Sticks and Stones. Perhaps it’s time to go?

This is going to be a difficult blog post to write and I don’t quite know where to begin. I wasn’t going to write this, but I realize that I need to write this, I need to get these thoughts out of my head and onto pen and paper so to speak as a way of trying to deal with what’s happened to me.

It’s my therapy. My way of coping.

Sticks and stones may break my bones…. but words? Actually, they really do hurt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, perhaps I should start with what other people have been saying about me?

• http://nbrightside.com/blog/2011/02/09/sarah-baskervilles-hidden-agenda – “Idiot“, “Hidden Agenda“, “prolong her 15 minutes of fame“
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2011/feb/08/pcc-twitter “The woman who put the twit in Twitter“
• I’ve also been in receipt of several abusive e-mails and tweets (that I won’t repeat here),  from individuals that I have never had the pleasure of conversing with, yet deem it socially acceptable to openly attack someone whom they have never met and don’t actually know the true facts of the situation. I can only conclude that they have decided to base their “opinion & commentary” about me upon what has been said in the media regarding this “incident”. And what has been said leaves a lot to be desired.

It is abundantly clear to me that no matter I say, blog or tweet can be taken, republished, twisted and corrupted by those that wish to do so. The most innocent of phrases can be taken out of context, sneered and jeered at, implications made etc, in order to sell more newspapers or generate more hits on their websites.

Why? Apparently because I happen to be a Civil Servant, and I do fear for the hundreds of thousands of other Public Sector workers who are now at risk of the same “treatment” by the UK media to spin such stories in the tabloids.

Whilst this may give the editor the small satisfaction of writing an article which generates a lot of traffic, I do not think that for one minute they have actually thought, or indeed care about the unintended effects or consequences of what publishing, emailing or tweeting about that individual does.

I have never once sought to “prolong my 15 minutes of fame” as one blogger put it. I  submitted my complaint to the Press Complaints Commission back in November when all of this first happened. It is my right to do so. I had been wronged in the Press and this was the “official” channel I could use to try and get an apology. I’m entitled to do so.

I had no idea that it would take so long for a “ruling” (for want of a better word) to happen, which effectively re-opened the whole mess again for me. Yes, I’ve had journalists bombarding me again through Twitter and emails, but fortunately this time not on my front doorstep – a traumatic experience to say the least.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wenzday01/

I am more than happy to stay in the background, quietly engaging away with other colleagues, civil servants, friends, family,  coders, geeks, open data people having discussions, nurturing friendships and conversations about life, the universe, X-factor and dare I say even the odd work conversation? It happens, and I defy anyone to say that they haven’t done the same either.

By staying in the background I don’t mean being quiet and NOT using social media, because that’s where a lot of people engage. It’s where I engage. I will continue to use Social Media *in a personal capacity* to converse with my friends, my on-line friends, my other friends who are scattered around the UK and the Globe. I simply do not understand why the conversations  I have with friends using my own personal equipment (not my employers) are subject to national coverage, sneering and slandering in the national press.

I’m not newsworthy. Unless of course I won the lottery, or maybe started dating some famous celebrity then perhaps there would have been something there to write about there. But I lead a fairly normal average life, have an average job, had an average family up bringing. Hardly newsworthy.

I’m not Perfect.

I’ve never said that I was, and I’m certainly no angel.

• I’m overweight

• I probably drink too much

• I probably eat all the wrong foods

• I’m 35, on my way to being the wrong side of my 30′s

• I lose my temper too easily

• I probably swear far too much

• I wear my heart on my sleeve

• Sometimes the I say things before the brain has engaged because I’m a fairly reactive person. It’s only on reflection and once I’ve had time to calm down that I think “oh bugger…arse.”

I’m a Public Sector worker. Not a slave to the media to be jeered at with no means to redress. When I became a Civil Servant I did not sign away my rights with respect to  Freedom of Thought, Speech and Expression of Opinion (and that includes political opinions as well).

I am 100% impartial and dedicated when it comes to my work.  I’m still at work, trying to deliver against a very, very challenging and stressful environment. However, I am entitled to have my own personal opinions and express them. If you have read my blog posts and tweets you will have seen this, and I have attempted to keep well within the Civil Service Code of Conduct. I’m sure that you can appreciate that there’s not a lot more I can say about work in this respect, but as like all other civil servants, by performance is constantly monitored by my line management and if there were to be issues, it would be dealt with by my management. Not the National Press.

Stress.

Photo Credit: Alan Cleaver

So, suffice to say you can guess that it’s been a rather stressful time because of all of this. For those that do know me better, they will know that the last 6 months of my life have been hell. Absolute. hell.

Last August, I got a phone call. It’s a phone call that we all dread. That someone you care deeply for has fallen seriously ill. He’d collapsed with a brain haemorrhage and was in the High Dependency Unit. The days and weeks blurred into one another, spent at work during the day in the office, then late afternoons and evenings up at his bedside.

I think I’d been living on automatic pilot during that entire period and was so glad when he was finally discharged weeks later. It’s been slow progress, dealing with the tiredness, mood swings, medication, physiotherapy  exercises, memory recall etc. It’s only now, near 6 months later that he’s finally returned back to work – but all of that was incredibly stressful, and there’s still further recovery to go and more big life changing decisions to make.

Not long after he was discharged from hospital I got another dreaded phone call. My Grandad had just died http://baskers.posterous.com/my-grandad, although he was a grand old age this was totally unexpected and had come like a bolt from the blue.

