civic leadership blogging guidebook

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Civic Leadership BloggingGuidebook

Second Edition

Published by the International Centre of Excellence forLocal eDemocracy, United Kingdom 2007

www.icele.org


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About this guidebook

This guide has been compiled from a number of sources, includingindustry experts on blogging, with a particular focus on civic leadershipweblogging. Many of the examples are based on the experiences of agovernment-backed pilot into blogging in the public sector.

The International Centre of Excellence for Local eDemocracy (ICELE)provides resources for local authorities concerning good practice ineDemocracy, and is a continuation of the Local eDemocracy NationalProject funded by the UK Government.

This guide provides advice for civic leaders and councils regardinggood practice in relation to the subject matter.

ICELE would like to thank the following people for theircontributions to this guide:

Griff Wigley, Blogging Coach, Minnesota USA

The Hansard Society (Political Blogs Craze or Convention?)

Wolverhampton City Council

For more guides, please visit www.iceleguides.org

2007: www.icele.org


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Preface

The phenomenon of citizen journalism, facilitated by informationtechnology, is a worldwide success story. A weblog, or blog, is apersonal journal on the web. Weblogs express as many differentsubjects and opinions as there are people writing them. Some blogsare highly influential and have enormous readership while others areprimarily intended for a close circle of family and friends.

Weblogs are essentially free (or very cheap) lightweight anddisposable content management systems. Often they come ready-packaged and provide an immediate structure for content.

The power of weblogs is that they allow millions of people to easilypublish their ideas, and millions more to comment on them. Blogs area fluid, dynamic medium, more akin to a conversation than to a library which is how the web has often been described in the past. With anincreasing number of people reading, writing, and commenting onblogs, the way we use the web is shifting in a fundamental way.Instead of being passive consumers of information, more and moreInternet users are becoming active participants.

It is estimated that there are 55.2*

million blogs worldwide and 75,000*

new blogs each day. Most bloggers update their pages regularly; thereare about 1.2 million

*posts daily or about 50,000

*blog updates an

hour. Around 55%*of bloggers are still posting three months after their

blogs were created. This means that the Blogosphere doubles everysix months; by 2009, there will be an estimated 8.8 billion blogs.

Meanwhile, most blog readers/users tend to follow a relatively modest

number of feeds

. The number of feeds that really matter iscomparatively small and only tends to double each year compared tothe bi-annual growth of the blogosphere

.

Increasingly, other forms of post such as video blogs (vlogs),podcasts and amateur video clips are contributing to the rich mediamix of citizen journalism. As such, the blogging platform of choicemust be able to handle, integrate and allow for easy manipulation ofnew media.

* Source: Technorati.com, April 2006

Source: Ebiquity group, April 2006


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Contents

CHAPTER ONE: THE BASICS ........................................................... 1

What is a blog?................................................................................. 2How to spot a blog............................................................................ 3Who can blog? ................................................................................. 3Why blog? ........................................................................................ 4Key drivers ....................................................................................... 5Which software?............................................................................... 6What to consider in blogging software ............................................. 7

Recommended criteria for a successful platform............................. 8Whats on offer? ............................................................................. 11Examples of blogging platforms..................................................... 11Is keeping a blog difficult?.............................................................. 12Whos the best blogger? ................................................................ 15

CHAPTER TWO: UK CIVIC LEADERSHIP BLOGGING.................. 16

Local eDemocracy Pilot ................................................................. 17Pilot community activity.................................................................. 18

Pilot successes............................................................................... 19Conclusions from the pilot.............................................................. 19

CHAPTER THREE: THE BENEFITS................................................. 21

Citizens........................................................................................... 22The local authority and senior officers ........................................... 22Elected members and officials ....................................................... 23The dangers of blogging ................................................................ 24

CHAPTER FOUR: GOOD BLOGGING............................................. 26

What to blog ................................................................................... 30


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CHAPTER FIVE: HOW TO BLOG EFFECTIVELY........................... 42

How to promote a blog................................................................... 54Multimedia and mobile blogging .................................................... 57Tech skills checklist........................................................................ 59Blogging checklists......................................................................... 60

CHAPTER SIX: THE LEGALITIES.................................................... 61

Executive summary........................................................................ 62General legal issues....................................................................... 64Additional legal issues for council-funded sites ............................. 67Political content .............................................................................. 68Links to political websites............................................................... 71What changes during election campaigns? ................................... 72Other considerations...................................................................... 72Example of typical blogging terms and conditions......................... 73Example of typical acceptable use policy ...................................... 75Example of typical legal page footers ............................................ 76

CHAPTER SEVEN: PROVIDING SUPPORT.................................... 77

Training .......................................................................................... 81

GLOSSARY ....................................................................................... 82


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1

THE BASICS

This chapter explores the rudimentary questions around blogging andthe blogosphere. In this chapter you will find out what a blog is andwhy it is a useful leadership tool. It also covers blogging software andprovides examples of some good blogs.

The biggest worry among civic leaders is is it difficult to keep ablog?; we explore some of the issues and find answers from everydaybloggers.


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CHAPTER ONE: THE BASICS

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What is a blog?

This used to be an easy question. However, as blogs become morewidespread, it gets harder to define them succinctly.

Starting with the basics blog is short for weblog. A blogger is theauthor/editor/owner of a blog. Blogging is the practice of keeping aweblog.

A blog is a website (with a few quirks) and can be accessed just likeany other site by using any device that has a compatible web browser.

The blogs of elected members from the ICELE programme boardare shown here.

Matthew Ellis is the chairman ofICELE and Staffordshire countycouncillor. His blog has adistinctive look, in-line with hispolitical party.

www.matthewellis.org.uk

Mary Reid is the vice-chair ofICELE and has been blogging

since January 2005. Mary isalso the serving Mayor ofKingston- Upon-Thames and herblog is an intriguing insight intoher daily duties.

www.maryreid.org.uk


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How to spot a blog

Blogs are easier to recognise than they are to define. Blogs are onlineself-publishing platforms. The graphical look of a blog, the subjectmatter, length, volume and posting frequency of its content are at thediscretion of the blogger, but these variations are flesh on anotherwise fundamental frame.

Blogs are diary-like in structure but run in reverse chronological orderwith the most recent entry appearing first. Entries are commonlyknown as posts; these can be visual but are usually text-based. Each

post is accompanied by a date and time stamp.

A blog is also identifiable from an abundance of links embedded in thecontent of each post, and the ability visitors have to post comments inresponse to blog entries.

Who can blog?

The beauty of blogging is that anyone can do it you, your mum orthe Prime Minister. It requires a bare minimum of technicalappreciation but a fair amount of imagination and interest in writing.

Software for setting up a blog is readily available online and much of itis free. Running a blog is a low-cost, easy-to-manage means ofmaintaining a presence online. As a result, the practice of blogginghas quickly picked up mass appeal and looks set to expand as accessto computers and the Internet increases.


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Why blog?

The people who keep blogs range from schoolchildren to governmentministers. Therefore, the subject matter for blogs can range from UNtreaty resolutions to pet rabbits. Just as themes vary between blogs,so do motivations for joining the blogger ranks.

At a most basic level, some people just want to say to the world withtheir blog, Im here! Some people might start a blog to keep closefriends or relatives in touch with a public-facing diary. Many blogs arelike this.

Other blogs have objectives that are more definite. Some people bethey recognised experts or not use their blogs to collect informativelinks that might prove useful to other experts or indeed to a non-expertaudience.

Many elected members blog because they recognise that they canreach-out to a wider and more diverse audience and ultimately winvotes. A councillor blog can easily run-up 100 unique visitors per day

within the first year.

