TweetChat with Tony Clement about Open Government in Canada

Tony Clement, Canada’s Treasury Board President and the man in charge of introducing Open Government principles to the Government of Canada, is taking his talk where the online community is – on Twitter. On Thursday, December 15, he’ll be hosting moderated TweetChats in English and French as part of the government’s consultation about Open Government.

TweetChat: Where and When

The English TweetChat will run from 5:00 to 5:45 p.m on December 15. The hashtag for the English session is #opengovchat. Because it is a moderated discussion, the host account will be @TBS_Canada, not @tonyclementcpc. The Minister will be providing answers, but they will be typed by staff members.

A French language chat will be conducted an hour earlier, from 4:00 to 4:45 p.m. EST. The hashtag for the French session is #parlonsgouvert and discussion will be hosted by @SCT_Canada.

Canada’s Open Government initiative

Canada’s Open Government initiative consists of three elements:

  • open data, making data available in machine readable formats
  • open information, proactive disclosure about the work of government; and
  • open dialogue, providing citizens with greater opportunity to have a voice in government decisions. Web 2.0 technologies will be used in this initiative.

The Canadian government has been making steady progress on this initiative throughout 2011. In March, then-Treasury Board Minister Stockwell Day announced a twelve-month pilot project with the launch of an Open Data portal. In June, the newly re-elected government reaffirmed its intent to proceed with Open Government. On September 19, Foreign Minister John Baird signalled Canada’s intent to join the International Open Government Partnership. On November 16, current Treasury Board President Tony Clement announced that completed access to information requests now will be posted online. Then, a big announcement on November 22: Tony Clement unveiled the Guideline for External Use of Web 2.0, the reference document that will be used by Canadian Public Servants in deciding whether they should or shouldn’t. On December 2, Clement announced the addition of 4,000 data sets to the Open Data Portal.

Now, it’s our turn to have our say

Finally, on December 6, Clement initiated a public consultation on Open Government. The consultation runs from December 6 to January 16. You can see the questions they government is asking and offer your input online. During the consultation, the government is posting what they’ve heard so far. And they have promised a final report in March 2012.

The Minister’s TweetChat this week also is part of the consultation process. I plan to participate. If you care about achieving a more open government, I hope you too will participate.

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Interested in diving deeper into gov 2.0 and open government?

Alex Howard writes about Defining Gov 2.0 and Open Government

Australian Senator Kate Lundy’s keynote address The Path to Open Government: The Pillars of Gov 2.0

Jesse Brown interviews Tony Clement about Open Government in Canada.

 

 

 

 

How do you manage your organization’s editorial calendar?

In the era of fragmented attention, we must publish content where our communities spend their time. That means that we must post content across a range of channels – blogs, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Google+, traditional newsletters and even media releases.

As I plan for the New Year, I’m wondering if there’s a tool that I can use to help me manage my company team’s publishing program. Ideally, this tool sould be collabrative to enable all team members to review it, add to and edit our editorial plan. It also should allow us to view content plans over time and to integrate real world events that we might want to note or cover.

Currently, I use the WordPress Editorial Calendar to plan what I will write about on my blog, Twitter and Google+. But I’m looking for something more sophisticated that can be used by a team publishing across media.

Lisa Gerber described the Editorial Calendar spreadsheet that she created in Excel to manage the editorial calendar of Spin Sucks Pro. I’m thinking of setting up an Excel spreadsheet along the lines of what Lisa has suggested. But Excel is an all-purpose tool that requires a lot of care and maintenance of the tool itself. I’d still prefer to find a good tool which someone else has created so that I can concentrate on my top priority – planning and managing our content creation and publishing process.

Do you use a dedicated tool to plan and manage your organization’s editorial calendar? Would you recommend it for others to use?

UPDATE:

Thanks for Ali Symons (see her comment below), I’ve discovered DivvyHQ - which seems to be exactly the tool I’m looking for. I’ve set up a Beta account and I’m adding my team members now. We’ll test it over the next month and then I’ll report about our experience in a future post. (I’m adding an entry in DivvyHQ to remind myself to write that post on January 12.)

 

 

 

What is PR?

What do you think public relations is? For the past thirty years, the Public Relations Society of America has defined it as follows: ”Public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other. Hunh?!?

The PRSA recognizes that this definition may not be meaningful to many people. It is surely outdated even for those who subscribe to it.

Gini Dietrich, Martin Waxman and I talk about the PRSA’s initiative to develop a new definition of public relations on this week’s Inside PR.

