Web sessions (April 2005 – January 2009) Centre for Legal Studies and Specialised Training (Ministry of Justice) and Directorate General for Citizen Attention (Ministry of Presidential)

Session 1. ‘Internet in the Ministry of Justice: what for?’ Alfons Cornella

An organisation generates added value when we understand it as a system able to receive information, transform it and offer it as a service. When information is managed well , we can do more with less.

Session 2. ‘Get to know the new Government of Catalonia website’. Marta Continente

In the transition to the knowledge society, the Government must make data communication infrastructures accessible, make information transparent and act as a catalyst for collective knowledge.

Session 3. ‘Learning in the digital age’. Sergio Vasquez

Communities of practice open up the possibility of joining a network of people with a common practice and facilitate confidence building. In this field ICT facilitate knowledge sharing and interaction.

Session 4. ‘From the analogue society to the digital: where are we? what do we need to do? Antoni Farrés

The knowledge economy shapes the economic and social environment in the 21st century. Analysis of the situation in Catalonia and how it should position itself in the new context.

Session 5. ‘How do the Government’s CC licences help to make knowledge accessible to society?’ Ignasi Labastida

Creative Commons (CC) licences are a useful tool to make knowledge gathered by the Government available to the public by providing a flexible system to manage royalties for works of all kinds.

Session 6. ‘Internet tools that allow people to interact with the Government’. Roc Fages

Technology helps us to manage conversation between people to exchange knowledge and good practice, using tools for interaction on internet such as blogs, wikis and other resources.

Session 7. ‘Where is training going in organisations?’ Javier Martínez Aldanondo

e-learning has not fulfilled its promise because it has transferred face to face learning to a virtual setting. Understanding how we really learn and how technology can help in this process should enable us to reassess the training model.

Session 8. ‘Can the Government persuade people by internet?’ David Boronat

Analysis of the government bodies which, adopting the strategies used in the private sector to build customer loyalty, use internet intensively to raise awareness, communicate and involve the public.

Session 9. ‘What can the Government do with the knowledge it generates?’ Mario Pérez-Montoro

How to set up projects to manage knowledge through communities of practice and other resources. The example of the Ministry of Justice.

Session 10. ‘Social networks on internet: the added value of our contacts’. Albert Armengol

Networking is the technique which shows us how to build and maintain professional relationships with benefits for both parties, managing the network of contacts strategically.

Session 11. ‘Why do we need to innovate in the Government?’ Joan Majó

The Government needs to adopt an innovative strategy to keep up with the times, using internal and external knowledge to be competitive and generate value for its services.

Session 12. ‘Is Government 2.0 achievable? Tools and attitudes for cooperation’. Carlos Guadián

Web 2.0 tools and resources give us opportunities to cooperate in the Government. Examples and practical cases.

Session 13. ‘The transformation of on-line learning through social networking and video’. Gregor Gimmy

The social network and video can change the way people learn on line and raise the question of what can be done in the Government. Sclipo case study.

Session 14. ‘Collective intelligence and web 2.0’. Ricardo Baeza-Yates

Current impact of social networks on internet, known as web 2.0, where the content is generated by people and the intelligence is collective.

Session 15. ‘Do people need to have a digital identity?’ How to construct it’. Juan Freire

Having a digital identity is indispensable to make ourselves visible to the rest of society and it needs to be constructed strategically.

1st web session at the Centre for Legal Studies and Specialised Training

‘Internet in the Ministry of Justice: what for?’

Alfons Cornella i Solans, Director of Zero Factory SL www.infonomia.com, specialist and consultant in knowledge economy for a number of organisations. Hall of the Centre for Legal Studies and Specialised Training, 14 April 2005. 190 people attended.

Infostructure (content + services) complements infrastructure (machines + tools)

Although we have technological applications to manage information, technology is not in itself the factor that makes an organisation competent and stand out from others. An organisation generates added value when we understand it as a system able to receive information, transform it and offer it as a service. When information is managed well, we can do more with less (greater efficiency and productivity). Alfons Cornella illustrated this with slides showing the Ministry of Justice website and the ‘a un clic’ (a click away) applications on the home page of the Ministry’s intranet.

Googleization + relevance

Googleization (access to information using a search engine) leads to the danger of infoxication. It is therefore advisable to balance exhaustive searches for information against the criterion of relevance. The capture of this information is not automatic, however: it calls for method, resources and effort. This criterion is the inspiration for the structure of the intranet.

Constant innovation

Within organisations a new professional culture is needed, that of innovation. Although there will be people and units with greater facility for innovating, all members of the organisation need to be encouraged to do their work in this spirit. This involves proposing ways to improve what one does using technological resources and providing the added value of information.

Managing what the people in the organisation know and experience

People’s experience is a source of greater efficiency and it should be passed on to the rest of the organisation. The knowledge management model proposed by Alfons Cornella is as follows:

- Work. Reducing the distance between employees and the information they need. The example given was the search facility for forms on the intranet.