Corporations and institutions are increasingly turning to blogs as ameans of engaging their customers or the public in dialogue. However,in doing so they have to contend with the many, many bloggers outthere who are taking advantage of the free-speech platform providedby blogging. These free speech blogs have the object of counteringmessages from big business and their top-tier management. Forexample, in the recent US presidential elections, many bloggers tookup a scrutiny role in the face of mega-spend election campaigns andpartisan media coverage.

Increasingly, blogs are being used not to communicate with people onthe other side of the world but instead as tools for communication at amuch more localised community level either among residents orbetween representatives and those they represent.

To put it simply, people blog because they want to share thoughts orinformation with a range of like-minded or opposed people, in a

manner that is cheap and easy to maintain.


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5

Key drivers

There are a number of benefits for local authorities who embraceblogs. Primarily these are about fulfilling government targets, such asproviding easily maintained websites for councillors, but there is also acost saving to be achieved over a full content management system.

Blogs can have real operational benefits:

efficient internal communications for teams (private blogs)

increased web traffic for the referring local authority

networking of likeminded individuals on a particular problem,issue or interest

These couple with some valuable personal benefits:

the ability to chronicle your own life and look back on yourachievements

reporting in your own words

helps to consolidate your day in your own mind, potentiallyproviding slicker reaction to media interest

self-marketing

The benefits of blogging are explored in more detail in Chapter 3.

Bear in mind that any individual can start a blog without the permission

or approval of their employer. A wothwhile recommendation for policyofficers would be to consider implementing employee policy onblogging and citizen journalism relating to corportate affairs.


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Which software?

There is much blog-publishing software available online. Eachpresents a slightly different play on the tried-and-tested blog structure,appearance and back-end content management system.

Because there is so much on offer, it can be difficult to know where tostart. Which software is easiest to set up? Which is the best for mypurposes? Do I buy into a ready-made service or customise and installmy own?

There are no easy answers to these questions. Much of the practice ofblogging is trial and error, and the initial setting-up stages are nodifferent. However, this should not count against blogging, but insteadbe a recognised as a characteristic of any emerging technology ormode of communication.

Bear in mind that the organisation that hosts or operates your bloggingplatform can restrict the type of content that bloggers publish (seeChapter Two for more details).


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What to consider in blogging software

The main things to consider when choosing blog software are whoshould host it, whether it should be ready-made or DIY, and howcontent will be managed.

Hosting the blog

Like other websites, blogs need to be hosted on a server(conventionally incurring a yearly fee). If you already have a websitethen you can use its web space to host your blog as well. Otherwise,

you will need to either buy some web space or choose a blog platformthat comes with free hosting.

Ready-to-go services such as blogger.com provide hosting with theirblog software, so all you need to do is sign-up online and startblogging.

Ready-made or do-it-yourself?

Many blogging services will build the blog for you, your role beingsimply to input the content you want. Other options give you the rawmaterials and its up to you to set up the blog as you see fit thoughthis does require more time and technical appreciation.

The choice between ready-made and DIY will also have implicationsin terms of look-and-feel. Although there is an element ofcustomisation in most blogging software, being template-driven theready-made platforms restrict customisation. Basically, the more

involved you can be in the build, the more control you will have overhow the finished product looks.


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Content Management

Updating is an essential aspect of blogging. The vast majority of blogplatforms come as standard with a password-enabled system throughwhich you will create, edit, delete or archive the text and pictures ofyour blog.

Some blogs have more sophisticated management systems thanothers have; some have none at all. Suffice to say you should alwayscheck the software specifications to make sure of what you are gettingbefore you press download or sign up.

Recommended criteria for a successful platform

For bloggers

usage statistics

o history function and referrer data

easy posting

o WYSIWYG editor with spell checker

o automatic resizing of photos

o easy to insert links

o easy to insert podcasts or vlogs

o includes design templates

o draft entries

o publish posts on future dates

o tags (to sort posts)o blog categorisation

o post from a mobile phone or email

o preview feature

o ability to edit posts in HTML

o 20MB or more of space

easy management of comments

o moderation optionso censor list (i.e. reject comments based on bad word lists)

o email alerts when new comments are posted

o spam filter on comment forms


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advanced rights management

o group blogging with multiple authors

o invitation of co-authors

o mark entries as external or internal

other pages

o About me

o Contact me (via web form)

linkage

o RSS

o blogroll

security

o secure login (https)

o password reminders and expiration

other

o ability to forward your own domain name to the blog, so its

URL is more memorable

For readers

indexing of blogs

o search tools

o location-based searches

ease of making comments

o understand that a comment has been submitted and howit will be acted-upon

o ability to view and navigate blogs

design

o compelling design

o accessible

o works in a number of main internet browsers

o trackbackso RSS feeds

o syndication of the most interesting portal activity


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For administrators

disclaimers

rules

adherence to standards (e.g. web accessibility)

user administration

o newsletters

o warnings / sign-up procedure


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Whats on offer?

Blogging is big business today and there is an established roll-call ofcompanies offering the ready-made blogs. These compete withdevelopers who, individually or collectively, develop free-to-downloadready-made or self-set-up blogs.

Webmasters amongst us could of course whip up their own blogplatform. However, given that the appeal of blogging is its low-cost,ease of initiation and straightforward maintenance, most of us will

choose a ready-made solution.

Examples of blogging platforms

Here are a few links to those platform providers with the biggestmarket-share (constituting a mix of free and paid-for-services):

www.drupal.com

www.tblog.com

www.fotolog.net

www.blogger.com

www.livejournal.com

www.movabletype.com

www.wordpress.org

www.21publish.com

www.readmyday.co.uk (operated by ICELE)

Its best to have a look at the blogs built using these platforms beforegoing ahead with one.

If you decide to start your own blog then please register it atwww.readmyday.co.uk. Doing this will ensure that ICELE has acomprehensive directory of UK civic leadership blogs.


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Is keeping a blog difficult?

Once you have set up your blog, its destiny is in your hands. Themaintenance of a blog can be the most demanding part of the wholeprocess. The difficulty is not technical; rather it is about stayingmotivated to update content, interact with visitors and develop thepotential of your blog.

So, before starting to blog, consider the following aspects of bloggingand build a rough game-plan around them so that you are going inprepared.

Authoring

The spirit of blogging demands that a blog be updated on a regularbasis. This doesnt mean every day, but it does mean making acommitment.

Ideally, this commitment is honoured by the person who owns or is theface of the blog. However, there is no hard-and-fast rule about who

does the updating. For example, some blogging MPs delegateupdating duties to members of their staff. Blogging can also be agroup activity, with each member sharing responsibility for maintainingthe blog.

Authoring is flexible. However, it is recognised as good form in theblogging world to be completely truthful about the identity of theperson who has carried out each update.

Linking

Blogging is driven by its network potential. Alike blogs make a habit oflinking up with each other and cross-referencing content. This practiceis about making information as widely available as possible andestablishing networks and communities. It also makes your blog morevisible.

Linking was certainly what sparked off blogging and some would

argue that it remains at the core of any blog. Although a blog shouldntbecome a mesh of links, the standard practice is to include linkswherever possible within individual posts or in side-columns.


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Commenting

Not all blogs allow visitors to comment on posts. Some platforms allowno commenting at all; others allow their authors to switch the facilityoff. This is considered bad form.

Commenting is not something to be feared; rather it is to be positivelyencouraged. Commenting is perhaps the most fundamental featurethat differentiates a blog from a common website.

