Of course, with a new government brings a new direction. Steph Gray, a former civil servant working in the technology arena has written a fantastic overview of what might happen to public sector IT over the next parliament. While these potential plans seem to focus on large scale IT projects, we’ve already started to see the effects of the new government as it has attempted to make its mark.

Within hours of David Cameron stepping into Number 10, public sector websites underwent a huge change. Most policy generated for the previous Government was cleared from department websites and consigned to The National Archives, Twitter and social media accounts were updated, and in some cases entire websites were replaced.

DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) launched a new, temporary website to differentiate between new and old policy. Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) on the other hand have left most of their policy in place, albeit with a warning stating that it relates to the previous government.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) website saw one of the biggest changes with a fantastic new design. The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) also got a new website, but this time under the new name “Department for Education“.

Both of these departments now have brand new Twitter accounts – @dcms and @educationgovuk. Unfortunately, they both already had accounts prior to 12th May – raising questions as to why they needed new ones. The old DCMS account (@dcmsgovuk) still lives on, dormant and not updated. No one appears to have bothered to inform their existing followers of the presence of the new feed. The DCSF account (@dcsfgovuk) has suffered an even more drastic fate. An account which at one point had some 4000 followers was deleted along with all of its content.

Other departments handled their changes a bit better – Downing Street rebranded all of their social media accounts to “Number10Gov” for consistency. Their twitter account was renamed, leaving all of their followers and previous content intact. This, in my opinion, is a much better way of handling the change.

In general these immediate changes have been a mixed bag. Some have worked well – such as the changes to Number 10 and the new DCMS website. Others appear to have not been thought through – such as the new account for DCSF. Unfortunately however, there has been no consistency between departments or government as a whole.

This of course has been the first major change in government since the rapid growth of social media platforms, so quite clearly there was going to be a bit of trial and error. Hopefully next time the public sector will be a bit wiser when it comes to social media and not leave their followers hanging or disconnected.

The past 36 hours haven’t been the best for those travelling with Eurostar. Five trains were stranded for hours in the Channel Tunnel without power, light, food, drink, heating or information. A further train became stuck near Ebbsfleet yesterday evening.

The focus today is on the cause of the incident and the safety procedures. However the issue that concerns me is how public service companies like Eurostar handle communication in such emergencies. Poor communication can lead to frustration, anger and even panic. I’ve experienced this in much less drastic circumstances when commuting to and from Cardiff by train.

Today the media are reporting that Eurostar passengers were given no information about what was going on. People at stations had similar experiences. Even the public and media had no idea of the unfolding events until late on Saturday morning.

It seems a standard practice for UK transport companies to ignore incidents, keep quiet, disappear and leave customers to their own devices. It doesn’t take much to keep people informed – even if there isn’t any “useful” information to give them at the time. Even a simple “The track ahead is flooded; we are awaiting an engineer to confirm we can proceed” provides re-assurance that something is happening.

There are three distinct audiences in any incident, each with different information needs. Those directly involved (i.e. train passengers) who need to know when they will reach their destination. Those affected through waiting to travel or waiting to meet passengers, and everyone else (for example the media and general public).

Open communications to all three groups is key, but how can it be done effectively? Which channels should be used? Well, every possible channel actually. If you are preparing a message it doesn’t take much more effort to push this out on all available options

By example, recently I’ve read reports that Eurostar didn’t start updating Twitter until 14 hours after the incident began. Some have suggested that Twitters low usage justifies it being left until last. But for passengers on trains with phones and computers, this may be the only way that information can be easily received. It only takes one person with access to disseminate the details.

Communication (or the lack of) is a big problem when it comes to any form of crisis. Yet the prevalence of new social media communication actually makes communication easier than ever. Businesses of all kind need to recognise this and plan to make best use of it. I hope that Eurostar and those providing public services learn the communication lessons of this weekend.

On a final note – Eurostar’s social media company behind (We Are Social) has come in for what I believe is unjustified criticism. They actually did a great job given difficult circumstances and went well beyond the requirements of any contractor. The poor communication lies squarely with Eurostar. You can read about “We Are Social’s” involvement on their blog and a interesting response from Grapevine Consulting about the criticism levelled on We Are Social.

I wanted to spell out why I’m pleased Neil has written this document.

There is a lot of skepticism about new media in Government. Many people are scared about it – I partly believe this is because of the lack of control. With ‘old media’ people had a pretty good idea of what they were getting into. With ‘new media’, its well, new, big, scary and uncontrollable.

