The Networked Councillor Report

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1 The Networked CouncillorMarch 2013

The Networked Councillor

by Catherine Howe at Public-i

on behal o Improvement East

March 2013


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A research report by Public-i or Improvement East


March 2013

Table o Contents

Executive Summary 2

1. Introduction 3

2. Background 4

3. What is the Networked Society? 5

4. What is the Networked Councillor? 7

5. Councillors today 8

6. What people use: dierent tools and channel choices 9

7. Concerns or Members about being Networked Councillors 13

8. Creating a Networked Councillor perspective 15

9. Enabling Networked Councillor behaviour 17

10. How do we build new relationships or the Networked Society? 19

11. Recommendations or discussion 22

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Executive Summary

This report articulates the challenges and opportunities that ace local politicians operating in anincreasingly networked and digital society.

The suggestion is that such a society requires a Networked Councillor embodying key qualities o:openness, digital culture and co-production, in order to reach and respond eectively.

It was created ollowing questionnaire and eld research with Councillors across the East o England, which examined their current

use o social media and their ideas or how it could be used in the uture

We include practical suggestions as to how to support an ambition that all Councillors are able to be eective in the online world.

These suggestions or support include; better use o peer mentoring, more eective training and greater emphasis on the social media

monitoring and analysis that we suggest should be provided by Ocers.

We suggest that a better understanding o their current digital ootprint and online presence will help Councillors navigate the digital worldmore eectively.

We are not simply advocating a shit to digital by deault. The report looks at the ways in which Councillors could use digital technologies to

create better relationships ofine as well as online, and to become central to the network o networks which can describe every community.

The report also starts to address some o the many challenging questions within this ambition: how to protect privacy, how to ensure

discretion within the negotiation process and how to protect important processes in a more agile and immediate digital environment.

This report is the starting point or a larger discussion and we welcome comments and challenge to these ideas,

so please get in touch [email protected]


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1. Introduction

The ways in which we communicate andconsume inormation have undamentallychanged with the advent o digitaltechnology, and we live in an increasinglyNetworked Society. This report suggeststhat such a society requires a NetworkedCouncillor embodying key qualities o:

openness, digital culture and co-productionin order to reach and respond eectively.

This report considers how to increase theeectiveness o Councillors in the onlineworld beyond the current mixed picture, withcontrasting examples o superb use o digitaland complete lack o adoption. There areboth risks and opportunities in this ambition,but this report lays out the evidence to

support the idea that we need all our electedrepresentatives to be comortable andeective in the online space.

The shit to making greater use o digital technologies is

more than a channel shit towards being digital by deault.

Rather than simply substituting online or ofine methods,

this report looks at the ways in which Councillors can takeadvantage o the behavior changes we see online and

become part o networks which are more participatory, open

and collaborative than we might nd ofine. This is not a

pipedream; constant growth o online activity and the boost

to this which is evidenced when people move to mobile

devices or Internet use have shown that online actions candrive real world change.

Alongside this ambition, this report presents better ways to support

Members as they explore this new environment, including: Peergroup mentoring in order to develop digital skills, development

o a curated digital ootprint by Members and improved contentmanagement skills as well as better analysis support. To a great

extent this is about letting go o much o the control that has been

implicitly or explicitly placed on Members in the digital space and

replacing it with more demanding expectations, better quality

inormation and support so that Members navigate these waters or

themselves.

There are many challenging questions within this ambition and

this report has been designed to highlight issues o political

sensitivity, how to have private discussions in public spaces and

asks where we need to ask the online space to bend to the needs

o democratic engagement rather than assuming it is always theother way round.

This report is a beta version this means it is complete but

ready or public testing o the ideas and questions raised. We

will be carrying out this testing rstly by asking interestedexperts to review our ndings and addressing some o the

questions we have included, but also with a discussion event

where we hope to test these conclusions on a wider audience.

This report is intended as the start o a conversation which

will help to shape the ways in which Councillors and Ocers

could create conditions and develop abilities or NetworkedCouncillors to grow and fourish, in line with a growing and

infuential proportion o the population becoming part o

the Networked Society.

Please let us know what you think

As a beta version, your input is valued

and welcome. I you have any comments

or responses to the points raised in this

report, please get in touch:[email protected]

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2. BackgroundLocal democracy is acing serious challenges. The spending

power o local government has been greatly reduced at

the that cost o things like social care are rising. There is

low participation in terms o voter turnout generally at

local elections, described by some as a democratic decit.

Particular sections o society have very low participation rates,and ollowing the riots in 2011 there are genuine concerns

about large parts o our population becoming permanently

disenranchised. Can we use the way in which digital

networked technology has become embedded in our society

and behaviours to address these challenges? Can we create amore networked and as a result more eective Councillor?

The potential or digital technologies to dramatically alter the

processes and services o local government is well documented.

Less attention has been given to the way in which technology is

undamentally changing peoples behaviour and attitudes, andhow they interact with each other and with decision-makers. Even

less attention has yet been paid to the practical considerations

involved with examining how our elected representatives,

particularly at a local level, are using these new technologies.

This report has been written rom the perspective that a morenetworked and open society is being ormed as more people

have the ability to connect, share and take action independentlyo traditional institutions and structures - but that we need to

raise the level o support that we oer our elected representatives

to ensure that they can participate ully in this. The evidence orthis social shit is outlined in section 8. The research work here

has been commissioned to examine whether innovations within

our representative democracy have been slower to adapt to and

make the most o this behavioural shit that accompanies new

technologies, and explores possible actors that are inhibiting

the democratic potential o technology with respect to localcommunities and their representatives. The report is very positive

about the potential o social media to improve the relationship

between representatives and the public - a view which is also

evidenced in the research responses. However, there is a gap

between this potential and current practice, and one o thepurposes o this work was to start to create a more sophisticateddebate about the use o social media beyond the black and white

debate that is oten seen between technological evangelists on

the one hand and the more cautious majority on the other.