Some blogs or posts receive no comments. When comments doappear, some will be in agreement but some will put forwardalternative viewpoints. The ability to have this dialogue is the socialfunction that blogs fulfil. Commenting allows the free-flow of ideas andthe sharing of information, and promotes free speech.

Our experience is that blogs attract very few comments compared tothe number of viewers of a particular post. This can be for a variety ofreasons, such as a feeling of hesitancy based on a readersperception of their ability to join the debate. Most of the time its simplydown to the time and effort needed to engage.

People that leave comments tend to provide short and succinctstatements that dont necessarily form conversation threads.Encourage active participation by providing incentives or implementingsimple feedback mechanisms such as post star ratings.

On occasion, commenting facilities are subject to misuse or irrelevantposting. A competent platform will allow authors to delete such postsor filter them before they arrive. For any blogger who checks up on

their content on a regular basis, this sort of thing should prove nomore than a nuisance (if it ever happens at all).


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Add-ons

Blogging is one of the fastest-developing areas of the web. Althoughthere is a standard structure to blogs, there are plenty of toolsavailable that can add extra layers of functionality.

Some add-ons are useful (search forms, audio players, news feeds),others are just quirky (weather forecasts, random image generators,Space Invaders games). It is worth trying different tools to improveyour blogging capability, technical skills and the blogs overall appealamongst the millions of others out there.

One of the most useful add-ons is called feedburner. Feedburner(www.feedburner.com) allows blog owners to provide a subscribe-by-email function on their weblogs. For more information, see ChapterFive.


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Whos the best blogger?

A good blog is all in the eye of a beholder. The success of blogsdepends on many factors such as subject matter, writing ability andvisibility on search engines and other blogs.

Below is a short list of blogs that command a fair amount of respect inthe blogosphere:

www.technorati.com... Not so much a blog as a good directory ofblogs and whats currently hot in the blogosphere. This site trawls links

and conversations taking place on blogs and rates their popularityaccordingly.

www.blogpulse.com ... Similar to Technorati, it trawls all the blogs outthere to see whats being talked about. This is a good place to startnavigating your way around the blogosphere.

www.dear_raed.blogspot.com ... This blog shot to attention at the startof the Second Gulf War. Its author, Salam Pax, was at the time one of

the only Iraqi voices audible in the maelstrom.

www.ziboy.com ... This is an example of a photo-blog. It belongs to ayoung Chinese journalist who provides an insight, without words, intomodern living in big-city China.

www.callcentrediary.blogspot.com ... Call Centre Confidentialprovides an insight into working as a team leader in a call centre. Itsone among an increasing roll-call of workblogs.

www.downingstreetsays.com ... DowningStreetSays grabs data fromthe official Downing Street sites Press page and then re-presents it toallow the public to make comments on what was said.

www.tom-watson.co.uk ... Tom Watson was hailed in the UK as thefirst blogging MP. His remains one of the best attempts at blogging bya parliamentarian.


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UK CIVIC LEADERSHIP BLOGGING

Political blogging is well established in UK to the extent thatdirectories of blogs are already comprehensive(http://www.voidstar.com/ukpoliblog/). Most of these tend to bepersonal blogs started on free platforms that have a mixture of blog

types (e.g. www.blogger.com).

The state of blogs in the civic leadership and local authority domain isless well formed; nevertheless, there is a growing collection ofpersonal pages and local-authority sites such aswww.matthewellis.org.uk and www.chesterblogs.co.uk. However,there are comparatively few government officer blogs.

The restriction on political content governed by the Councillor Code ofConduct and the concerns of Communication and Press Officers hasmeant that councillor and chief executive blogs are also scarce. TheLocal eDemocracy National Project addressed this with theReadMyDay pilot (www.readmyday.co.uk), which was anindependently hosted free platform for civic leader blogs.


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CHAPTER TWO: UK CIVIC LEADERSHIP BLOGGING

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Local eDemocracy Pilot

Although some individuals have spearheaded the use of blogs forpolitical or leadership purposes, the Local eDemocracy NationalProject was the first to explore the concept on a large scale.

A pilot project was started in 2004 to develop models for weblogsspecifically for use within local government. Officers, chief executivesand councillors had the opportunity to start their own individual andcustomizable blog, and to get involved in a community of bloggerswho shared ideas, experiences and the civic leadership theme.

Under the web portal www.readmyday.co.uk, civic leaders wereprovided with free weblog space, technical support and off-line andonline coaching over a three-month period.

An issues forum was set up alongside the blogging service so thatparticipants could chat informally and contact the virtual web-coach.

After the pilot, civic leaders were provided with continued free use of

the service and their own free domain name, such aswww.yourname.me.uk, that linked to the blog.

The aims were to expand the capacity of local-authority weblogging fordemocratic and civic purposes by

reviewing how the blogs have developed and changed over ashort pilot period

comparing and contrasting how effective weblogs are atraising awareness of the work of chief executives andcouncillors, and engaging citizens in a meaningful way

identifying how weblogs could be used in engaging andconsulting citizens more effectively

providing recommendations and establishing best practice inthe use of weblogs by elected representatives

providing guidance for bloggers with respect to UK legislation

increasing awareness of blogs and providing education andtraining on blogging for participants


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providing a bank of resources for bloggers, including links toavailable blog platforms

providing a free-to-use and expandable platform for bloggers

Pilot community activity

Although citizens were encouraged indirectly to read their local leaderblogs (via national and local press releases), the nature of the pilotwas such that direct marketing was deemed inappropriate. The projectalso consisted of a review panel (a mix of citizens from various socio-economic backgrounds) to provide critique to the participants, andHansard Society evaluation papers.

Participants were encouraged to spread the word about their blogwithin their circle of influence; T-shirts promoting the platform wereprinted as a mechanism for members to advertise their blog outsidethis remit should they wish to do so.

To complement the online coaching provided by Wigley Associates,the Hansard Society ran two seminar workshops in Westminster. The

first workshop put blogging in the wider context of eDemocracy in theUK, and the keynote speaker was one of the leading Westminsterbloggers, Richard Allan MP, Secretary to the APPG for eDemocracy.

The second workshop highlighted the pros and cons of blogging forelected representatives and civic leaders, and the keynote speakerwas Clive Soley MP, another MP blogger.

This workshop was also a unique opportunity for the participants to

hear a face-to-face presentation from their online coach Griff Wigley(our US partner in this project), together with one of their civicleadership bloggers, Scott Neil, City Manager of Eden Prairie,Minnesota.

Griff and Scott also toured UK councils for a period of one week duringFebruary 2005. This was a key part of a national recruitment andeducation drive.


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Pilot successes

The enthusiasm of the participants was surprising. Although therewere cases of apathy, it was found that the number of bloggers whomaintained their personal pages without encouragement wasexcellent. Furthermore, many civic leaders who went on to read theircolleagues blogs also wanted one of their own.

Given that there were 626 posts to the blog issues forum from only20 participants during the project, it was clear that the pilot had workedin bringing a likeminded community together.

Today (April 2007), readmyday.co.uk attracts around 1200 visits a dayand has over 100 members (of which 57 have posted in the lastweek).

The success of the ReadMyDay pilot is attributed not only to thecapability of the tool but also to the supporting blog coaching, legalguidance and community nature of the service. In essence, it offered aone-stop shop for local-authority blogs, which allowed unrestricted

political content.

Conclusions from the pilot

The bloggers stressed the importance of new skills and challengesencountered in the pilot:

marketing and publicity among citizens

the Digital Divide

IT literacy

legal guidance

time constraints

One of the participants in the project summed up the main challengesa busy civic leader faces when taking up blogging: Making timeavailable; learning a new skill is hard in a pressured environment; as aCouncil Officer it could be a risky business; and trying to be bothhonest and apolitical.


