

Posted on March 11, 2012 by ChrisQ

Baratunde Thurston is a very funny black man, and the online editor of the Onion. I point out the colour thing as it’s something that he indulges and has written hilariously about in his new book titled How to be Black (with the subtitle *if you don’t buy this book you’re a racist*)!

Anyway, the most interesting thing about Baratunda isn’t the fact he’s black, or the fact that he’s funny (and a very good speaker), but the fact that he believes comedy, and in particular satire, is a force for good and can help change the world.

In Baratunda’s SXSW keynote speech today in Austin, he interestingly talked through how satire sites (similar to the Onion) around the world have been keeping governments in check with a little wit and cheek. My favourites from his talk included:

The Ministry – from Afghanistan

Billed as the Afghan answer to The Office, The Ministry is a satire on the bribe-ridden and sexist world of Afghan government:

Praazit – Iran

Parazit (translated from Iranian as TV static) satirises the tight state media control in Iran, highlighting in particular the state government’s practice of blocking the TV signal and military crack down on home satellite dishes):

Laughter against the machine – US

Laughter against the machine are a US comedy group who are particularly active in the political satire space doing both stand-up tours and also online videos:

The whole role of satire is something that’s always been very close to us at Delib, as the first thing we (the Delib founders) ever did was run a political satire website called Spinon, during the 2001 General election in the UK. Now, comedy isn’t really part of the Delib mix, however the fundamentals of *trying to engage people as effectively as possible* is, and the rules of comedy can be usefully applied in the citizen engagement space.

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Delib Wins Social Buzz Award 2011

Posted on March 9, 2012 by JoannaH

A bit late in announcing this but Delib is very happy to share the fact that we won a Social Buzz Award for ‘Best Socially Responsible Initiative’ for our work on the My2050 project for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). The project is an online simulation which challenges users to reduce carbon emissions to 20% of 1990s levels by 2050.

My 2050 has also been featured as part of the Climate Change Pathways conference at Bristol University in September 2011 and used as part of a group consensus exercise at the Bath Youth Climate Summit. The project also gained press coverage on BBC News, The Guardian and in marketing and media publication The Drum.

About The Awards

The Social Buzz Awards recognise the most innovative social media projects in the UK and is organised by The Drum. The project was nominated back in September and the award ceremony took place at Wembley Stadium in London on December 1st 2011.

And here’s the award in all its glory:

Thank you, The Drum!

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