Puffbox.comSimon Dickson blogs about online news, e-government and the New Politics. Some important people read it.Labour: new website, same old story- September 23, 2008 Conference season is as good a time as any to refresh a political party website. The LibDems did it last week; this week it&8217;s Labour&8217;s turn; and we&8217;re already hearing details of a new Tory site for next week. So is this finally the recognition of Labour&8217;s previous online under-performance Er, no it&8217;s not. It&8217;s bright, ...http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/simondickson/~3/400912744/ Too cheap to repair- September 23, 2008 I think I need a new printer. The Canon colour A3 inkjet I&8217;ve had for the last year and a little bit gave up this morning. First it was the paper jams, then the print head refused to budge, now it makes a rather aggressive clicking sound. I spoke to two Canon helplines: they were ...http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/simondickson/~3/400767813/ Talking 2.0 at the Labour conference- September 22, 2008 There&8217;s a slightly odd atmosphere in Manchester, and I don&8217;t just mean the sunny weather. I&8217;m paying a flying visit, to sit in on a fringe meeting at the Labour conference, to talk about &8216;web 2.0&8242;, blogs and all that. Just round the corner from the Town Hall is the main conference venue, surrounded by a ...http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/simondickson/~3/399623972/ Success for gov.uk at CIPR awards- September 18, 2008 A few notable successes for UK e-government at the Chartered Institute of Public Relations awards earlier this week. The Parole Board won the title of best website, with the citation calling it a &8216;tribute to open communications which has received widespread praise from the industry as well as from its victim and offender audiences.&8217; Designed by ...http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/simondickson/~3/396110195/ Directgovs 15m ad budget- September 18, 2008 COI has announced details of the bidding process for the contract to promote Directgov. Four agencies are on the shortlist - Chick Smith Trott (incumbents), Miles Calcraft Briginshaw Duffy, Clemmow Hornby Inge and Farm. Now folks, remember, these are advertising agencies: don&8217;t click those links unless you&8217;re ready for a full-on Flash assault. And what&8217;ll it ...http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/simondickson/~3/396101267/ The perfect WordPress host- September 17, 2008 I&8217;m increasingly convinced there&8217;s a market out there for some kind of managed WordPress hosting. A provider with special expertise in WordPress, PHP and MySQL. Someone who can look after patches etc automatically for you. Who has the knowledge and tools to offer better-than-average security. But crucially, who is also happy for competent people to ...http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/simondickson/~3/395301382/ Signs of life on the left- September 16, 2008 There are growing signs of life on the left of the blogosphere. An article a few days ago in the Independent (now displayed inexplicably as a photo gallery) describes the &8216;dramatic impact&8217; of Sunny Hundal&8217;s Liberal Conspiracy site, launched late last year. (See, I told you.) We&8217;ve had the sale of LabourHome to the New ...http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/simondickson/~3/394061798/ Two new LibDem websites (Clegg on WordPress!)- September 10, 2008 What are political party websites actually for We&8217;ll see which way the wind is blowing over the next couple of weeks: the LibDems unveiled a new party site earlier this week, ahead of their conference in Bournemouth; and they&8217;ve just opened they&8217;re on the verge of launching a new site for leader Nick Clegg too. ...http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/simondickson/~3/389102130/ COIs contradictory rules on browsers- September 9, 2008 Timely, given the release of Google Chrome, and the reopening of the Browser Wars: COI has just issued a consultation document, five months in gestation, on browser standards for public sector websites. Its 15 pages can essentially be boiled down to the following, based on an intriguing 2% rule of thumb: 17. Browsers used by 2% ...http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/simondickson/~3/388028912/ Speaking at ScotWeb2- September 9, 2008 Alex Stobart at the Scottish Executive Government is putting together &8216;an informal, bar camp style event allowing participants to listen, network and share experiences with those who have designed and are managing Web 2 services&8217;: and he&8217;s seen fit to invite me up to speak at it. ScotWeb2 is a one-day event being held at Edinburgh ...http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/simondickson/~3/387500731/ |