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Mary Reid, Chair of the National Project Board and one of theReadMyDay bloggers, concluded her impressions about this project:

This is a quick and easy way of fulfilling the (then) ODPM NationalPriorities around councillor websites. I would strongly recommend thisas a solution instead of council-funded CMS systems, as it allowscouncillors to act as the elected representatives that they are and notbe constrained by restrictions on political activity.

Despite the listed challenges of this pioneering project, the participantswere unanimous about the great contribution that blogs could make tothe UKs political process. Griff Wigley summed up the advantages:

They can increase accountability, allow us to reach an audiencethats interested in what were doing even if theyre critical of the waywe do it. They can help us think things through and show how welearn and develop public policy as a result of our learning. They canhelp develop a positive impression of the places we live in.

A legislative guide is provided in Chapter Six; this is based on thecurrent interpretation of the law and outlines the permissible content of

blogs and highlights the danger areas.

Though it is not a legally binding document, it should help newbloggers, councillors and local-authority officials to build confidence inthis innovative way of working with their constituency, and provideguidance about linking between blogs and council websites.


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THE BENEFITS

This chapter provides the justification for civic leadership bloggers.The benefits cover the three main eDemocracy audiences: citizen,councillor and council.

As well as benefits, there are pitfalls. Although we believe strongly thatthe benefits outweigh the dangers of blogging, it is necessary tofamiliarise yourself with the issues that an ill-conceived blog mightencounter.


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CHAPTER THREE: BLOGGING BENEFITS

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Citizens

The practice of weblogging is making local-government sites moreattractive to visitors, replacing the often dry, formal and static contentof traditional government websites.

Blogging allows an open discussion to take place, in which everyonecan see the dialogue. Although the pilot did not set out to benefitcitizens immediately, the use of blogs by an increased number of civicleader bloggers should strengthen the democratic process on anumber of levels. First, there is a new communication channel by

means of commenting on posts. Second, the citizen can access first-hand information rather than going by media reporting.

It is hoped that citizens will better understand the workings ofgovernment by reading blogs. Furthermore, they may come to betterappreciate that political decisions are not solely work-centric, andunderstand the schedule of a local-government representative.

The local authority and senior officers

Although no financial benefits are immediately realised, localauthorities can benefit from increased exposure of their leaders.Likewise, cross-county developments can be monitored.

Weblogs are perfect for internal communication and provide a way ofcutting down the huge burden of email. Department Heads could setup weblogs to communicate with staff members, or committees coulduse weblogs to post minutes, to-do items and the status of projects.

Blogs can be used for internal knowledge management, byencouraging key staff to blog their collective knowledge rather thankeeping it locked up.

There is also a management benefit. Staff blogs could help managersknow better what was going on in their organisation. Conversely, itwould also let staff know what their manager was doing.

Of course, government staff have the right to set up blogs

independently of the department, and being draconian about thingswould just send bloggers underground. The best option is to create afair weblog policy that lets staff know where they stand.


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Elected members and officials

Councillors from North Lincolnshire receive training

Councillors have a running commentary of each other as well asofficers via blogs. This benefit, as well as exploring consensus byasking audiences questions in the blog, can improve the effectivenessof a councillor. There is efficiency in posting to a blog instead ofreplying to a number of emails, and councillors will undoubtedlyappreciate the transparency.

Blogs also offer a direct independent information channel for citizencommunication that may be preferred over personal councillorwebsites. Updating a blog is much more straightforward andconvenient in many instances and so information tends to be muchmore up to-date. For example, a blog could be updated via SMS (text)or MMS (picture) messaging on a mobile phone. Moreover, a blog caneasily be updated with audio, which is useful for those councillors withlittle time to write articles.


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A blog can help demystify the workings of government, while at thesame time creating a sense of empathy and trust. For the ministersand departments themselves, a blog is a great way of gettingimportant information out to the public, unfettered by the media. Ifgovernment blogging became popular, editors and journalists wouldsubscribe to government blogs, so it would be a great way of gettinginformation out to the media as well.

The dangers of blogging

Blogs tend to be informallywritten, poorly structured,prone to spelling andgrammatical errors, andfeature non-traditionalcontent. This can expose theblogger to a raft of criticismand, at worst, legal action.

Despite a voice of authenticity, blogs can also be used to deceive orjibe publicly comment threads can become unpleasant and bloggersrequire regular contact with their readers. Once a blog is formed, thereis an expectation that it will be maintained, and that the blogger willprovide images (i.e. bloggers need the mobile technology to makeinteresting posts).

Examples of adverse activity on the ReadMyDay platform wereleakages of policy, claimed deformation and cases of deletedcomments, which attracted unwelcome press coverage.

Even so, the strength of the blogging community, and nature of thedisclaimers used on ReadMyDay, has not resulted in any action beingtaken against the bloggers or operators of the system. Likewise,bloggers have benefited from increased publicity and tracking by themedia, which has resulted in invitation to debate on issues at a

national level.


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A weblog is a communications tool, typically without an editor. So afew cautions are in order:

Never post something in a blog that you wouldnt say to amedia reporter. Composing weblog posts is typically donewhen youre alone and able to be reflective, but dont let thatlull you into mistaking your civic blog for a journal or diarywhere the truth as you see is put down in writing. Never lie,but be selective with your truths.

Blog posts can be deleted and edited, but the original text getsout on the Internet very quickly via RSS feeds and search

engine spiders. Therefore, its best to keep your posts in draftmode until youre certain that theyre ready for prime time.

Be sure to reveal any conflicts of interest in a post. Forexample, if youre welcoming a new business to your city andyou sit on the board of directors of that company, include thatin your post.

Realise that your blog will be read very closely by your politicalopponents.

If your blog becomes popular, its easy to devote too muchtime to blogging at the expense of more important areas ofboth your professional and personal life.


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GOOD BLOGGING

In the course of any leaders week, there are literally hundreds ofinteractions with colleagues, constituents, staff, media and othermembers of the community. Whether these interactions are face-to-face, by phone, electronic or paper-based, they comprise the bulk of

how leaders exhibit their day-to-day influence.

A phone call from a constituent, a conversation with a staff member atlunch, an email exchange with a colleague, an off-topic discussion at ateam meeting all are likely evaporate into thin air, for all intents andpurposes, as soon as theyre concluded.

Even most paper documents, such as memos and reports, are quicklyrelegated to the trash, the shredder, or the filing cabinet, never to beseen again.


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With a weblog, leaders can select from among this never-endingparade of interactions the ones that they deem strategically significant,and give them a longer shelf life. With a post to their blog, the story ofthe interaction immediately gains a wider audience, while making itsignificantly easier for that audience to pass the story around to otherswho they think should know about it.

Prospective civic leader bloggers frequently ask, How much time isblogging going to require? Its a fair question. Blogging feels like justanother task when you first start out, and it does require some timecommitment to work it into your week. But once you experiencefeedback from your blogging that not only are others reading your blog

but that its starting to have influence, your attitude towards the task ofblogging changes because it becomes strategic. Im going to blog thisbecause I know that shell read it and pass it on to When thisgroup of people sees what Ive blogged about this, then theyre morelikely to You start to realise that your blog leverages yourleadership strategies in time-effective ways.

Use a voice of authenticity to have a one-to-one conversationwith an audience.


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A local-government or organisation website, in most cases, is a static

collection of documents information-rich but often perceived by sitevisitors as a dead brochure, its pages often written by anonymousauthors in an impersonal, public-relations style. A weblog, however,can bring a voice of authenticity to a website, with a more personaland engaging tone that has wider appeal.