This report was written ollowing an exploratory piece o research

with a select group o Councillors in the East o England. It is

intended to shine a light on the way elected Members relate to

and use technology to reach their constituents, and to draw outsome important questions that we should be asking in order

to ully appreciate and act on the democratic potential o new

technology and to support our elected representatives.

The report is intended as a starting point or a wider

conversation about what it means to be a Councillor in anetworked and digital age.


March 2013


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2. http://www.bcs.org/content/conWebDoc/43809

http://www.itpro.co.uk/641770/ocom-survey-sheds-light-on-popularity-o-mobile-

devices?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=itpro_newsletter3. http://www.nesta.org.uk/library/documents/Co-production-report.pd

4. http://microsites.oii.ox.ac.uk/oxis/publications

3. What is the Networked Society?

To understand the Networked Councillor, we rst need to

understand what we mean by the Networked Society. We

live in a digital age where anyone with the most basic o

computer or telephone equipment can create and share

content with anyone they choose. At time o writing over

80% o the adult population are online and 92% have mobilephones. Around 50% (Ocom, Kantar Worldpanel2) o the

UK population own a smart phone. These technologies give

us the ability to create connections and networks to share

inormation and power in dierent ways.

As well as more people getting online, increasing numbers are

using technology in a dierent way. People can create content

and distribute it reely through their networks. They are able

to comment on, review or like what others create and they are

always able to click more and ollow links down a rabbit hole o

inormation. They nd and share inormation on their terms, andto their timescales.

The Oxord Internet Institute runs a bi-annual study o online

behaviours in the UK. Their latest report rom 2011 breaks the

population down into Non-Users, First Generation Users and

Next Generation Users. First Generation Users connect rom xedlocation PCs while Next Generation Users connect rom multiple

and mobile locations, weaving their use o the Internet moredeeply into their lives. First Generation Users are more likely to see

the Internet as just another channel to provide one to many top

down communication. Next Generation Users understand andexpect more openness. For them, the Internet enables many to

speak to many, and they are accustomed to a multiplicity o voice

and opinion. It is with these Next Generation Users that we see

more social behaviours and content creation.

Next Generation Users are active members o a digital spacewith a more participatory culture. This culture has qualities o

collaboration, openness and the potential or co-production

embedded within it. These are valuable qualities to oer in the

debate on how to renegotiate the relationship between the

public and its local representatives.

As the public create content and networks we can start to see

these being used to eect real world social change. Groups with

shared interests or goals are fourishing as the cost o and barriersto orming them are dramatically lowered by technology. These

networks might be ocused on a single task, or example the

#riotcleanup ater the 2011 summer riots that saw thousands

mobilised online to clean up the streets ater the unrest, or the

campaigning work o 38 Degrees which has been lobbying

parliament on a number o issues. The designation o theNetworked Society signals the centrality o this network eect

with respect to the changes we see happening. It was striking

at the time how ew elected representatives were part o these

online conversations and the whole incident has raised the prole

o what it means to be civically active online.

The public are also creating local websites and communities

which enable them to connect and network in their

neighbourhoods. These sites and networks are appearing all over

the country and growing in size and infuence. They use online

technology to garner or mobilise actions ofine in dierentinstitutions and settings. In some cases elected representatives

are active and involved in these communities, but in the majority

o sites that have been explored this is the exception and not therule to see Member involvement in hyperlocal sites.

Key acts rom Oxord Internet Surveys

According to the OxIS 2011 survey:

A Next Generation User has two characteristics: (1) they use at least two Internet applications on their smartphone (i.e. email and

weather) and (2) they own at least two o the ollowing devices: a tablet, a reader or three or more computers. This new pattern oaccess is reshaping the use and impact o the Internet.

Next Generation Users have emerged across all age groups and comprise 44% o online British population. Yet, they did not appear overnight.

Once we identied them we could nd them in prior waves their proportion grew rom 20% o Internet users in 2007 to 44% in 2011.4

Co-production means deliveringpublic services in an equal and

reciprocal relationship betweenproessionals, people using services,their amilies and their neighbours.

Where activities are co-produced in thisway, both services and neighbourhoods

become ar more eective agents o

change (Denition by NESTA, Challengeo Co-production report3)
http://www.itpro.co.uk/641770/ofcom-survey-sheds-light-on-popularity-of-mobile-devices?ewslettermailtpro_newsletter=http://www.itpro.co.uk/641770/ofcom-survey-sheds-light-on-popularity-of-mobile-devices?ewslettermailtpro_newsletter=http://www.itpro.co.uk/641770/ofcom-survey-sheds-light-on-popularity-of-mobile-devices?ewslettermailtpro_newsletter=http://www.itpro.co.uk/641770/ofcom-survey-sheds-light-on-popularity-of-mobile-devices?ewslettermailtpro_newsletter=


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4. What is the Networked

Councillor?

There is little doubt that the evidence around public take up

o digital technologies such as social media is persistently

increasing and likely to continue to do so. The question

posed in this report is i we are creating a more digital and

more networked society then we are only just starting

to explore what this might mean or any o us, includingour representatives so in an increasingly participatory

and sel-managed culture, what role should our elected

representatives play?

Our working assumption, explored in this work, is that a more

Networked Society will need a more Networked Councillor,able to represent and respond to people acclimatised to a

collaborative and networked way o making decisions and

taking action.

There is little evidence that the public want to dispense with

representatives, but there are indications that the public would likea more open and more direct relationship with their politicians.

With a deepening concern about a growing democratic decit,

there is no shortage o drivers pushing us to nd ways to reconnect

the public with their politicians.

