Dozing off yet? If not, you deserve a pat on the back for managing to stay with it past the phrase ‘civil service principles for participation online’ (sorry, now I really have sent you to sleep!).

So why am I trying to sedate you? Well the Friday before last I was fortunate enough to be invited to attend a session hosted by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Cabinet Office billed as “the Power of Information Taskforce Seminar for Civil Service Bloggers”.

• Older People and Well Being | ippr | Institute for Public Policy Research
  Living longer but not happier.
  (tags: olderpeople happiness wellbeing publicservices ippr)
• Gemin-i.org
  Innovation web-based solutions to encourage education and collaboration
  (tags: innovation internet tools charity london)
• Esmée Fairbairn Foundation
  One of the UK’s largest grant making foundations in the UK.
  (tags: organisations charity socialenterprise finance grants)
• SMS Poll
  Effective looking text message audience polling (via Tim Davies)
  (tags: surveys sms mobile participation consultation engagement statistics tools)
• Enternships™ - Entrepreneurial Internships
  “A great opportunity to get useful and really exciting work experience in interesting organisations that are really going places”
  (tags: entrepreneur jobs organisations business startups recruitment)
• 35+ Examples of Corporate Social Media in Action
  Some nice examples to help build the case for action (via Derek Baird)
  (tags: business enterprise2.0 social media networking community communication)
• Corporate Social Networks Are A Waste of Money, Study Finds - ReadWriteWeb
  Some nice learning points to try and help ensure success (via Carrie Bishop)
  (tags: enterprise2.0 social networking media business)
• Business Technology : Why Most Online Communities Fail
  According to a Deloittes study (via Carrie Bishop)
  (tags: enterprise2.0 business social networking media)
• Watching the Growth of Walmart Across America
  Sheesh! (via Alberto Nardelli)
  (tags: shopping walmart maps data design visualization business)
• Community Power Pack: real people, real power | Communities and Local Government
  This sort of thing makes me feel quesy. No offence Involve, but central government teaching local government how to consult and get closer to its residents - give me a break! Patronising tosh that won’t get read is my guess.
  (tags: empowerment whitepaper community engagement consultation participation)
• The White Paper -worth the wait? | Involve - The Participation Organisation
  Good to see a critique of this madness from Involve despite how embedded they are in it all what with the power pack and all. Shame to see a return to initiative-itis and inter-departmental competition as the government panics.
  (tags: empowerment whitepaper engagement participation consultation community localauthority)
• The Government Response to the Councillors Commission - Communities and neighbourhoods - Communities and Local Government
  Give me strength. Hoping I might agree with something that comes out of CLG at some point. Surely with the amount of policy they are churning out its likely on the law of averages. I mean, a “statutory duty to promote democracy”? Come on!
• Veoh Video Network
  Video clips and TV online free. Can’t say fairer than that.
  (tags: tv film media aggregator video)
• Google Custom Search
  Create a search engine tailored to your need (via Steph Gray via Dave Briggs)
  (tags: google search business tools)

• What Productivity Studies Really Show | Opinion | Lifehacker
  “The ‘information overload’ story is a myth cooked up by folks who don’t know how to use the internet”. Good work (via Carrie Bishop)
  (tags: productivity technology lifehacker office business work)
• How to Make Facebook Useful Again - ReadWriteWeb
  Powerful stuff.
  (tags: facebook enterprise2.0 collaboration productivity social networking)
• Why London will never be (and should never try to be) like Silicon Valley | Paul Miller
  As an ex-local government officer spending a good chunk of my time looking for the opportunity to make a real world difference in an online social start up I couldn’t agree more.
  (tags: enabledby socialenterprise innovation schoolofeverything investment finance startups)
• Catalyst Awards : And the winner is… « Cased
  Interesting approach as Alice blogs about the, ahem, non-winners (thanks Alice!)
  (tags: enabledby catalystawards events socialenterprise)
• The UK Catalyst Awards: Winners
  Some real shining examples.
  (tags: catalystawards events)
• Harringay online
  Very effective and active local group based in just one ward coming bottom up from the community. Definitely a model that needs replicating elsewhere…
  (tags: catalystawards harringay harringey community groups)
• localEyes - Local intelligence … See it, absorb it, act on it
  OK so seems like a good idea (around community engagement( but got lost in the waffle, jargon and pretty unattractive site. Don’t get me wrong though, seems like a good idea…
  (tags: community engagement participation local democracy)
• “catalyst awards” | Addictomatic
  Wow wow wow. What a tool. Market killer for all those building this stuff bespoke surely?
  (tags: media social intelligence dashboard)
• barnet council | Addictomatic
  The Barnet version
  (tags: media social networking internet intelligence)
• Putting public art on the map: Big Art Mob – The Channel 4 Big Art Project
  Creating the first comprehensive map of Public Art across the UK. Mash up big stylee (via Richard Cowling)
  (tags: mashup art culture maps UK crowdsourcing)