- Learning. Connecting people with questions and the person who has the answers. It was proposed that the directory of people and identification data on the intranet should include information about the areas in which they are experts.

- Teaching. Transferring best practice. This was illustrated by the future community of family mediators in the e-Catalunya project (promoted by the General Directorate of Citizen Attention).

Conclusions

1. Technology x information = information to innovate (an information-oriented organisation is needed) 2. A specific common objective is needed. 3. Driving forces are needed which promote the use of information technologies to improve services. 4. It must be made part of everyday activity (innovation and knowledge management). 5. It needs to become part of the process (the organisation has to work in this way; it should never be

optional).

Corporate Communication Service. Barcelona, April 2005

2nd web session at the Centre for Legal Studies and Specialised Training

The new Gencat and other systems for attention to the public

Marta Continente i Gonzalo, Director General for Citizen Attention, Presidential Department.

Hall of the Centre for Legal Studies and Specialised Training, 24 November 2005, 16.00 h.

Introduction

In the transition to the knowledge society, the Government must make data communication infrastructures accessible, make information transparent and act as a catalyst for collective knowledge.

New model for internet channels

1. Changing from “all services by all channels” to “each service has its own ideal channel”.

2. The effect of search engines must be taken into account.

3. Importance of push tools (browsers, newsletters, alerts, RSS news syndication, podcasting, blogs, etc.) as they arouse surfers’ interest, encouraging them to visit websites.

Gencat.net 2005

Process of transformation:

1. Diagnosis: website analysis, usability, surveys and consultancy.

2. To move towards a new model: interactivity, transparency, network databases, transversal structure by topics and services, multimedia, customising information, relational webs.

3. It has been implemented in certain projects: statistics portal, integration of databases, taxonomy (classification from the viewpoint of the public), a browser (Google adapted for Gencat), content manager (Vignette), Citizen Attention System-Information portal and new Gencat.

Citizen Attention System-Information portal

In 2005 migration to a new application took place and work is under way on integrating the Citizen Attention System with Open Administration of Catalonia on-line transactions.

Information portal: internal consultancy for 012 operators and citizen attention offices (additional information which is not publicly available).

A cultural change is needed for the internet channel to become an integral part of the Ministry’s processes (and even become the backbone of systems for providing citizen attention).

e-Catalunya

The Government of Catalonia’s social website, complementing the gencat.net portal. Members of the public will have access to public information from groups with portals. However, groups will also have a private area, where they will have substantial storage space for their own content together with free communication tools (messages, forum, virtual congresses, wiki, social network, etc.). The Ministry of Justice is a pilot participant – together with the Ministry of Health – with the family mediation group.

Corporate Communication Service. Barcelona, December 2005

3rd web session at the Centre for Legal Studies and Specialised Training

Learning in the digital age

Sergio Vasquez, expert in e-learning and knowledge management, lecturer at the European School of Management in Paris, and an advisor to communities of practice in the Ministry of Justice.

Hall of the Centre for Legal Studies and Specialised Training, 16 February. 170 people attended

e-learning as a new form of learning

Virtual learning (e-learning) should not mean adding a computer to traditional face-to-face classes. The aim is for education and training to be more effective.

Success and failure in virtual learning

The speaker mentioned various cases of success (“la Caixa” area communities) and failure (Cisco UNIX courses, “la Caixa” Virtaula, courses by a multinational auditing firm, etc.) Virtual learning must avoid technocentrism (relating everything to technology) and infocentrism (memorising content). He thus prefers to refer to “working with assistance”, meaning that users must be borne in mind when designing courses: speaking to them and observing them to find out what they need.

Situated learning and communities of practice

Learning must be a social phenomenon, with a location in time and space, and should have everyday work situations as a source. People can rarely be expected to share their best ideas or practices and will be reluctant to use the ideas of others for fear of being seen as incompetent. For knowledge management to be shared there must be a setting, communities of practice, in which people are linked by a common, recurring practice, and which develop around what is important for its members. The model of teacher and learner is the best system for learning.

Communities of Practice at the Ministry of Justice

For this purpose at the Ministry of Justice communities of practice have been set up in the areas of prison services (teaching staff, educators, technical staff, social workers) and the treatment of young offenders.

Conclusions

1. Sharing both positive aspects and problems, feeling part of a common organisation and being able to communicate with others are features which help to motivate the members of a community.

2. It is important, then, to know what we want to share, establish ground rules and work on what the members of the community consider to be important.

3. The benefits of communities of practice affect not only their members (learning, solving problems, sharing knowledge, etc.) but also the organisation (reduction in costs, saving time, incremental innovation, etc.).

4. Communities of practice open up the possibility of being part of a network of people with a common practice and, at the same time, allow people to develop confidence and establish links with experts outside the community, increasing the members’ social resources.

5. Information technologies facilitate the sharing of knowledge and participation and interaction within the communities.

6. Innovation occurs when the community’s ideas are implemented. Corporate Communication Service. Barcelona, February 2006

4th web session at the Centre for Legal Studies and Specialised Training

From the analogue society to the digital: where are we? what do we need to do?