The qualities that the Networked Councillor should embody are

ound in the way in which Next Generation Users are approaching

and using technology. We suggest that the ollowing qualities,

which can already be evidenced online, will be inherent:

Open by deault:This is open not just in terms o inormationbut also in terms o thinking and decision making

Digitally native: Networked Councillors will be native in orcomortable with the online space, not in terms o age but in

terms o the individual adopting the behaviours and social

norms o the digital culture

Coproductive: Co-production is a way o describing the

relationship between Citizen and State which brings with it an

expectation that everyone in the conversation has power to

act and the potential to be active in the outcome as well as thedecision-making process

Networked:A Networked Councillor will be able to be eective

via networked as well as hierarchical power as a leader

The spectrum on which Members will adopt these qualitieswill vary on the individual and the community they represent.

Some o the qualities will eel natural and obvious, others will

seem more challenging. The intention with this report is to

help Members think about technology in terms o how it can

help apply these qualities and thus eect and improve their

relationship with the public, as opposed to thinking abouttechnologies as a broadcast communication tool.

This marks a shit in perspective and one which will require skills

and support which may not be readily available to Members

at the moment. This research started to examine the skills andsupport which would be needed by the Networked Councillor, we

will pick up on these in section 8 and 9 ater looking at the current

relationship Councillors have with technology, and the barriers both real and perceived to greater take up.

Evidence romHansard reports

While the 2011 Audit o Political Engagementdescribed the publics discontent things were

better at the local level:

People are ar more positive about the ecacy o getting

involved in their local community than they are about

getting involved in politics. Around hal o the public

(51%) agree that when people like me get involved intheir local community they really can change the way

their area is run, while one in ve people (21%) disagree.

This compares avourably to the one in three (30%) who

agree that they can change the way the UK is run bygetting involved in politics and 44% who disagree.

I think social media is still very much used by some

people who are very technologically aware and when

it comes to local politics that interest is just not there

on local politics as it is there nationally. I think thatthere is a deeper meaning to that in terms o the young

who dont eel that they have much o an infuence by

getting involved in local politics whereas national politics

has more o an impact. Or at least there is more o a

perception that national politics has more o an impactso it is easier to get people signed up to causes and

petitions. Member

5. http://hansardsociety.org.uk/blogs/parliament_and_government/

archive/2011/03/30/audit-o-political-engagement-8.aspx
http://hansardsociety.org.uk/blogs/parliament_and_government/archive/2011/03/30/audit-of-political-engagement-8.aspxhttp://hansardsociety.org.uk/blogs/parliament_and_government/archive/2011/03/30/audit-of-political-engagement-8.aspxhttp://hansardsociety.org.uk/blogs/parliament_and_government/archive/2011/03/30/audit-of-political-engagement-8.aspx


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5. Councillors today

Standing as an elected representative within local

government can be both time consuming and hard work.

That, combined with an overall drop in levels o democratic

participation, means that we have ewer and ewer people

standing or election. For many people this raises a concern

that our Councillors are not always representative o theareas in which they serve. In particular there is diculty in

attracting younger people to participate in local government

(the average age in England is 58.3 years and only 13.5%

Councillors in England are under 45, with just 3.5% under 306)

and this was refected in our group o respondents. In generalwomen are underrepresented, making up only 29.3% o the

total, as are people rom ethnic minorities who make up 4.1%

o Councillors and 9.5% o the adult population. Councillors

are most likely to be retired or sel-employed.

In terms o technology use there are many examples oCouncillors who are making extensive use o social media and

most Members will have a digital presence. However there

is little systematic adoption o new technologies, with usage

being inconsistent within groups o Members. Choice o

communication channels is and should be a matter o personal

choice or the individual, however the divide between what wesee in the general population and what we see Members using is

one o the motivations or this research.

Who took part?

36 questionnaires were returned, 24 by Members and thebalance rom Ocers. The gender balance was 18 male /

14 emale, and while ages ranged rom under 25 to over

65 the modal class o respondents was 46-55. 7 Members

took part in in-depth interviews over the phone.

6. Representing the Future: Report o the Councillors Commission, DCLG 2007


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6. What people use: dierent

tools and channel choices

With respect to technology use the study participants were airly

typical o this overall Member population. They each access the

Internet more than once a day and reported being as likely to use

social media or personal reasons as or proessional reasons.

When asked about the type o tools that they use the overwhelmingavourite was email, with a airly even distribution between

mainstream social media tools Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Which digital tools, i any, do you currently use?

This can be or personal or proessional purposes

The respondents approaches to channel choice were varied.

For example some preerred to keep Facebook as a socialmedium where others liked the reach that it gave them to

their communities. Some o the respondents appreciated the

immediacy o Twitter while others ound the short nature o

responses to be restrictive.

At the moment I use Twitter, then Facebook and

my Twitter automatically loads Facebook. I also use

LinkedIn which also automatically updates. It is quite

interesting about the dierent people on each socialmedia network. On Facebook, I tend to have mainly local

residents. Whereas on Twitter, it is also local residents but

also other partner organisations that I also engage with.

So there is quite a broad range o things that I update

people on, I tend to say what I am up to or what I amworking on, or i there is an issue that I can tell people

upront to avoid people moaning at me or emailing me

about issues. I try to get in rst. Member

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Ocer

MemberCabinet Member

Other (please speciy)

Twitter

Facebook

LinkedIn

Pinterest

Google+

Localcommunity

websites

Communityof

interest(eg.Mu

msnet)

Emailnewsletters

Email

Other(pleasespecify)

I made the decision that I could only use one and i I wasgoing to do it I wanted to do it properly and on that basis

I decided to use Twitter because o its nature. Member

I cant have a meaningul conversation with people using

Twitter about things that are too complex or the number

o characters that you can have on Twitter. Member


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Why people use social media

We ound mixed reasons or using social media, which again we

would expect given the prole o the group.

Why do you currently use social media?

We can see that there are a handul o active users who are using

social media to aid decision-making and opinion orming and

to talk to their community. However there are many who limit

its use to personal relationships or getting messages out when

campaigning.