I was struggling in dealing with all the raw emotions, grief, loss and stresses of these two tragic events in my life, but I was managing to keep my head above the water. I am still going to work, still managing my team, delivering against my objectives – even managing to deal with the implications of the political decisions by the new coalition government to slash the Administration Budgets of all Central Government Departments by a third. This is directly effecting me as every single person where I work is now having to reapply for their grade, and if they are successful they will then be reallocated to a new “role” within the new, smaller and slimmer Department.

I hope that you understand why this is an incredibly stressful time for all that work in Government who are going through this. There are whole swathes of people taking voluntary redundancy, resigning, retiring and for those that are left there is the uncertainty of the job selection process and whether or not you are going to be served your 90 day notice. Our office environment is changing beyond any recognition. Friendships and teams are being torn apart. It’s all extremely stressful and we are all affected by stress in different ways.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuartpilbrow/

For some, they will internalise until such a time they can hold it in no longer and they simply snap. Some will “snap” in the office environment, others at home or when traveling. It’s already happened. Good, hard working people that I know are suffering and are struggling to cope.

Just as I am.

I thought I was coping, I thought I was doing well. But I’m also at breaking point. Right in the middle of all of this, with all that is happening around me I have also had to deal with the unwanted and unmerited press intrusion into my life. My name has been published all over the tabloids, the media, the internet. I’ve even had journalists from America and Australia contacting me for quotes and commentary. This is pushing me to tipping point and I’m now suffering from the classic symptoms of stress.

• Anxiety
• Loss of appetite
• Sleeplessness
• Lack of motivation
• Fragile emotional state
• Despair
• Depression

I can feel the cold icy grip of depression coming over me, the razor sharp shards of it’s nails digging into my brain and beginning to paralyse my very thoughts, my hopes and dreams. It’s as if a great dark ice cloud has descended over me and is slowly rooting me to the spot. Bit by bit, day by day it takes that bit longer to get out of bed, trying not to burst into tears each morning, to get to work, to try and feel motivated and inspired to lead my team. I can feel the angry dark cloud of depression seeping into my bones and I don’t like it.

I cope with my depression as best as I can, by engaging with people on and offline. It’s helped me immensely over these troublesome times and it helps me keep the faith that there are some genuinely nice people out there, which I’ve also had the great honour to meet some of them, and hope to meet many more.

Despite all the nastyness I’ve encountered, it warmed my heart to find that there were many people (some I’d met, the majority I’d never met) who jumped to my defense with the first press intrusion into my life back in November (here’s where you can see a collection of blog posts regarding that - http://annkempster.wordpress.com/2010/11/14/a-history-of-the-defense/)

Making the complaint

Understandably I was immensely upset by all of this. I lodged a formal complaint to the PCC using the only thing I could which is the PCC Code of Practice http://www.pcc.org.uk/cop/practice.html which sets out exactly what I can or can’t lodge a complaint against a newspaper. It is narrowed down into 16 specific areas to complain about which are further narrowed down into sub categories that further restrict you in what you can legitimately lodge a complaint about.

You’ll note that defamation of character,  slander, the republication of my social media content or it being a “non-story” aren’t actually covered as reasons to complain, thus I had to try and word my complaint in a way that slotted into the limited categories available to me.

I don’t have a massive salary or swathes of personal assistants, lawyers, journalists to spend hours researching these clauses, sub clauses etc to put together the perfect complaint. When this was all kicked

off that weekend in November I lodged a complaint there and then on what I thought fitted best into their categories. I will be the first to hold my hand up and say that the privacy angle wasn’t the strongest of defenses, but what was I to do? At that point in time I had journalists turning up at my front door, phoning me, emailing me. My Twitterstream, email and phone went into meltdown. I felt like I was under siege.

Why my social media content was republished nationally, subject to spin and comment like that is anyone’s guess.

I do not live in the public limelight, nor do I actively court the media circus. I do not consider myself to be fair game. I am a private citizen and have rights as such not to have my life plastered across the tabloids. If however I had done something that merited press intrusion (murder, fame, terrorism, espionage etc) then I would consider myself to be “fair game”… however merely owning a blog and Twitter account, being an active user of Social Media does not make one “fair game”. Publishing on the internet/social media platforms is not the same as being published in the national press.

If the Daily Mail was unhappy that Civil Servants are afforded the protections of the Civil Service Code and Articles 8, 9 and 10 as set out in schedule 1 of the Human Rights Act 1998 then I would suggest that writing a slanderous character assassination article about me is hardly the way to go about having an *informed* debate on the personal use of Social Media by Civil Servants. One wonders if the Daily Mail will be lobbying next for Civil Servants to be barred from voting at election time because this could be construed as to expressing a political opinion……

Unlike the celebrities of this country I can’t afford to take the newspapers to court for what’s been written about me and had to put my faith in self regulation of the media industry through the PCC. Thus, I submitted my complaint to the only authority there was and waited for the outcome.

The Press Complaints Commission ruling

So, with the publication of the PCC ruling, there were others out there who instead of jumping on the bandwagon with the megaphone journalism who have dug a little deeper to find the deeper story underneath the tabloid smears. These aren’t my words, these are the words of people that I don’t know (apart from Terence who I’ve only met twice at large social gatherings), and who have no vested interested in my job or what I do.