Antoni Farrés Sabater was Mayor of Sabadell from 1979 to 1999, is a member of the Cercle del Coneixement, has taken part in the programme “Els matins de Catalunya Ràdio”, and is a specialist in the use and application of ICT in business and society in general.

Hall of the Centre for Legal Studies and Specialised Training, 13 June 2006. 90 people attended.

Industrial society

- Catalonia’s development in the 20th century came about through its rapid integration in the industrial revolution, alongside leading countries such as England.

- Industrial society saw the convergence of the steam engine, mechanical engineering and the science of materials.

- The industrial economy shaped the economic and social environment for much of the 19th and 20th centuries.

The knowledge society

- Today another convergence is shaping a new economy: information technology, telecommunications and the technologies of content.

- The knowledge economy shapes the economic and social environment of the 21st century. - The European Council in Lisbon (23-24 March 2000) stressed the need for a radical transformation of

the European economy.

Current situation

Farrés supported his explanation with data and graphics from Spanish and European programmes.

- According to the World Economic Forum report, Spain ranks 31st in the world (its position has been falling), while Catalonia does not occupy a strong position in the Spanish context.

- This is the starting point for his talk: how to stimulate growth in Catalonia.

Challenges for Catalonia in the knowledge society

1. The education of its people, especially the young 2. Adapting production to the new network models. 3. Catalonia’s incorporation in world knowledge and innovation networks as a node generating value. 4. The implementation of policies designed to preserve the quality of life and welfare.

Electronic Government

- Spain and Catalonia are in a stronger position in European rankings in this area. - However, priority has been given to transactions which transfer money to the Government (tax

authorities, etc.) - All transactions between the Government and the public, employees or companies should be

conducted electronically (with support services for the public).

Conclusions

1. The philosophy behind the change to the knowledge society should be explained to the public. 2. A comprehensive strategic agreement is called for to promote the full incorporation of Catalonia into

the knowledge society, involving not only political parties but also the public and private sectors.

Paraphrasing Torres i Bages, he concluded that “Catalonia will be digital or it will not exist.” Corporate Communication Service. Barcelona, June 2006

5th web session at the Centre for Legal Studies and Specialised Training

How do the Government’s Creative Commons licences help to make knowledge accessible to society?

Ignasi Labastida i Juan, Doctor of Physics from the University of Barcelona. Responsible for the promotion and implementation of Creative Commons licences in Catalonia and the rest of Spain. The event was chaired by Joan Turró, Secretary General of the Ministry of Justice and it was introduced by Marta Continente, Presidential Department Secretary for Telecommunications and the Information Society.

Hall of the Centre for Legal Studies and Specialised Training, 19 October 2006. 120 people attended.

Introduction One of the challenges of the new economic era is to make knowledge available for innovation in products and services. Creative Commons (CC) licences are a useful tool to achieve this by offering a flexible system to deal with royalties for all kinds of works. The idea is to authorise some uses of the work instead of restricting and banning them from the outset. The classic notion of “all rights reserved” is thus changed to “some rights reserved”.

What are Creative Commons licences?

Creative Commons is an American non-profit making organisation founded in 2001. At the end of 2002 it launched a project for licences, offering them to anyone who did not want to reserve all rights for their work but were prepared to cede some rights under certain conditions.

The licences are free and works do not have to be registered. They are legal texts which allow the author to grant the rights corresponding to the work for purposes which are considered suitable. Copying, reproduction, distribution and public dissemination are always allowed when acknowledgement is given to the author in credits, but limitations may be placed on commercial use or the possibility of producing derivative works, or these may be subject to the terms of the licence for the original work. The six standard licences currently available are the result of combining these conditions.

The iCommons project dates from 2003 and was introduced to adapt licences to the requirements of each state in the USA. This year the University of Barcelona became the Spanish affiliate institution for Creative Commons. The licences are now adapted to Spanish legislation on intellectual property and are available in all the official languages.

Different government applications of Creative Commons licences

The conclusions of the study by the British consortium Common Information Environment on the application of CC licences to the public sector show that the dissemination of public resources using these licences is viable. Examples already exist, such as the Governments of Brazil and Mexico, institutions such as the British Council, policies on research by the National Health Institutes in the USA, etc.

In Catalonia we also find examples, such as Recercat (Catalonia Research repository), RACO (Catalan Open Access Reviews), Zona Clic (Dept. of Education). It should also be noted that on 27 June 2006 the proposal to apply CC licences to all Government of Catalonia publications was approved by the Editorial Board.

Conclusions

1. We do not need to perpetuate the traditional model of “all rights reserved”. 2. Only necessary reservations should be made. 3. It should be made easy to access and reuse information for which we have all paid. 4. What is allowed must always be made clear, applying minimum restrictions. 5. A full study of the possibilities and applicability of the licences should be carried out.

Corporate Communication Service. Barcelona, October 2006

6th web session at the Centre for Legal Studies and Specialised Training

Internet tools that allow people to interact with the Government

Roc Fages, consultant journalist specialising in the Internet. He writes regular commentaries on electronic government in the broadest sense in his cyberdiary www.goldmundus.com. The event was introduced by Joan Xirau, Director of the Centre for legal studies and specialised training.