There is a strong sense rom the group that there is a need or

local politicians to be active online, and an acknowledgment

that social media is an important channel or reaching a younger

audience in particular:

We asked our respondents why they started using social media

in the rst place and many o them were introduced to it by

colleagues, riends or amily with only one respondent citing

some kind o ormal training. While many councils have madetraining available, the pattern rom our survey group was or

personal exploration and learning rather than taking part in

ormal training.

Their understanding o their online audience was airly basic

though, or example none o the respondents were doing muchanalysis o their online reach. However there was a general sense

in which they elt they were attracting a younger audience:

0

2

4

6

8

Iusesocialmediatotalktom

y

communityandconstituents

Idontusesocialmedia

Ihavesetupanaccountbut

Iamnotaregularuser

Iamalreadyusingsocialmedia

aspartofm

yprofessionallife

Iusesocialmediatokeepin

touchwithfamilyandfriends

Iusesocialmediatohelpformm

y

opinionsanddecisionmakin

g

Iusesocialmediatosupport

mypoliticalcampaigning

Peerpressure!Isawotherpeo

ple

usingitandthoughtIshould

Ocer

Member

Cabinet MemberOther (please speciy)

I we are going to contact younger people weve got tobe up on that. They will do everything on their mobile

phones they arent going to wait come home and sit in

ront o a desk top. I we are going to be in touch with

our constituents, especially our younger constituents we

have to be ready to do it. Member

I think the most interesting thing that I haveound is that I have a lot o younger ollowers and a lot

o ollowers who are social housing tenants who might

otherwise nd approaching a councillor a bit scary.

They are unlikely to phone up a councillor and would

be worried about doing so. Also younger people tend to

use Facebook and Twitter and so I have a lot o youngerpeople ollowing me. So i councillors are struggling

to engage with younger people then social media is

denitely helpul. Member

The reason I started was actually that when I was telling

my riends that I had become a councillor they askedwhat a councillor did. I thought that this would be a really

good way o keeping my riends up to date on what I was

doing. So that was around the time I became a councillor

and it has really gone on rom there. Member


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What is their perception o relationships ormed

through social media?

It is clear that or some o the respondents online communication

is real and or others it is not:

And there is a concern about the clicktivism that sees responses

on channels such as Facebook as being less valid than those inother mediums:

These are o course valid concerns as it can be dicult to identiy

who you are interacting with on platorms such as Facebook.

But it also perhaps indicates the subtle dierence between First

and Next Generation Users relationships to social media. Next

Generation Users are more likely to trust online contributions andare better able to sit through the noise o social media.

Who are you talking to?

We asked respondents to estimate their online reach and, where

they were able to answer, the reach was relatively small in terms

o social media potential, and many did not have an idea o the

number o people they were reaching.

This is not to say that some o the respondents do not have a

sophisticated view o reach:

No i Im talking to any orum I would only do it in

person. I you are saying something and someone is

saying something back to you, you can tell rom theintonation o their voice and their body language what

they are actually saying to you, you cant know that when

you are speaking to someone through technology. Forme its about they have elected me and Im a real person

and I need to be accountable to them physically in theirplace. Member

Some local examples oreach online

Coventry Facebook page has 28,382 likes7

Leicestershire Police and Download Festival

Facebook page has 3,691 likes8

@CllrTim on Twitter has 1,969 followers9

When you deal with people individually you get to getreal eelings on things. What you get on Facebook, a view

will be expressed and anyone else who wants to alling

behind. You dont get that individual knowledge. You

also can get one strong negative view to an issue and

someone who makes an awul lot o noise on Facebookbut when you get proper consultation responses in, the

outcome is much more positive... Member


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However this appeared to be the exception rather than the

rule, with many o the respondents being uncertain o the

communication ecacy o social media:

There is an abiding belie that the active online audience are

not interested in local politics we need to be aware that this

could become a sel-ullling prophecy i we do not seek to

engage people through these platorms. Contradicting this

belie however is a eeling rom the respondents that there is

an online audience but this is made up o pressure groups andcampaigners:

What might be happening here is that there are active

community members both on and ofine who are not part o

ormal campaign groups but who nevertheless are engaged and

interested in their community.

The challenge or Members is to nd these active members

o the community. A lack o knowledge about how to seek

people out online might be inhibiting their ability to connect

to the groups who are online but sel-contained and satised

with their interactions with local government. This group, theWilling Localists described in the last Hansard Audit o Political

Engagement10 are a considerable asset to local democracy i they

can be connected to the local democratic conversation. It may be

that Members need more help to reach and respond to these pro-social residents as opposed to the audience which seeks them

out more immediately.

Talking to each other

Many o the respondents cited the act that they use social media

to talk to colleagues and that this is an excellent source o bothlearning and support. It may be worth considering this with

respect to Member training and embedding links to a community

o peers within the training process.

I stumbled upon Facebook some years ago, socially.I rarely use it but do log-on occasionally to check on

what my riends are up to. Apologies i I appear

curmudgeonly, but do nd the inormation shared

pretty banal mostly and spurious riend requests are

rejected. I have yet to be convinced my constituents

support or opinions would be infuenced or indeed

appreciative o Facebook or Twitter messages by me, butI do have an open mind. Email and well-crated, easy to

use websites are now an essential and eective orm o

communication, obviously. Cabinet Member

10. Audit o Political Engagement 9, Part 1, Hansard Society, April 2012

The communities that are out there are mostly

interest groups so they are generally ocussed on one

issue or one area o concern. So I have and do engage

with some o the local interest groups, there is an anti-incinerator groups or example in Hertordshire, they are

quite sophisticated in corresponding out to members

in various orms. But again that is around a single issue.

As it is only one view rather than a series o views rom

across the community which is really what I want to

engage with. I dont think that the interest groups areas important or a local councillor unless it is something

which is having a specic impact on your ward.

