The UK think tank IPPR managed the ultimate soft launch last night with the presentation in London of its Manifesto for Digital Britain. Some folk who hadn't read the invitation carefully enough - me included - thought they would find on their seats a thick tome or link to content covering the importance of the Net for business, education, government etc. OK, we have heard a lot about that before, but IPPR are close to Government, the drinks are free, the Minister will be there, meet some nice people... let's go!
Uuuh...different discovery on arrival. This is not the launch of the manifesto, but the launch of the process of developing the manifesto. It will be available next year. Oh well, settle down, listen to the Minister Stephen Timms (who is one of the politicians who really does know his stuff in this field).
"This is a good opportunity to review the progress that we have made in achieving.... " into standard Ministerial speech " ...not for the few but for the many..." .... now up the league table in the G7 countries in broadband deployment...Then the touch of humanity... how the Minister was on the train and had forgotten his papers and could download them using G3 technology. At least I remembered that bit. Do Orange do that for Macs? When is the new Treo 610 available? Drift into personal techno-dreams.....
Next up was Stephen Coleman, professor of eDemocracy at the Oxford Internet Institute, making some good points, I thought, about the need to translate technology lessons and opportunities into policy, and into public understanding. In doing that, he said, we need to cross the barriers of different disciplines, innovate and integrate, implement and evaluate. That is, do new stuff differently.
Now adjusted to the fact that this is the launch of a process, not of a manifesto. Great. Mentally construct the question to Will Davies, lead IPPR person. Dimly remembering something I wrote recently about the dubious value of manifestos, I rehearse something vaguely provocative like: "Manifestos are a bit... dare we say old-hat old-politics... and the process you propose looks a bit traditional with papers, seminars, conferences. How will this break down the barriers, innovate and integrate? Is there scope for some newer-style face-to-face meetings in which people engage in some creative conversations? Mix disciplines, professionals and users. Or is this going to be the usual board room table, elitist, committee-style stuff?"
Alas, I and others have no to chance to be challenging, interactive, contributory. The manifesto building does not start here. There is no chance for questions.... just an invitation to partake of further hospitality. I confess that I hurried to the drinks table without pause.
Shift to new script: "Well, this is very cool, isn't it? Face to face is what matters. We can read the manifesto stuff online. We'll get invites to the seminars. How clever to make most of the evening networking. Oh look, there's so and so from Cabinet Office over there...."
To be fair to IPPR - here's what the invite said:
Launch of the Manifesto for a Digital Britain
We are writing to invite you to the launch of an exciting new programme of work at the Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr), the UK’s most influential think-tank. For almost a decade now, the Digital Society and Media Programme at the ippr has been examining the public policy challenges and opportunities thrown up by digital technology. The new programme will build upon and extend previous ippr work on public service media and communications regulation, e Government, safety on the internet, the digital divide and more, to create a coherent understanding of the role of ICT within British society, and the political choices it presents us with: a Manifesto for a Digital Britain.
- and here's the press release
It was a useful networking event, but only of course if you already knew someone there.... because think tanks don't usually do hosting and introductions. You are invited because you know someone, so why should you need any help in meeting others? I don't want to be knocked off the list for insubordination, but I think the thing that makes me a little uncomfortable is the speeches at these events (generalising outrageously) usually have a good dose of stuff about inclusion, greater understanding, crossing disciplines etc....but the style of the events and the subsequent process is frequently pretty traditional and not in the least designed to meet those objectives.
I was, perhaps, sensitised to these matters by a great discussion earlier in the day with Martin Leith, who is developing the Collaborationcentre as the hub of a a network of people who specialise in events and other methods to ... well... build collaborations. I hope to be involved.
As Martin says on the site "Persuading others to “buy-in” to pre-cooked innovation, change and development programmes is an idea whose time has passed.
"In its place is collaboration, an egalitarian way of working in which others are invited to “join-in” as co-creators".
Launching that sort of process really would be interesting. You wouldn't call it a manifesto, and probably wouldn't start with a Minister and Professor (however good they are). But then you wouldn't get the sponsorship, and there wouldn't be free drinks...
Oh well. What's on this evening? Another Will Davies event. iSociety (where Will worked before IPPR) launches his report on Shrinking the Net - delivery of ICT in local communities.
"As the internet becomes ever more pervasive, its local uses start to over-shadow its global uses. Meanwhile, the decentralising direction of current policy-making makes it imperative that new ways of circulating information are found, at a variety of sub-national levels, if new tiers of governance are to be mirrored by new tiers of public debate. The internet has the capability to support this multi-tiered public realm."
More on this tomorrow. I'm sure the report will be intellectually challenging. Dare I ask if the locals will understand it? But then, is it for them?
Update: Will lets us know that the report is available
Previously:
Why manifestos don't usually work: stories may
Just how relevant is the Net locally - as a model and a tool?
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