Hall of the Centre for Legal Studies and Specialised Training, 30 January 2007. 175 people attended.

Introduction Technology allows people to exchange knowledge and good practice through interactive internet tools, such as blogs, wikis, and other resources, especially using interactive web 2.0 tools.

Interaction and blogs Blogs are personal or collective on-line diaries where information on different topics appears as articles or posts. They follow a chronological sequence which is regularly updated, allowing readers who visit the blog to add comments. There are various tools for creating blogs: Blogger, e-Catalunya, etc. RSS content syndication also means that we can receive a notification when the blogs that interest us are updated, using local applications such as Feedreader or web access applications such as Bloglines (like Roc Fages’ own blogline).

Blogs have become a tool for both private and public participation. Ministers, mayors and other politicians have created their own blogs to comment on measures which have been adopted or to reflect on everyday life in a city and gather the opinions of those who read them (e.g. the blog by the Mayor of Mataró Joan Antoni Baron, the blog by Government workers Alberto Ortiz de Zárate and Iñaki Ortiz).

Some companies use corporate blogs to maintain contact with their staff and interact with users or customers (IBM, Microsoft).

Interaction and web 2.0

Web 2.0 includes tools which allow quick, easy, real time cooperation on the net. The e-Catalunya platform is an example of the way in which different professionals can work together with others in the same field, taking part in discussions and taking advantage of each other’s contributions. The platform makes available to members tools such as wikis and blogs, and the storage of all types of files to interact and share knowledge. Leadership plays an important part in its use.

Participation can be enhanced through interaction from mobile phones: the e-lens project, based on a tagging system with chips which allow information to be received and modified on a mobile phone (pilot scheme in Manresa), and Zexe.net, a website about accessibility in Barcelona where people with disabilities take photographs of places which are not accessible and publish them on the web.

Conclusions

1. Interaction goes beyond internet. Now we need to look at tools (blogs, wikis, RSS, etc.) and integrated platforms for interaction (computer, TV, mobile phone, PDA).

2. Interactive tools should be explored and exploited to encourage participation. 3. We should use interactive tools which are useful and user-friendly.

Blogs and wikis are the ideal tools for interaction between users and the Government. Used internally, by staff, they encourage reflection and cohesion within the organisation. Used externally, they promote the institution’s brand by encouraging participation in the generation of ideas.

Corporate Communication Service. Barcelona, January 2007

7th web session at the Centre for Legal Studies and Specialised Training

Where is training going in organisations?

Javier Martínez Aldanondo, Head of the Knowledge Management Division of Catenaria, is one of the leading figures in e-learning and knowledge management in the Spanish-speaking world. The event was introduced by Joan Xirau, Director of the Centre for legal studies and specialised training.

Hall of the Centre for Legal Studies and Specialised Training, 21 March 2007. 120 people attended.

Introduction Normally we do not remember knowledge passed on in a conventional face-to-face course. However, we do remember experiences, stories and what we learn from making mistakes. To learn we need to remember: we don’t need courses or content, but someone who knows how to teach and how to do what they are teaching. In training, there are 3 revolutions which are pending:

1st revolution: training linked to the organisation’s results Training objectives should be part of the strategic objectives of the organisation. Training is intended to change behaviour, so it is necessary to find out what doesn’t work, what staff do and what the organisation would like them to do, what problems they have, who the experts are, what are the main mistakes they make, etc. Indicators are also needed to assess the training.

2nd revolution: learning by doing

Practice is needed to learn: if what we teach cannot be practised, it may not be worthwhile teaching it. Mistakes are the most important part of learning, as we learn from our mistakes. The aim of this learning is to store experience which we can take advantage of in the future.

3rd revolution: learning with technology

flexibility mustn’t be the only advantage of e-learning: it must offer things we cannot get from a face-to-face class. It is people who are intelligent; technology is only a means. The problem of e-learning is that it has transferred face-to-face teaching to the virtual context without adapting it: often we just read on the screen what we used to read in a textbook, but the computer is an instrument that allows us to practise, get feedback, work in a network, etc.

Conclusion

There are two basic problems in training:

1. We tend to teach things that nobody needs, we don’t teach the things people really need, and when we do teach them it isn’t when people need them.

2. We need to change the way we teach because it is doomed to failure. There are three pillars on which the learning process is based:

a. People learn by doing, practising things they are interested in. If you don’t practise, you don’t learn. b. Mistakes are the most important part of learning. c. Stories are a vehicle for the transmission of knowledge whose value is incalculable: we learn from

others, with others and teaching others.

Learning (and doing it faster than our competitors) is an indispensable skill for survival in the present system, where change is a constant. Organisations can only last if they help workers to adapt to these changes, i.e. to learn. The change calls for cooperative working practices, intensive use of technology, innovation, and, above all, a focus on people. Corporate Communication Service. Barcelona,March 2007

8th web session at the Centre for Legal Studies and Specialised Training

Can the Government persuade people by internet?