There are concerns about risk – what happens if someone posts something that looks bad or isn’t accurate? What happens if someone posts something early? There are concerns about competition – does using one service unfairly promote them over their other commercial rivals? There are concerns about the resources needed to manage the service, and concerns about the public value. All of these are valid concerns and but can be managed.

Risk can be reduced, competition can be looked at (in the case of Twitter, what competition is there?), value can be measured. Its just a case of how. This is what this document does – it explains to people (some of who have no idea what Twitter is) what it is, and how to mitigate the risks involved.

There are a lot of people involved in Government who are digitally switched on, want to use social media, and understand how to use it. But there are also people who have no clue, and still can’t work out how to turn on a computer. This document is for those people – to reassure them that we’re not going to make their lives more complicated than they already are. The document shows them that the risks, in reality are no greater than someone leaking information to the press (which they can do just as easily offline as online). It shows them that Twitter doesn’t use a lot of resources, and it helps them understand how it is going to be used.

To Neil – thanks for taking the time to write it. It’s an exceptionally useful document and hopefully will persuade a few skeptics that social media isn’t the evil thing it seems to be. To everyone else – government is cautious with this kind of thing. If we launched into something like this without any form of controls and it ended up swallowing resources, eating money and had little or no value, there would be – quite rightly – public outcry. We (myself included) would be calling for blood.

As a final note, I’d like to point out that I’ve spent a lot of time talking about Government skepticism about new media. I want to make it clear that it isn’t just government, but a lot of businesses and individuals to. I even know of web development businesses that don’t get social media – and don’t want anything to do with it. Things are changing – just be patient (please!).

As always, these are my views and not those of my (public service) employer!

Template Twitter Strategy for Government Departments

Last weekend I was pleased to launch CllrTweeps.  The new site, inspired by TweetMinster, aims to list every local councillor in the UK who is on Twitter.  After our first week online, we have already tracked down and verified the first 100 councillors using the service.

The first version of the site is run from a very basic WordPress template.  As great as WordPress is, it isn’t really cut out for this kind of site.  Luckily, we’re already working hard on version 2, which will bring a more organised directory, cleaner look, and provide us with a good basis to add in more feature such as post code search and mapping. You can keep track of the developments on the CllrTweeps blog or here in my new CllrTweeps category.

A big thanks must go out to James Cousins (twitter.com/jamescousins) who has put in pretty much all the leg work for the launch of the site.  Thanks also goes out to Liz Azyan for helping to identify the councillors and Hywel Vaughan who is working with us to create the branding for version 2.

While we’re busy working on the next version, if you know of a councillor on Twitter please point them in our direction!

Following his election in November, his team continued their use of aspects of social media to keep people informed during their transition to government. Visitors to their Change.gov site were encouraged to submit their ideas and join in the discussion.

As he was being sworn in at the official ceremony, the new White House website was launched, featuring the new, clean look we have come to expect, simple navigation and the all important blog. This website is perhaps the best website from a government I’ve ever seen. I can only hope that this trend continues not only in the US, but here at home in the UK.

Throughout this week, social media has been making the headlines – and one site in particular has been getting a lot of attention. It is of course, Twitter – the addictive micro-blogging service which allows you to post 140 character updates about what you are doing, and things that interest you. The site has finally hit the mainstream, being discussed on radio, in newspapers and on TV. Various figures show that UK visitors to Twitter have skyrocketed in the last few months.

Not only are we now starting to see a proliferation of celebrities on the service, but also MPs, and members of local government. A fantastic site called Tweetminster has been set up to allow people to locate members of parliament and prospective parliamentary candidates (PPCs) who are using the service.

I think it’s brilliant to see government start to use social media. I feel that it is important for government and the people that are supposed to represent us connect with the country, listen to us, and respond to our ideas. I believe that the use of services like Facebook and Twitter will help reinvigorate politics and get people involved in how their country is run.

I hope that this trend continues, and if it does, 2009 could turn out to be the year government finally ‘gets’ the internet. In the meantime, I’m going to do all I can to help it along.

So, how do you keep your head above the water.  Well, everyone has their own ways as you can see from the discussions over at Freelance Folder.  I have a number of methods I use:

Read blogs
I subscribe to a large number of blogs from other web developers from both the design and development ends of the industry.  A huge amount of useful information comes from people who are facing the same struggle to keep fresh and new.

Twitter
Twitter is a fantastic resource for developers – how we all coped before it existed I have no idea.  I follow many designers, developers, freelancers and technologists on Twitter.  These people regularly point me in the direction of new and interesting things on the web which help me to produce better sites.

CSS Galleries
I find that looking at CSS galleries such as CSSMania or Best Web Gallery help inspire me to create better designs.  They show off some of the web’s best websites and really help to formulate ideas.  There are plenty of galleries around the web, covering all sorts of niches.