Member


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7. Concerns or Members about

being Networked Councillors

David Cameron joined Twitter on 6th October 2012 and now

has over 200,000 ollowers despite having only sent 75 tweets

at time o writing. At this scale it is impossible to imagine any

meaningul interaction between him and his ollowers. A more

relevant examination o Councillors active online in the West

Midlands, an area with a lot o social media activity, indicatedaverage numbers o ollowers estimated at 35811 a more

manageable number.

However or a Non- or First Generation User, even the West

Midlands gures are daunting in terms o the scale o interactions.

This is another major actor which inhibits more Membersrom participating ully online, and in act the scale o potential

interaction can be seen as a risk o engaging online.

Our research with Members uncovered a number o important

other concerns about the risks o using social media as a means o

democratic engagement.

The rst was a concern about the lack of representativeness within

the online audience, bringing us back to the point made earlier by

a Member about strong yet singular views capable o attracting

support taking prominence on sites like Facebook. To someextent this risk is related to the lack o knowledge about who

is being engaged with online and could be mitigated by better

analysis. It remains a diculty or elected representatives and will

require urther support and discussion to be addressed.

This is perceived in terms o the act that the demographic makeup o the audience that are being engaged with in the main

part was not understood by the group in this study. It is a good

assumption that this audience would not be representative,

however the lack o detailed knowledge about who is being

engaged with is clearly inhibiting progress towards connecting

their comments and participation with the decision makingprocess.

Another major concern, as discussed above, was the amount o

time that social media channels might demand and the worry

that this was not proportionate to its value.

Active users do not seem to share either o these concerns, perhapsbecause o experience or because o a dierent way o viewing

and using social media. Their experience and qualities need to be

eectively communicated to potential users to prevent people

being inhibited by what, it could be argued, are unounded worries.

The nal risk is with respect to the quality of the debate andinteraction online with many respondents being concerned about

either banal or, o greater concern, abusive interactions.

It is perhaps telling that the last respondent is reporting theexperience o colleagues as opposed to personal anecdote. The

more experienced social media participants tended to be more

robust about the nature o interaction online. This is not to say

that there are not considerable reputational and personal risks

to going online - more open interaction with the public will

bring with it the potential or abuse which will become part othe digital ootprint o the politicians concerned. However, it can

be argued that this is a risk that needs to be actively managed

by means other than non-participation, as non-participation

merely creates a vacuum where the democratic representative

voice should be. This is an area in which better peer support orMembers might help in terms o mitigating this risk.

I I could put three days down to work with

someone to build me a website and train me to use

Twitter and to use Facebook in a more public way. I would

do that but I just dont get three days on the trot likethat. Furthermore the electorate are predominantly over

50 and thats not to say that they dont use the internet,

Facebook and Twitter. But they are not as dependent on it

as the younger generation are. That is an issue and there

has not been really huge support by authorities, therehave been a couple o high prole cases where people

have been Tweeting quite inappropriate stu. Hopeully

you wouldnt all into that but you do need to be mindulo that and the bear traps. Member

I have poor experiences o social media, listening to

colleagues who suer abuse on sites, and hearing odomestic disputes and it does not encourage me. I

understand them to be unregulated. They are time

consuming to monitor and keep up to date.

Cabinet Member

11. This estimate was calculated in February 2013 based on research carried out 6months earlier into top tier council activity in the West Midlands. The list can be

ound at https://twitter.com/public_i/west-midlands-councillors


15/24


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8. Creating a Networked

Councillor perspective

In this section o the report, we make the case that the risks

real and perceived - which inhibit the take up o social

media could be alleviated by taking the perspective o Next

Generation Users and thinking about how they view and

manage relationships and risks.

We have already sketched out the qualities o a Networked

Councillor, and our respondents are clear on the need to be

more networked and use technology dierently. So how canwe help Members become more like the Networked Councillors

they need to be? As a starter or discussion, we propose that an

understanding o the ollowing things will help:

Digital skills

Digital ootprints

Managing content

Digital skills

What skills will Councillors need beyond the practical ability tosend a tweet or update a blog? These can be broken down into:

The ability to create a clear and authentic persona online

The ability to meet people online and create meaningul

relationships

The ability to interact with and curate other peoples

content, not just creating their own

The ability to lter and interpret large quantities o

interactions to understand what their audience is saying

Some o these abilities are already present with Members andothers will need to be developed over time. All o these skills

appear to be inherent in Next Generation Users and help them

navigate and build eective relationships online in the same wayin which they can build relationships ofine.

Digital ootprints

What is your digital ootprint? Creating a sense o who you are,the curated sel, is dicult i you have not had the chance to

experiment with the medium. While most people who become

active online have the chance to do so with relative anonymityover a period o time, elected representatives will oten launch

themselves into a very public space immediately. In doing so they

miss the opportunity to refect on some o the building blocks o

online identity such as the degree o personal openness you wish

to adopt or your views towards anonymity in others. It was clear

in the interviews with Members that there is a breadth o viewson these issues within the group, ranging rom those who believe

that there is value in all orms o interaction with the public and

those who will not interact with anonymous participants. There

is as yet no clear right answer to these questions, however some

discussion and consensus between Members might be helpul indeveloping the thinking and best practice in this area.

Discussion questions

Are these the right skills?

Do we need to consider other skills or

do we need to emphasise pre-existing

traditional skills more?


How open do you think you should

be with the public about personalinormation, ongoing decisions,

plans or the uture?

Do you think about your digital footprint?

What do you think is included in that?

I will not have a discussion with an anonymous person.

Member

?

?


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Managing content

The emphasis in social media use rom the respondents was in

the broadcast o inormation outwards. There was little discussion

or comment on how they might use social media to nd out

what other people are doing or thinking - except with respectto the issues that they are instigating or gathering views on. In

many ways this refects the political process which provides little

space or the public to participate in agenda setting. However, it

is prooundly dierent to the way in which people behave online

where they have a great deal o control over their environmentand are able to communicate with many people, and join

conversations at will.

