Dissident

Browsing the web cost billions in lost productivity

I worry that some people believe this sort of rubbish. According to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) the average UK worker spends ninety minutes a week misusing corporate internet connections.

The CBI said that workers are spending roughly an hour and a half out of their week visiting web sites that have no relation to their work whatsoever. Cumulatively, it said, this costs UK businesses some £10.6bn in lost productivity over the course of a year.

The CBI polled some 503 businesses, who it said employed nearly one million workers between them. Two thirds of those who took part admitted that they think that their staff use work time – ie, not lunch, or formal breaks, to look at non-work sites. It identified social networking, web-based email and shopping and holiday sites as the biggest draws. Overall, they estimate the annual cost, per employee to be the region of £1000. According to the report, this costs UK businesses £10.6 billion (yes billion) a year in lost productivity.

Firstly of all, do they really expect us to believe that if there was a complete embargo on 'non work related websites' that we'd be saving the economy getting on for £11 billion? This assumes that these employees wouldn't be doing other 'wasteful' things with their time if they weren't surfing the web - like reading a newspaper or doing su-doku, or otherwise expanding their knowledge.

Secondly, they seem to have concluded that any serendipitous use of the internet is wasted time. What about all that information that has been both consciously and sub-consciously absorbed during this browsing experience? I wonder if they've quantified the times when some apparently useless nugget of information has been stored in the sub-concious and then used at some later date to contribute to the well being of the person (e.g. some health information), or maybe even applied to the workplace in a way that has improved productivity?

I'm saddened that a respected industry body such as the CBI should publish such report like this that draws some very debatable conclusions on a potentially flawed hypothesis that serendipitous use of the web is bad for business. Maybe they'd have us bring the workhouse back?

I just hope that managers will not use this report as further ammunition to restrict workers from using the web for anything other than browsing their own company's web site.  Let's not apply 19th century working practices to 21st century workers!

Tax Bill up 50% under Labour

Juts picked this snippet up from the Tax Payer's Alliance latest report. Even when inflation is taken into account Britain’s tax burden has soared by over 50% in the last ten years under the Labour government, the report claims.

In its report, the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA), a lobbyist for fairer taxes, said a combination of up-front and stealth levies has led to a total tax bill of £517billion a year.

In other words, a single British household has seen their annual tax bill rise, helped by fiscal drag, to an extraordinary £20, 700.

“Shamefully,” a significant part of the tax rise has been in the form of ‘stealth’ taxes, the report says, pointing to the 10p sting in last year’s so-called “tax-cutting” budget.

Alongside stealth taxes, there have been “sly increases” in the shape of fiscal drag – the failure to adjust tax thresholds in line with earnings and asset prices.

Over the last decade, the TPA said Labour has hiked taxes in this way by £14 billion a year, partly explaining the group’s view that taxpayers have been ‘ripped off.’

Wallets have been hit even harder because taxpayers have been made to pay additional fees or charges for what used to be ‘free’ or virtually free public services.

For example, the Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency now takes £300 million per annum from the sale of driving licences, while its business in personalised number plates brings in another £100 million per annum.

Passport charges are another good earner, the report said pointing out that in 1997 a passport cost £18, but last year the cost soared to £72, a quadrupling in price.

These charges now cost taxpayers nearly £500 million per annum, and the TPA said it fears further costs could be on the way given the  increasing expense of ID cards.  (If  this  touches a nerve -  might be worth checking out No2ID - I'm already signed up!)

But it is the NHS and local authorities which have proved the biggest money-grabbers, the report says.

Its authors said school dinners charges have risen 50% in ten years, parking charges and fines have risen to over £1 billion and hospital car parks raise over £100m in England alone.

Mike Denham, a former economist at the Treasury who authored the report, reflected that “the government has used every trick in the book to drive up the tax burden.”

“Ordinary families are paying a heavy price,” he said. “People are increasingly beset by record levels of taxation and growing service charges, but there has been no improvement in services in return.
“We find ourselves paying more and more for less and less. With rocky economic times ahead, this rate of taxation simply cannot be sustained.”

Matthew Elliott, the TPA's chief executive, believes the British public are being “ripped off in the most shameful way.”

“The cloak and dagger methods the Government is using the squeeze money out of hard working people are deplorable,” he said.

“With fewer police stations, limited GPs’ hours, libraries closing, rarer bin collections and a host of other cuts we are getting less for our money than ever before.

"People are facing higher fuel bills, more expensive food and much bigger mortgage bills – and on top of all that they are being stealth taxed and charged more than ever before. This con has got to stop.”