Magazines
A few people say that magazines are a waste of time – by the time they’ve been written, subbed, edited, printed, distributed and read, the industry has passed them by. I don’t agree, the internet moves so fast that it is easy to miss out on important information if you happen to blink (literally).  Magazines help fill this gap.  I have a subscription to .net magazine which is a fantastic resource for designers. (But then again, I would say this – my partner is a magazine journalist… but no really, mags are an invaluable resource).

Conferences
This is probably one of the most expensive parts of keeping up with the industry, and something that until now, I haven’t been able to afford.  There are a huge number of web related conferences throughout the year and across the world, from Future of Web Apps in London, Miami and Dublin, to DeveloperDeveloperDeveloper! in Reading.  Conferences enable you to hear from some of the most influential and knowledgeable people in the industry.

Contribute
Probably the most important thing you can do.  The web is shaped by the people who produce it – whether designers, developers or writers.  If you don’t contribute, you can’t make an impression.  If you follow people on Twitter, respond to them, talk to them.  If you read blogs, comment on them, or better still, write a full response.

So how do I fit all of this in.  It is very difficult – you have to strike the right balance.  Spend too much time keeping up with the web and you don’t get any work done, spend too much time working and you drop behind the curve.
On the train into work in the morning, I read blogs, and last night’s twitter messages.  At work, I have TweetDeck keeping track of twitter for me – letting me know when new messages arrive.  When I have a bit of downtime (such as when I’m waiting for something to load or compile), I look at new blogs that have been posted.  In the evening, I read things in a bit more detail, and at some point I find time to sleep!

As I said, trying to find the right balance is difficult a challenge, but whatever you do, don’t fall behind or you’ll discover it is difficult to get back on track.

Right from the beginning, Facebook were open about their intentions.  They set up a group which they regularly updated with concepts, thoughts and reasons.  They also gathered a lot of feedback – some positive, some not so positive (you’ll never please everyone).   Some of the early ideas and plans were fantastic.  Some even made the final cut – such as the new tabbed profile page.  However, other not so great ideas also made it through such as the new combined mini-feed/wall.  But at some point, the design has gone off the rails and seems like it is trying to be all things to all people.

The old Facebook design was very simple to use.  Its consistent appearance and layout kept it clean and professional – a feeling surprisingly absent in the latest incarnation.  The designers have attempted to further simplify the simple site navigation by moving everything into a much thinner masthead at the top of the page (you can see old and new below).  This has been achieved through the use of drop down menus.  However unlike the previous design, the presence of these menus is not obvious – for some bizarre reason, the arrows that informed the user of a menus existence are gone.  Even more annoying is the continued reliance on JavaScript to make the menu visible.

Facebook navigation – old vs new

The new profile design is a vast improvement on the old layout which had become crowded and difficult to use.  Implementing a tabbed format for the profile means I no longer have to wait forever while several hundred thousand applications load before I can see someone’s details, or post on their wall.

The big annoyance however is that the layout completely changes when you swap between tabs.  The ‘Wall’ and ‘Info’ tabs have a large profile image, with information and buttons underneath.  However the ‘Photos’ and ‘Boxes’ tabs, have a small profile image and the content takes up the full page width.  This lack of consistency is exacerbated further when you realise that the boxes tab (where all the applications have been hidden away) doesn’t even make use of the full width in most cases.

This latest design is 161 pixels wider than the old layout – yet I’m left wondering where this extra space is used.  Looking at it in a bit more detail, the column that houses the profile picture is no wider than before, but it is now positioned much further to the left, occupying the area that used to house the search and adverts.  The space saved by moving that to the left is taken up but the slightly wider content column.  But still, the site only takes up the same space as before – why the extra 161 pixels?  The answer – adverts.  A much more prominent advert column has been created to the right of the page.

Facebook profiles – now include more prominent adverts

After looking at some of the bits that annoy me, I get the feeling that it isn’t that bad.  There are actually many bits about this new design I like. I would put it down to not liking change – but I know that isn’t true. Overall, I think the designers have missed a trick by not creating a consistent structure and layout to the site – at the moment it just seems like a miss-match of styles, columns and widths.  Hopefully over the next few months, some of these issues will be ironed out.  Although something tells me we’ll just have to get used to it.  But please Facebook, bring back the link to my list of recently updated friends!

I’ve removed the daily digest of twitter entries from the homepage, archive pages and RSS feed. I decided they were cluttering things up a bit too much. You can still follow my twitter messages though at twitter.com/dafyddbach or keep up with the daily digest in the ‘tweets‘ category.