During the depression era of the 1930s, U.S. President FranklinRoosevelt began using the mass communication medium of radio toaddress the American people about public issues in a series of whathe called Fireside Chats. The effectiveness of these addresses was

in part due to FDRs ability to deliver them in an informal and relaxedtone, while making listeners feel as if he were talking directly to them.Likewise, the radio addresses by Winston Churchill during WorldWar II had a direct conversational quality.

Although the issues are less weighty and the audiences vastly smaller,a weblog offers a civic leader the same opportunity a one-to-oneconversation with an audience of many.

Provide another way for people to interact with you.

A weblog is primarily a software publishing tool, one that gives itsauthor a platform where ownership is not in question. But most weblogplatforms allow a comment feature to be turned on, thereby creatinga means for public interaction with blog visitors. A blog also stimulatesprivate email responses, either via a contact me form on a web pageor via a publicly posted email address. Much private email can beanswered via a weblog post, as explained later in this document in the

section titled Answer your email with your blog.

Convey your message directly to citizens instead ofdepending on media institutions.

Local government is frequently at odds with local media in how it isportrayed. This is exacerbated by the fact that politicians andjournalists are rated equally low by the public when it comes to ethicalstandards. So, rather than relying on the media to convey ones

message to a mistrusting public, a weblog offers local public officials achance to communicate with the public directly.


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Extend your presence with a selective window into your day.

Above: Blog post reporting on car congestion

Broadcast media (radio and television) has an advantage over the

written word in that it can report news and other events live. This real-time element makes many news stories more compelling to the public.Leaders who blog soon learn that, by giving their blog visitors aselective, near real-time window into parts of their workday, they maketheir blogs more compelling to read and therefore more influential.


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A proven technique is to post photographs of your engagements andto contact the institutions you visited with a link to your blog at the endof your day. This is particularly effective if you have a public-facingrole such as Mayor.

Make public life more real to the public.

Much of what goes on in the day-to-day life of a public servant goesunreported. Conflicts and partisan political manoeuvring tend to getthe media coverage, while doing the work of the people often getsignored. A blog allows public officials to give the public a more realisticview of their day-to-day work.

What to blog

New bloggers often are at a loss on what to write about. Experiencedbloggers often fall into a pattern of blogging on a narrow range ofsubjects. Heres a list of types of posts that can help keep your rangebroad and thus make your blog more interesting for your audienceto read and for you to write.

illustrate your values, mission, goals and strategies

provide recognition of an employee, a colleague, anorganisation or business in the community

leverage your media diet

chronicle a decision or a current, unresolved problem

teach about a service, programme or department

point to changes or additions to your website

reveal aspects of your non-work life

teach about the complexities of an issue


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Illustrate your values, mission, goals and strategies.

Most of us find it difficult to remember the organisational statements ofmission, purpose and values that are plastered on our walls andwebsites, even ones that we helped write. It takes real-life examples tomake them come alive. Blogs provide a convenient way to tell shortstories that indirectly convey your values and illustrate the overalldirection of your organisation, your current individual focus, and thestrategies being deployed to get there.

In this post by Andrew Crisp, Surrey County Councillor, his shortstory tells much about his values and his beliefs about the

mission of a councillor.


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Provide recognition of an employee, a colleague, anorganization or business in the community.

Effective leaders typically have many ways to acknowledge thecontributions of people in an organisation or organisations in thecommunity. Formal types of recognition have some duration to them;they last beyond the moment of acknowledgement because otherskeep finding out about it. Here are some examples:

the employee of the month who gets written up in theorganisation newsletter has their story seen by others over thecourse of an entire month

a volunteer who receives a plaque at the annual meeting getsto hang it on a wall where others can comment on it in themonths and years ahead

the non-profit organisation who gets an official recognition at acity council meeting gets written up in the local newspaper andis congratulated by others who werent at the meeting

However, good leaders know that these formal kinds of recognition arerare. Therefore, the informal forms of recognition the verbal pat onthe back, the thanks on the phone, the email kudos are often moreimportant for acknowledging people and organisations.

Moreover, the spontaneity of these makes the acknowledgement feel

more authentic and more personal to the recipient. One of the mosteffective ways to acknowledge someone informally is to tell someoneelse a story about them. Why? Because it has a better chance tospread around, just like the formal recognitions described above.


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Stephen Hilton, Communications Manager for Bristol, posted thisshort story about a former employee, triggered by a recent email

from her.

A positive remark directly to the person being acknowledged generallygoes no further because to most people it would feel like bragging totell someone else. But if the positive remark is made to someone else,the recipient is very likely to repeat the story to others.


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A blog post recognising an employee, a colleague, an organisation orbusiness in the community is an effective way to accomplish theinformal form of recognition with the impact of the formal.

Others see the post and mention it; some pass around itsURL/permalink via email to others, thereby widening its impact; andthe search engines store it indefinitely, thereby providing opportunitiesfor serendipitous acknowledgement far into the future. Here are sometechnical tips: include a recent photo; insert photos of the people beingrecognised; insert the logos of organisations being recognised and linkto their websites.

Andrew Brown, Lewisham Councillor, blogging about organdonation at the request of a fellow councillor.


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Chronicle a decision or a current, unresolved problem.

If you have an important decision to make, or are facing a difficultproblem thats not likely to be resolved any time soon, use your blog tochronicle the way youre dealing with it. Using your blog in this manneris a way to become better informed about an issue prior to a policydecision. Writing about what youre experiencing and learningdeepens and clarifies your understanding. Just stringing a fewsentences together as you attempt to describe the problem can oftentrigger ideas.

Blogging before a policy decision increases the likelihood that others

will contribute suggestions and ideas about it because they sense thatyou are learning and are willing to be influenced. They may offer someinsights based on similar experiences.


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Blogging publicly about how you go about becoming better informedgives the public and your colleagues a better idea about how youapproach complex issues, which can strengthen your potentialinfluence on the issue. The archived blog posts show your efforts tounderstand the problem and increase the likelihood that people whodisagree with your decision might appreciate the thoroughness of yourapproach to it.

Blogging about a problem or upcoming decision as you go alongbrings the issue alive for those who are marginally interested. Manycitizens may not care about an issue that doesnt immediately affectthem, but observing how a local leader struggles with it can ignite their

interest.

Durham Councillor Paul Leake blogged about how he was getting

better informed about a process for public involvement at councilmeetings.

A final benefit is that the archive of your blog posts provides aconvenient way to refer back to your thinking about an issue, aproblem or a decision. When the day comes that you find yourselfchanging your position on an issue and having to explain yourself, itadds credibility to be able to point to those weblog postings whereyour thinking at the time is detailed. It can make your new position

seem less like spin to your readers and can minimise the impact of aflip-flop charge by your opponents.


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Teach about a service, programme or department.

Government websites usually provide an overwhelming amount ofinformation on the services, programmes and departments that servethe public. This is usually in static form: HTML pages, PDF documentsand pages of internal and external links.

But people still like to learn from other people. The demand forteachers (at all levels) is not diminishing in this age of informationubiquity. A weblog post, written in the conversational tone of apersonable teacher, can be the next best thing to a face-to-faceconversation where the information is conveyed.

A blog post also offers some things that a face-to-face conversationdoesnt typically offer, namely links for the interested reader whowants to go deeper, and a record of the information that can bereferred back to at ones leisure.

So use your blog to teach. Help citizens see what their taxes are beingspent on and the benefits accruing from it. Wrap your message arounda recent story, including the names of people involved, if possible. Use

photos and images to attract attention as well as to inform. And link,link, link to web pages on your own organisations website as well asto other sites so people can easily go deeper if they want.