• http://shkspr.mobi/blog/index.php/2011/02/baskers/ – “the victim of a vicious and petty bullying campaign in two national newspapers“
• http://bluebridgeim.blogspot.com/2011/02/on-privacy-and-unprotected-tweets.html “tabloid bullying“
• http://themediablog.typepad.com/the-media-blog/2011/02/twitter-pcc-privacy.html “Victim of lazy journalism“
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/journalism/blog/2011/02/twitter-monster.shtml “And those papers printed it as ‘news’, not because it deserved to be in a national paper but because they could. And that’s the real issue. ….But we still haven’t got our heads around this distinction in the new, networked universe. Around the idea that just because (almost) everything is knowable, everything isn’t news. And just because we can, doesn’t mean we should“
• http://inforrm.wordpress.com/2011/02/10/pcc-ruling-twitter-journalism-and-privacy/
  “It seems to us that there is a good argument that there was no proper journalistic justification for writing about Ms Baskerville’s tweets………The fact that social media allows the newspapers to obtain this kind of information does not convert it into something which is “newsworthy”.

You see, I don’t consider myself newsworthy and nor do a lot of others. This was a total non-story and should never have been published in the first place. Publishing Social Media content isn’t news. It’s lazy journalism. It’s not a story, unless you try and spin it into a story. I was only made newsworthy because the Daily Mail decided to concoct a story about me because of some tenuous link to Sally Bercow (I’ve only met her a couple of times), and my use of Social Media more importantly, Twitter. And I think we all know the Daily Mail’s stance on those two subjects.

It has been pointed out that at the time I hadn’t locked down my Twitter stream, or locked my photo’s, or locked my blog. When I first started using Social Media I had thought about doing all of that, but it got me thinking about how do I want to live my life? Did I want to hide away? To be afraid to have an opinion? How is that in living with the ethos of Social Media? Is it wrong to openly engage and converse with people?

Perhaps I was naive, as has been pointed out in several blog posts that I didn’t hide away. What sort of society are we to become if we are to hide our thoughts and emotions away from one another? Bit by bit, we seemed to be moving closer to the “Big Brother” society where our very own thoughts are being used against us in the frenzied hype of the media circus. I do hope this trend can be reversed.

So there I was, unwittingly held up in the limelight to highlight everything that was wrong with the Public Sector and Social Media, with a sideswipe at the Bercows. This then became the “story”, thus reasonably justifiable for other papers to print it and add to it, according to the industry. And now, because of the PCC ruling it’s looking like it’s open season on any other public sector worker who’s caught in the grasp of the sweaty nicotine stained fingers of the press.

The problem with the PCC

Of course, you are going to think that I’m going to have an axe to grind here. And yes, you are right. I’ve put my faith in the PCC only to be badly let down. From my personal experience of the PCC, I feel that it isn’t independent at all and that the industry is failing to self regulate to the angst and cost of normal individuals.

There are several issues I have with the PCC;

1. The PCC is entirely dependent on it’s funding from the newspaper and magazine industry, although it claims to be independent. You are hardly going to bite the hand than feeds you are you?
2. The PCC is staffed by many people, journalists and editors from the newspaper industry, although it claims to still be able to make independent rulings. Conflict of interest?
3. The PCC doesn’t actually represent the entire newspaper and magazine industry. Thus if you wish to make a complaint concerning a paper that isn’t in the PCC remit, you can’t and would probably have to go to court instead. Hardly making “justice” accessible to those who can’t afford the costs.
4. The PCC doesn’t actually listen to it’s own guidance, As http://inforrm.wordpress.com/about/put it:

“http://inforrm.wordpress.com/2011/02/10/pcc-ruling-twitter-journalism-and-privacy/

The PCC guidance on “Privacy and Social Networking” (repeated and expanded in the January 2011 edition of the Editors’ Codebook) says.

“newspapers cannot automatically justify the use of material simply on the basis that it has appeared previously on the internet and is, therefore, ‘publicly available’. Even if an individual has not taken steps to protect their personal information (by hiding it behind strict privacy settings), newspapers will have to consider whether republication of the material shows respect for the individual’s privacy”.

By treating “public availability” of tweets as a “key consideration” the PCC appears to have given little weight to its own guidance.  More importantly, the adjudications do not address the question as to whether the republication “showed respect” for Ms Baskerville’s privacy.  The “public interest”identified relates to “the wisdom of civil servants using social media platforms” rather than the specific content of the messages.  In other words, even on the basis of the PCC’s own guidance, the adjudications are questionable.”

So, where to now?

Well, what’s done is done with me. I’ve already been plastered across the tabloids, world press and internet. As much as I hope that this doesn’t happen again to anyone else I don’t hold out much hope given the recent PCC ruling. I can’t afford to take this to court so I have to live with what has been done to me, my character and reputation.

But if anything good is to come out of this, then perhaps ;

• a truly independent Press Complaints Commission that is independently funded – perhaps via a tax/levy on the industry?
• A body that ALL newspapers and magazines are accountable to, not just those that currently subscribe to the current PCC Code of Practice
• A new Code of Practice that takes into account a far wider remit than the current one does
• A body that is staffed independently from the newspaper and magazine industry

I don’t make the policy, as they say in the old jokes “That’s not my Department love”.

But something has to be done.

Because the next “victim” of this social media and public sector hatred campaign by the press may not be so lucky to have the support network that I had. This “bullying”  has to stop before it does actually causes someone some serious mental or physical damage. There is only so much you can put up with.  And as it stands, clearly the PCC in it’s current form isn’t in the position to be protecting their rights.

