Adding RDFa to a consultation
Recently, I’ve been involved in a project to ensure our consultations support RDFa markup, to make them indexable and reusable by third parties, including Directgov. Without duplicating the quite accessible and useful COI guidance, I thought I’d summarise here the process involved from the perspective of implementing the standard with minimal prior knowledge of the whys and wherefores.
Why bother?
As of Jan 1st 2010, it’s now a mandatory requirement for government sites. But more importantly than that, it’s a Jolly Good Idea to provide a low-maintenance way of enabling other systems and services to grab a list of consultations from your site, and identify the important metadata about them, including the closing date and how to respond. Short term, it will make services like TellThemWhatYouThink and Directgov more useful, but in terms of the bigger picture, it will expose the opportunity to get involved with policymaking to a wider audience, and reduce the hassle for those who are already part of our regular stakeholder group (by making possible new services such as auto email alerts, RSS feeds, cross-government updates and so on).
What’s involved?
RDFa offers a simple way to add meaningful information to existing web pages, which can be extracted easily by software (as opposed to hit-and-miss ‘scraping’ of regular web pages). As a lay person, I’d say there are three key principles which I can articulate:
- Be unobtrusive and minimalistic: taking this approach lets you add extra items to pages which aren’t seen by regular browsing visitors, but which are accessible to software robots looking for them. It’s also not ‘an extra thing’ to maintain and serve like an RSS feed, so reduces risk, in theory.
- Offer clean data: through being consistent in how data about the consultation is described, the idea is that RDFa helps to extract very clean information about the consultation – for example, an unambiguous closing date, a response email address, an exact postcode, all in formats which can then be used in other ways (plotted on a map, listed on a calendar, turned into a mailform on a website etc)
- Extend existing conventions: the most complicated aspect of implementing this particular specification is that the authors have gone out of their way to find existing wheels rather than reinvent their own. So they use Dublin Core metadata to describe authors and organisations; vCard to describe response contact information; plus nods to DBPedia and FOAF (Friend Of A Friend) to support these major semantic web initiatives. Only for the gaps where specific consultation information needs to be marked up is there a new standard introduced, using the namespace (prefix)
argot.
In a nutshell, the process involves tweaking the template for your consultation pages, adding extra metadata elements and attributes. This is only as easy or hard as your CMS makes it. It’s important that it’s right though – even a few ‘broken bits’ could render the page useless to a software robot trying to extract data from it.
How to do it
Read the COI guidance (and give it to your developer), which is the most comprehensive guide, with useful illustrated examples. There’s also a worked up HTML page showing how this works, and of course you’re welcome to look at ours (which I *think* are right, based on feedback from the gurus).
As an example (but again, you should read the official guidance) I found I needed to work through the following:
- ensure we have a single page per per consultation
- amend the DOCTYPE, if you’re using something like the standard XHTML strict/transitional version. Needs to tell requesters of the page that it contains RDFa
- add some attributes to the <html> element, highlighting the namespaces (vocabularies) you’re referencing in the document
- add Dublin Core metadata elements/attributes to your page <head> element if they’re not there already
- ensure we have a wrapper <div> around the consultation information which again references the namespaces (vocabularies) you’re using. This also identifies the name of the organisation publishing the document
- add some Dublin Core metadata attributes as <spans> within this <div> identifying this as a consultation
- add some Dublin Core attributes to key bits of the HTML, such as the consultation title, start date, closing date and description, marking these as such – and in the case of dates, ensuring there’s a machine-readable data format value in the attribute. Also add a unique identifier – a reference number – to each consultation (not something we’d done routinely before)
- ensure the contact details for responses is carefully structured using vCard format, with separate ‘Full Name’, ‘Street Address’, ‘Locality’ and ‘Post Code’ elements, suitably marked-up with attributes. Since vCard doesn’t cover the specific case of a consultation with an email reply address, for example, these elements are marked up with the new argot: namespace attributes
- add Dublin Core-based attributes describing the file attachments – the consultation document itself, and any related ones such as appendices or Impact Assessments
UPDATE: in retrospect, it was foolish to attempt a blog post about code without some code examples. I’ve tried and failed to find a half-decent code syntax highlighter plugin for WordPress, but the following couple of screenshots hopefully illustrate the before and after situations for the contact information part of a consultation:
Before, plain HTML:
After, with RDFa added (and marked up more semantically as a list item within the consultation metadata)
What help is available?
I worked from the examples given in the COI guidance and the pioneers in this at the Ministry of Justice. The COI Digigov team are your allies in helping to implement this, and should be able to answer queries and/or direct you to sources of further implementation advice and support.
In terms of online tools, you can see whether your RDFa is visible to suitably-equipped applications using Mark Birbeck’s tool or bookmarklet, if you prefer (and he should know; he invented RDFa).
Good luck!
