Building Social Capital: A Canberra Microcosm

My research into communications networks suggests that social capital can be developed by providing opportunities for people to learn, grow and excel. I have found that developing social capital requires leaders to 'let go of the reins' and allow people to make mistakes so they may learn from their experiences. Consequently, this approach informs my teaching philosophy, which requires universities to provide a safe space for students to make mistakes so they may learn through practice and take these lessons learned into the broader community after graduation. This philosophy sits well with the expectations which businesses and the community have of university graduates. Indeed, the Business Council of Australia suggested a few years ago that university graduates were being prepared for academic careers, not for professional work in the broader community, and were lacking in the areas of communication, innovation and leadership. Here I outline an approach which has proven very successful, in terms of learning outcomes (and also very popular with students), in a recent approach to providing students with tangible, real-life experience in leading, innovating and communicating though curriculum design.

I consider leadership, innovation and communication skills to be 'generic' skills which sit alongside the technical skills which are usually taught in university courses. Recently, there have been calls for a greater focus on generic skills teaching in all university courses. Some teaching research (conducted with colleagues at the University of Canberra) considered approaches to teaching generic skills and attributes which graduates are expected to possess. One area which appeared difficult to teach, practise or assess is that graduates should be able to 'take initiative and demonstrate leadership'. As a Duntroon graduate, leadership was taught in an off-line environment - effectively removing candidates from the 'real world' while leadership was taught, practised and assessed on an ongoing basis. Obviously, the cost per student is significantly higher in this environment than what it should reasonably cost to educate university students - indeed, the focus of a military institution is quite distinct from the civilian higher education sector.

Nonetheless, I struggled with some ideas on how to teach, practise and assess leadership within the confines of an on-campus unit during the traditional university semester. The principles I developed to underpin such an initiative were that: (1) the approach should be, for the most part, budget-neutral; (2) students should be provided with a safe space to practise leadership, particularly so that 'mistakes' would not affect their future prospects negatively; (3) the activity could be assessed without overly increasing teachers' or students' workloads; (4) students could select the activity as an option, instead of the usual asessment items (so that students who work and are unable to spend time on campus outside the normal requirements could opt out of the initiative); and (5) the activity could be conducted within the normal semester timeframe and still enable students to achieve the learning outcomes of the unit.

Having organised numerous campus events over the last few years, I discovered that many students developed leadership skills by organising and running events which added to the campus culture. Innocuous activities such as running 'Battle of the Bands' competitions, assisting with marketing projects, and organising debates and seminars exposed students to the practical issues involved in planning, organising, and leading as well as motivating others to assist in their cause. Such students have since become leaders within the university and local communities, taking the lessons learnt on campus into the broader society.

Based on my experiences on campus, I implemented an assessment item to replace a group essay and the final test with a leadership activity in the unit Leadership, Innovation and Change LIC). In groups of three to four, students were required to run a campus event and to write a reflective group essay on their event, drawing upon the leadership theories and approaches covered in the unit. The event was to be designed by the students or selected from a list of possible activities, many involving community engagement activities at the University's Open Day. The projects run by students included:

• Aboriginal Art Exhibition - held at AITSIS
• Candid Candidates - bringing ACT election candidates to the campus in the week before the election to inform the campus community about their policies and election campaigns
• LIC Spring Clean - collecting used clothing for the Salvation Army, Anglicare and St Vincent de Paul
• Open Day Marketing Project - developing a competition and marketing materials for Open Day
• Save-a-Mate - creating awareness and recruiting students to volunteer for the Red Cross Save-a-Mate campaign during Open Day
• UC Ambassadors - developing the information, procedures and activities to be conducted during Open Day and managing the campus ambassadors on the day
• Improving Morale - a workplace-based activity where the student was supported by their employer to run a team event in the workplace

Many of the events were very ambitious, and some came close to the edge of the 'safe space', particularly the groups which negotiated off campus activities or venues or 'very' public events. Nevertheless, many students stated to me that 'this is what uni is meant to be about' and they were very confident in their ability to run their activity successfully. The results were very surprising and the events proved to be very successful and I highlight the major events below.

