Bellow are my (Tim Davies) responses to a series of questions from a reporter for Headstars e-Government Bulletin. Places here in the hope that others can develop and improve these answers.
1: Could you explain how the attitudes of management figures - with regard to Web 2.0, etc - are holding back online engagement?
Front line staff I've worked with want to know that they have the support of their managers to engage with social media; and they want to know that they are not being sent out to explore social media spaces alone - that they will have the support of their organisation if they find they need training, policies or other foundations to be laid for safe and effective engagement with social media.
Often staff are reacting to a demand from service users and citizens for online engagement - but they may not have the support they need from managers to engage.
2: Why do you think these attitudes are in place?
Managers will vary: some are still unaware of the importance and potential of social media; others are scared of the potential; others recognise the importance but do not prioritise it; others want to support engagement with social media, but lack a detailed enough understanding to identify sustainable ways forward in its use.
Often there is simply an (unintentional) failure to see beyond the technology to the forms of social and business interaction it supports and enables - and thereby to find a space where management skills can effectively operate.
3: In points 6 and 7, you allude to the idea that ICT issues and web 2.0 concerns should be dealt with by management and not ICT departments? Can you explain your thoughts on this and why senior management should take responsibility/an interest in these issues?
Social media websites are online spaces where staff can interact with colleagues, stakeholders, clients and citizens in a diverse range of ways. To cut staff off from those spaces, or to try and control by technical means what staff can and can't do in those spaces, is a blunt approach with many unintended consequences. Social media and web 2.0 are fundamentally about people, and about information.
If a staff member was making inapproriate use of the telephone then, in most organisations, that would be dealt with by their line manager discussing the issue and taking steps to deal with it, but most likely not by their access to the phone being taken away by the infrastructure provider.
4: What can be done to tackle these problems?
That's exactly what I'm currently exploring by putting the 50 Hurdles up as a Wiki and inviting input from others with experience of overcoming these challenges. They have all been overcome in different places at different times - and by sharing knowledge and insights about actions that work hopefully we can overcome them in more places quicker.
5: Why is it important for public sector staff to be equipped with the right digital skills, and how will this push forward online engagement and e-government?
Staff need to have enough basic digital skills to be able to easily pick up new skills when they need them. We live in an environment of rapidly changing challenges - and finding the right digital tool that can help with each job is important.
6: Will online engagement significantly improve if all of your listed challenges are dealt with?
The challenges I listed are only hurdles - things that slow down or trip-up efforts at online engagement. Simply removing them isn't enough. We have to be running in the right direction and pursing the right forms of meaningful online engagement.
