App Attack
As we mentioned recently, social media and digital engagement is becoming an ever more prevalent part of life for people and should be for local government too. The numbers don’t lie: more people than ever have access to the internet, and access to us in the public sector digitally.
Not to labour a point, but also as we said, one of the key drivers for making this happen is the humble mobile phone, or to be more precise its modern day descendant; the smart phone. Offering texts, 3G web access, wi-fi connectivity and even, shock horror, phone calls, these wonders of the modern world are becoming an essential tool for surviving life in the modern world. Yes, you can get by without one, but it becomes far, far easier when you have one.
For example, when I was growing up arranging a night out could sometimes be a chore. You would have to arrange in advance with all of the people going when the date would be, what time to meet, where at the station to meet, where you were going, buy the paper and read reviews to find out the best places to eat, phone the ticket office a few weeks ahead to get tickets sent out to you or maybe even visit a box office, then turn up early and hang around until you think everyone who agreed to turn up has.
Today these days all can be done in a matter of minutes: a group e-mail or text (maybe setting up a Doodle if working out a date gets complicated), a look at Top Table to find somewhere good to eat with deals on, TfL to work out your route and Twitter or a simple phone call to let people know how you are getting on. And all of this magic happens through the wonder that are apps.
And this is where the ramble gets back to local government. As ever, we see to be behind the times a bit when it comes to technology, and are only just beginning to wake up to the power of the web application, which is a surprise as outside of the office we have been using them for some time. More and more teams are coming to me and saying “we want to develop an app”, especially in the last few weeks (I wonder why).
It’s usually at that point that I throw in the most annoying question I know; why? (more…)
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