• Chain Reaction
  2 day festival to bring together collective brains and energies from across sectors to bring about positive social change. Just do it!
  (tags: networks events chainreaction social change community)
• Futerra Sustainability Communications
  “Communicating Sustainable Development - CSR, Green Marketing, Climate Change, Ethical Business”
  (tags: sustainability agency branding communications green)
• I Saw The Future Of Social Networking The Other Day
  Conversation starter from TechCrunch
  (tags: social networking media internet future design apps)
• Greening Government ICT
  New Cabinet office report looking to move the agenda on.
  (tags: green government IT cabinetoffice)

• NLGN » Empowerment
  Central government needs to be held to account, not just local authorities.
  (tags: government policy empowerment whitepaper localauthority)
• NLGN » Gangs at the Grassroots: Community solutions to street violence
  Street level solutions to street violence.
  (tags: gangs crime pol thinktank nlgn)
• BBC - Online Services Guidelines - Interacting
  Some useful principles for online participation and responding to users.
  (tags: bbc guidance participation)
• Screencast.com
  To, um, screencast stuff.
  (tags: screencast collaboration apps software demos screencasting sharing)
• ScreenFlow | Apple Downloads
  Meant to be the business when it comes to screencasts (va Dave Briggs)
  (tags: screencast screencasting mac presentation software tool apps)
• The Catalyst Awards shortlist wins praise from Tim Smit | internet.artizans
  Praise indeed. Go Enabled by Design!
  (tags: enabledby catalystawards socialenterprise innovation)
• Transformational Government Annual Report 2007
  Updating on progress.
  (tags: transformationalgovernment government technology publicservices)
• Customize Your WordPress Admin Interface : Codswallop
  What will they think of next? (via Chris Garrett)
  (tags: wordpress userexperience websites blog)

• How Web 2.0, Facebook, and the Net Generation will change corporate security
  View on the future of organisational security from the Wikinomics blog.
  (tags: enterprise2.0 IT security wikinomics facebook geny)
• Youth are going online for video needs - How will this affect the BBC? | mobileYouth
  What young people want to get out of the BBC and how it needs to adapt to stay relevant (via Derek Baird)
  (tags: BBC video youth tv)
• Scripting Enabled » Book your ticket
  A must attend event
  (tags: enabledby disability accessibility)

• Task Market
  Microsoft moves into crowdsourcing. Whatever next?
  (tags: microsoft crowdsourcing innovation projects networking)
• Public service thankyou
  A chance to say thank you to people working in public services.
  (tags: publicservices thinkpublic)
• Shoreditch Grand Prix
  “30 teams will race the streets of Shoreditch raising money for charities, worthy causes and social entrepreneur projects…entirely pedal powered…attempting a street race on children’s toy tricycles” on 31st August.

• Community engagement for the Facebook age | Joe Public | guardian.co.uk
  Good start but clear that this agenda shouldn’t be government controlled, rather government (and politicians more specifically) need to open themselves up in a meaningful way rather than ‘empower’ on their own terms.
  (tags: empowerment whitepaper democracy community government localauthority)
• Geek to Live: Survive IT lockdown
  Tricks for getting round IT browser lock down on the corporate network (via Carrie Bishop)
  (tags: howto lifehacker software browser apps firefox hacks business)

• Collaboration in public services | Involve - The Participation Organisation
  Points to a very interesting read from Demos
  (tags: collaboration publicservices coproduction)
• Craig’s Rantings…: Social Networks, building with zero resources
  Interesting one from Craig on what are social networks and how do you best build them
  (tags: social networks enterprise2.0 community sap)
• Lessons in co-creation. Ignore them if you want to fail | Faster Future: Publishing possibilities now and beyond
  Cocreation goes mainstream
  (tags: community participation coproduction)
• mediation: From ’send’ to ‘recieve’ mode; lessons for politicians and advertisers
  Lessons across sectors and the emergence of the internet election next time up.
  (tags: elections politics government internet)
• mediation: Analogue Politicians in the Digital Age: how YouTube came to Downing Street
  In favour of Ask the PM and other initiatives
  (tags: politics social media youtube)
• Why traditional advertising won’t work in social networks - and what will | Faster Future: Publishing possibilities now and beyond
  Out with the old and in with the new. How to advertise and engage via social networks.
  (tags: advertising social networks marketing strategy)
• Demos | Demos Podcasts | Blog | Podcast: Hello everybody…Clay Shirky at Demos
  Clay does Demos - and congrats to FutureGov friend Paul Miller for pulling it off in the chair (via Dave Briggs via Lloyd Davis)
  (tags: clayshirky demos events podcast)
• /Message: Twitter Spam: What Can We Do?
  The big thing of the moment (via Adriana Lukas)
  (tags: twitter spam)

• The internet and politics | Semi-connected | Economist.com
  British politics is missing out on the potential of new media (via Justin Kerr-Stevens)
  (tags: uk policy politics government internet)
• Second Life: Disability charity sets up virtual advice service | Society | Society Guardian
  Nice work. Be very interested to see its usage rate, but very nice.
  (tags: disability secondlife healthcare charity)