Aboriginal Art Exhibition. A group consisting of an Aboriginal, Indian and Chinese student (in their words: 'as diverse as it gets') organised a public exhibition of artworks by Michael and Dale Huddleston, two prominent Australian artists, at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. The opening of the event was attended by approximately 80 people from the university and local communities. Ngunnawal Senior Elder Aunty Agnes led the welcome to country, with the Senior Curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art at the National Gallery of Australia, Brenda Croft, opening the event. The students were able to make the event a success and received very positive feedback from participants. There is a possibility that this will become an annual event at the University. The students reported a much greater understanding of leadership in a variety of cultural contexts and the usefulness of developing trust and establishing a shared vision.

Candid Candidates. Two students arranged for a number of ACT election candidates to speak in the UC Refectory on their election platform and policies. The response from candidates was overwhelming, requiring the students to amend the event by allocating an equal amount of time for each party to speak. The audience was encouraged to ask questions of the candidates. This event attracted media attention, with the students giving interviews on ABC FM, 2CC, and the event was covered by WIN News. The event was opened by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Stephen Parker, and proved very successful. The students reported the need for clear communication in organising numerous candidates and developing their negotiation skills as the event evolved. The media coverage provided the students with an opportunity to enhance their media interview skills and to develop their professional networks.

LIC Spring Clean. This event received coverage in UC's Monitor magazine and is likely to become an annual event on the campus. The students developed their professional networks and learnt the value of establishing trust and credibility to enable the event to get off the ground.

Overall, the leadership activities proved very successful. The practical aspect and the reflective group paper enabled students to better understand the theoretical aspects of leadership, and learn through experience. The outcomes of the activities led to much deeper learning and a real-life understanding of leadership. Not surprisingly, students suggested that there should be more experiential learning in the curriculum as they felt the learning outcomes were more tangible and useful in their professional practice. The next step will be to develop more rigorous documentation for the 'learning contracts' and assessment criteria. The biggest lesson for me was that I, too, need to 'let go of the reins' and let the students perform. The results from this project suggest that students, if allowed to do so, can build social capital and extend the learning experience beyond the boundaries of the campus. In an era where universities are focused on 'community engagement', the project results suggest that students should be given more opportunities to represent their place of study in the public eye. This will not only build social capital within the university community, but help to prepare society's future leaders for public life.

UC students use Twitter to report on the ACT election

Julie Posetti, lecturer in journalism at the University of Canberra, led a group of journalism students in a gig to report on the ACT election on 18 October 2008. Apparently this technique has been used for reporting on fashion shows and the like, but to receive election updates from people in my local community was definitely something different. I was sceptical at first, as I have not found twitter to be particularly useful until now.

So, while sitting in the lounge room watching the SBS doco on Bob Dylan, I was able to get up-to-the-minute reports and keep track of the election on the laptop without changing channels. I still think that twitter has some severe limitations, but, like most applications, it really depends on how connected your friends and community are with the particular application.

The local imperative is often overlooked, but it is becoming increasingly obvious that particular local conditions determine the success of particular applications and means of communication. I am using the term 'varieties of particularism' (borrowed from moral philosophy) to describe this phenomenon. While the nomenclature of older debates such as 'centralisation versus decentralisation' and 'regionalism versus nationalism (in a geographic sense)' still hold true geographically, advances in communication have certainly created dimensions which are no longer limited to geography alone. Certainly, earlier media technologies achieved a similar effect, but talking on the telephone and watching television at the same time is far from convenient.

The various applications such as Facebook, MSN messenger and now (as I found tonight) twitter, move us away from the controlled media to which we have become accustomed. This can only be good because it allows people to access information in ways which are more meaningful. Now if I could only get rid of the advertisements on SBS...

Social Networking @ The Warehouse

I have created a Facebook group to demonstrate the usefulness of social networking tools for participants at The Warehouse conference. If you wish to participate, please join Facebook by signing on here: http://www.facebook.com/ and then join the group WarehouseNetworkz. And here is my Warehouse PowerPoint presentation. Thanks!

Still not convinced? Have a look at what Gartner Research is saying about social networking tools!

Social Networking Tools: Concepts and Practice

Social networking tools such as Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and Buzz are challenging the dominance of traditional media. Recently on radio 2CC in Canberra, I was asked to comment on the use of Facebook and Youtube by politicians, especially in relation to Queanbeyan mayoral candidate Tim Overall's posting of an election message on Youtube. Overall's foray into the realm of cyberspace adopted the use of traditional, or 'heritage' media, to draw attention to the Youtube advertisement. After making my comments, I reflected on the different approaches to using 'new' media and I document my thoughts here.