Here here I say! Roll on 2010 (or preferably sooner!)

A guide to social media for organisations

 

A number of other bloggers have already picked up on this, including David Wilcox, but worth another mention here. Colin McKay, who works for the Canadian government has produced a handy little guide offering some tips on how to get social media accepted by large (e.g. Government) organisations.

Colin writes on the SoSaidThe.Organisation site:

"I think the advice in this 23 page guide to secretly implementing social media in organizations could be equally useful for any government employee looking to try out new technologies - I’m pretty certain on that point, since I’m a government employee in real life. You can find the guide at this link, and please feel free to share it with your friends, colleagues and bosses".

Here’s an excerpt, from the introduction:

How do you do it? How do you bring a spirit of innovation and experimentation to the communications shop of a large organization?

I’ve worked in a large organization – the government – for the last ten years. You can find bright, creative and resourceful people around every corner, in every department.

During the course of their careers, many of these people have thought of a move that could improve their work or their environment.

From experience, we all know that small changes in process or presentation are easily won. After all, it’s just another line on an approval sheet, or a tweak on the website.

Large organizations can also be convinced to launch a large-scale overhaul of their systems – whether it’s a supply chain, assembly process or online order system.

But it’s a real pain to get them to rethink their relationship with humans outside the security fence. After all, our customer service reps seem to be doing a good job, right? That sales force really does have a handle on the needs of the community, doesn’t it?

In speaking to hundreds of workers and managers for large organizations (government and private sector), I’ve been asked the same questions, over and over:

• How do you convince your boss to even experiment with social media?
• Doesn’t it mean a lot of extra work?
• Isn’t this sort of stuff blocked by our organizational policies?
  

This Secret Underground Guide to Social Media for Organizations is meant to help you answer some of those questions.

I liked the simple structure and practical tips that Colin provides in the guide. A 'must read' for anyone who feels constrained by organisational bureaucracy and office politics.

 

Supporting Community of Practice Facilitators

The IDeA have published a report on the Community of Practice 'Facilitator's Workshop' I organised for them on 27th April. The purpose of the workshop was to bring together the various facilitators of the on-line communities supported on the IDeA CoP platform, to learn from their experiences in facilitating communities of practice across local government, and in response to issues raised by the facilitators through their own dedicated CoP, namely:

• how can I keep momentum going?
• who can I turn to for support?
• will my opinions be seen as ‘novice’ compared to others in the community?

Community adviser and activist Ed Mitchell spoke on ‘Nurturing communities from networks: the gritty bits’. There was also a session from Hilary Messeter from the National College for School Leadership (NCSL).

As with many of these type of events, the coming together and sharing of knowledge can be a therapeutic  process, i.e. the realisation that you're not alone and that someone else has the same concerns and issues as yourself, and better still,  finding someone who has solved the issue you've been worrying about.

One particularly encouraging piece of information that emerged from the workshop was that most of the CoP's across local government have a 10% contribution rate, which is well beyond the '1% rule'.

Dave Briggs, who facilitates the Collaboration and Social Media CoP, and the LGNewmedia site summed the day up very well in saying:-

“We're trying to sell two very ambitious concepts with this [IDeA CoP] platform. Firstly, we are asking people to tear down silos and start working together and sharing our knowledge – something that is an anathema to some elements of local government culture. Secondly, we are asking them to do so using the web, with blogs, wikis and forums!”

It was apparent to me that there is a close relationship between effective CoPs and effective facilitators - i.e. you can't have one without the other.

Government report: The Power of Information

The Cabinet Office have commissioned a report - The Power of Information - from Ed Mayo (chief exec of the National Consumer Council) and Tom Steinberg (the man behind mySociety and PledgeBank) to look into the ways government can benefit from user-generated sites, particularly with a view to creating APIs to allow mash-ups with public sector data (like the Ordnance Survey). Press announcement here.

Good to see the that the power of Social Media has penetrated to the heart of UK Gov. But can they resist the urge to regulate it?!

Google Gears up for off-line browser apps

As a closet fan of all that is 'Google', I was wondering when I should make the final step in my transition from Bloglines to Google Reader. I've been using both for some time now, which is bit of a pain when I have to add and categorise a new feed since I end up replicating the process twice. However, I think the recent announcement about Google Gears is the tipping point I needed. So, sadly, it's goodbye to Bloglines, but loyalty only goes so far.

Basically, Gears is a browser add-on that enables web-based applications to run locally whilst off-line. The product is in Beta at the moment, and only supports the Google Reader (RSS feed aggregator). However, we can expect to see support for Google Docs & Spreadsheets, Google Mail, Google Blogger, and in fact any of their applications where there is value to be gained by working off-line and on-line.