David Boronat is an Internet specialist and a founder member of the company Multiplica. He writes regular comments about persuasion skills on the internet at www.persuabilidad.com, a website which discusses the role of persuasion in turning users into customers. The event was introduced by Joan Xirau, Director of the Centre for legal studies and specialised training.

Hall of the Centre for Legal Studies and Specialised Training, 27 March 2007. 130 people attended.

Introduction Governments should be aware of developments in the private sector in the use of strategies to capture the attention of users and turn them into loyal customers. They should use the internet more intensively to raise awareness, communicate and involve the public emotionally, to project local culture or to promote a high standard of management.

The private sector on the internet Businesses have users, with whom they need to establish dialogue and whose emotions they must engage. Challenges for companies on the internet:

- Saying things differently, speaking the users’ language and explaining things simply and visually. - Recognise the importance of e-mail addresses and make intelligent use of e-mail. Multi-channel

facilities are also important as is getting to know users without asking them for too much information (e.g. using cookies)

- Offering favourable conditions for customers who are willing to operate electronically with them.

The Government on-line The Government on-line:

- It must be attractive, persuasive and promote certain local values. - Like businesses, it must explain things to users and the public in the simplest, most visual way, in

familiar language. It should also encourage people to contact it on-line. - It has to sell its programmes and its on-line services (and make sure that the public use them), but it

also has to be transparent (explaining Government action, its strategic priorities and its objectives, and publishing their results).

- Push services should be promoted and lessons learnt from success stories (e.g. a high percentage of visitors to the Barcelona City Council website go there to look at the streetguide and this page could be used to draw attention to important information).

Conclusion The Government has a genuine ability to use the internet to persuade people. Currently there are many examples of the persuasive use of internet by Governments:

- Chilecompra (Chilean Government): on-line system for purchases and public contracting. - My eCitizen (Government of Singapore): privatisation of institutional information. - One Cent Now (Toronto): raising public support for regional projects (cyberactivism).

The Government has, then, to be able to make use of strategies and resources from the world of business to approach the public and other customers and establish a relationship based on trust leading to loyalty.

Corporate Communication Service. Barcelona, March 2007

9th Web session at the Centre for Legal Studies and Specialised Training

What can the Government do with the knowledge it generates?

Mario Pérez-Montoro, holds a doctorate in Philosophy and Educational Science from the University of Barcelona (UB) and is a lecturer in the Faculty of Librarianship and Documentation at the UB. The talk was introduced by Joan Mauri, Secretary General of the Ministry of Justice.

Hall of the Centre for Legal Studies and Specialised Training, 5 June 2007. 200 people attended.

Introduction In the knowledge economy, information is the main source of activity for organisations and is the value added to goods and services which gives them a competitive edge and makes them attractive to users (these are the prerequisites of innovation). Organisations are structured round knowledge and see learning as a way to improve and thus adapt to processes of change.

Managing knowledge in organisations Type of knowledge:

- Tacit (personal and difficult to transmit) and explicit (can be verbalised and transmitted). - Individual (each person’s tacit and explicit knowledge) and corporate (belongs to institutions). - Internal (critical knowledge which allows an organisation to fulfil objectives) and external (to relate to

other organisations and people).

Knowledge management consists in designing a system that incorporates all the types of knowledge in the organisation and transforms it into corporate knowledge in order to to achieve its objectives. Corporate knowledge suffers, however, when staff leave and when knowledge becomes outdated. Traditional learning and other forms such as virtual learning, cooperative learning, experience, etc. help to compensate for the knowledge lost in this way.

The cost of knowledge and what we can obtain in exchange Obstacles: resistance to change and to sharing, lack of time and incentives, need for technological training and for group work, lack of a common organisational culture, intolerance of mistakes, etc.

Personal benefits: solving everyday problems, improving decision making, greater flexibility, access to new forms of learning, gaining professional recognition, etc. Collective benefits: increasing the organisation’s effectiveness and efficiency, reducing the knowledge deficit, avoiding duplication of knowledge, benefiting from investment in training, greater commitment to the organisation, creating an ecological context for knowledge (only useful knowledge remains in the organisation).

Schemes to implement knowledge management: the Ministry of Justice model - Strategic stages in the project: 1. Identifying potential communities. 2. Providing logistics. 3. Assessing

the contribution to the organisation. - Community of practice: e-moderators (leaders) + 15 groups working according to the project’s

methodology. 190 people working on the project and approximately 900 associated with it (outside groups, etc.)

- Working pattern: face-to-face meetings + collective work via the e-Catalunya platform. - Presentation of problems, proposal of standardised solutions and development of products (models for

documents, standard procedures, etc.) - Dissemination of the project: intranet (knowledge portal), website, e-moderators’ blog, digital review. - Assessment: activity indicators (no. of activities per group and tool), production (no. of face-to-face

sessions and no. of products developed) and impact (related to efficiency and experience).

