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February 23, 2012
Communicating Planning Project Initiatives & Achievements

The question of how to effectively and appropriately communicate with the public regarding department or organizational planning initiatives and achievements frequently comes up for us with clients. Although some planners may have fine tuned their project communication strategy, it became apparent to us recently, while browsing discussions on Cyburbia.com, that many are still struggling to find some fresh ideas on how to spread the word about what they are actually working on.

February 15, 2012
25th Bled Conference - eDemocracy: from eRevolution to eParticipation

Don't miss this Special Interest Track at the 25th Bled Conference - eDemocracy: from eRevolution to eParticipation. The purpose of this Special Interest Track is to shed light on recent developments in this highly topical areas and to discuss exciting new projects, experiences and future (research) directions -especially from a infor-mation systems perspective.

January 19, 2012
Study Reports That Using Citizen-Run Community Websites Can Enhance Public Involvement

The results of a survey conducted by Networked Neigbourhoods in 2011 are revealing that local government leaders are paying more attention to neighborhood websites than ever before. The UK consultancy’s survey results shows that local council officers and elected members consider neighborhood websites to be the most useful online channels, above others such as Facebook or Twitter.

The results of a survey conducted by Networked Neigbourhoods in 2011 are revealing that local government leaders are paying more attention to neighborhood websites than ever before. The UK consultancy’s survey results shows that local council officers and elected members consider neighborhood websites to be the most useful online channels, above others such as Facebook or Twitter.

December 16, 2011
Using Social Media for Good Causes

December 7, 2011
Should My Department Have a Facebook Page?

An entry level planner approaches his manager and asks if the department should be considering creating a Facebook page to get the word out about current projects. Says he knows a planner in the Bay Area that has recently done this for his community. The manager is skeptical. His only experience with Facebook in this context is work-related questions that would come in directly to him from residents, which foiled his attempts to have a personal life in the small town he managed. So, is this a good idea? Or a bad one - to have a Facebook page dedicated to your community and managed by your city department? What about controversial projects you are working on?

This article is part of our Cyburbia series, featuring interesting conversations and perspectives from planners in the trenches on public engagement challenges they face in their daily work. The
Cyburbia Forums is the oldest and most active urban planning message board on the Internet.

December 7, 2011
Should My Department Have a Facebook Page?

An entry level planner approaches his manager and asks if the department should be considering creating a Facebook page to get the word out about current projects. Says he knows a planner in the Bay Area that has recently done this for his community. The manager is skeptical. His only experience with Facebook in this context is work-related questions that would come in directly to him from residents, which foiled his attempts to have a personal life in the small town he managed. So, is this a good idea? Or a bad one - to have a Facebook page dedicated to your community and managed by your city department? What about controversial projects you are working on?

This article is part of our Cyburbia series, featuring interesting conversations and perspectives from planners in the trenches on public engagement challenges they face in their daily work. The
Cyburbia Forums is the oldest and most active urban planning message board on the Internet.

November 28, 2011
New Toolkit From MobileActive.org Encourages Citizen Outreach Through Mobile Apps

For our friends at MobileActive.org, the idea of using mobile technology to support social change among people and organizations around the world is nothing new. MobileActive.org has long been on a mission of connecting citizens; providing resources to NGOs that will enable them to enrich and serve their communities. Many may be surprised to learn that in today’s technologically advanced world, there are still roughly 5 billion global citizens without reliable internet access. However, as mobile phone usage continues to rise, resources like the MobileActive.org’s new Mobile Media Toolkit, may just be the answer these offline communities need to activate their public engagement efforts. 

November 17, 2011
Creating More Efficient Social Media Processes

There are many ways to leverage your project’s web and mobile presence in our ever innovative world of outreach and communications technologies. In our day to day dealings with clients, we teach businesses, including real estate companies, non-profits, local authorities, and government institutions how to reap the most benefit from today’s most popular social media services, including blogs, online communities, Facebook, Twitter, and more.

August 24, 2011
Online Participatory Budgeting Engages Citizens to Build Better Communities

Social media and new technologies can bring new ways for communities to interact. Yet the growth in online technologies is a fast moving picture with potentially good and bad outcomes. In recent riots in the UK social media was blamed for facilitating bad behaviour by the social underclass. 

August 10, 2011
Keeping up with Communication Technology: Online Workshop on the Practical Use of Social Media

Free online workshop on the practical use of social media and web-based tools hosted by the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies (TRB) will feature panel discussions lead by experts and interactive breakout sessions.

Free online workshop on the practical use of social media and web-based tools hosted by the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies (TRB) will feature panel discussions lead by experts, interactive process and policy breakout sessions, case studies and tutorials.

Panel Discussions: 

  • Planning and Strategizing a Social Media Portfolio
  • Engaging your Audience

 

Topics include:

August 10, 2011
Keeping up with Communication Technology: Online Workshop on the Practical Use of Social Media

Free online workshop on the practical use of social media and web-based tools hosted by the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies (TRB) will feature panel discussions lead by experts and interactive breakout sessions.

Free online workshop on the practical use of social media and web-based tools hosted by the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies (TRB) will feature panel discussions lead by experts, interactive process and policy breakout sessions, case studies and tutorials.

Panel Discussions: 

  • Planning and Strategizing a Social Media Portfolio
  • Engaging your Audience

 

Topics include:

August 3, 2011
Measuring Social Media Effectiveness

Now that many planning projects have launched their social media campaigns and are moving in the direction of actively managing a web presence to maintain open online dialogue platforms for public engagement, its time to evaluate what can be done to effectively measure their success rates. It is difficult to benchmark respective activity in the social media realm, as performance is measured differently. This is especially true due to the fact that social media is so versatile, diverse, complex and multi-faceted, spanning many disparate objectives and many different platforms.