Should I stay or Should I go?

I’ve yet to return to Twitter, I know I said earlier on in this blog post that I would continue to use Social Media but as I get to the end of this post I’m now questioning whether or not I will.

Because I’m tired of all of this. I’m tired of the sneers, the jokes, the poking and pointing at my expense, just because I dared have an opinion and express my thoughts. I’m tired of receiving unsolicited emails from people who think they can sit in judgement over me because of what they’ve read in the newspapers.

I’m tired of having to second, triple, quadruple guess anything I say in case it could be used against me in the national press. That’s no way to live a life.

I will miss everyone immensely, but I’m mentally and emotionally shattered by what’s happened and am struggling to escape out of the depths of depression that I now find myself in, close to tears as I write this blog post. I don’t want to have to go through that entire vile experience ever again.

I realise it could be said that by me posting this blog post, I’m indeed courting the media (although I don’t think that I actually have that many subscribers to my blog) and deserve everything I get but that isn’t my intention at all. I’m writing this as a way of processing my thoughts on the matter and trying to work through my feelings about this. There have been many, many posts written about me and I have haven’t publicly commented on any of them. But I’ve never written about this, until now. And it’s something I have to do and get it out of my system if not for my own sanity. Whether I will write again is another matter. I honestly don’t know if I ever will. Who knows, perhaps I will feel better after some sleep and perhaps I’ll feel a little less vulnerable about the whole thing.

Or, perhaps Quentin Letts has won at the end of the day.

One less voice in the wilderness?

Once more unto the breach, dear friends – LinkedGov

Hello friends.

This is the first blog post since the whole affair and I think you all know what I mean by that.

For obvious reasons I can’t elaborate any further for now (I’m sure you can understand why) as that’s a blog post that will not only happen when the time is right, but when I have the emotional and mental capacity to come to terms with it. Suffice to say I hope the time will come soon when I can draw the line, and move on. Because we all have to move on and start engaging again. The world moves on, the world is changing. We no longer live in an “offline” world, our lives are changing in so many ways to connect with the digital world, that connection is no longer enough. We also need to engage if we are to be truly “whole” citizens of the 21st century.

And that’s where I’ll start.

Engaging.

I “Engaged” last Sunday. Big Society style.

I gave up my Sunday (quite willingly and unpaid) to join a group of like minded people in a rather hot office just by Westminster Abbey (where the Cabinet Office’s Technology Strategy Board is living right now) to be part of a workshop that was looking at how we could get the LinkedGov project working.

Communication

I’ve always had issues in communicating… I get frustrated that people just don’t “get it” instantly or being able to distil a complex problem into a simple “vision”, because I have a rather logical and technical mind and don’t understand why people don’t come to the same conclusions as me…. but that’s just me. I can be a bit autistic that way (as friends, family and loved ones constantly tell me!)

I know my strengths, I know my weaknesses. It’s a common failure that logical/IT people suffer from – good communication skills and I am making a conscious effort to improve on this, but I’m also lucky to know people that *can* communicate, that *do* have the patience  and saving grace to go out there, navigate that political minefield, and communicate. Enter in one Hadley Beeman, and one Glyn Wintle

Teacamp - Photo Credit Adrian Tritschler http://www.flickr.com/people/ajft/

I first met both Hadley & Glyn at strange thing called Teacamp - Teacamp is a monthly informal get together of digital communicators, web developers / designers, social media specialists who work in government, with government and outside of government.

It’s where we share ideas, solve problems, have a cup of tea/coffee (or a bottle of sparkling water in my case) to learn something new. And hopefully out of all of this communication and collaboration we may just manage to do our jobs a little bit better.

It was because of Teacamp that I began regularly following these two on Twitter and started engaging in them, and more importantly I also consider them to be friends in the “off-line” Real World. We’ve met several times in “real-life”, having the odd coffee… the odd beer… and being rather sad and geeky at the best of times discussing issues close to our heart.

I was always given strange looks by people when attending Gov Social Media type events because I’m not a web/techie/comms person… but that’s the whole beauty of Social media, you shouldn’t need to be any of those types of people to get involved. It all boils down to openness, transparency, collaboration and communication no matter what field of work you find yourself in. Collaboration drives innovation. But anyway… I digress. Back to open data and transparency.

So, why is that? Why did we bother to meet up?

Open Data & Transparency

Well, it’s because we all share a passion for doing things better, and more importantly for open data and transparency. All at the very heart (or should be?) of any Government’s agenda.

Since the introduction of Data.gov.uk we have seen whole swathes of previously unreleased government data being sent out in the cyberspace for all to see, download and analyse. For me, this was just a fantastic achievement.

Developers, institutions and industry had been crying out for access to this data for years (all funded by the tax-payer ultimately), and now it was finally beginning to happen. But it was only the beginning.

Whilst this was massive leap forward in opening up Government data there is a problem.

For my sins, in one of my other jobs as a Civil Servant, I used to work in Treasury. Not only did I work in Treasury but I was on the very project team that designed, built and implemented the COINS System across the whole of Central Government. I’m a geek, but not a true hardcore geek like many of the developers that I met on Sunday at LinkedGov. I didn’t get down to the nitty gritty bits of coding, that’s what the software developers on the project where there to do so. But I managed that process, setting out the high level design concepts, data structures, coding conventions etc.

