Proposal:  About Town

Smallville Borough Blog

Laura Anderson

Social Software 598

Introduction

A blog can be a useful format for governments to communicate with residents, to educate them and involve them in their community.   It can provide a forum for community interaction, debate and resource-sharing.  Offering citizens access to their officials and the ability to provide feedback, blogs can public trust in officials. The proposed blog will service the community of Smallville, described in detail below.  The blog features posts from community schools, government officials and organizations, as well as useful information community information.  It is anticipated that on a monthly basis certain organizations, such as the Mayor’s office, the Public Library, the Smallville Schools and the PTA will publish posts for the blog.   Other organizations are expected to contribute, but on a less frequent basis.  Blog posts may include podcasts, vodcasts, screen casts, videogames, photographs and wikis.

Strategic Planning 

The Borough of Smallville was established in 1908.  Located on the northern part of the New Jersey shore approximately one hour from New York and Philadelphia, Smallville encompasses only 2.7 square miles.  Home to many commuters, 70% of Smallville’s 6000 residents possess a post high school education.  The average income per person is $118,000 (www.epodunk.com).

Recently, the Borough has undertaken the process of strategic planning.  As part of this process, stakeholders, including Borough officials, businessmen, teachers and business and church members have formed committees to conduct an environmental scan to determine the Borough’s needs. Once the needs assessment is completed, the strategic planning committee will create a 5 yr action plan, including goals, objectives and strategies, along with an assessment mechanism and revision plan.

After completion of the environmental scan, the following needs were raised:

1.An effective means of communication/education for the community at large;

2.A forum for residents for interaction, engagement and resource-sharing;

3.Improvement of residents’ connection to community and trust in public officials.

Needs Assessment

Provide and effective means of communication/education for the community at large

It is critical to the efficient operation of any government that it maintains an informed and engaged constituency.  In order to accomplish this, the government needs an efficient, inexpensive method for the dissemination of information (Chang & Kannan, 2008).  Although the Borough currently publishes and disseminates a newsletter, a recent survey indicates that most residents do not read it.  When they need information, residents are unable to locate the newsletter, which prompts them to call Borough Hall, causing a time burden on Borough staff.  In addition, the newsletters are time-consuming and expensive to produce and mail.

In today’s new media landscape, to communicate effectively with constituents, governments need to reach out to them where they can be found most frequently, and that is, online (Chang & Kannan, 2008).  In a community such as Smallville, in fact, more than 50% of adults use the internet.  In fact, more people are online than read the newspapers (Horrifan [Pew], 2008).  Further, research indicates citizens are comfortable and willing to interact with their government online (Horrifan [Pew], 2004).The most important consideration to residents is that they are provided with easy access to information when they need it and that they have an opportunity to provide feedback to their community officials (Chang & Kannan, 2008). 

Provide a forum for residents for interaction, engagement and resource-sharing  

The current media landscape necessitates change in how governments and constituents interact.  Residents seek opportunities for dialogue with their government representatives and social technologies can foster that kind of engagement (Reece, 2006).  Many governmental entities have taken this beyond simply communication and have used wikis, blogs and social networks to provide a forum for discussion and debate, networking opportunities for residents, and a platform for residents to share ideas/experiences (Wyld, 2007).  Governments themselves benefit from interaction with their citizens in that citizen feedback improves the government’s performance by providing an opportunity to benefit from the “wisdom of the crowd” (Chang & Kannan, 2008).

Action Plan

Goals

1.By 12/18/08, to create and provide a collaborative forum for the community to find information, communicate and exchange ideas

2.By 12/31/2010 to increase by 1%

a. Public awareness of Borough activities, events and programs

b. community involvement in Borough committees, activities and events

c. Satisfaction and trust of Smallville residents in their municipal officials

Objectives and Strategies

By 12/18/08 create a community blog which will disseminate information, engage residents, provide platform for sharing ideas, resources and experiences, encourage collaboration, and encourage residents to build new networks and reinforce old ones.  The blog has several sections that will appear and be updated regularly.  There is a feature by the Mayor (the Mayor’s Corner) in which the Mayor publishes her thoughts and residents have the opportunity to comment freely.  A section for the Historical Society contains a wiki for the society archives where residents can contribute stories, photos and other information. The Library, contributes electronic bookmarks as well as interesting information about gaming and an embedded video game.  A link connects viewers to a screen cast describing the procedure for completing the form to request public documentation under the Freedom of Information Act.  A link to the PTA MySpace page connects residents with school happenings, while a section on the blog devoted to the schools features a video of the senior ski trip. An interactive town calendar allows committees to add events to the town calendar and important local websites are posted to assist residents.  Repurposed feeds post current state news from the State of New Jersey website and local weather information.  A podcast of an essay contest at a local town event engages residents in the activities of its school children.  An IM widget allows residents to contact the Borough clerk’s office in real time.  A survey allows residents to provide feedback with respect to their impression of the site and its effectiveness. A Flickr badge shares the photos of the Borough photographer taken at Borough events with the community at large.

Chart indicates objective vs. part of the blog used as a strategy to accomplish that objective:

Assessment and Evaluation

The assessment of the success of the blog will be made through several means.  First, the committee will use Google Analytics to track use of the site and what areas of the site are used the most.  In addition, the site itself contains a survey which will ask visitors their opinion and whether the site improves their experience with the Borough.  A large part of the evaluation will be anecdotal.  The verbal communication that the members of the Borough committees and administration receive with respect to the blog site will be recorded and taken into account in evaluating improvements that need to be made going forward.  Since part of the goal was to improve the connection to the Borough, sign in sheets will be used at Borough meetings and activities to keep, as closely as possible, an attendance record to determine whether increased communication from the Borough has improved interest in community affairs.

Conclusion

Using social technologies, the Borough can improve one-to-one communication with residents.  It can foster engagement and offer a forum for collaboration and networking among residents.  It is critical for the Borough to embrace the technology so comfortable to its residents.  Soon, it has been predicted, “ … those public officials who do not blog may become suspect as to why they do not use this new technology as a communications medium to connect with… their wider constituencies” (Wyld, 2007) . A positive future in government necessitates deliberate and creative movement toward incorporating social technologies to interact with its constituency.

Works Cited

(2007).  Little Silver, New Jersey. Retrieved December 6, 2008,      from  http://www.epodunk.com/cgibin/genInfo.php?locIndex=18358.

Budd, Andy (2005). Blogging in government. Retrieved December 6, 2008,      fromhttp://www.andybudd.com/archives/2005/09/blogging_in_government/index.php.

Chang, Ai-Mei and Kannan, P.K. (2008).  Leveraging Web 2.0 in Government.  Retrieved December 6, 2008,        from http://www.businessofgovernment.org/main/publications/bog/chang_fall08.pdf

Horrigan, John B.  (2004) [Pew]. How Americans get in touch with government.   Retrieved                  December 6,  2008, from  http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_E-Gov_Report_0504.pdf.

Horrigan, John B. (2004) [Pew].  Home Broadband 2008: Adoption stalls for low-income Americans even as        many broadband users opt for premium services that give them more speed.  Retrieved  December             6, 2008 from http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Broadband_2008.pdf.

Reece, Bryan (2006). E-Government literature review. Journal of E-Government, 3(1): 69–110.

Wyld, David, C. (2007).  The Blogging Revolution:  Government in the age of Web 2.0.  Retrieved       December 6, 2008, from  http://www.businessofgovernment.org/pdfs/WyldReportBlog.pdf