P.S. If you Know About This Stuff and feel I’m giving duff advice here, please drop me a line in the comments or via the contact form and I’ll correct. Thanks.
Filed under Development, Government, Technical, Uncategorized | Comments (10)Baby steps in Social Media News Releases
The thinking goes: the old fashioned press release, with its carefully-crafted marketing-speak, stilted quotes and page or two of text is on the way out. First, the intended audience (journalists) don’t trust the content. Second, it doesn’t fit with the multimedia format of broadcast and online news. Third, in an age of blogging and citizen journalism, there’s a wider audience out there for the raw information sans spin.
The Social Media News Release (SMNR) updates the old press notice and video news release for a social media age. Factual bullet points instead of marketingese. Embedded video and images for media outlets and bloggers to use. Social bookmarking buttons to help users to spread the word. Related documents and context to help the lazy or time-poor to put the report in context.
I think there’s a real opportunity for government press officers here: by preparing more engaging news releases, we can give stretched media organisations the raw materials they need to cover public sector stories, help set the context of our programmes and announcements, and strengthen trust in government as a source of authoritative, credible information. The example of the H1N1 swine flu materials published by the US Center for Disease Control is a rather nice one, complete with embeddable widgets.
Rather haphazardly, I’ve been trying to do the same for some of the launches I’ve worked on. Early attempts were very basic. A more recent effort (with more planning) was a bit more comprehensive. But now, I’ve got the luxury of piloting it properly, with Rhys Stacker – a former DIUS press officer and talented photographer – and Elliot Reuben at the helm.
Naively, I initially thought we could write a spec for a software tool to help us deliver SMNRs, and roll it out. It quickly became clear that actually, there are more cultural change and technical obstacles involved in preparing, creating, publishing, promoting and assessing SMNRs than I first realised. There seem to be four main challenges:
- Getting the right content: capturing content with the appropriate tone, quality and range
- Publishing it in the right format: finding a platform which presents it right, including multimedia files which others can take and reuse, and publishing it in a timely way
- Promoting it to the right people: identifying who might be interested (e.g. specialist bloggers) and telling them about the release
- Tracking its impact: assessing who is using it, how, and how it could be improved
We’re trying out PressItt, a free hosted SMNR service, which Rhys used today to collate an SMNR about our minister’s opening of a new research facility – complete with high resolution images and a podcast of the minister’s speech. To my mind, it’s an impressive effort – simply converting and publishing the various components. And it’s step forward from our first attempt, which featured video clips of the launch of DIUS’ Learning Revolution - but which took 3 days to finally edit and publish.
This is still a relatively new and untested area of digital engagement for UK government, so we’re still feeling our way through successfully completing the process itself, let alone successful outcomes from it. But to my mind, that’s exactly where we should be, hence my documenting our baby steps.
Learnings so far? Planning is everything: know what we can capture, and line up the people and gear to do it. Editing and uploading takes time. Busy press officers can’t realistically take this on as a new responsibility – it needs dedicated focus and expertise, at least for now. Promotion is tricky – tools like Social Media Library offer the promise of helping us target the right bloggers and tweeters alongside our corporate channels, but it’s too soon to tell what really works. The process is getting quicker with practice: while brands like Ford have produced impressive SMNRs, they’re focussing on big product launches, rather than the types of regular events and publications we’re currently aiming to cover in this way.
We’ll keep on trying, and seeing what works, and look forward to feedback and suggestions as we go.
Filed under Government, Social media, Uncategorized | Comments (24)Unblocking the Blockers
OK, it’s time to be a bit subversive.
We have the Civil Service guidance on participation online, and yet in organisations across the UK, public servants and others are being prevented from engaging online at work thanks to restrictions placed on their internet access by their IT providers. Some of these are well-intentioned: designed to prevent malicious attacks through unguarded use of attachments to webmail messages. Some are questionable, but understandable, like blocking access to webmail to prevent leaking of sensitive material. But often, they’re just bloody-minded and a symptom of a lack of understanding that social networks, wikis and online video are increasingly important tools that people need to access from work in order to their jobs properly. As one person told me today: “It’s OK, I can call up X to get temporary access to that site, but still, it makes me feel subversive, like I’m doing something out of the ordinary which isn’t a real part of my job”. We won’t get anywhere with digital engagement unless we start treating colleagues as trustworthy adults.
(Note to managers: if people abuse the access they’re offered, discipline them according to the acceptable use policy they’ve signed up to. If you’re not aware of how they’re spending their time at work, why on earth not?)
So let’s try and build a picture of access to social media tools from the workplace. Please run my social media test suite survey from your workplace machine and let’s see who the blockers are. I’m happy to publish here, or in the survey results you can see when you complete the survey, any appropriate explanations or justifications from IT providers. I know there can be good reasons for limiting access, and we should separate those from the bad ones.