Conclusion

“Where culture and knowledge are concerned, you only lose what you keep, you only gain what you give.” Antonio Machado Corporate Communication Service. Barcelona, June 2007

10th Web session at the Centre for Legal Studies and Specialised Training

Social networks on internet: the added value of our contacts.

Albert Armengol holds a degree in Medicine and Surgery from the Barcelona Autonomous University (UAB), an MBA from ESADE and is founder of eConozco www.econozco.com, the world’s first on-line Spanish language contact network. The event was introduced by Joan Xirau, Director of the Centre for legal studies and specialised training.

Hall of the Centre for Legal Studies and Specialised Training, 16 October 2007. 170 people attended.

On a face-to-face level, networking is the development and dissemination of good management of our networks of personal and professional contacts.

On-line social networks

Together with forums, wikis, e-mail, instant messaging and blogs, social networking programs are tools which help to construct an organisation’s knowledge through cooperation.

It is interesting to observe the differences in the graphic representation of contact networks in organisations: organisational relations, corresponding to the hierarchy, and inter-personal relations, which are those we refer to as social networking.

What is networking?

Networking consists in developing and sharing our network of contacts; it is, then, a very suitable resource for developing cooperative work projects. There are two types: personal and professional. Within networking we can distinguish between strong links (contacts with whom we share a group of contacts similar to our own) and weak links (people we have just met). Strong links provide a framework of trust while weak links provide diversity and it is desirable to strengthen them through network projects.

What is on-line networking?

On-line networking (social networking software) involves a network of professional contacts which can be extended to the contacts of our existing contacts. In this way an extensive network of relations can be built up.

Through on-line networking we can find people whom it would be very difficult to contact otherwise. On-line networking thus allows us to be in the right place at the right time.

The concept of on-line networking first appeared around 2002 on open websites. To join a social networking website, we first need to post a good professional profile or CV, so that we will be accessible to people who may want to contact us (passive visibility).

Within on-line networking, there are social and professional networks. From a geographical perspective, networks range from local (such as e-Catalunya http://ecatalunya.gencat.net, with communities promoted by the Government of Catalonia or which are Catalan in scope) to others which are international, such as the German Xing (which has bought eConozco and Neurona and is the leader in Europe) and Linked-in (leader in the English-speaking world).

Conclusion. “Dig the well before you are thirsty” (Chinese proverb)

Just as we can determine specific uses for other internet tools (forum = discussion; blog = expression of implicit knowledge, conversation; wiki = joint production of final document), social networking programmes help us to manage and extend our network of contacts efficiently and facilitate the structuring of collective intelligence.

Corporate Communication Service. Barcelona, October 2007

11th Web session at the Centre for Legal Studies and Specialised Training

Why do we need to innovate in the Government?

Joan Majó Cruzate. Doctorate in industrial engineering and Director of the Catalan Broadcasting Corporation. He has worked in the business world and for local and international institutions related to telecommunications, research and science. The talk was introduced by Joan Mauri, Secretary General of the Ministry of Justice.

Hall of the Centre for Legal Studies and Specialised Training, 23 January 2008. 175 people attended.

What is innovation?

In the business world innovation is understood as the ability to turn knowledge into profit. In the non-commercial world, including government, innovation is the ability to turn knowledge into value to improve services. Innovation is always a tool to achieve goals and not a goal in itself.

Rather than developing a better product, innovation means thinking of a new one which people can clearly see the usefulness of.

The ability to innovate is a general characteristic of a country or a region. It is part of a culture, it is in the people and spreads from them. There are four indispensable requirements for innovation, its development and implementation: educational and professional system networks, business models and government policies.

Innovation in economic processes

The objective of companies is to be competitive and make profits. Business development involves three areas: being competitive in cost, quality and innovation. Today western countries can only be competitive through innovation, as other countries are more competitive regarding prices and they have the same technological capacity to make quality products.

In the European Union the capacity of different countries and regions for innovation has been monitored. Based on 17 indicators, such as the number of graduates in science and engineering, the percentage of the population aged 25 to 64 with higher studies or undertaking institutionalised retraining, the percentage of GDP devoted to research and development, etc., the progress of European countries towards innovation is measured. The figures show that in recent years Catalonia’s position in innovation has dropped.

How can we innovate in Government?

It is difficult in government to accept innovation and overcome inertia. Things are done well but we continue doing the same things. In the public arena, rather than exchange knowledge, we need to exchange experience and always bear in mind the need to improve service to the public. For example, to innovate we need to provide services which fit in with the public’s new habits (internet, mobile phones, etc.)

Conclusion

Innovation is a change in consumer habits in response to people’s needs. A good example of an innovative product which has been widely accepted is the mobile phone and the associated applications which allow the user to access a range of content and services.

Innovations in procedure lead to improvements in the quality of service. We must be imaginative and anticipate people’s real needs in the future to plan our activity in this area.

Corporate Communication Service. Barcelona, January 2008

12th Web session at the Centre for Legal Studies and Specialised Training

Is Government 2.0 achievable? Tools and attitudes for cooperation.

