puffbox

How to live-blog a summit

I think we got away with it. The remit for the week had been pretty straightforward: design, install, build, populate, edit and operate a website for the Progressive Governance Summit of 20-ish world leaders. So yeah, I've been busy. It became an exercise in 'web 2.0' - open source tools, free online services, RSS feeds, and [...] read on »

‘Gov 2.0′ in US presidential campaigning

I'm grateful to Jeff Jarvis for a detailed post on 'government 2.0' (although it isn't a term he used, nor should he have). He points to two recent proposals from the Democrat candidates for the US presidency. I hadn't heard Hillary Clinton's suggestion, back in January, that government should actually be required to blog: I want to [...] read on »

No10 man’s blog raised at PMQs

With civil servants' blogging habits such a hot topic, I can't avoid mentioning the reference casually dropped into PMQs by David Cameron this afternoon. There is a new strategist, a man called David Muir. Yes, I have done a bit of research—he is the chief strategist and on the internet he has listed his favourite book. [...] read on »

The hunt for Civil Serf continues

It looks like I wasn't the only e-gov person to get an email this afternoon from the Daily Mail, asking if I knew who Civil Serf was. No, I don't. And given the treatment which the Mail handed out to DFID's Owen Barder, I wouldn't be inclined to tell them, even if I did. But [...] read on »

Nine Lords a-blogging

Very interesting to see the horrendously-branded Lords Of The Blog, a new group blog co-written by nine peers, each promising a couple of items per week. Prime mover Lord (Clive) Soley writes in his introductory post: MP’s and Peers need to find new ways of engaging with the public. A blog is not the complete answer [...] read on »

Civil Serf suspended

I'm reluctant to write this solely on the basis of a piece in the Mail (on Sunday?), but it seems Civil Serf has been identified and suspended by DWP. Investigators hunting for the blogger summoned her to a meeting last week, when it is understood that she denied responsibility. She was told she was being [...] read on »

Civil Serf: Simon’s video for BBC

I got an email from the team behind BBC News 24's Your News show during the week, asking if I'd record a contribution as part of a piece they're planning about - guess what - Civil Serf. So here it is, as a Puffbox first-play exclusive. Nothing you probably don't know already, but hey - a [...] read on »

Civil service blogging guidelines

I guess you might see it as kneejerk; I prefer to see it as responsive. The Civil Serf affair has brought the matter of civil servants blogging to a head, and now is absolutely the right time to work out the ground rules. At lunchtime, Tom Watson publishes a 'for starters' list of bullet points on [...] read on »

Civil Serf: the Spartacus effect

I was curious. In an idle moment on the train home on Monday night, I wondered how easy it could have been for Civil Serf to delete all trace of her now legendary blog. So I went to the blog.co.uk site she used, and set about registering my own blog with them. When it asked [...] read on »

The inevitable tragedy of Civil Serf

It's most amusing to see so many journalists writing up the Civil Serf story for the 'proper' media... particularly since most seem to be lifting the key quotes from each other's write-ups, rather than the blog itself (which was pulled, cached versions and all, by Sunday morning). Secondary sourcing at its worst. Steadily though, the Legend [...] read on »