In the future when you need to revisit some aspect of the service,programme or department, you dont need to repeat yourself. Just linkto your own original post and expand from there.


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Tower Hamlets Councillor Louise Alexander blogged aboutCommunity Plan Action Groups.

Point to changes or additions to your website.

Website visitors typically dont mouse around a site looking foranything thats new since the last time they visited, but they will expectyour blog to be constantly updated. Therefore, your weblog can be aneffective conversational kiosk, alerting people to other parts of yourlocal authoritys website that have recently changed. Let your staff andcolleagues know youre willing to do this.


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Reveal aspects of your non-work life.

Citizens dont often get to experience their civic leaders in roles otherthan their public ones. Theres seldom an appropriate venue for aleader to do this with an audience of any size. However, a weblogallows you to tell a story from your non-work life family, friends,hobbies, leisure time with no other purpose than to put a human faceunder your bureaucratic hat.

You simply want to convey that youre not any different from the publicyou serve. Youre a taxpayer, a family person, a user of the parks, acommunity volunteer, etc. You have a personal stake in the overall

health and vibrancy of the community you live and work in, just as theydo. The more that people see you as they see themselves, the greaterthe likelihood that theyll treat you with civility and respect.

Tower Hamlets Councillor Louise Alexanders famousrefrigerator manifesto blog post.


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A civic leaders blog is not a place for mentioning your personalproblems, nor for deep, personal reflections. A non-work blog postshould never be revealing to the point of causing any discomfort toreaders. Composing weblog posts is typically done when youre aloneand able to be reflective, but dont let that lull you into mistaking yourcivic blog for a journal or diary.

Teach about the complexities of an issue.

In age of media sound-bites, issues often get reduced to simplisticeither/or characterisations for the public. Leaders more often musttake the time to understand the complexities (the shades of grey) of an

issue where others see only black and white. A blog offers anopportunity for leaders to share some of their deeper understandingwith the public. A series of posts, each embedded with a recent storythat illustrates one aspect of the issue, can provide a palatable way fora leader to teach about the issue.


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HOW TO BLOG EFFECTIVELY

Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of thepeople.

William Butler Yeats

Once you understand why blogging can be an important leadershiptool, youll increasingly have more than enough ideas for topics (thewhat). However, theres a bit of craft involved in knowing how to blog

effectively. In this section, we explain the how.

Link, link, link

Tell stories

Insert photos

Insert relevant images

Post short and frequently instead of long and infrequently

Answer email with a blog

Promote discussion via a blog

Give notice if you stop blogging


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Link, link, link.

Master the art of quickly adding relevant links to your posts. Why?

it allows your readers to easily go deeper and broader

search engine spiders come back more frequently when theysee links in your posts, as their algorithms depend on them

those you link to generally appreciate it and are more likely tolink back

Tell stories.

Why do we go to more movies than lectures and seminars? Stories.Who are the best lecturers? Those who fill their presentations withstories. Storytelling as an organisational and leadership strategy iscurrently undergoing a bit of a boom. Magazine articles, books,workshops and whole conferences are now devoted to the subject.Why?


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From The Leaders Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the Art andDiscipline of Business Narrative, by Stephen Denning: Leadership isessentially a task of persuasion of winning peoples minds andhearts. Typically it proceeds inductively by argument from one or moreexamples towards a more general conclusion about the goals andassumptions we should adopt towards the matter in question.Storytelling is thus inherently suited to the task of leadership.

We all have a knack for telling stories in an informal social setting.Hey, guess what happened to me today we say to our familymembers and friends. Listen to the conversations at parties and youllhear a constant stream of storytelling. So the idea is to use storytelling

in your blog in much the same way as you use it in informal socialsettings but towards a leadership or management goal.

Sparking action

Communicating who you are

Communicating who the company is branding

Transmitting values

Fostering collaboration

Taming the grapevine

Sharing knowledge

Leading people into the future


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Denning says its a myth that the effective use of storytelling inorganisations involves crafting and performing a well-made story,

with a hero or heroine, a plot, a turning point and a resolution. Thereare levels of complexities to stories and certain elements need to beincluded, depending on your purpose. Even the smallest incident ismore compelling reading when framed with a short, simple story:

I ran into a citizen in the hallway yesterday and she asked

My colleague [name/link] handed me the latest issue of[periodical/link] this morning and suggested I read the articleon.

On my way home from work last night, I passed the parkwhere

Most leadership storytelling strategies are focused on the why andhow of oral, performance-oriented storytelling where tone, voiceinflection and gestures come into play. That makes sense whenevertheres a face-to-face audience available, or if the storytelling is to bebroadcast.

However, written storytelling via a weblog can be an effective,alternative delivery method, and it has some advantages over oralstorytelling:

Your audience-of-many is always available

A blog post (via its permalink) can get easily passed aroundvia the web and email.

The permalink of the blog post never dies. If your story turnsout to have long-lasting impact, its web address can be linkedto indefinitely.

Here are some weblog storytelling tips:

The real names of people involved can help to make the story.Include them, with the peoples permission. Frame your storywith time and date, such as yesterday, earlier this

morning or last Tuesday. Describe the place, or at least name it. If you dont have the

time or skill to set the scene, it can help to use a photo.


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Digital cameras and camera-equipped mobile phones make itconsiderably simpler and more cost-effective these days to includephotos in your blog. Get in the habit of taking a camera with youeverywhere and looking for opportunities to capture information andpeople that are relevant to your civic leader weblog.

Expect to be reluctant shy, even to use your camera to takephotos of people. It initially feels awkward, that youre intruding onpeople when you dont know them very well. Its surprisingly hard toovercome this, but once you start getting feedback on your photos itllspur you on to get over your shyness to do what needs to be done!

When approached about a photo, people often make comments abouthow theyre not suited for it their clothing or hair or how they alwaystake terrible photos. Its often enough to just say something like, Well,this is just for my blog, not a fashion magazine in a light-hearted toneand theyll go along with it. Otherwise, tell them they can see the shotafter you take it, and can approve or reject it. But never be insistent you dont want a paparazzi reputation.

Photos also help to set the scene for your storytelling and, as images,

they break up text-heavy posts.


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Insert relevant images.

The general public is one of the audiences for your civic blog, and themedia culture they live in is heavily visual. If your blog is 99% text,youre likely to have trouble getting them to be regular visitors to yoursite. Print-based newspapers, newsletters and magazines all have along history of using page-design, headlines and graphics to draw theattention of readers eyes and to make it easier for them to read. Thesimple format of weblogs tends to encourage a blog author to justwrite and post, without giving much thought to visual appeal.

Anne-Marie Darroch, Communications Officer for the WychavonDistrict Council in Worcestershire, included this council tax

pizza leaflet image in her blog post.

The content and writing style of a text-heavy post might be compellingenough to engage the reader all the way through. However, moreoften than not, a civic leader doesnt have the time or talent to makemost of their public policy posts compelling enough for the average

citizen to at least be tempted to give it a glimpse.

Therefore, its helpful to use freely available images from the Internetto both give the reader a visual cue as to what the post is about, andto break up the text so that the post isnt so overwhelming.


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Durham Councillor Paul Leake included a map in a blog postabout a planned bus lane.

The most likely candidates for images are as follows:

the logos and banners of organisations that youre mentioningin your blog post

clip art

images that help explain the content, such as maps and

diagrams


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Post short and frequently instead of long and infrequently.

Long (more than a screenful), text-heavy posts to your blog when youneed the space to explain something in detail are perfectlyappropriate. Use the blog softwares extended entry feature, if it hasit, to only display the first paragraph or two. This gives people theoption to read on if theyre interested and makes skipping to the nextpost in chronological order easier.