A broadcast view o the Internet is much more commensurate

with First Generation Users as opposed to Next Generation

Users, and so it is perhaps not surprising that the respondentsemphasised these skills over more participatory ones.

On the grand scale o things I would like to engender

more belie in actually we dont do it to be on television

all the time or radio on the time. We are not part o the

x-actor raternity, I want to do it or the authorities sakebut I am not thinking o mysel as a star I am there to

advocate or the authority and actually advocate or

the workorce. Engender more perspective both ways.

We need to improve our reputation [ater the expenses

scandal]. All that bad stu has been created and we nowneed to work on getting that back. Member


Do we want our representatives to be

part o this participatory culture? Do we think its a good use of their time?

?


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9. Enabling Networked

Councillor behaviour

As well as encouraging a shit in perspective in order to more

ully understand and engage with the democratic potential

o new technology, respondents pointed out some practical

things that would enable more Networked Councillors to

develop. Practical equipment, capacity building and peer

learning and support were all mentioned.

Practical stu

I we wish our Members to be Networked Councillors then weneed to support them with the right tools. This is a discussion

or council IT departments as much as or Members, however to

ignore the importance o inrastructure choices in this debate

is to ignore a major driver o behaviour change in users. As we

consider what a Networked Councillor might look like, their

practical equipment needs cannot be ignored.

This is a big topic area in its own right but perhaps the ocus

needs to be on whether our Networked Councillors either have

the knowledge or access to the knowledge that they need to be

eective commissioners o this equipment.

What support is needed?

There was a clear preerence rom within the respondent group or

peer rather than Ocer support or learning in this area. This is not to

say support rom Ocers was not needed but in terms o learning and

development the preerence was or help rom other representatives

rather than rom Ocers. Again, this mirrors the sort o behaviour and

attitudes ound in Next Generation Users, where peer to peer supportand sharing is an inherent part o activity. It was also suggested

that we should be setting expectations or new Councillors rather

dierently and embedding these tools rom day one.

Some ormal training was suggested to get a general overview o

the tools but with the specic objective o helping to develop a

web presence - not just in how tools are used in isolation. Therewas concern about the ability o local authorities to oer this kind

o training.

A number o responses talked o their colleagues being scared

or nervous about becoming active online and there was a belierom respondents already online that their non-active peers were

yet to see the relevance or importance o online interaction. In

creating support and training thereore the immediate need was

seen to be demonstrating the benets and impacts o onlineactivity not on demonstrating tools.

We also need the tools to do it and at the moment

councils arent adaptable enough and are tied intocontract or IT. Some are thinking about it but our council

is thinking o trialling the use o iPads but others think

it is a waste o money and that councillors should be

paying or it through their allowance. Member

I all the council inormation was on a cloud storage

system it would make lie much easier. Member

But it seems with residents that orm ocommunication needs to be done by word o mouth,

social media doesnt seem, certainly rom a council level,

to have got things moving in terms o getting people to

do things purely by speaking to them on social media.

I think that it is better on the national and international

stu but I dont think that it has really caught on in termso council work certainly rom my experience. Member

I had a recent council meeting where they were talking

about generally getting more about what councillors

are doing out in the world and maybe trying to get

articles in newspapers. But you dont need to rely on the

newspapers because you can write your own articles andpublish them yoursel. I think some education about how

easy it is and giving them the tools to do it. Member


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That is not to say that teaching tools was not important - but this

was suggested as a ollow up action to providing the motivation

and best done in a one to one setting. Again it was Ocers

who talked about the need to educate Members about whatis appropriate in terms o online content and this was not a

concern raised by Members. This is another area that perhaps

needs a more open debate within local government to explore

how governance o the online space might work in the uture.

Analysis support

The risk o not knowing who you are interacting with is a real one

and the absence o this knowledge is clearly inhibiting growth o thedemocratic use o social media. Analysis tools do exist however and

are requently deployed in a commercial context. While these are notperect or democratic use they are a considerable advance on what

seems to be the current standard o analysis by or or Members. This

is an area o support or skill development that should be discussed as

part o the development o this agenda.

Learning together

Starting out on this journey can be understandably daunting or

someone not steeped in the sometimes rapidly changing world o

technology and culture. As mentioned beore, many Next Generation

Users have had time to slowly build up identities, behaviourand understanding o the norms o digital space, but elected

representatives may nd themselves having to act ast in unamiliar

environments. Members tend to gure it out by themselves:

As Members currently share many traits and the majority are

in the same place with regards to technology, creating action

learning networks could be very valuable here. Dierent to

training or support, a neutrally acilitated network would providea sae space to refect and learn whilst experimenting with new

technology. This would help build condence at the same time as

gaining hands on experience o using tools.

In some ways it is helpul having it rom a peer, but i

the peer is rom your own party but rom a dierent

council. I think people are better at taking inormationrom someone outside. We dont currently get training

at the borough or the county. I think at the county they

are just starting to talk about it. At the borough we have

started up this task and nish group its called technology

and improvement in community engagement. So theythemselves are looking at ways o doing this. Member

Also I have been concerned about the poor quality

advice and understanding given to Councillors as to their

use o Twitter and Facebook - leading to several I knowusing the media or inappropriate messaging. Also my

objection to both Facebook and Twitter - they are ME-

inspired, and seem to be preoccupied with both personal

trivia and risqu sentiment. Member

(the learning process was) absolutely personal. I tried it

out to start with wasnt really sure how I should be usingeach one. I originally had a personal Facebook account as

well as a councillor account and I wasnt sure what I should

say or not to say on each account. It was purely aroundtrying it out and seeing what reaction I got. Member

I think that the thing is, and a lot o people have said to

me that I dont do that and I dont understand it, its new

and strange and Im not quite sure how it is going to workor us. Thats because they havent had the benet o the

conversation that I had around the bar with the other

councillors who were so into it. I dont think that they see

what is in it or them. Member

I dont think that it should be a techy person, techy

people just bafe you. I think that it needs to be peer

challenge. You also need to be able to have a go in a sae

environment, where you can practice without it going

out to the world. Member


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10. How do we build new

relationships or the

Networked Society?

