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US President Barack Obama has been touted left, right and center as “the social media president”. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has a Twitter account, yet fails to engage with his constituents. Politicians, bureaucrats, policy makers and public service providers have been heavily criticized for their inability to incorporate social media into their political campaigns and overall platforms and strategies. Yet, we find a dearth of analytical explorations of successful experiences and lessons learned. This panel will explore how the government at various scales (federal, municipal, provincial) is working towards incorporating social media, what are the challenges. etc.
Andrea Reimer will speak to the political circumstances that led to approval and expansion of social media tools in the local government in Vancouver. She will describe the experience in Vancouver with social media, open government and a number of other initiatives she has championed. Andrea's work was instrumental in having Vancouver approve the open data initiative.
Ian Capstick brings bring a perspective from Ottawa (federal implications) and as a citizen who organizes in-person open source events and consultations which almost always start as a reaction to a need from digital grassroots.
Tanya Twynstra will share experiences with the government of British Columbia's first-ever Executive Director for Citizen Engagement in BC's Ministry of Citizens' Services and the lessons that this provincial government has learned from the past 12 months.
Raul Pacheco-Vega will describe his experiences as the editor of BCVote.ca (a pluralistic, non-partisan aggregator) during the BC Premier election of 2009. He will also aim to provide an analytical framework that can be used to outline best practices of social media use in public policy and politics.
About the panelists:
Raul Pacheco-Vega, PhD., is the Regional Director for Western Canada of the Canadian Institute of Environmental Law and Policy (CIELAP) and an instructor of public policy in the Department of Political Science at The University of British Columbia. His personal blog (http:/hummingbird604.com) has gained notoriety in the Vancouver and Canadian blogosphere. He blogs about his research at http://www.raulpacheco.org – his research focuses on comparative cross-national environmental policy, and he is keen and eager in his use of social media for teaching and research purposes.
Ian Capstick, owner of MediaStyle, has over a decade of professional political and communications experience. Ian has worked for cabinet ministers and opposition members in the House of Commons, including some of Canada's most colourful and influential political minds - from both the New Democrats and Liberals Ian is passionate about creating social change through communications. An experienced media coach, political tactician and engaging speaker, Ian has appeared as a political commentator with CJAD 800 radio in Montreal, The Hill Times, Embassy Magazine and is a regular speaker at the national and regional conferences of the Canadian University Press.
Andrea Reimer was a proud co-chair of Gregor Robertson’s successful people-powered campaign to be the Vision Vancouver mayor candidate in the November 2008 municipal election. Andrea works as the Executive Director of the Wilderness Committee, a position she has held since 2002, and is a recognized leader in BC's environmental movement. She is also a capable administrator: in her seven years as the senior manager, the Wilderness Committee has increased in membership by 10,000, seen a 65% increase in budget and established itself as the group of record on environmental issues in British Columbia. She is a firm believer in the power of social media to effect social change.
Tanya Twynstra has 16 years experience with the British Columbia provincial government. She was previously responsible for developing the public school e-learning system which resulted in substantial improvement in quality of courses and significant growth in the number of students learning online. Tanya is currently the Project Director at the Future of Work, and in that role supports Ministries that want to work differently and engage their stakeholders and citizens' in an ongoing dialogue. Some of this work involves initiating business process redesign and some includes advising on tools and technology, including the implementation and training for social media and the move to open data for citizens.