I will admit that it on a personal level it made my heart swell with a wee bit of pride when I saw that the COINS data was being released into the big wide world. I’d almost given up all hope of ever seeing my “work” out there for people to use because let’s face it – Finance isn’t sexy, it doesn’t really draw in the big headlines.

But it was still awesome to see something that I’d worked on, that I’d once built being opened up to the public. For years, friends and family had asked what I worked on and it was rather had to get across to them exactly what it was I did, but now this was something tangible that they could see and look at!

I’d nipped onto the data.gov.uk website to see what COINS data had been released and indeed what it even looked like and came up against a couple of problems.

• I couldn’t download the file. It was HUGE – my tiny little personal broadband connection kept on falling over.
• Snippet’s of the file that I did manage to see were rather daunting. Whilst it was in machine readable format it had became clear to me that I would need to build an actual database, and use SQL etc to try and sort the data into  any meaningful analysis.
• It’s not just COINS data though, it’s the same for any large or even small to medium government datasets that have been released.
• These are complex data releases usually about a specialist subject matter requiring specialist knowledge.
• They require specific skills sets and resources to open up and analyse.

For me, I think that the biggest issue with Open Data & Transparency is Accessibility.

This isn’t a reflection or in any way saying that there’s been a failure by Government here. I will say again, data.gov.uk do a brilliant job. This is a learning curve for *all* of us, public, industry and government alike. We are in a new era of openness and have very much still got to understand the issues around it.

If you are the normal person (and sometimes I think I am),  the very idea of downloading huge data sets, using specific programming & interogation languages to try and get an inkling as to what the data is perhaps telling you is rather daunting. It’s not a “normal” skill for most people out on the streets to be able to manipulate (or even download!) these vast datasets.

How do we unlock the data?

Releasing data whilst it can be read as ticking the boxes as being “open” and perhaps “transparent”… I’m hearing and seeing discussions all over the spectrum that actually it isn’t that transparent or indeed accessible. I saw this happening with the release of the COINS data and other large datasets (non-gov as well). The kind of questions that were being raised on and offline that I saw were;

• “I can’t actually download the datasets” – huge gigabytes of data that a normal person’s broadband would struggle to cope with. Accessibility issues.
• “I don’t understand what any of these codes mean” – Specific systems use bespoke codes, they aren’t always consistent across organisations. Lack of understanding of the meaning of the data doesn’t help with transparency.
• “Can someone explain to me what this line of data means? What does that column mean?” – Without understanding the actual meaning of codes etc and the context,  it is rather hard to try and attribute any meaningful analysis of the data. Mistakes could be made because of this lack of understanding.Thus not really that “accessible” or “transparent”.
• “Why is this bit of data missing?” –  It could be a simple mistake in the dataset, but it’s rather difficult for the person reviewing the dataset to know who to contact about getting that sort of information. Thus muddying the transparency angle.

Without “meaning” and “understanding” of the data that’s been released it’s just lines and lines of data. Unless you are an organisation or a developer with the skills and resources to put behind trying to understand the data, for the normal person out on the street it’s going to be inherently more difficult.  Thus Open Data for the vast majority of the public I think, isn’t the be all and end all of everything that was promised when the data was first released;

• It isn’t information – it’s data without meaning
• It isn’t easily accessible
• It isn’t particularly that transparent.

That’s the kind of conversation I found myself having with Hadley and Glyn back in the summer. Whilst life got busy for me and there were many personal and traumatic issues that I had to deal with, I kept in contact with these two and had been following their progress on this issue, discussing ideas, potential problems/barriers and possible way’s forward.

Data.gov.uk is doing a fantastic job in opening up the data to the public, but they have (like all of us) limited resources. They have a huge job in opening up the treasure trove of Government Data, and it’s no small task. So what can be done to help?

What can be done?

This is where Hadley & Glynn come in.

Hadley & Glyn have been working with the Cabinet Office’s Technology Strategy Board in finding out if perhaps LinkedGov can help bridge that gap between open data and accessibility, unlocking the data for everyone.

So what is LinkedGov?

Linked Gov

I will try to explain that in my usual hamfisted way!

Quite simply it’s about how can Open Government Data be improved, and made more accessible to the “man on the street”. I don’t think that you should need to be a developer or large organisation to be able to access Government Data. By “access” I don’t mean just being able to link or download the data, but to be able to actually use it meaningfully without trying to learn new coding languages.

Hadley had started formulating ideas around this (which I strongly urge you to look at http://hadleybeeman.posterous.com/how-are-we-going-to-improve-government-openda)

Picture Credit - Hadley Beeman

First of all just setting out the landscape, the ”vision” for what LinkedGov is trying to achieve.

• • There’s lots of data held within Government and it’s now beginning to be published, but all in different structures, formats, codes etc. This is in keeping with Sir Tim Berner’s Lee “Raw Data Now speech”
  • Developers and organisations are now starting to analyse that data, build applications around these data sets
  • Longer term, hopefully people will be able to access that data or the analysis of that data via simple questions in a web browser or an application from a smart phone
  • Once people start accessing the data easily hopefully they can learn more about their public services, government etc and make more informed decisions about how they interact with Government, and what services they use.

As a vision to have, I think that it’s damn good vision to aspire to. The best things come out of simple ideas around how can we do things better.

