This week the City of Toronto held a Summit to discuss how Web 2.0 (or the social web) can “increase civic engagement, reach all communities, and improve City services”. As the event itself was invite only a lot of participation occurred via the live webcast and in back-channels such as Twitter. I have a lot of thoughts about both the way the event worked, and how it didn’t, and will try and balance the two, while being honest & open in my feedback as I think it’s an important first step in a process that concerns all Torontonians. There have been opinions expressed that should be voiced if the City is serious about community engagement & interaction online.

First, it was a great idea - connect the decision makers, industry, internal government employees, and the public together to figure out how the social web can facilitate a better civic experience. Great idea, yes, but it unfortunately it didn’t live up to its promise, and actually the promise of Web 2.0/ social participation, the very topic of discussion.

There were some excellent speakers and panels that sought to provide some anecdotal as well as concrete examples of how government can use the tools to reach out to citizens, including the luncheon keynote by Mark Surman and the interaction with Mayor Miller, but there were also logistical & planning issues that stifled the potential and made many comment that the day was a “FAIL” (in 2.0 parlance). While 300 people tuning in via webcast is a small proof of concept, and there were passionate discussions online, with only 10 people physically in attendance during at least one session and with images of rows of empty city councillor seats seen via the webcast, the importance to the decision makers within the City seemed absent, or at the very least, under-represented (h/t Adam Froman); another misstep was starting the day with a panel on how the public wants to be engaged online without any representatives from the public on it. Great idea; poorly strategized.

What the City could have done:

• Make the day into a blend of panels and workshops with concrete examples of issues from constituents and push for mandatory councillor participation and involvement. Bring together facilitators (our city has a ton!) to moderate and brainstorm actionable solutions to real-life problems - both internal and external; tech, procedural, etc.
• Not make the day invite only. This seems a no-brainer to me, web 2.0 is about collaboration and openness and it feels counter-intuitive to close the gates to true participation at the outset, and it ends up cutting off some of the voices and ideas that are so vital to moving the premise forward.
• Solicit and prioritize issues/ ideas in advance - for the public at large and for the city - transportation? health care? waste management? events? Focus on more than just the abstract. While Google maps mashups with the TTC are great (and I totally dig them and think they’ll be a great step forward), is that the number one priority for the City or best use of resources? Is web-casting every council meeting? Maybe, but maybe not.
• Lay off the heavy moderation of the webcast and citizen participation - I asked two questions, once in the morning and once at the end of the day and neither one was released from moderation by whomever was monitoring the channel. Web 2.0 is as open and transparent as possible, not guarded, except for language and threats.
• Bring in outside voices and expertise from the grassroots level in the city who are already using the social web and to bring together a diverse group of the population to work on local issues and spur action - Toronto has a vibrant community of passionate people to draw on, why not tap into it to shorten some of the learning curve?
• Some kind of “next steps” to keep moving the discussion and planning forward and encourage participation - there are, as we saw at the event, a lot of talented individuals inside the government who could easily be the point persons to manage something like a wiki (which if the two days had included workshops or similar direct participation could have been frameworked) to solicit ideas and keep the citizens who wanted to engage and share informed of what was on the agenda (and recruit organically from their local circles - build momentum). It’s a challenge of course to coordinate in government, but “idea labs” are something that should be on the radar.
• Included members of the public who represent different community organizations and looked to other government agencies and groups using the social channels so far & invite them to participate as part of a “lessons learned so far” discussion - Foodland Ontario, City of Markham, Prince Edward County, Ottawa Public Library, etc. etc.

I don’t believe the event qualifies as a FAIL, and I think a lot of good ideas and interest was spurred during a few sessions and hopefully a lot of food for thought and take-aways for the municipal officials who participated. I truly hope the City is committed to this and will take this first event as a baby step, incorporate and learn from the feedback available to them (blog posts, twitter updates, webcast questions, etc.) and keep moving forward. It can be a big or a small challenge depending on how we all deploy our resources - as a community!

[photo credit: Olivia via Flickr]

Yes, I am speaking "blasphemy". I am sick of iTunes and am seriously considering going back to using Windows Media Player as my default player, regardless that I regularly purchase music from Apple and have an iPod. The usability sucks. For a company that’s supposedly all about elegance, usability and ‘thinking different’, iTunes is, umm, not there.

First of all, do I really need to update my software every week? Can they not bundle the updates and release when there really is something that needs upgrading, vs. a cool little feature that helps their sales? Inevitably this "upgrade" also means re-installing the entire platform, finding it on my system again, and losing access to it from my toolbar. Nice.

Of course, since I’m on a PC, they aren’t "integrated" (supposedly) with my desktop environment and "lose" songs from the player whenever they feel like it. No rhyme or reason to it, I haven’t moved the albums from the same folder they’ve been in since I started using iTunes, but for some reason iTunes "can’t locate that file". As of right now, after having done absolutely nothing to any of my music files (except for purchase a new song via iTunes), I have 86 missing songs that were perfectly fine yesterday.

