There seems to be a consistent supply of people new to Government 2.0 filtering through the various events I track around Australia.
Whether commercial conferences, 'Masterclasses', government-supported events or university courses - many (though not all) now providing decent '101' or introductory information and case studies on social media use for government and even on open Public Sector Information.
However for people who already employ Government 2.0 techniques, have been involved in designing and implementing social media initiatives and channels, there's really no 'step-up' courses available in Australia to provide the greater depth and expertise these people are looking for.
Essentially, Australia is well supplied with '101' introductory courses to Government 2.0, but there's no '202' or '303' courses - intermediate and advanced training to help people build on their experience.
These more advanced courses would help improve government's effectiveness in social media by moving us to more complex and strategic use of digital channels to meet citizen needs.
There's certainly people around with the experience to run such courses, both from a strategic and implementation perspective. Many are presenting actively at the various '101' events.
I'd welcome any ideas on how to move us forward, keep the introductory courses for those still new to the area, but provided advanced training for those who now need it (at an appropriate cost).
Assuming I could be considered someone with the requisite knowledge and experience to do this, the hurdles I face are really just availability of time in the face of all the other things I do and the fact that nobody has asked me.
ReplyDeleteIf the second happened, I'd make the first happen.
Steve,
ReplyDeletePossibly that's one of the big issues - the people who could do a '202' course justice are too busy to run them :)
Craig
ReplyDeleteThis hasn't been a problem with course suppliers in the past B-)
I think the main problem, though, is that few people are looking to the long term. So, "we're doing social media: we've got a Twitter account. What do you mean, there's more to it than that?"
Kerry