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Let them write columns

The digitally illiterate Yes, there are people who don’t have access to the Internet and there are people who don’t know how to use it or use it effectively.   But I’d argue that these people won’t be increasingly disenfranchised because much of the real digital engagement is an as well as and not instead of .  However, there will be a real and widening gap between those who weren’t already connected in and those who have new channels of access via the Internet. Of course, as public servants we must find ways to help people get engaged and use new and existing paths to empowerment.   We will never reach full success, and we must never stop trying.  But whatever we do, we must not ignore tools because some people don’t have them yet.  And we definitely must not ignore those citizens who are already gathered online and ready and willing to engage, critique, join-in and collaborate on the services and issues that matter to them.

The digitally empowered Last night,  James Cousins, a councillor, was Tweeting from a Wandsworth council meeting.  That’s where I live.   I thought it was kinda cool to get a glimpse, 140 characters at a time, of what was being discussed about my local area.  It’s certainly more than I’ve ever had before.  I’ve never attended a local council meeting even though it’s a public meeting.

Here's the premise: Sign up, put some cash in your Twitpay account through another payment service like PayPal, and then send out a "tweet" to another Twitpay member, structured like "@josh twitpay $10 for beers." Twitpay takes a five-cent commission. Its founders are hoping that, eventually, it can be used for charity and disaster relief payments. It's a nifty idea, though not for everyone. You don't get cash out of it, for example--Twitpay reimburses you in the form of Amazon gift rewards instead

Councillors connected: elected members and social media

GlobalGiving Badges Put a GlobalGiving Badge on your profile, blog, or website to encourage your friends, family, and visitors to become givers.

Non-Profits Directory Add your name to the Tweeters Directory

Hashtags are a community-driven convention for adding additional context and metadata to your tweets. They're like tags on Flickr, only added inline to your post. You create a hashtag simply by prefixing a word with a hash symbol: #hashtag. Hashtags were developed as a means to create "groupings" on Twitter, without having to change the basic service. The hash symbol is a convention borrowed primarily from IRC channels, and later from Jaiku's channels.