As a starting point, there are two distinct classes of new media users: (1) the digital native, or those who use social networking tools and Youtube on a regular, sustained basis. This class of user is typically young (or those who grew up using the technology), tech-savvy, and familiar with the integration of the various applications such as Blogger, Facebook and Youtube. Digital natives (especially in Australia) are likely to use Facebook for networking, Youtube for watching various home-made and non-commercial videos, and MySpace for listening to their favourite bands. While there are other applications, in my experience this pattern appears to best represent the current trend; and (2) the digital immigrant, those who adopted the technology later in life or who use the Internet as an adjunct to heritage media and more traditional means of communication such as email and telephones. These classifications are contentious as there are obviously tech-savvy people who might be classified as digital immigrants and digital natives who are not-so-competent. Nevertheless, the classifications are useful here to generalise about the way that the two classes actually use the Internet.

Overall stated that a 21 year old constituent had suggested that younger generations were more likely to see a political message if it appeared on Youtube, rather than in the heritage media. This prompted Overall to enter the digital realm as part of his campaign strategy. However, there is no obvious link to Overall's campaign advertisement from social networking tools or the other popular realms through which digital natives are likely to navigate. That is not to say that using heritage media to 'pull' people to new media cannot be effective. John Howard used this technique and attracted many viewers to a Youtube message in his unsuccessful election campaign last year. Nonetheless, this technique is more likely to attract, or be noticed by, digital immigrants rather than digital natives (or the target audience). Indeed, digital natives are more likely to listen to FM (rather than AM) radio. This means that despite his digital campaign, the approach adopted by Overall is inadvertently targeted at digital immigrants.

A similar scenario exists in the US election campaign. At the time of writing, Barack Obama has 1,702,531 supporters on Facebook while John McCain has (comparatively) only 297,646. Obama's Facebook page features prominent links to 33 Youtube videos, whereas McCain's page has fewer Youtube links which are located further down the page. Obama also has popular pages for supporters in many individual states, which means that digital natives have potentially more opportunities to see his messages. 'Pages' are a relatively new application in Facebook which overcome the problems associated with having individuals sign up as 'friends'. Enrolling 'friends' rather than 'supporters' was an issue for Rudd's Kevin 07 campaign because at the time he was limited to having only 5,000 friends per individual profile. Senator Bob Brown has taken advantage of Facebook 'pages' and leads Australian politicians with 6,169 supporters at the time of writing.

To be successful (if success is measured by the number of viewers or supporters), it appears that campaigns must do much more than rely on heritage media to 'pull' viewers to their message (at the time of writing, Overall's Youtube message has had only 125 viewers). My emerging theory on taking advantage of the viral nature of social networking tools is that the campaigner (or their teams) must become digital natives themselves. This means becoming active on the most popular social networking tools, blogging, and establishing a stable 'group' which can help to spread the message. This approach is very similar to that mentioned in much of the online learning literature about using contemporary communications technologies to develop a useful learning environment.

So how can campaign teams target digital natives specifically? It appears that the six degrees of separation phenomenon is a reality in cyberspace. I am constantly surprised by the number of people I see on Facebook who share several mutual friends with me yet I do not know them. I have also been surprised by the number of old high school friends - many I haven't seen in twenty years - who are friends with people I know now. This suggests that one can reach a vast number of people by engaging with people they already know, and then letting the viral nature of social networking take its course. However, much like systems theory's view (based on the laws of thermodynamics) one cannot direct a living system, only disturb it. This is problematic for those who wish to control the means of communication. Indeed, attempting to control a social network tends to dissipate the network as social networks tend to resist central control.

An approach which I have found useful is to start with a stable group of 'friends' and then provide interesting links to blogs, videos and invitations to events. Remembering that networks resist central control, it is better to rely upon people's natural curiosity and provide enticing snippets of information or updates to one's user profile which draw other users to the message. Approaches which 'push' the message will simply be regarded as spam and will not be popular with digital natives. The challenge, then, is not too different from the challenge which traditional marketeers face - how to get people to hear the message.

Digital natives are quite discerning and the last thing they want to see in cyberspace is the type of advertising currently seen on both free-to-air and pay TV - the constant repitition of annoying advertisements which are more likely to attract Homer Simpsons than thinking, discerning digital natives. Indeed, one of the reasons digital natives prefer cyberspace is that they can simply go elsewhere with a click if they don't like what they see. The trick is to give them something they want, rather than to use the 'we'll be right back after this message' capture technique. This annoying television habit simply doesn't work in cyberspace - there are too many channels and too many messages and, unlike digital immigrants, digital natives will know the difference.