Finally, as it says on the front page of the survey, don’t attempt the survey if you have the misfortune of working somewhere really prehistoric and draconian: if even attempting to access social media sites will get you in trouble, please don’t.
UPDATE: the results are in.
Filed under Uncategorized | Comments (22)An incomplete field-spotters guide to the jungle beasts of the social media enterprise
Herewith in a half-dozen crisp pen-portraits, a description of some of the characters you are sure to meet as a missionary for social media in the curious jungle of social media in the enterprise:
Macaques are fun and infuriating. They love to experiment, grabbing something and leaping away to play with it. They’re sociable types too, but defend their own space. You’ll wonder where that thing of yours went, only to find a cheeky macacque making a rude gesture with it, and then throwing it at you when you turn your back.
Camels are generally miserable, unyielding and obstructive where possible. They do Real Work, have always done it a certain way, and won’t be persuaded that any other way exists. They cast you a look of disdain through their long eyelashes, and give you a sneaky kick if you get too close.
Puppies are endearing (I told you it was a strange old jungle). They crave attention and have seemingly boundless energy. Never too busy to play with a new toy, they gnaw things to shreds, unleash loo rolls throughout the house and run up expectantly for the pat on the head they know they’ll get.
Crocodiles lurk in the shallows and appear at first to be a helpful log to cross the stream. Big mistake: they’ll cost you an arm.
Owls watch and learn. You hardly notice they’re there, as they tentatively edge along the twig towards you. They aren’t afraid of new ideas and do things thoroughly and deliberately. In fact, because they take time to learn and practice, they often end up as the experts.
Bison are herd animals. They do things when others do them, and don’t want to be the first to explore a new domain. They worry that striking off in a new direction will leave them exposed. And they know, rightly, that lions come and go like the seasons, but the herd will always remain.
Photo credits (Flickr): Creativity+ Timothy K Hamilton, chotda, Tambako the Jaguar, meantux, Dom Dada and me
Filed under Social media, Uncategorized | Comments (5)The power of unconference
I think it was clear it was going to be a good day during the introductions. Around fifty youth workers, technologists and others with an interest in youth participation from as far away as Lancashire, Devon, Norfolk and Wiltshire had gathered at DIUS on a Saturday morning for UKYouthOnline, organised by Tim Davies. With that much enthusiasm and experience in the room, Tim’s gamble on the open space conference methodology was sure to pay off – even if only about a third of the participants had ever attended an unconference before.
Tim’s a phenomenal facilitator, motivator and organiser, and I think that’s what really made the unconference model work: having just enough structure and infrastructure to enable the interesting, serendipitous conversations, demonstrations and one-to-one meetings to take place.
It was also the first time I’d played the infamous social media game, in a great session run by Dave Briggs (taking time out from tending to the needy and applying creams and lotions in his Social Media clinic). If you have a group of people interested in using social media tools for engagement but not sure which ones to choose or where to start, it’s a good way of thinking through some of the strategic choices involved.
I learnt a whole bunch of things:
- Examples of how the Facebook MyOffice application is being used as a collaboration platform between youth workers and young people: a great example of going to where the audience is, rather than building a new and unfamiliar platform for them to use
- Sprout, a widget-building application. Probably best for prototyping since there are some question marks over accessibility
- The fascinating work being done in organisations with different but parallel challenges to my own: Oxfam GB, The National Trust and the British Youth Council, amongst others
- The sophistication of youth work on social networking services: for example, the subtle enhancements to privacy in user profiles introduced by the new Facebook
- Ultimately, the value of truly co-designed online projects, especially when it comes to services designed to be used by young people. I’m still too inclined to go it alone, when I think the lesson of youth work generally is to find appropriate ways to put the power to develop solutions in the hands of young people themselves. I wonder what a co-designed online consultation might look like if we were to bring in the stakeholders, scientists, employers, learners and front-line staff that we want to hear from?
It was also really encouraging to see the enthusiasm and help I got from facilities colleagues and others in DIUS transforming a run-of-the-mill government building into a really good unconference venue with wifi, pizza and the works in terms of AV equipment, registration desk etc – all on a shoestring budget. I’d really encourage others in government to think about what their central London buildings could help to make possible on a weekend. Thanks are due to DIUS colleagues or alumni Justin Kerr-Stevens (for wifi), Michelle Lyons (for social reporting), Jo Simmons and Kim Worts (my boss and a senior civil servant, hopefully now a convert to unconferences).
I presented some analysis we commissioned from Forrester on how young people are using the internet, social media and social networking services – it led to an interesting discussion about issues of gender, and how we design for the social aspect of using the internet with friends (as opposed to a solitary experience) and recognise the challenge of media fragmentation and continuous partial attention. More to come on that one in a future post, I’m sure. For now, here are the slides:
Thanks again to Tim and everyone who came along for their inspiration and ideas.
Filed under Uncategorized | Comments (4)