I’m not sure that they PRSA’s “fill in the blanks” crowd-sourcing approach will yield the type of definition that truly reflects the enhanced role of PR in the era of social media. Sadly, I think it lends itself to a “we act on people” definition, not the “we are part of something” perspective that is more appropriate to the age of social media.

Hopefully, my fears are misplaced and the PRSA will come up with something much more sophisticated. To do so, they need look no farther than the definition developed by the Canadian Public Relations Society. The CPRS defines public relations as “the strategic management of relationships between an organization and its diverse publics through the use of communication to achieve mutual understanding, realize organizational goals and serve the public interest.” In my opinion that’s a much better definition.

Gini Dietrich suggests that whatever definition is adopted, it will only be useful if it can be readily understood by the general public. And she believes that right now most people believe that PR amounts to little more than media relations.

I agree. Seeing PR as media relations is too restricting. It puts the PR industry in a small box within marketing or communications. A more expansive definition is needed that captures PR’s full role in the era of social media and meaningful online relationships.

Martin argues that the public relations profession should define itself through the lense applied by Jeff Jarvis when he asserts that “In a world of publicness which allows us to connect to each other, to information to actions and to transactions, links, i.e. linking up, help us organize new societies and redefine our publics.”

You can listen to our full discussion on Inside PR

Inside PR 2.69 Defining PR and Divining Google+ [ 17:34 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

Third Tuesday participants rave about Jeff Jarvis’ Public Parts

Jeff Jarvis launched his new book, Public Parts, in Canada last week at Third Tuesday Toronto #3TYYZ and Third Tuesday Ottawa #3TYOW. Judging from the participant reviews on the third Tuesday websites, Jeff presentation was one of the most popular and well-received presentations in six seasons of third Tuesday.

What people said

Stephen Da Cambra: really enjoyed Jeff’s presentation. It appealed to me directly because of my own struggles with giving up my privacy on the web. Even high-profile guests can ramble on a bit – but Jeff was on point throughout, with enough short divergence to keep it interesting.

Rick Weiss: Jeff Jarvis was great. He’s an engaging speaker and presented a lot of food for thought around privacy in the digital age.

Aggie Fortier: The speaker was very engaging with interesting examples to support his position. More importantly, Jarvis opened the door to discussion on the implications of public versus private. He has raised the bar for future speakers who follow.

Martin Waxman: Jeff Jarvis speaks the way he writes and is entertaining, provocative and insightful. Really enjoyed the talk; looking forward to reading the book.

Dave Fleet: Fascinating subject and a phenomenal speaker. One of the best presentations I’ve been to in a while.

Jim Courtney: Really excellent introduction to and perspective on privacy issues. Loved the stories and historical perspective.

Nigel Newton: Jeff Jarvis is an evangelist for societal change enabled by the net. His generosity of spirit and his belief that we, the users of the net, are capable of respecting the ethics of privacy and public sharing is persuasive. If fear of technology is the primary emotion holding back the natural evolution of the net and its influence on society, then Jeff’s well-crafted perspectives will be a source of courage for the faint-hearted.

Eden Spodek: Jeff Jarvis is a fantastic speaker and I would attend a Third Tuesday anytime he’s invited here – even if he’s not launching a new book. He brings the online privacy discussion to a whole new level and I enjoyed his insights on cultural differences and privacy. I can’t wait to devour Public Parts.

Zach Klein: Great session. Super smart dude.

Mark Blevis: Jeff is an engaging and animated speaker. I really enjoyed this event. It was of high caliber. I could have happily listened for another two hours.

Alfred Coates: I really enjoyed how Mr. Jarvis’s message of openness and sharing felt like a mix of opportunity and challenge to those in attendance. Mr. Jarvis speaks with passion and conviction and a healthy dose of humor. I will be reading public parts this weekend and working my way through Buzzmachine in the foreseeable future.

Karen Runtz: While many speakers may be entertaining at the time, what they say won’t stick with you. That’s not the case with Jeff Jarvis. I have his book for reinforcement! No, seriously, I did find his presentation memorable. It brought me in mind of the excitement I felt at a conference some 15 to 20 years ago hearing and Ithaca U prof talk about the changing nature of communications. She was encouraging us to think of our “products” as workable clay, instead of finished polished pieces sent on their way. That resonated with me, just as Jeff’s words about the Internet did last night.

Read all the reviews

That’s just a selection of the rave reviews for Jeff Jarvis’s Public Parts presentation at third Tuesday. If you want to read the full set of reviews, you can find them at the Third Tuesday Ottawa and Third Tuesday Toronto event sites.

We are hoping that Jeff will be able to come back to Canada for third Tuesday Calgary and third Tuesday Vancouver in either January or February. And if you’re in another city and are looking for a great speaker with thought-provoking content, Jeff Jarvis won’t disappoint.