Carlos Guadián Orta www.k-government.com, consultant specialising in internet communication and content. The event was introduced by Joan Xirau, Director of the Centre for legal studies.

Hall of the Centre for Legal Studies and Specialised Training, 16 April 2007. 200 people attended.

The web 2.0 concept is changing the mentality of users and of the Government

Internet, and in particular web 2.0 provides channels for communication which affect the way we relate socially, our learning and acquisition of knowledge.

With web 2.0 the net is like a big conversation which allows the formation of communities with common interests and maximises each member’s contribution. The user goes from a purely receptive role to being the centre, as everything is two-way. This is how the global conversation is shaped.

In this new setting a cooperative attitude is essential, an interest in producing knowledge and sharing it.

How to integrate the web 2.0 model in the Government

The Government must manage the change carefully, ensuring that the attitudes of directors and managers are positive and that proper training and technical solutions are provided. It is important for Government staff to gain confidence in this new cooperative system so that they can contribute professional knowledge and learn from the system.

The Government’s role is not to control people but to cooperate with them; the public add value to services.

Tools and resources for cooperation on internet: blogs, RSS, bookmarking and social filters for news, social network, wikis, etc.

Various tools and resources which help users managa this change are available on the internet. They include the Wordpress and Blogger blogs, RSS (Bloglines, Google Reader, Thunderbird), social bookmarking, such as Del.icio.us, social news filters (Digg, Menéame), browsers for news or posts (Wikio, Blogsearch), social networks (Linkedin, Facebook), wikis, etc.

Experiences with web 2.0 in the Government

There are Government departments, such as the Ministry of Justice, which are already fully committed to web 2.0. The Compartim program is a good example.

This and other experiences (like the e-Catalunya platform) treat the service they provide as a platform on which a network of relationships is built among their staff and with the public.

Conclusion

Web 2.0 makes it easier for everyone to participate in a free medium. To reap the maximum benefit from this new system it is essential for organisations and individuals (including Government bodies and their staff) to adopt a cooperative attitude which favours the development and sharing of knowledge. There have already been valuable experiences within the Government. We need to extend our knowledge of the tools which facilitate work in this new environment (blogs, RSS, bookmarking, browsers, social news filters, wikis, etc.) and our confidence in using them.

Corporate Communication Service. Barcelona, April 2008

13th web session at the Centre for Legal Studies and Specialised Training

The transformation of on-line learning through social networking and video

Gregor Gimmy www.sclipo.com, founder and CEO of the Sclipo company. The event was introduced by Joan Xirau, Director of the Centre for legal studies.

Hall of the Centre for Legal Studies and Specialised Training, 11 June 2008. 194 people attended.

Traditional education suffers from certain shortcomings in its infrastructure, as it is limited to a certain place and time, and lacks interaction. Web 2.0, and in particular social network technology, video and webcam, offer us new opportunities to improve learning, because they enable us to learn from the best, wherever they may be (delocalisation), know who and what is the best, reduce the cost of assessment, facilitate the learning of any subject, however uncommon it is, and find and store relevant audiovisual material and interaction.

Web 2.0 and social networks

With web 1.0 people could receive information, shop and search, while web 2.0 also allows them to create content (texts, photos, audio, video) without having knowledge about programming. As there is interaction between users, content can be assessed and shared more easily.

The common features of web 2.0 are that users have a public profile (public area), they can create and share content, and interact publicly and privately. This interaction raises users’ profiles and promotes the content they create.

Web 2.0 can be used in different ways, according to users’ objectives: suggesting and finding content (digg, Technorati), establishing their presence on the net (Blogger, Youtube, Flickr, MySpace), developing friendships (Facebook), teaching and learning (Sclipo), professional networking (Xing).

Social network+education = Sclipo: social education

The combination of the social network with the objective of teaching and learning has made Sclipo a pioneer in social education.

Sclipo is a social network where anybody can publish an indefinite number of videos (there are no restrictions) to facilitate the learning of any content, including subjects of minority interest. Assessment of content is very extensive because participants give direct and indirect assessment (number of views, forwarding to friends, voting, comments). Choosing the best material is easier on Sclipo because the users themselves choose the best content, which reduces the cost of assessment.

SclipoLive is a pioneering service which provides synchronic teaching via a web camera and records teaching content and chats (notes indexed to the video of the class), as well as saving audiovisual content and relevant interaction so that they can be found easily later. In the near future there will be a new version, in which there will be one teacher for several students, and it will be possible to add texts to complement the video.

Conclusion

The internet’s main value is for learning. On-line learning is a wonderful opportunity with great potential to improve education through social network technologies combined with an audiovisual support. Customised solutions can also be provided for companies and government bodies so that good practice can be shared by all staff.

Corporate Communication Service. Barcelona, June 2008

14th Web session at the Centre for Legal Studies and Specialised Training

Collective intelligence and web 2.0.

Ricardo Baeza Yates www.dcc.uchile.cl/~rbaeza/spanish.html, Director of Yahoo! Research, Barcelona and Santiago de Chile. The event was introduced by Joan Xirau, Director of the Centre for legal studies.