And the workshop on Sunday was just about all that. Full photo’s can be seen at my Flickr page

LinkedGov - The Project. Picture Credit Hadley Beeman

I looked around the room (rather bleary eyed for a Sunday morning) to see a wide range of people (Coders, Developers, Civil Servants, people interested in Public Sector data, Industry people) all giving up their own free time to sit around and discuss the LinkedGov Project and how we could possibly make it work.

Kicking off the workshop

The day started off with Glyn & Hadley doing a double act, kicking off the intro workshop setting out the high level vision and asking us to write a word on the board associated with the project;

Words not to say.....

Once the words were up on the board we were each given a “stress ball”. And any time either Glyn or Hadley said one of these “forbidden” words were were to throw these “balls” at them.

Suffice to say Hadley was better at not saying the words than Glyn… he got hit an awful lot! Joking aside, it was a good way to break the ice and to get some energy in the room, as difficult as it is on a cold Sunday morning.

We talked around various issues from the high level concepts of the project to data formats, accessibility, API keys etc, how to get the data updated, how should it be presented? etc but also Glyn & Hadley to set out exactly what the project wasn’t.

• It’s not about getting local government officers and civil servants to do more work. This will be voluntary. Linked Gov is looking at ways to make it easy for people across all discipline’s to contribute and help clean up open gov data sets, and where you can perhaps give it the additional meaning and context.
  • If you are the expert in a particular field can you spare 2 minutes to answer a couple of queries around a particular dataset? How can LinkedGov do this easily? Questions on screensavers? Set up a reward system? Make it game based? Set up Open Data champions in Public Sector Organisations?
  • Very much “tell us once”. Once the data has been updated and explained it’s then there for developers to build apps/API’s on, and not have to keep on asking for definitions once it’s been defined.
• It’s not about replacing existing services i.e;
  • Data.gov.uk
  • Theyworkforyou
  • Wheredoesmymoneygo
  • MySociety
• These services already deliver to an existing market and are well placed to do so. Linked Gov is setting out to try and clean up the data and also make more accessible.
• It’s not about providing an analysis of the data i.e. political analysis or publishing an analysis of the data. That’s for journalists, politicians, self interest groups to do. Not LinkedGov.

Lunch

So, once we’d worked through all of that… it was time for lunch.

Pizza Power! - A healthy brunch?

As the pizza was wolfed down, as you do at many of these types of events you get talking to people over lunch and I met up with so many people who were brimming full of ideas and enthusiasm for this project which was very hopeful to see. The discussions were far and wide ranging from;

• Longer term vision for Government with open data
• The need for perhaps common data standards across public sector bodies
• How do we get industry involved in being part of the solution?
• Social Media & Distributed communities

Interesting discussions, and something that I could perhaps spend a day each on! But alas there was only time to focus on LinkedGov today

The Afternoon Session – Game on

So, it was soon time to head back into our specific discussion groups looking at specific tasks. Getting into some of the detail as to how LinkedGov could actually start getting this project off the ground with real tangible deliverables ;

Comms

Thinking about a Comms Strategy

- Developers

- Stakeholders

- Game players

- Documentation, websites, wiki’s, forum threads, mails, Tracking progress

- Communication & Collaboration – how can this be encouraged in the different communities? Hearts & Minds

Game Play

How do we make this interesting?

This wasn’t a group that I sat in, but as you can see from the whiteboard a lot of thought had gone into how to make LinkedGov interesting for those that choose to participate once it’s up and running.

Tasks

Defining Tasks?

What is a task?

I wasn’t in this group either, (too busy getting all comms focused in Hadley’s group!), but you can see from the Whiteboards & Flipcharts that this group was focusing in breaking down what tasks needed to be done programatically, and how they could possibly start going about that.

Regroup & Review

Finally we reconvened together in the main room to discuss what we’d been working on all afternoon well into the darkness of the night.

It was an intense day, and whilst we were getting our heads around the high level concepts and starting to formulate strategies and ways of trying to build and implement such a product, there was also time for pause and reflection on the risks.

As with any project it’s got inherent internal and external risks;

• Highly ambitious timetable
• Reliance on volunteers to give up their free time to build and participate
• Getting sufficient high level buy in
• Getting adequate funding and sponsorship
• Technical barriers (technology wise, this can be built we thought but it’s how it’s rolled out across Gov that may be a potential barrier)
• People/internal politics barriers

There’s still a lot to do and a lot more to work on from a people/technology perspective. But I don’t think that any of these issues are instant show stoppers, but they do have the potential to be. It’s going to be down to the LinkedGov Project team to show us how to rise up and deliver to these challenges, and I for one think that if anyone can do it, these guys can. Which is why I’m giving them my support and will help in what ever way I can.

For me, more than anything what I got out of the day was a sense of hope. Hope that there are people out there who are willing to give up their own free time, to help free up and make open data more accessible to the public.

I think that this can be done.

More importantly, I think it *needs* to be done.

Are we necessarily the right people to be doing it though? That I’m not sure, but then again I don’t see anyone else stepping up to this challenge apart from the LinkedGov team. Big Kudos for them for doing so.

Young Rewired State 2010 (via Julia’s Blog)

I was completely blown away by the scale of the ingenuity, pace, energy and ideas that were showcased yesterday at #YRS2010 – and all of it mostly self taught by these young kids. I was deeply impressed that the Guardian offered to take on the developers (if they wanted the opportunity) and to see how far their idea’s could go. Such practical and commercial experience would be such a boost to these young developers, and I’d hope it would only increase their appetite to go further in this field.