What others thought

Melanie Coulson, the online editor at the Ottawa Citizen blogged her impressions of Jeff’s presentation.

Don Butler of the Ottawa Citizen also interviewed Jeff for an article which appeared in Saturday’s edition of the newspaper.

Were you there?

If you were at the event and wrote about it, please leave a comment and post the link to your coverage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jeff Jarvis’ Public Parts Launch at Third Tuesday Toronto Storyfied

Further to my previous post, I’ve “Storyfied” some of the highlights of Jeff Jarvis‘ launch of Public Parts at Third Tuesday Toronto #3TYYZ.

The feed starts only about half way through the event (drats!) I’m not sure whether this is because I waited too long to create the Storify or whether it is because Storify limits the number of returns for any search. But regardless, it’s all good stuff and well worth a look.

Thank you Jeff for having come to both Ottawa and Toronto to share your insights with us. And thank you to Third Tuesday’s sponsors. You make it possible for us to bring speakers of Jeff’s calibre to Third Tuesday’s across Canada.

Jeff Jarvis’ Public Parts at Third Tuesday Ottawa #3TYOW Storyfied

I’ve “Storyfied” some of the highlights of Jeff Jarvis‘ launch of Public Parts at Third Tuesday Ottawa. The Ottawa #3TYOW Storify starts at the beginning of the event and runs through to include subsequent blog and newspaper coverage.

Thank you Jeff for having come to both Ottawa and Toronto to share your insights with us. And thank you to Third Tuesday’s sponsors. You make it possible for us to bring speakers of Jeff’s calibre to Third Tuesday’s across Canada.

Attend Third Tuesday with Jeff Jarvis & win admission to MeshMarketing

Here’s something extra for Third Tuesday participants: Register for Jeff Jarvis‘ Canadian launch of Public Parts at either Third Tuesday Toronto (#3tYYZ) or Third Tuesday Ottawa (#3tYOW) and you could win a free registration to the meshmarketing (#mm11) conference in Toronto.

The organizers of meshmarketing have offered to make two registrations available to the Third Tuesday community. That means that two lucky Third Tuesday attendees will go to one of the best marketing conferences to take place this year – without having to pay the $589 registration fee.

How does it work?

Register to attend Third Tuesday Ottawa or attend Third Tuesday Toronto with Jeff Jarvis by noon on Friday. Then tweet one of the following messages:

If you’re attending Third Tuesday Ottawa, tweet: “I’m attending Third Tuesday Ottawa #3TYOW and I want to attend mesh marketing #mm11 too.”

If you’re attending Third Tuesday Toronto, tweet: ”I’m attending Third Tuesday Toronto #3TYYZ and I want to attend mesh marketing #mm11 too.”

At noon on Friday, one Tweet containing the hash tag #3TYYZ and one Tweet containing the hash tag #3TYOW will be randomly selected and the author of each tweet will receive a free registration to meshmarketing. You can tweet as often as you’d like, but only people registered to attend Third Tuesday Ottawa or Third Tuesday Toronto will be eligible to win the free registration.

Winners will be notified via twitter shortly after noon on Friday.

So is that a great offer or what? Attend third Tuesday, receive a copy of Jeff Jarvis’s new book Public Parts, have it autographed by the author and also have a chance to win free admission to meshmarketing.

Thank you to the folks behind meshmarketing for making this offer to us.

UPDATE:

We had a great response to the contest and we’ve selected two winners – the people who tweeted the magic phrase closest to 19:39 on November 10. The winners: Tanya Bosman and Hardeep Gosal.

Congratulations to Tanya and Hardeep. You will have a chance to attend Toronto best digital marketing conference. And thank you to everyone who participated.

Where do PR agency leaders go to learn how to run their businesses?

If you run a PR agency, you know that it can be hard to find expert advice that relates directly to our business. There is no shortage of conferences and seminars dealing with practice issues – media relations, social media, research. But business skills that are tailored to the public relations industry. They are few and far between.

There is one conference that is unique in its focus and its attendees. The PRSA Counselors Academy Conference brings together owners and managers of public realtions agencies from across North America for two days of sessions focusing on the business of PR.

At the recent PRSA International Conference (a great conference for learning about communications best practices), my Inside PR co-hosts, Martin Waxman, Gini Dietrich and I caught up with Abbie Fink, the Chair of this past year’s Counselors Academy Conference. We talked with her about what makes Counselors Academy unique – and a must-attend for each of us.