Hall of the Centre for Legal Studies and Specialised Training, 9 October 2008. 200 people attended.

The web 2.0 concept. Impact on today’s internet

It is currently estimated that between 1 and 2.5 billion people have internet access and the number is expected to reach 5 billion by 2015; internet traffic has increased 20-fold in the last 5 years and there are over 181 million web servers. The main characteristics of web 2.0, which consists of social networks or social media, are the fragmentation of the ownership of content and the fragmentation of access.

Characteristics of web 2.0: content generated by people and collective intelligence

The main ingredient of web 2.0 is the community dynamic: in its new products the distinction between creators, synthesisers and consumers is blurred. For example, let us consider the case of Flickr www.flickr.com: the users themselves generate the content, organise it, distribute it, and develop new uses for it. The web 2.0 ecosystem consists of blogs; social networks like MySpace www.myspace.com, Facebook http://ca-es.facebook.com, Friendster www.friendster.com; the sharing of favourite links http://delicious.com; instant messaging; sharing photos (Flickr) or videos www.youtube.com; participation in groups http://es.groups.yahoo.com and individuals answering questions from others http://es.answers.yahoo.com. South Korea is the most advanced country in social networks.

Data mining on web use

In 2004 the journalist James Surowiecki published the book The wisdom of crowds. On web 2.0 data mining based on people’s wisdom improves the user’s experience through the data collected: it is a essential for improving web searches (browser rankings), the content and the structure of information (based on the anchor text).

Digital community systems, the new emerging science, and people’s implicit wisdom

Digital community systems are a new way to participate, belong and share: the web today reflects the economy and society in general, it is scientifically young and intellectually diverse. People’s implicit wisdom can be seen at work in folksonomy (collective classification through tagging) and knowledge networks, resulting in implicit social networks, such as the Open Directory Project www.dmoz.org or Wikipedia www.wikipedia.org. On the governmental level digital communities have also been set up in a number of countries. In Catalonia the Compartim programme is of particular interest. Knowledge is managed and the programme’s annual conference prepared through the social blog http://compartim.socializame.com.

Conclusion

On web 2.0 the content is produced and shared by the users themselves, which has a great impact on internet and also on society, the economy, the world of publicity, education, etc. Consumption becomes an implicit act of production, with no added effort required. It is a matter of capturing people’s experience, allowing people to be tagged as trustworthy sources on an ongoing basis.

Corporate Communication Service. Barcelona, October 2008

15th web session at the Centre for Legal Studies and Specialised Training

Do people need to have a digital identity? How to construct it.

Juan Freire http://juanfreire.net, expert in innovation and strategy in networks and organisations. The speaker was introduced by Jordi Graells, Coordinator of Content and Innovation for the Directorate General for Citizen Attention (Presidential Department).

Hall of the Centre for Legal Studies and Specialised Training, 18 February 2009. 194 people attended.

Digital identity

Nowadays the intensive use of web 2.0 tools, especially social network services, calls for the availability of a digital identity through which we make ourselves visible to other people: our identity which appears on the internet needs to be controlled and it is preferable to manage it ourselves, rather than not be involved and have others manage it for us.

Learning about and constructing digital identity

Constructing one’s digital identity is part of the learning process in the digital culture. We are heading towards a situation in which we will have a hybrid identity (physical and digital); this does not mean we will have two identities, as our identity is unique, although it is sometimes difficult to separate the personal from the professional.

Adolescents nowadays only perceive one identity. A study carried out in the USA in 2008 on the use made by adolescents of digital media concluded that adolescents relate to each other in two types of community: a) local networks of friends, as an extension of physical contact, through phone calls, sms, instant messaging and b) interest networks, global in scope, where they relate to other people with similar interests, and it is through these networks that they develop their creative skills (writing blogs, publishing videos, etc.), become visible and gain a reputation.

Adolescents use the network in three different ways: 1) just spending time (hanging out); 2) looking for information without any clear purpose (messing around); and 3) specialised independent use of the technology (geeking out).

There are two ways to view the internet: as a big space full of rubbish (games, inaccurate information, publicity, etc.) or as a space for learning and socialising. According to our own learning process we will adopt one position or the other.

To construct our digital identity the tools we use are not as important as the purpose for which we are going to use them. The concept of digital competences has evolved: it has moved from a technological focus (1990s to early 2000s) to a social and participatory communicative focus (since 2003).

Conclusion - There are no rules for constructing and controlling digital identity; it is an individual learning process.

The rules still have to be defined. - We should be careful about the information we publish; it may not be significant in itself but it may be

mined for data and a pattern established. - If we do not have a digital identity, identity theft is easier. - Digital identity affects organisations; the Government also needs to construct its own digital identity and

must know what it wants to transmit to the public. The Administration should also train staff so that they know how to construct their digital identity for the benefit of the organisation. This is particularly necessary for organisations involved in projects with social networks and work done jointly.

Government of Catalonia. Barcelona, February 2009