However, beware of falling into the trap of thinking that you alwayshave to have long, substantive posts. It will likely discourage you from

posting frequently. Short, frequent posts help you maintain youraudience, and they develop your blogging discipline.

Answer email with a blog.

As a leader who blogs, you can expect that youll increasingly becontacted via email and phone by individual citizens, colleagues,potential collaborators and, of course, detractors. As a novice blogger,youll likely appreciate this attention for the most part because it can

mean that your blog audience is growing. But there may come a timewhen the volume of email (and associated phone calls) generated bythe interest in your weblog starts to feel more burdensome thanexhilarating.

Part of the problem is that when people contact you individually (byemail or phone), the natural expectation is that youll respond to themindividually. It seems like the polite and professional thing to do.

However, your blog gives you an option that you didnt have before:the ability to respond to an individual so that all your readers can hearor read it. You leverage your response so that it has the potential todeliver the most benefit.

Youve probably done something very similar to this already whengiving a speech. Someone near the front of the room raises their handand asks you a question. You start to answer their question andsomeone towards the back of the room shouts out, Can you repeatthe question?


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You respond with Oh, Im sorry, certainly. The question from thisgentleman here in the blue suit in row two was as you face theaudience. Then you turn back to the questioner and, looking them inthe eye, start with your response to them, with occasional glances atthe audience. Youre having a one-to-one conversation with thequestioner while many other people listen to it. Your blog can workmuch the same way.

When you get an email or a voicemail, ask yourself Could my weblogaudience benefit from my reply to this person? Instead of replyingwith a return email or phone call, consider FIRST posting a note toyour weblog: I got an email yesterday from a citizen who was

wondering why the Council. Others might be interested in myresponse, so Im posting it here.

Promote discussion via a blog.

While a blog is primarily a publishing tool for you, it can also be usedfor interaction with your readers. At the most basic level, it meanshaving an email address (a mailto) listed on the sidebar of your blog.

Its preferable, however, to have a link to a contact me form on aseparate web page. This prevents spambots from harvesting youremail address. Moreover, people are more inclined to use a formrather than a mailto. You can then include a link to this page in thebody of your blog posts occasionally, e.g., If you have suggestions onthis issue, Contact Me. When you get email responses, resist thetemptation to reply via private email and use your blog instead, asdescribed above.

Most weblog platforms allow you to switch on a comment tool whichenables people to attach comments in message board fashion toindividual weblog posts. The number of comments is typically shownnext to your name and the permalink, e.g., Comments (3).Subsequent visitors can click on the number to read the attachedcomments of others.


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MP Clive Soleys blog post about his presentation generated 14comments

By enabling comments on a blog post, interaction occurs in a groupand is immediate. Its a simple way to convene an instant townmeeting on a single subject, any time of the night or day. It helps topresent your blog as a listening post and not just a soapbox.

Here are some cautions regarding weblog comments:

If you dont participate in the discussion threads that develop,your readers might be offended, as if you invited them to yourhouse for a roundtable discussion but then didnt show up toparticipate. One way around this is to turn on comments foronly those posts in which you intend to fully participate, and tostate this in your blog post, e.g., Im interested in discussingthis issue with you for the next 10 days or so. Ill turn on thecomment feature and join you in message thread.

Just like in face-to-face venues, you might get comments youdont like or ones you arent sure how to handle. Commentscan be ignored, of course, and even deleted. But if thisbecomes a pattern, then you leave yourself open to criticismthat you cant take the heat.

The weblog software should provide email notification forcomments, i.e., whenever a user posts a comment, you shouldget an email alert. The software should also provide comment

spam prevention, since spammers use automated techniquesto add URLs to weblog comments as a means of raising theirprofile in search engine results.


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Give notice if you stop blogging.

Your readers will likely feel disrespected if you stop blogging withoutan explanation. If youre travelling and dont plan to blog, consider thesafety implications of revealing that your residence will be unoccupied.At least let your readers know not to expect anything from you for theduration of your absence. Likewise, let your readers know if youreexpecting to be too busy to devote any time to blogging for anupcoming period of time.

If youre thinking of quitting blogging altogether, consider taking abreak from it for a few weeks before making the decision. You neednot reveal your indecision, but its important to let your readers knowthat you wont be blogging for a defined period of time. Also, considertalking to a weblog coach and some of your colleagues about yourblogging situation during this break to see if they have some feedbackabout what could be done differently with your approach to blogging.

If you do decide to pack in your blog, its just polite to say thanks forthe memories and au revoir!


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How to promote a blog

Without the oxygen of serendipitous feedback, your motivation forblogging will gradually die. You need to know that others are visitingand, better yet, you need to know your blog is having some influence.Therefore, as soon as you launch your weblog, its important to workon promoting it.

Here are some strategies to consider:

Create your own blogroll and ask to be on the blogrolls of

others.

When you follow one or more blogs, and start bloggingoccasionally about what youre reading on those blogs,consider adding them to your blogroll. A blogroll is a list oflinks to other weblogs, typically ones that you like andfrequently follow. You can add and edit these links manuallyon your blogs sidebar or use a service like blogrolling.com.

Once you add a weblog to your blogroll, consider asking theblogs you follow to add your blog to theirs. If they dont knowyou or your blog very well, they may want to postpone addingyour blog until theyve had a chance to get to know it.

Ask your local-government authority to link to your blog.

If youre an elected official, ask your local authority to put alink to your weblog from one or more pages on their site. They

may have to post a disclaimer with it, as your blog mayoccasionally contain political posts.

If youre a government employee, a link to your blog from yourdepartments web page is a must, as its part of your job. Itsbetter yet if the blog is embedded right into the site. Also, askto have your blogs URL printed in any community magazinethat your local authority produces.

Ask media and civic organisations to link to your blog.

Many media and civic organisations have directories ofrelevant links on their websites.


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Include your weblog in your email signature file and on yourbusiness card.

An email signature file typically contains your street address,phone numbers, and organisations website address. Add yourweblog to this, including the word weblog and its URL.

If youre an elected official, you may need to include a disclaimer atthe end of your signature file.


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Include your blog address in communications with the media.

Whenever you write a letter to the editor, author a column, orhave any reason to communicate with the media, be sure toinclude your weblog, either by working it into to the body of thetext or by attaching it at the end with your name.

Invite media coverage of your blog.

Even if you already have a website, the addition of a weblog toit is news. Let your media contacts know about it.

Provide an email subscription service.

You can provide a blog updates by email subscription serviceby using a third-party add-on called Feedburner atwww.feedburner.com.

Start by registering your blog RSS feed on the Feedburnerwebsite, then copy the HTML code provided into your own

blog to include a subscribe box in the sidebar. Feedburner willallow you to track who is subscribing to your blog.

Above: subscription option at www.matthewellis.org.uk usingFeedburner


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Multimedia and mobile blogging

Weblogs have been primarily a text and image communicationsenvironment. Now audio and video are making their way onto thescene. Furthermore, mobile phones are now a viable compositionplatform, not just computers.

Audio blogging is adding an MP3 file of your voice to yourblog, rather than typed text. Its typically done by establishingan account with a service that automatically adds an MP3 of aphone call from you soon after you hang up. Its particularlyadvantageous for those who feel more comfortable in front ofa microphone than a keyboard. If youre a hunt-and-pecktypist, audio blogging is for you. Youll still need to add a bit oftext to your blog post so site visitors know what the audio is

about.