From this small exploratory study, and rom our understandingo the cultural and behavioural shit engendered by the social

web, we have drawn a number o conclusions. Firstly, that we live

in an increasingly Networked Society, and such a society requires

a Networked Councillor embodying key qualities o: openness,

digital culture and co-production in order to reach and respond

eectively. We have gone on to suggest ways in which Councillorsand Ocers could create conditions and develop abilities or

Networked Councillors to grow and fourish, in line with a growing

and infuential proportion o the population.

The research also leads us to more questions that need tobe asked in order to ully develop a vibrant, representative

and participatory democracy using social technology. These

questions are a long distance rom the usual preoccupation o

how to get more Councillors on Twitter, and take us into a deeper

discussion o local democracy and the democratic potential o

technology:

How can the way in which people behave online inorm the

way in which we create our democracy?

How do we create more power in our communities and yet

preserve representative democracy?

How can we make sure that Members are part o the

conversations which are already happening online?

And, as an essential element to all o the above, how do wesupport our representatives in order to ensure that they can be

eective in the online space?

Our initial thoughts on these are below.

How can the way in which people behave onlineinorm the way in which we create our democracy?

As services deemed non-essential are withdrawn by local

authorities, new rights to take over assets and services are being

brought in. Communities are being asked to be more sel-sucient which will represent a big shit in the nature o the

relationship between residents and councils. They themselves

will make use o networks to reach out and orm decisions with as

many Members as possible.

Participation may be alling in terms o voting at the ballot boxevery our years, but in contrast we are seeing a huge rise in

participation in online campaigns and discussions, as well as the co-production and sharing o content as discussed in sections 2 and 3.

Is there a problem with participation, or a problem with the

current mechanisms?

These contrasts and contradictions were refected in Membersresponses. Many Members elt that the public were not interested

in local democracy, or i they were interested it is in specic issues

which concern them personally. For example:

To say that social media is going to x this issue is naive atbest, however a more participatory environment will eect the

relationship that politicians have with the public:

One o the things about both the care issues is that theydont engage people until they are personally involved.

That will re up that individual and they may have a good

or bad opinion on how the authority deals with thatissue. Cabinet Member

It needs to improve in the rst instance sothat it is on an equal ooting. It is still, and when I

speak to councillors I still eel this happening, where

there are some members eel that although they are

elected by residents they are not speaking on behal o

them. Thereore although they are answerable to theirelectorate, they dont necessarily have to ollow what

their electorate are telling them and I think that that

needs to change or some members. So that goes on to

the engagement side o thing and it is about making

sure that that is on an equal ooting or making sure thatwe as elected members are responding to concerns and

communicating issues and things that are going on in the

area in the same way that residents are communicating at

the time. So however it is that they are communicating inten years time, it may be in the same way but in ten years

time I imagine it will be quite dierent. Member


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What can this tell us about reinvigorating local democracy? First

we need to look, as best we can, to the uture, something our

respondents understood well:

Planning or the uture

The table below shows analysis rom the OCSI12 which shows us

the prevalence o First and Next Generation Users across dierent

socio-economic groups: The table shows the eight groups or

which we have prevalence o Internet use gures. These are taken

rom a combination o the Oxord Internet surveys and Ocoms

Technology Tracker survey.

% Non-users % FirstGenerationUsers

% NextGenerationUsers

Students 1% 47.5% 51.5%

Retired 63% 34% 3%

Employed in socialclass AB

13% 39% 48%

Employed

in socialclass C1 13% 40% 47%

Employed in socialclass C2

13% 45% 42%

Employed in socialclass DE

13% 52% 35%

Unemployed 27% 43% 30%

All others 27% 42% 31%

The overall picture is o overall growth in internet takeup and

usage as can be seen by these gures on Internet and mobile

adoption rom Ocom:

TTake-up o Internet, digital video recorders and mobilephones, by age

Internet DVR Mobile

2005 2012 2005 2012 2005 2012

Alladults

54% 80% 11% 47% 80% 92%

16-24 60% 90% 19% 45% 92% 98%

25-34 62% 90% 10% 51% 91% 98%

35-44 71% 91% 16% 55% 91% 97%

45-54 70% 85% 15% 52% 84% 97%

55-64 59% 75% 7% 47% 75% 91%

65+ 24% 46% 4% 31% 47% 68%

While digital exclusion remains an issue the vast majority o the

public are online, active and becoming more social.

The evidence or this is the OXII surveys as well as the workthat Hansard have done with respect to political engagement.

Ocoms review o the communications market ound that morethan one in every ve hours spent by UK users on the Internet was

on social networking sites. As o April 2011, 46% o all UK Internet

users reported using a social networking site in the past week, up

rom just 1 in 5 three years previously13. Peer to peer lending sites

such as Zopa are booming, lending more than 125million since2005 and rising by 80% between 2010 2011. We have seen large

shits in who we rely on or inormation, with 51% o consumers

saying they trust online customers ar more than an organisations

website14.

Engaging the Next Generation UserNext Generation Users are a minority group that is

growing. As pointed out earlier, they are signicant in that they

mark a social and cultural shit which will have a major impact

beyond just this grouping. As more and more people start to

use the Internet rom mobile devices, they are becoming moresocial in their use o it - more used to creating and managing their

own online experience in a dynamic way. These attitudes and

expectations will lter down to everyone because they are about

more than just technological expertise, they represent a shit in

how we understand the relationships and structures in our society.

Who knows what will happen in ten years time,

I dont think it is as simple as that or me it is that the

21st century councillor is nothing like the councillor Ineed to be in 2007. It is not just about social media it is

about being a community leader. And it is about how you

develop yoursel personally and technology is part o that

but it isnt the whole. For me it is about this is my lie and

my passion and my vocation we need more o that andwe need to harness the technology to enable us to be a21st century councillor. It is part o the overall package.