Toward a new ideology

Francis Fukuyama once suggested that the rise and rise of liberal democracy had ushered in the end of ideology. Liberalism had won the day and ideology was a remnant of the past. One of the problems with this view is that we might reasonably agree that humanity has reached the pinnacle of existence and therefore there is little more to be done now. Markets are the most efficient way of delivering goods and services and personal choice is a private issue which is beyond the reach of governments. There is little doubt there is merit to this approach, particularly where real competition exists and businesses focus on competing to meet the needs of society. However, one of my students' contributions to a discussion recently (roughly translating Marx) challenged this perceived wisdom with a statement that 'the market can never meet social goals because businesses only ever meet yesterday's needs - businesses will not meet the needs of tomorrow until tomorrow is yesterday'. Such moments of brilliance make the business of teaching a learning experience which can rock your world in the most amazing ways.

This got me thinking about the role of the university in terms of creating knowledge and developing new ways of 'doing business'. Should universities follow trends or create new trends? Can universities create new knowledge by following trends? Have we really reached the pinnacle of human existence or have we just become lazy? Is there a case for a new ideology?

In addressing these questions, my usual approach is to refer to history to identify the trends, cycles, and the ways in which our predecessors dealt with similar problems in earlier times. There is little doubt that universities and university students have played a significant role in bringing about beneficial changes to society and its attitudes. Student activism has been significant in bringing about changes which have become the norm over time - despite the beginnings of change being viewed as 'rocking the boat' to the extent where people were arrested for their activism.

A recent documentary on the federal government's decision to over-rule the damming of the Franklin River is a case in point - many of the original proponents of the dam agree now that the economic benefits of tourism have far outweighed the short-term economic benefits the dam would have achieved. The economic benefits of tourism have provided a sustainable alternative to the short-term solution yet many of the people who initiated the changes were viewed as 'dirty greenies' who did nothing other than disrupt the normal order of things. Over time, those 'dirty greenies' have not only been accepted as the change agents who brought about societal support for environmental protection, but these same people (such as Bob Brown) have been acknowledged as people of principle who stayed true to their cause despite the odds. The usual story of global heroes includes a long list of Mahatma Ghandis, Nelson Mandelas, Martin Luther Kings and Bob Browns who stayed true to their cause despite the odds. People to be admired in history, but in their time to be ostracised - people who had to 'put their body on the line' to bring about changes but at a cost which deters the average person from ever bothering. Is it all worth the personal cost? One might argue that yes it is because the Bob Browns and the Nelson Mandelas and the Mahatma Ghandis proved themselves through adversity. This process actually provides limits to ensure that snake-oil merchants and others do not trick people into believing in their personally motivated causes. Fair enough you might say and I would agree.

But what about the role of universities? Does one have to sacrifice their livelihood, integrity, status in society, personal relationships, personal freedoms and the like to prove that a societal change can be beneficial? If we have such a focus on 'efficiency', is this an efficient way to trial new approaches to doing business? Obviously, changing the way we do business on a whim brings a whole series of new problems. But many innovative companies deal with this issue by enabling a certain percentage of their business to be experimental while maintaining their core business - enabling the company to innovate without putting all their eggs in one basket, so to speak. Similarly, society would benefit from having an incubator for new ideas.

Enter the role of the university. Traditionally, universities were the place where new innovations not only occurred, but were encouraged. Universities were seen as the place to experiment, to test and to trial new ways of 'doing business'. One of the problems facing the traditional 'knowledge generators' is that Australian universities are challenged by contemporary needs to be 'efficient' and 'effective' in a political climate where business rules the roost. Universities are required to generate profits (or, put simply, to adopt a market model to sustain themselves), not to generate knowledge which has been their traditional role. I take issue with the new focus - if universities are not about generating knowledge, then what do they do? Some would argue that universities are there to train future workers, to enable businesses to get on with the job of meeting social goals. But if business can only meet yesterday's social goals, then who is charged with the responsibility to meet the social goals of tomorrow?