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Podcasting (or blogcasting) means that others canautomatically subscribe to your audio blog posts via RSSfeeds and have those audio files automatically downloaded totheir PCs, iPods and similar devices so that they can listen tothem at their leisure.

Moblogging (mobile blogging) refers to the process of addingcontent to your blog while youre out and about away fromyour PC typically via mobile phone. You can now use yourmobile phone to add audio, photos, and even video clips rightto your weblog.

Vlogging (videoblogging) is adding video to your blog. This is

starting to become more popular with the advent of softwarethat turns your computer screen into a teleprompter andmakes it easy to add video effects, titles and graphics.

Hipcast and PhoneBlogz are useful third-party services for addingaudio to your blog in a simple and convenient manner. This includesthe ability to record blog entries using a telephone.

www.phoneblogz.com

www.hipcast.com


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Tech skills checklist

Successful blogging presumes a few tech-related skills that need to beacquired before or soon after blogging begins:

right clicking an item with a mouse to access additionalchoices from a menu

having two or more browser windows open at a time andknowing how to quickly jump back and forth between them

using keyboard shortcuts, primarily Ctrl-X (cut), Ctrl-C (copy),Ctrl-V (paste) and Ctrl-A (select all)

using Google or a similar search engine to do web searches

using the bookmark/favourite feature of a browser

knowing some basic tech lingo: clipboard, alt text, URL/webaddress, status bar, up/download

capturing/saving an image found on a web page

using an image editing tool to resize photos and other images


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Blogging checklists

Use these two checklists What to Blog and How to Blog to trackthe types of blog posts you make over the course of twelve weeks,and to assess the skills youre using.


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THE LEGALITIES

This chapter considers the legal implications of civic leadershipblogging.

It was compiled from a legal source during the Local eDemocracy

National Project.


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Executive summary

There are several ways for councillors to use websites, ranging fromthe personal to the political. The best councillor websites contain amixture of aspects.

Councillors need time to learn how to use a website. As wellas access to good examples, they should be given supportfrom officers who understand what councillors may want to do,help from fellow councillors who have established sites, orguidance from specialist service providers. Otherwise, many

councillors will struggle.

Councillors need to know that maintaining a website is a gooduse of their time. They should be told about the number ofvisitors to their sites. Good sites do attract worthwhile numbersof visitors, including groups such as young people who mayotherwise be hard to reach and local journalists. Maintaining awebsite should now be seen as a normal part of the role ofcouncillors.

There are several different ways to provide councillorwebsites, each with different strengths and weaknesses.Council officers responsible for providing this facility for theircouncillors should consider all the options, and councillorsshould be aware that there are other options available to thembesides the one their council offers.

Legal issues about councillor websites cause more concernthan they should. The legal principles are the same as in othermore familiar contexts and, in practice, complaints about

improper use of websites are extremely rare.


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Councillor websites provided by councils must not be used forparty political purposes or personal image making. However,using them to comment on council policy and to raisecontroversial issues should be allowed, providing this is donein a fair and balanced way. Nevertheless, some councillorsmay prefer to use non-council-funded facilities where they canexpress themselves more freely.

Links from council sites to external sites containing partypolitical material are believed to be permissible, subject to theuse of an appropriate disclaimer process. These links, andmost content of council-provided councillor websites, shouldbe removed during pre-election periods.


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General legal issues

There are some legal issues that may affect councillors as websiteauthors or bloggers. Almost all of these issues originated before thegrowth of the Internet and are not specific to websites. Often there issome uncertainty about how these laws apply on the Internet, withlittle specific legislation or case law to help. However, this also meansthat the legal issues are not new. Councillors should already be awareof them in relation to other media such as newsletters, and should notbe discouraged from using websites because these issues arise theretoo.

This chapter aims only to give a brief summary of the legal issues forcouncillor websites. There is more detailed discussion of these issuesin the National Projects previous publications Guidance notes on keylegal issues in e-democracy and Civic Leadership Blogging: legalguidance. It should be stressed that these documents cannot coverevery eventuality, and are not a substitute for expert legal adviceabout a specific situation.

Defamation

Defamation takes place when an untrue statement is made about aperson, damaging that persons reputation. Defamation is known aslibel if the statement is recorded (such as in writing or in an email). Itis known as slander if the statement is made live. The conventionalrules of libel still apply on websites, even in the personal andconversational style of blogs. There is some risk in providing a link toanother website containing defamatory material; this risk can be

minimised by using an appropriate disclaimer.

Bloggers must also be aware of their responsibilities as hosts ofdiscussions where comments are invited from readers, and must takeaction if they become aware of unlawful content being posted in suchdiscussions.


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Bloggers are not liable for such content if it was posted without theirknowledge, until they become aware of it. It is recommended thatcouncillors ensure they have the technological tools (and the time) tomoderate or vet comments before publication. However, councillorsshould be aware that if they moderate, they will share liability for anyunlawful content which they allow to remain.

Prompt removal of unlawful comments is an acceptable alternative toactive moderation. If an abusive exchange develops betweencontributors where it is clearly likely that unlawful content will beposted, permission to comment should be withdrawn from thoseinvolved. It is recommended that hosts draw up a set of rules for

hosted discussions. The discussion rules on ReadMyDay may beused as a basis.

Copyright

Copyright is the right to prevent another from carrying outunauthorised copying. The usual copyright rules apply to websites, socopying text or images onto a website from a copyrighted source islikely to breach copyright. In some circumstances, deep linking into

material on other websites without permission may also breachcopyright in the linked page, although the law in this area is veryunclear.

For both copyright breaches and defamation claims, enforcementaction may be taken in foreign jurisdictions. Internet publishing meansthe potential readership is truly worldwide, and claimants can oftenchoose the easiest jurisdiction in which to bring a claim. Defendingclaims in a foreign legal system can be very difficult and costly.

Website authors should be aware that they may be sued in any of thefollowing:

the country where they reside or are based

the country where their server is situated

in the case of defamation, any country where the damage isdone to a persons reputation

in the EC, the country where a consumer lives


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Data protection

Data protection legislation generally prohibits the publication or anyother use of personal data about individuals without their knowledge.Where data is sensitive, consent should also be obtained. Where it isnot sensitive, it is good practice (but may not be mandatory) to do so.Councillors who wish to publish information about someone else, evensimply their contact details, should make sure the person concerned isaware that they are doing so. If any personal data is published on acouncillor website not hosted by the council, there may also be anobligation on the councillor to register with the Information

Commissioner (known as notification).

Failure to notify is a criminal offence. If you have any doubt as towhether notification is necessary, it would be advisable to check withthe Information Commissioner. A website hosted by the council will becovered by the councils notification.

It is a criminal offence to publish obscene material or to send it via theInternet. However, the definition of what is obscene is constantly

changing, and the current situation is that only extreme material islikely to carry great risk.

Legislation prevents incitement to racial hatred as well asdiscrimination on the grounds of race, sex or disability. This applies tothe content of web pages. Where pages constitute a service, sites areexpected to make reasonable adjustments to allow for access bypeople with disabilities such as blindness or poor motor control, whomay be using specialist access software rather than normal browsers.

The general standard for UK local government sites is level AA of theWeb Accessibility Initiatives Standard (version 1.0), although thisprobably exceeds the minimum required to comply with the law. Thetechnical details are complex, but council websites and specialistservices for councillors should have been designed to meetaccessibility requirements, so if councillors follow the procedures andguidance given to them they should not have to worry about theseissues when using a council-provided facility.

On a private website or a blogging service, civic leadership bloggersshould check that the site is designed to comply with establishedaccessibility standards, and make sure they understand how thosestandards affect the way they write their material.


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civic leadership blogging guidebook

Documents