I would love to see Government tap into this rich talent, and not to be bogged down with Change Boards, Project Initiation Documents, Business Cases, Risk Registers etc that goes with most projects/programmes of work. But more importantly I think we need to look at how can Government help support this talent? Questions started formulating in my mind and I don’t know what the answers are, but should we at least start the discussion and see where it takes us?

- Do we need to reconsider *how* we teach ICT within schools?
- What can be done to encourage more events like this?
- Is Government doing enough to keep talent like this engaged in the education system or do we need to consider a different approach?
- Can Government learn from this fast agile approach to development and use it for existing or new up and coming projects?
- Can Government open up more data, or put pressure on those bodies that they supply funding and grants to i.e. Arms Length Bodies, Non-Departmental Public Bodies, Service Operators (Buses, Trains etc), Trading Funds that deliver services to the public – make it part of the funding regime that in turn these bodies/commercial organisations have to free their data up that is open standard compliant?

Excellent blog post Julia, and many, many thanks to the organisers and of course the young developers for showing me that there is a future out there, but we need to invest, support and nurture our talent and most of all open up the data. That seems to be the biggest hurdle so far. Not just the lack of available data, but the quality or consistency of the data when it is released.

There’s a long way to go, but I think we are on the right track

Involving more people and at more locations than last year, Young Rewired State reached its climax yesterday with presentations from young coders in London. Besides the teams from London, Brighton, Manchester and Norwich, plus lone coders from Dundee and Reading, crowds arrived at the top floor offices of Transform yesterday to see what the coders had been able to come up with during the week. Judges were Andrew Stott (Government’s Director of Di … Read More

via Julia’s Blog

Attacking the Civil Service again

Seriously.

When does it stop?

When do I stop feeling like I’m under constant attack?

I picked this up on Twitter http://www.talkcarswell.com/show.aspx?id=1499 from the @TweetMinster account.

http://twitter.com/tweetminster/status/18832708475 “The Civil Service is the problem“http://bit.ly/9Y3NsM

It wasn’t what I was expecting to see on a Sunday morning when I was sorting out my mails, domestics, washing etc, yet another attack from a person who is a Conservative member of Parliament. So I stopped what I was doing, tried to calm down a little and compose my thoughts on the matter.

I have worked my ass off these last few years, to get that promotion, to get that new job, to learn new skills, to deliver against extremely challenging circumstances and it shows in my exceeded performance reports for the last couple of years. In other professions, when your management constantly belittle you about your performance, your pay, your very worth when you *are* delivering, it’s called bullying. It’s called harassment. It’s completely demoralising. And if it continues you can find yourself in court eventually.

So why is it that it’s okay for my “Management” i.e. my political masters (not my direct management) and those in direct support of them to constantly attack the organisation I work in?  I get the messages from up above, informing me in the typical Civil Service manner that new legislation is coming in to change our terms and conditions without the need to negotiate. To make it cheaper, easier for our political masters to get rid of us.

And lets not sugar coat it.

It’s not about streamlining and making the Civil Service more efficient. It’s about the brutal unfocused cutting of headcount, cutting costs, cutting the strength of the unions (PCS & FDA), cutting the very heart out of the Civil Service and as the Guardian SCS Secret Blogger put it, creating a “Tesco Value Civil Service”

“But we need to move on and get real. This isn’t an argument about public sector services or private sector services – it is about what services you have at all. Plans are being finalised now to create a Tesco Value state with a much smaller range and the public sector will need to change rapidly to deliver it.

I pondered this puzzle as I put the phone down on yet another private sector supplier offering his services. “I am sorry,” I said. “Your offer sounds wonderful but unless it’s free I am not interested. All our money has gone.” They are getting the same answer across government. Here at my desk was a microcosm of the British economy. The supplier will have to downsize now, they may even go bust. In time my team and I will join them on the scrapheap.

How, I ask, can this not lead to another recession?”

If we do end up in another recession – where are these magical jobs going to materialise from in the private and third sector when we throw over 600,000 Public Sector workers onto the scrap heap? I fail to understand how that strategy is of benefit to UK GDP and the overall welfare benefits costs.

I also fail to understand why it is deemed acceptable to continue with the attacks in the press and on political blogs against the Civil Service. What did we do that was so bad that merits these constant attacks? Did we commit murder? fraud? espionage?, sexual abuse? terrorism? Genocide?

Of course there has been mistakes i.e. delayed projects, overspending – but you show me where that hasn’t happened in the Private Sector or elsewhere? It has. Bad Project Management or ill thought out strategy decisions don’t just happen within the Civil Service, they happen across all sectors of industry and employment yet you don’t see laws being changed or full scale media wars waged against them constantly.

What other employer in this country can change the law when they feel like it? It’s atrocious and a mockery of justice and the political process that changes to legislation can be pushed through parliament to make changes to the Civil Service Compensation Scheme (that have twice been found unlawful in the High Courts of Justice) without even the slightest hint of negotiating with the Unions.

In other sectors of employment, the employers are forced to meet with the Unions and hammer out a mutually agreed settlement – I struggle to understand why this isn’t the case for the Civil Service? Are we not eligible for the same due process? Where does it stop? Shall the door be opened for other employers to just change the law when they want to force through changes to their workers terms and conditions? Shall we legislate to disband the Unions all together?