Now that many planning projects have launched their social media campaigns and are moving in the direction of actively managing a web presence to maintain open online dialogue platforms for public engagement, its time to evaluate what can be done to effectively measure their success rates. It is difficult to benchmark respective activity in the social media realm, as performance is measured differently. This is especially true due to the fact that social media is so versatile, diverse, complex and multi-faceted, spanning many disparate objectives and many different platforms.

July 18, 2011
Whitehouse Twitter Townhall: A Success in Public Engagement or an Over-Scripted Setback?

Results are in from President Obama’s July 6 live question-answering Twitter session, and from what we can tell, Americans were more than eager participate with reports of over 40,000 questions coming in and over 110,000 individual Twitter messages sent during during the live event. However, it seems that the latest attempts of the Whitehouse to blend traditional media and social media in hopes of reaching people who really care about current political issues, may have fallen short of participants’ expectations of openness.

Results are in from President Obama’s July 6 live question-answering Twitter session, and from what we can tell, Americans were more than eager participate with reports of over 40,000 questions coming in and over 110,000 individual Twitter messages sent during during the live event. However, it seems that the latest attempts of the Whitehouse to blend traditional media and social media in hopes of reaching people who really care about current political issues, may have fallen short of participants’ expectations of openness.

July 14, 2011
Using Online Tools - and Building Civic Infrastructure

In some ways, I was an unlikely choice to write a report on Using Online Tools to Engage –and be Engaged by – the Public. My work has centered mainly on face-to-face forms of public engagement. I had only just begun to use a Facebook page to distribute updates and resources to practitioners and researchers. I had to do most of the research on online tools from scratch. I was vaguely suspicious of Facebook status updates, RSS feeds, and (above all) Twitter.

June 29, 2011
Using Facebook Fan Pages to Better Engage Your Participants

These days RFPs for planning projects often include the requirement to use Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites as a means to communicate with the public. Unfortunately, it typically doesn’t go beyond that and many projects that we have seen simply use these venues under the assumption we-build-it-and-they-will-come. Therefore the level of activity and fans or followers is often low.

June 29, 2011
Using Facebook Fan Pages to Better Engage Your Participants

These days RFPs for planning projects often include the requirement to use Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites as a means to communicate with the public. Unfortunately, it typically doesn’t go beyond that and many projects that we have seen simply use these venues under the assumption we-build-it-and-they-will-come. Therefore the level of activity and fans or followers is often low.

May 10, 2011
Online Engagement Tools Emerge as a Key Component for Public Involvement

A recent study released by Pew Research Center on the Internet and Campaign 2010 shows some strong similarities between politics and planning when it comes to public involvement.

May 6, 2011
Gov2.0a conference is underway

The Gov 2.0a conference in Oklahoma City kicked off today. This is the second year of the conference on open government, technology and citizen engagement.

The Gov 2.0a conference in Oklahoma City kicked off today. This is the second year of the conference on open government, technology and citizen engagement.

March 5, 2011
Renew Newcastle

Affectionately referred to as the Detroit of Australia, Newcastle inauspiciously jump-started their own downtown revitalization with the simple creation of a Facebook page. 

December 31, 2010
Most popular posts of 2010

A late Happy New Year from everyone at EngagingCities. Based on a quick review of our web analytics data from last year, here are our most popular posts of 2010:

A late Happy New Year from everyone at EngagingCities. Based on a quick review of our web analytics data from last year, here are our most popular posts of 2010:

December 2, 2010
CDC’s Social Media Experience: A Sneak Peak

Have you ever been curious about how other organizations strategize their outreach?  Wish you could get inside glimpses of their trials and tribulations implementing Web2.0?  Perhaps learn something from their mistakes?  After a four year long venture into social media, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has developed a Social Media Toolkit.  While the toolkit’s primary target are health professionals, the information found in it is valuable across the board.

November 3, 2010
SNAPPatx - Share your snapps

SNAPPatx is an exciting pilot project of the Texas Citizen Fund: Social Networking and Planning Project (SNAPP) is the heart of the organization; atx, also known as Austin, Texas is the focus of their work. As their name would imply, SNAPPatx relies heavily on social media and networking. 

SNAPPatx is an exciting pilot project of the Texas Citizen Fund: Social Networking and Planning Project (SNAPP) is the heart of the organization; atx, also known as

November 1, 2010
Webinar on social media use by local government

Wigley and Associates is hosting a free webinar on social media use by local government on Monday, Nov. 1, at 8 PM CDT.

Wigley and Associates is hosting a free webinar on social media use by local government on Monday, Nov. 1, at 8 PM CDT. It will feature:

September 10, 2010
The Portland Plan

Portland, Oregon does nothing half-heartedly.  As is the case with the city’s newly spearheaded 25-year master plan.  In true Portland fashion, this master plan has dreams of grandeur; of a thriving and sustainable city where all citizens are prosperous, healthy and educated.

August 29, 2010
As American as Planning and Blue Jeans

I may be a bit behind in finding this, but I just came across the Levi’s Go Forth Braddock campaign on Chris Brogan’s Blog.  The one question that seems to be on everyone’s mind is “Is this a true investment in community planning and revitalization or simply a well planned publicity campaign?”  One claim on the Levi’s Go Forth Braddock Facebook Page (Not a Town or Levi’s site) states “There is no public input.”