Is iTunes sophisticated (designed well) enough to recognize that if an entire album is missing and I click that little "find on your hard drive" button and go through the motions to find the first song, they could actually scan that same folder for the remaining songs from that album? Of course not, why do with software that I could do manually and take an hour of my time to do so?

It’s interesting that they never "lose" the songs I purchased from them vs. burned onto my system from a purchased CD.

I used to love the Apple TV spots and think they were genius. The wonderful pokes at how slow and cumbersome, and corporate MSFT is. How they make you jump through hoops to get your system working. Now? Guess what? I may be one of those folks "downgrading" from Vista to XP… whoops, I mean "downgrading" from iTunes to WMP.

</rant>

[photo credit: tantek via Flickr]

The last week has been all a buzz with the release of the first Social Media Press Release in Canada (according to Ed Lee) by Weblo & High Road Communications, and with the announcement of the new Edelman CMS for social media news releases.

I think SNR is a great idea. I applaud it… I’m glad communicators are taking the lead in engaging their audience. But… (and it’s a big one) PR agencies venturing into web development and Interactive marketing would do well to learn the lessons Interactive Ad agencies did over the last 10 years. I recognize it’s a new field, this social media stuff, and we’re each trying to find our way, but the nature and shape of the programming behind the web hasn’t changed.

The biggest issue with both releases is fundamental - they don’t follow Internet standards.

Neither follow W3C guidelines. Not only is this bad form for a website, it also defeats a part of the very purpose the release was developed for: to communicate broadly across all channels. By not coding the sites properly, both stand a huge chance of not being indexed correctly by the search engines. How does that help the client?

If PR is going to continue leading the charge in the social media/ interactive space, I suggest getting serious about the tech - in all its forms.

[photo credit: Simon Pow on Flickr]

[h/t - Strumpette & Ed Lee]

Tags: Edelman; Weblo; High Road Communications; SNR

In an on-going series of moves between the auto giant and the search giant, Google and GM in the U.S. have teamed up to showcase that Google delivers interactivity with the launch of the new Saturn campaign in partnership with Goodby, Silverstein & Partners.

Via CNet:

Visitors to a variety of Web sites in six cities around the country that are home to 22 Saturn dealerships will see what look like typical banner ads for Aura, a new Saturn midsize sedan. Clicking on an ad will produce a view of the earth that zooms in on the dealership nearest to the computer user.

The doors to the virtual dealership fly open, revealing the general manager, who introduces a brief commercial about Aura. After the spot ends, the general manager returns, standing next to an Aura and offering choices that include spinning the car 360 degrees, inspecting its engine, printing a map with directions to the dealership and visiting the Web sites of Saturn or the dealer.

The project is intended to stimulate demand for Aura test-drives with a twist: The dealerships will deliver the cars to the homes of consumers. The theme of the project is “Take the 250,000-mile test drive.”

I love that this campaign embraces the dealership walk-around experience and showcases the features and warmth of the Saturn brand without overkill or irrelevance to what I as a potentially purchaser would be interested in. And of course, delivering the car to your door? Priceless.

[photo credit: Elsie esq. on Flickr]

Tags: GM; Saturn; Google

In a bold move sure to please gamers and artists alike, Microsoft will release a consumer version of their Xbox game design software this holiday season.

The software will be downloadable and have the ability to create games for both Windows PCs and Xboxes, which will of course immediately corner the independent game design market for Microsoft. Eventually Microsoft plans to allow designers to sell their personally created games on Xbox Live.

The buzz is already starting amongst a highly influential group, video game design teachers, and the unique selling points are two-fold - the ability to demo your games to your friends on your TV and the price point vs. high-powered and expensive PCs typically required to run the games.

Moore hopes the availability of easy-to-use programming tools will spark independent game development at many levels, from garages to universities. Already 10 universities have committed to adding Game Studio Express to game design curricula this fall. “We think high school science teachers will embrace this very quickly,” Moore says.

Georgia Tech University video game design instructor Blair MacIntyre says his students will now be able to buy an Xbox 360 rather than a high-powered PC to test their game prototypes. “Imagine how exciting it will be to be a student and be able to show your friends your class project running on their Xbox, hooked up to their TV in their living room,” he says.

I can see this as next-gen UGC in the next year or two, with the potential to create a cottage industry for many graphic designers/ game developers. Which of course begs the question — will users include brands in their games? If so, will it be handled by companies and marketers as a variation on YouTube, or because it’s Microsoft & users have the potential to make a profit, will we demand it be highly regulated? Will we start cutting individual product placement deals with indie designers?

Should be interesting!

[Image credit: warpaintlighly on Flickr]

Tags: Microsoft; Xbox; Video Game Design; Creators Club;