My philosophical approach to teaching requires universities to provide a safe space for future leaders. Students should be able to make mistakes which do not affect society-at-large. To enable this type of learning through experimentation, universities cannot be conservative institutions, nor demand that university students meet the usual expectations of society while on-campus. To do so is to restrict creativity, free speech and free thinking individuals to a space which occupies the same space of society-at-large. Providing a safe space for free-thinking individuals to make mistakes and by doing so, find new solutions to tomorrow's problems, can only be of benefit to society and in my view should be encouraged. Indeed, the personal sacrifices which the contemporary focus on innovation entails will certainly reinforce the past, rather than focus on the future, unless there is some part of our society which provides a place to 'practise' innovating. Unlike explicit knowledge, entrepreneurial knowledge and innovation skills do not necessarily follow the patterns of experience which can be documented, packaged and taught in a traditional manner.

I suspect that my student is correct - business can only provide tomorrow's solutions to yesterday’s problems. Universities provide an established institution which generates knowledge, but to focus universities on generating profit is to take away the role of higher education institutions and to move to a system which supports the conservative way of doing business. Without universities, there is no real 'ideas incubator' and the social ramifications of such an oversight can only be detrimental to our future.

The trouble is that universities take away public funds which justifiably need to be accounted for in society's economic equation. In a time of global economic uncertainty this is quite reasonable. Nonetheless, it does not cost anything for universities to provide a 'safe space' to facilitate social, economic and political experimentation. Indeed, the culture of the particular organisation will determine, to a large extent, the manner in which university staff and students are encouraged or discouraged from experimenting and testing new ways of doing business. But the university which finds a new and useful way of 'doing business' will no doubt receive accolades in the future.

In the meantime, this crucial yet overlooked part of society is losing its importance at a time where no other institution has the capacity to develop a new ideology - if you like, a systematic way of viewing the world and dealing with the complexities of maintaining a cohesive civil society (or a new way of doing business). The value of universities cannot be over-stated, particularly where changes can be implemented which do not cost anything other than the ego-challenge associated with a change in attitude. Unfortunately, recent approaches to university governance echo the remnants of the past. Meanwhile, new ways of doing business escape us as we idly watch the demise of an institution which has proven itself time and again throughout human history to bring about beneficial changes. If Australia’s only hope is to follow others who have the courage to be different, it is a source of shame to a nation which once took great pride in its ability to innovate in the face of adversity. Liberalism is only the end if we choose it do be so, and while the problems (such as stagflation) which enabled the rise of neoliberalism to take a hold globally are re-emerging in Britain (where it all began), who will develop the new ideology?

National Sorry Day

Below is the transcript of a speech I delivered at the National Sorry Day ceremony at the University of Canberra, 4 June 2008. I dedicate this speech to my niece, Marley, who is Torres Strait Islander and part of my family.

Good afternoon. I must say I am pleased to be able to speak here today. For many years I wanted to live and work in Canberra as a political scientist, and fortunately I speak here today in that capacity. My position as a lecturer in politics here at the University of Canberra, Australia’s Capital University, has provided me with the opportunity to practice my craft close to the centre of government. But for some reason, nothing really happened in Canberra from the time I arrived in 1999 until 13 February this year when the Rudd Government offered a broad apology to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and particularly the Stolen Generations for their "profound grief, suffering and loss". Ten years of nothing, and then suddenly one of the most significant milestones in Australian political history. Ten years of waiting in Canberra for that once-in-a-generation event to be a part of - and I find myself stuck in Melbourne! So on the 13th February 2008, while sitting in a union conference in Melbourne, I listened to the Prime Minister deliver the National Apology. Mr Rudd said sorry:

• For the laws and policies of successive parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on our fellow Australians.
• For the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.
• For the pain, suffering and hurt of the Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind.
• For the breaking up of families and communities.
• For the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture.

Just over a decade ago, on 26th May 1998, a 'Sorry Day' was held to mark one year after the tabling in Federal Parliament of a report of the National Inquiry into the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families – or what is more commonly known as the “Bringing Them Home” report. Today we honour that tradition, but we do so in unique circumstances – a key recommendation in the “Bringing Them Home” report was that Indigenous people affected by policies of forced removal should receive an acknowledgement of responsibility and apology from all Australian parliaments and other agencies which implemented policies of forcible removal. Symbolically, that recommendation was implemented just a few months ago and this is the first National Sorry Day commemorating, rather than calling for, a National Apology.