Looks like another killer app to me!

Knowledge vs. Privacy, the Google dilemma

Google - you either love 'em or hate 'em it would seem, reading the article from yesterday's Sunday Times. Google are saying they need more information about us, and their competitors are saying they already have too much. The trigger for this latest pouring of outrage is - apparently - Google's announcement that they  had invested almost $4m in 23andme, a fledgling biotechnology company co-founded by Anne Wojcicki (Sergey Brinn's significant other half), that is interested in the human genome.  Interestingly, ordinary users (and I count myself in that category) are saying very little. I find that the Search engine does what is says on the tin; Google Reader is the best RSS  reader, and I make the most of all the other freebies (Notebook, Calendar, Documents, Spreadsheets, desktop  toolbar , screen saver, personalised search etc.)  that they make available via their web site. Their argument that by getting to know more about me and my search habits will improve the relevance of their search results sounds believable - to me anyway.

However, one interesting quote attributed to Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central,  with reference to Google's pending (?) purchase of Feedburner (a company that tracks subscribers to all kinds of on-line content providers):

"Have people really thought about the ramifications of this? Google will not only know what you search for, what ads you click on, but they will also know exactly what you are subscribed to at a very intimate level.....they are going to know more about some people than their own family members may".

Perhaps it's the fact that I come from a country that has more CCTV cameras per head of population than any other county in Western Europe (or the world), or my naive belief in the Google motto 'Don't do evil', but I believe that Google's ultimate objective is to stay ahead of the game in providing a  search service that everyone wants to use because it finds what they are looking for!

Web 2.0 Growth - Microsoft and Yahoo merger talks

Not a very profound quote I'll accept, but I saw a quote attributed to yours truly in an article in Internet Week about the merger talks between Microsoft and Yahoo. I don't even remember talking to the author of the article, but I'm attributed as saying: "The new technology out there is allowing people to connect far more easily and the best way to do this is through social media tools". Well hopefully not many people will argue with that, but  what I would have preferred to have been quoted on is that regardless of what Yahoo and Microsoft decide to do in terms of the business-to-consumer interface, its the content that really counts, and I think that Yahoo have a clear edge over Microsoft in this respect. So, apologies to any readers for my actual printed quote - which is quite inane really!

Wikileaks - liberating those skeletons from government closets?

Clearly I've been remiss in my recent blog and news reading since I only came across Wikileaks by accident. A bit embarrassing really given the name of my blog!

The blurb on the site says:

" Wikileaks is developing an uncensorable Wikipedia for untraceable mass document leaking and analysis. Our primary interests are oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, but we also expect to be of assistance to those in the west who wish to reveal unethical behaviour in their own governments and corporations. We aim for maximum political impact; this means our interface is identical to Wikipedia and usable by non-technical people. We have received over 1.2 million documents so far from dissident communities and anonymous sources."

I couldn't find any evidence of the 1.2 million documents they refer to, though the FAQs section refers to a live date of March 2007.  I can only assume the launch is delayed pending getting the dirt on Gordon Brown's 'Great Pensions Robbery"!

Whether the site turns out to have any authoritative content  on it, or is just merely a repository of innuendo and gossip remains to be seen. Should I be subscribing I wonder?!

The Lurker to Contributor ratio

I picked this up courtesy of Beth Kanter's blog, regarding a recent survey conducted in the education sector on use of Web 2.0 tools. The survey summary analysis is available under a Creative Commons license from David White, JISC funded ‘SPIRE’ project 2007 Survey. I was particularly interested in the data on the ratio between contributors to lurkers for on-line communities, an area I've previously commented on (Re the "1% Rule"). The survey reveals a much higher proportion (20%) who regularly contribute to social networking sites (e.g. Flickr, YouTube etc.), which I suspect might be skewed due to the demographic (education sector plus majority of respondents under 21?). It certainly doesn't reflect my own experience in setting up communities of practice in the public sector (local government) where it's closer to the 1% rule.

It's difficult to avoid making generalisations on a survey of this type, but it was also apparent that even within this survey demographic, there was a remarkable lack of knowledge about Web 2.0 social book-marking tools, looking at the high proportion of respondents who said they had never heard of del.icio.us or stumbleupon, and a strange inconsistency between the high proportion of respondents who had never heard of a wiki, and the relatively small proportion who had never heard of wikipedia. I would have thought they could have deduced some connection from the wikipedia name. Ho hum!

Download online_tool_use_surveysummary.pdf