Cabinet Member

12. OCSI, http://www.apccs.police.uk/leUploads/APCC_Social_media_guidance_

FINAL_WEB_version_211112.pd

i. Ocom, 2011, Technology Tracker Survey data tables, http://stakeholders.ocom.org.uk/market-data-research/statistics/

ii. Hutton, W. & Blank, G., 2011, Next Generation Users: The Internet in Britain, OxIS,

www.oii.ox.ac.uk/downloads/index.cm?File=publications/oxis2011_report.pdiii. Note these categories do not cover all people. We have taken the 73% internet users

rom OxIS page 9 or all people who are not retired, students, employed or unemployed.

13. Ocom, The communications market (2011)14. BT Global Services and Avaya (2011) The autonomous consumer: understanding the

challenges o dealing with inormed, demanding and networked customers.
http://www.apccs.police.uk/fileUploads/APCC_Social_media_guidance_FINAL_WEB_version_211112.pdfhttp://www.apccs.police.uk/fileUploads/APCC_Social_media_guidance_FINAL_WEB_version_211112.pdfhttp://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/market-data-research/statistics/http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/market-data-research/statistics/http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/market-data-research/statistics/http://www.apccs.police.uk/fileUploads/APCC_Social_media_guidance_FINAL_WEB_version_211112.pdf


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This group will have high demands and expectations o their

relationships which will not be met by current democratic

structures that allow or infuencing local democracy once every

our years. This will seem (and perhaps already does) anachronisticand limiting. I councils want to engage these users then we need

to explore how to enable them to participate in the experience o

decision-making, at the same time as preserving the core elements

o representative democracy.

How do we create more power in our communitiesand yet preserve representative democracy?

Ideas about the nature o representation and the representativein the 21st Century are only starting to be discussed, and yet the

pace o technology and social change is erce. We cannot know

what will be needed in the uture but we do have clear indications

that lead us to suggest the importance o certain qualities:

Open by deault

Digitally native

Coproductive

Networked

Most o the respondents recognised the scale o necessary

change, though ew mentioned the rapid pace o that change.

At the heart o this debate is a discussion about the balance

between representative and participatory democracy, but we

cannot let this perhaps esoteric debate remove the need or

switer action with respect to Members becoming comortable

with the online world because only by being comortable will

they be able to participate in shaping it.

How can we make sure that Members are

part o the conversations which are already

happening online?

We need to create a ramework or Members in terms o levels oambition, with respect to the assumptions about the nature o the

relationship between the public and representative as mediated

by technology. That ambition needs to be inormed by the way

in which our communities and citizens are using networked

technologies, and also with an awareness o the rapid growthand changes in these technologies. It also needs to be inormed

by our desire to preserve and modernise our representative

democracy and the relationship between citizen and state. We

can imagine communicative, collaborative or even co-productive

relationships in the uture, our level o ambition is what will start

to inorm where on this spectrum we plan our relationships withthe public to rest.

Thats a dicult one. I think advances in technology

means that people will be contacting us more and more

by things like Facebook and Twitter. The days when

people mostly did things by letter have almost gone, Ionly get a ew letter now. I see it going through more

by mobile technology. I would like to see more done by

Skype or Face time so we can have ace to ace time. But

we need to have the decent technology to do this.

Member

Everyone is dierent and we need to have a portolio

o options. We cant ignore any orms o communication.

People do like to see you and in ten years time withsocial isolation and more reliance on technology it is

going to be more important but that might be through

video conerencing etc but you still need eye ball eye ball

contact. Cabinet Member


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11. Recommendations

or discussion

The ollowing recommendations are based on the initial study

and will be updated ollowing a workshop and comments on this

beta version o the report.

As this is an exploratory study more work should be done to

test these recommendations on other groups o Members

I we wish our Members to be Networked Councillors then

we need to support them with the right tools and thisshould include mobile equipment as well as access to

analysis tools

We need to ensure either that our Networked Councillors

have the knowledge or access to the knowledge that they

need to be eective commissioners o this inrastructure

i this is not available within the authority then it needs

to be provided elsewhere

Members need to be shown how to create a whole digital

presence and not just be introduced to tools in isolation

this presence needs to t both their personal work style as

well as their skills

Member training in this area needs to include peer

mentoring rather than classroom sessions

A neutrally acilitated learning network should be created

to share peer learning and would provide a sae space to

refect and learn whilst experimenting with new technology


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About us

Improvement EastWe are a partnership o all authorities in the East o England - councils and re and rescue services.

We are run by authorities or authorities, bringing together innovative ideas and services to support them

to meet eciency challenges and to improve and transorm service outcomes or their communities.

We are politically led and part o the East o England Local Government Association

Find out more atwww.improvementeast.gov.uk

Public-i

Public-i develops innovative ideas and digital solutions to improve democratic relationships - bridging

the gaps between technology and its social context, underpinned by robust research. As Chie

Executive, Catherine Howe leads with a unique combination o expertise. With a background in

technology delivery, she has worked with online communities and social networks or over 15 years,and since 2001 has been advising local government on the strategic and organisational implications

o public engagement within the new communications landscape. She is currently writing up her

doctoral thesis on the civic impacts o new technologies.

Keep up to date:

www.blog.public-i.ino @public_i www.curiouscatherine.wordpress.com @curiousc

Please let us know what you think

This report is a beta version, so it is

complete but ready or public testing.

We would value and welcome any

comments you may have on any o

the points raised. Please get in touch:

[email protected]?
http://blog.public-i.info/https://twitter.com/public_ihttps://twitter.com/public_ihttps://twitter.com/curiouschttps://twitter.com/curiouschttps://twitter.com/curiouschttps://twitter.com/public_ihttp://blog.public-i.info/

The Networked Councillor Report

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