At Counselors Academy, business leaders set aside their status as competitors in order to advance the collective whole, the public relations consulting industry. Abbie says the focus of the Counselors Academy Conference is “being a better owner, a better manager, discovering new ways to do business development and revenue streams … the management side of running a public relations practice.” How do they set billable hours? How do they determine when to bring on another employee? How do they deal with problematic clients? Under what circumstances would they fire a client?

Why do these PR business leaders share so freely with one another? According to Abbie, “If I can help another PR agency owner look at or do something in a different way and they become better at what they do, that’s good for our industry as a whole.”

You can hear our interview with Abbie and also Martin, Gini’s and my discussion of our own perceptions of Counselors Academy on Inside PR 275.

Inside PR 275 [ 10:26 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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If you are a PR agency principal and you go to only one conference this year…

The next Counselors Academy Conference will take place May 6 to 8, 2012 in New Orleans. And Inside PR’s Martin Waxman is co-chairing this year’s conference with Dana Hughens. You can be sure that I’ll be there along with the senior leaders of my company.

“If you are a PR business owner and you can only go to one professional development event,” says Abbie Fink, “then Counselors Academy is the one thing you should attend.”

If you’re interested in more information about this year’s conference, you can find it at the Counselors Academy Conference Website.

Has PostRank been integrated into the New Google Reader?

When I opened Google Reader just now, I discovered that the PostRank scores are front and centre:

Is this just because I installed a PostRank extension eons ago? Or has Google now integrated PostRank (which they acquired earlier this year) as a core element of Google Reader? It would be wonderful if the latter turned out to be true and the ingenuity of Ilya Grigorik and his PostRank team lives on in Google Reader.

UPDATE: Ilya Grigorik reached out to me last night to let me know that, no, PostRank has not been integrated into the new Google Reader. It’s the PostRank browser plug-in that is displaying more prominently in the Google Reader’s new format.

That’s too bad. PostRank was a very useful tool and, for a few hours, I hoped that it was now baked into the standard Google Reader feature set. Well, I guess I can keep wishing for this…

Competition in eBooks arrives in Canada … and it’s not Amazon

The Google eBook store has launched in Canada. And that’s good news for Canadian readers.

Why I like it

Selection: From its launch, Google Books offers a selection in excess of 3 million titles. It appears that this includes all the best sellers that you’d expect as well as more niche oriented books. For example, Jeff Jarvis‘ new book, Public Parts, is available on Google Books in Canada. It’s not available on my current favourite bookstore Kobo. More selection is good.

Open platforms: Matched with the selection of titles is the ability to view the books I purchase on the platform of my choice. This is important to me.

Ease of use: It’s easy to use. Really easy. I found the Google Book store in the “more” tab on my Google homepage. A quick search turned up the book I wanted to purchase – Jeff Jarvis’ Public Parts – and a few keystrokes allowed me to pay for it using Google Checkout. The very next screen presented an option to Read Now. And there it was, ready to read.I don’t purchase books on Amazon because of Amazon’s strategy to lock me into their closed system. I can only view books purchased on Amazon on a Kindle eReader or Kindle app. One way or the other, I’m locked into Amazon. Google shares Kobo’s commitment to making content available in an open format that can be viewed on any device of the reader’s choice.

As I write this I’m at the airport. So, I downloaded the Google Books app on my tablet and my purchase of Jeff Jarvis book appeared in my library. A quick download (I’m on WiFi) and the book opened to the precise page I’d been reading on my PC. Quick. Seamless across platforms. Nice! 

What could be improved?

Notations: When I read books, I like to highlight noteworthy passages and also write my own thoughts for later reference. Google Books doesn’t yet have the ability to highlight or annotate. They should add this if they are to be useful to serious readers.

Social tools: The other thing that’s missing are social tools. One of the things I really like about Kobo is the built-in tools that allow me to share highlighted passages from the books I’m reading along with my comments on Twitter or Facebook. I find this is a great way to offer interesting thoughts to the people who follow me and a great conversations starter. Given the effort Google is putting into Google+, I hope that the ability to post passages and comments from books to Google+ won’t be long in coming.

Choice is good – and an exploding market will support more than one eBook seller

One last thought. I’ve already stated that I want choice – choice in titles, choice in vendors, choice in platforms, choice in the hardware I use. So, the obvious concern is, now that Google, the 800 lb. gorilla, is entering eBook sales, won’t they crowd out other startup vendors? I don’t believe that will happen in the near future. eBook sales are exploding. And as we move our reading from physical books to eBooks, I think there will be room for many successful vendors – as long as they continue to innovate and evolve. So I think there will be a bright future for Kobo along with Amazon and Google.

More choice in an exploding market. That’s got to be good for everyone.