Comments on: Why build a new site for Birmingham City Council?

By: stef

stef — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 01:37:32 +0000

Thanks Will – in fact I'm applying for some small funds to run a second hack day, with the proceeds going towards the web hosting…

By: stef

stef — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:37:32 +0000

Thanks Will – in fact I'm applying for some small funds to run a second hack day, with the proceeds going towards the web hosting…

By: stef

stef — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:37:32 +0000

Thanks Will – in fact I'm applying for some small funds to run a second hack day, with the proceeds going towards the web hosting…

By: Just Blogging » Do It Yourself- A new Birmingham Website

Just Blogging » Do It Yourself- A new Birmingham Website — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 01:00:22 +0000

[...] Then, on September 22nd, @stef headed in a new direction- he had an idea to pull together a more usable, relevant and open website, at a much reduced cost, developed using Web 2.0 tools and techniques. Not intended to compete with, but more to compliment the original, here’s the brief for the plan and Stef composed his own thoughts on how the new idea (called http://bccdiy.com ) could take shape. [...]

By: diet_pill_online

diet_pill_online — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 08:25:36 +0000

Great! Thank for information, I'm looking for it for a long time,

By: D’log :: blogging since 2000 » BCC DIY

D’log :: blogging since 2000 » BCC DIY — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 06:47:19 +0000

[...] new version of Birmingham City Council’s new website — scraped, stripped, flipped, and with a liberal sprinkling of plug-in services. Comments [...]

By: wgdaniels

wgdaniels — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 23:42:31 +0000

An excellent idea I think! And not only as a response to one particular poor technology investment…seems to me that council websites are ideal for community projects more generally. Imagine if that much money were to be spent helping to sponsor a community-led technology project to develop and maintain the council's website? That would add a whole lot more value, in terms of fostering a community spirit as well as helping people around Birmingham get together to learn/practice/teach tech skills, than wasting it on an overpriced commercial project.

I'd love to see Birmingham officially sponsor such a community-driven technology project…would say far more about the city as a pioneer in the digital age than just blindly and needlessly approving a large budget for building a website…this is exactly the kind of cultural leadership councilors tend to lack.

By: davidgregory

davidgregory — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 01:30:16 +0000

Hi!

Sorry, yes. Was a bit hit and run!

Typing in my postcode "B3 1DW" just brought up an error message,
although I'm afraid I can't remember what that was. Sorry. I'd be
useless in a proper coding environment. But now when I do it you are
quite right it works perfectly! And it looks much nicer than the
official version. So either you have fixed things or it's some occasion
error. I'll keep trying it and make a proper note if it happens again!

Fully appreciate you haven't written any content at all. Think it is a
really, really interesting content. I wondered when you might want to do
something about it for Midlands Today? Obviously Friday is the best day
I suspect but I'll be off on another story. Do people gather video
content at these sort of events we could use in a piece?

Dave

Dr DAVID GREGORY
Science & Environment Correspondent
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By: RickWaghorn

RickWaghorn — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:13:17 +0000

Top stuff, Stef...

What would be really amusing is if BCC DIY had a way of earning revenue too... hat it started to pay its own way as opposed to being beholden to the long-suffering tax-payers of Brum...

... here you go... www.addiply.com

Now you can place a self-serve ad system on every ward/constituency page and offer, say, £1 a week 'slots' for local child-minders, community action groups, etc... Nikki already has it running on her Digbeth site... Hannah is planning on using it out of Bourneville... all the time we're offering them simple, open, honest transactions with a 90% revenue return to the publisher.

Be it Digbeth.org or BCC DIY.

It's an empowerment tool.

Help yourself.

And best of luck with the project.

R

By: stef

stef — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:06:03 +0000

Only if she's busy processing her photos…