As we approach the end of the financial year, public servants (with varying degrees of apprehension) start to turn their minds to their performance reviews. And while typically this is when you demonstrate your unswerving devotion to the cause and highlight the prodigious efforts you have been making throughout the year, it is also an opportune moment to take stock of how well your agency is positioned to support your professional needs.
I have posted before about the seismic change that social media is bringing about for the public sector. As communicators, more than most other staff, we need to be able to track the impact of this change and begin to experiment and engage in order to provide our managers with the advice they need to remain abreast of developments or, in a perfect world, capitalize on this changing environment.
Are you getting the support and the tools you need to do your job well now and to grow and develop professionally? Or are you stuck in a backwater where managers are dismissive of the impact of this change and are determined to continue to pursue a course that was first plotted in the late ’90’s?
Unsure? Here’s how you can tell.
Internet access
Do you have unrestricted access to the Internet? No blocking of social media sites?
What about the ability to download files to your local machine? Do you have a bandwidth limit that means you have to prioritize your podcasts? Or is your internet traffic one-way only?
What about the ability to FTP files to a remote server?
Do you have a configurable web browser like Firefox, or are you stuck with Internet Explorer (I call IE7 ‘the pendulum,’ because it spends most of the time hanging…)?
RSS
If you haven’t got your head around this yet, then it should be at the top of your priority list. Being able to source, process and file an enormous quantity of fresh content from news sites, blogs and search engines is a basic competency for a communicator.
Do you have access to an online feed reader or aggregator, like Google Reader, Pageflakes or Bloglines?
Or have you installed a desktop client, like the free and brilliant NetNewsWire?
Mobility
Do you have a mobile device that allows you to access the Internet? What about reading your RSS feeds on the commute to work in the morning? Can you visit your agency website in a meeting and retrieve relevant documents quickly and easily? That last one is probably unfair, as we know it is not the technology that is the problem…
Conclusion
If you found yourself nodding smugly as you read through this post then you are obviously working in the public sector somewhere, but probably not here in New Zealand. If you were running at around 50%, then you are way ahead of the curve and you should probably contact me so I can hand over responsibility for this blog.
If, on the other hand, at the end of that list you realized that your agency is in the social media equivalent of the dark ages, then you have two choices:
- start agitating for change
- embrace the 21st Century
The clock is ticking. What are you going to do?
Photo: J.McPherson
5 Comments
I am doing what I can to push us into the 21st century. I set up our RSS feed without telling anyone at our central agency. I am hoping to get us to the point where I can say that (fill in the blank) is what we’ve been doing for AGES without any trouble. Social media sites are generally unavailable, although some, like Facebook, are.
And back I slink into my little office…
Thanks Megan. The guerilla approach is a reality for more than a few of us.
The fact that Facebook is one of the non-blocked sites is more depressing than encouraging…
I know of a few CIO/CTOs that are or looking at blocking sites like Facebook, Bebo and YouTube at their agencies not because of abuse by staff, but the expectation that one day they will be OIA‘d on those site’s usage. This view is based on overseas and local media reports (like the “public servants spend 35,000 hours on Trademe” article back in 2006) and PQs (like last years wikipedia questions).
Firefox is still, from what I’m told, not quite ready for deploying and administrating enterprise wide. Plus you’ve got the added complexity of existing internal web applications that are built for IE only (like an EDMS). But, again I know a few places that are looking into it and it’ll happen sooner or later.
Thanks Pete. The TradeMe article is a good example, once you got beyond the headline the facts were that the average use by public servants was around 2 minutes per week.
While I am guilty of excessive aversion to risk, I am more worried about CIO’s impeding the ability of their agencies to attract, retain & develop suitable staff through clumsy policy decisions about technology.
From my experience, IE7 is hardly ready for enterprise, but I take your point about internal applications.
Nothing is different over here, I spent time at typical West Australian Government agency where , in theory almost everything (webmail, social networking and any other website that might distract staff) is blocked. In practise because the blocking is so restrictive, almost half the staff had to have exemptions just to carry out their work. Which resulted in half the staff having unlimited internet access and the other half very restricted access.
I moved to another agency, with a more enlightened view and part of my role includes managing the blocking software. Because we have a number of public access machines, we block porn and hacking sites, but that is it.
Staff are encouraged to make use of social networking sites to interact with their peers outside the agency (as long as it does not interfere with their work).
How successful are the staff making use of social networking, don’t really know. I gave a talk on RSS feeds to 60 staff, only 4 where currently reading feeds. 2 of those at home via IE7, because the mandated browser in the agency is IE6. (and you are not supposed to install other software, the IT support is provided by another agency with more traditional views).
The only person who can access the website via their agency supplied mobile is the CEO. It does work, though it looks ugly (they use the same phone as I do ) and in a few months time it will work well in a mobile, because after revamping the current website, I will build a mobile specific site with IA designed for mobile users.
So it is not so different in WA than NZ.