All Civil Servants have done is to carry out and administer the delivery of Government Policy as voted by MPs in the Houses of Parliament. The Civil Service doesn’t vote on policies, we don’t create them. The Government of the time is responsible for their own policies. Government Policies, the mis-management of the financial industry and the economy has gotten us to the position we are in. Not the Civil Service.

So I ask again.

Why is it deemed acceptable to constantly attack the Civil Service?

Any worthwhile manager knows that if you continue to belittle and devalue your staff you won’t get the best performance out of them. You’ll have a team and organisation that is completely demoralised, shell shocked, locked into despair and won’t be operating at optimal efficiency – and surely at this time when we are supposed to be doing “More with Less” these ‘attacks’ kind of go against that what is trying to be achieved.

How can we do more with less, when we can’t even see the light at the end of the tunnel? I don’t think we’ve *ever* been informed as to what this new coalition government wants out of the Civil Service, or what shape it is to become and what it’s expected to deliver, except reduce costs, reduce size and look to outsource as much as possible.

What is the “Vision” for the Civil Service? I can’t see any clear vision apart from a clear cost and size reducing agenda, but with no idea as to what the end “state” is to be – i.e. a Tesco Value Civil Service?

I will return back to my chores this Sunday, trying not to think about the brief flash of anger and despair at reading that article. I am looking forward to taking a few well earned days off later this week to go back home to Dundee to see my new niece and nephew, and to enjoy the Dundee Blues Bonanza. My only dilemma is do I or don’t I take the work Blackberry with me?

Last time I had a day off, I forgot to take the Blackberry out of my jacket and did indeed end up sorting through work mails and dealing with various issues on my day off. When I did turn it off, it didn’t help because all I got was phone calls direct on my personal mobile, “I‘ve sent through urgent papers for you to brief on, can you give me a response urgently“… No, it’s my day off. I haven’t had a day off in months… “Well can you look at it first thing when you get in tomorrow?“….err that’s on top of the pre-reading I have to do for the Design Authority meeting that afternoon, the pre-reading for the Gateway Review Course the day after, dealing with the whole HR process in breaking up my team and negotiating with other line managers to move staff across, updating the Risk Registers etc “.. But I need you to do this, just give me high level points to take..“… Okay, so I’ll do it. I end up taking papers home after my meetings and spend my evening, *my* free time that I’m not getting paid for to try and keep on top of everything. I forgot that I’m supposed to be a lazy civil servant, and then I see in the paper;

I work in Finance.

I’m tired.

The Exodus begins….

My desk....

I’ve not had the best of starts today.

The first email of the day was to inform me that I’m losing a highly valued member of my team. You see, she’s a contractor. One of those contractors that have been painted in the press as being highly paid, a drain on the pubilc purse strings.

I don’t see that.

I see a wonderful team member. A member of my team who’s been a shining light through dark days, bubbling with enthusiasm, going out of her way to get things done. To connect up with people, to ensure that everyone knew what was going on and what was expected of them.

She will be sorely missed.

And I will be left with a void that I’m not quite sure how to fill, or to try and rebalance the skills sets within what’s left of my dwindling team.

I had been battling for weeks to try and secure the funding and agreement to keep at least 2 of my contractors on until end September, filling out HR form after HR form, piles and piles of paperwork and approvals processes to go through like a vast set of hurdles. But it’s all in vain. I can’t give any of my contractors within my team any assurances about how long I can keep them on. We’ve got to reduce costs, and that means that with the recruitment freeze and contract renewals, it’s the contractors that are the first to go. So with that level of uncertainty I can’t blame my contractors for looking elsewhere, whether that be elsewhere in the Public Sector (highly unlikely given the current set of circumstances) or the Private Sector. However it leaves me with great big voids in my team, with very little handover time – but these are the consequences of the politcal decisions made higher up.

Contract staff will walk, and team leaders across Whitehall will be left trying to absorb what work they can but we are already stretched. And next year when the full weight of the cuts start kicking in from the Spending Review, the cuts are aimed at the permanent staff.

It’s a slow process trying to retrain staff in Finance Systems, SQL Server 2005, SQL Intergation, SQL Reporting Service, Visual Basic, Financial Frameworks, Project & Change management disciplines, Contract and SLA management, Security Accreditation process… Sooner or later something’s going to break. Something is going to fall over, something will slip through the cracks as we’ll be struggling to keep our heads above water and trying to learn whole new skills sets at the same time as trying to deliver “more with less”.

These aren’t the sort of skills you learn within a ‘couple of months’, which has been quoted to me when trying to pull together an exit strategy for the contractors. Finance, IT & Project skills take many months, and years to learn. Once you’ve learnt the basics i.e. done the courses you are still very green. It takes experience on the job over time to bring you up to the necessary skills level and experience that’s required. Which is why some teams tend to have contractors in the first place. Those skills and experience aren’t readily availble within the civil service, and they aren’t financially recognised – with only “Accounting” qualifications being eligble for a salary increase, thus it makes it all the harder to fill the posts with permanent staff because they wont get financially rewarded for gaining these skills sets.

Whilst I wish my contractor all the best in her new job, already I can feel my stress levels rising and that sickening knot of stress tugging away like a lead ball inside my stomach. The exodus begins and I suspect it will be the first of many.

Knowing her as I do, I know she’ll be successful where ever she ends up – she’s that kind of person. It will be a sad day for the team, and a loss to the Public Sector when she leaves, but I wish her all the best and good luck to her!