The National Apology was at least a step in the right direction, focusing particularly on the Stolen Generations – but importantly; it went further in that it acknowledged “the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture”. This last point is very important and I would like to relate it back to the University of Canberra.

You may be aware that the University of Canberra has a 39 Step Strategic Plan to reinvigorate this place. Fittingly, Step 1 is to “Ensure that respect for Australia's traditional owners and concern for their current circumstances influences our plans and actions”. Step 39 is to: “Set and meet ambitious targets and standards, as a signatory to the Talloires (pronounced Tal-Whar) Declaration, to reduce our ecological footprint”. Much like the novel by John Buchan, the “39 Steps” has its meaning in a thread that runs through the whole story. And this story is applicable to today’s ceremony.

Global warming, environmental degradation and rampant capitalism and consumerism mean that survival of the species will be an issue for future generations. Following at least the official end to 220 years of institutionalised racism, it is fitting that we acknowledge the “proud people” and “proud culture” who represent the oldest surviving culture in the world. These people interacted with the land in sustainable ways for some 40,000 to 80,000 years, whereas so-called “civilized peoples” have destroyed natural wonders in this Great Land in a handful of generations. The pluralist Aboriginal society with its traditional laws and customs provides many lessons for a sustainable future and the National Apology was the first step in rectifying the racist attitudes of Australian society in the last 220 years. But has it really changed the way we do things here? Do we have the courage to ensure that the indignity and degradation brought upon Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people by institutionalised racism does not keep happening?

The National Apology was not the end of the reconciliation process. Indeed, it is only the beginning. March and Olsen refer to institutions as the “rules, routines, and procedures” which order political life; the “way things are done here”, if you like. Well may we say that the National Apology broke with the tradition of stalling the reconciliation process, but do not be fooled. The “Bringing Them Home” report also called for compensation, but this has been deliberately excluded from the political discourse. The “way things are done here” hasn’t really changed, and it will be up to people like those gathered here to keep putting the issues back on the political agenda. So while we celebrate this year’s National Sorry Day and the year that was, we must not let the momentum stall or the symbolism of the National Apology will be just that – a symbol. In closing, let me say that the proud Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the sustainable culture they established in a history spanning tens of thousands of years is very relevant to humanity today, and while symbolism is an important First Step, there is still much work to be done.

Broadband Budget 2008

© Depositphotos.com/@iqoncept

Nation-building is back on the agenda and the very capable Sir Rod Eddington (1) will lead the mammoth task of remedying the mistakes of the decade in which Australia forgot to build infrastructure. Nonetheless, broadband seems to be in a state of flux, with nobody really sure of where it fits in with the nation-building project. I am convinced this is because politicians, policy makers, businesses and community groups are struggling to come to grips with a ‘viral’ communications network which spreads ‘virally’ when left to its own devices. Much like the economists’ free market mantra, ‘free’ networks tend to resist central control and will connect people who want to be connected if only these networks are allowed to do so (2). Kevin Rudd, when talking about the nation-building project during the election campaign, referred to nation-building in the 19th century as all about building railways, whereas in the 21st century it was all about building broadband networks. The trouble with this analogy is that broadband is not a railway, it is an entire transport system (3). But at least it is more palatable to hear about broadband from Stephen Conroy than it is to hear from the likes of Bill Heffernan who claimed to have ‘never sent an e-mail in [his] life’ (4).

A perusal of the 2008 Portfolio Budget Statements for the appropriately-named Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (5) indicates that a coherent plan is in place. First, $4.7 billion has been allocated for the National Broadband Network in an attempt to bring 12 gigabyte broadband connections to 98% of the Australian population. Second, the remaining 2% of the Australian population will have access to the additional $271 million which extends the existing Australian Broadband Guarantee. This Guarantee is designed to subsidise a ‘metro-comparable’, 512kbps download/128kbps upload data speed, minimum 1 gigabyte per month download limited connection where the cost exceeds $2,500 per year (approximately $208 per month). Hardly ‘metro-comparable’, but such a connection is better than nothing if you happen to live in the middle of nowhere.

Last week I had the opportunity to address the Regional Telecommunications Independent Review Committee (6) at a public meeting in Sydney. At this meeting, I presented early research findings from my comparison of broadband infrastructure deployment in Canada and Australia. My major thrust was that greater community involvement led to greater connectivity, but the Australian way of ‘doing’ communications policy tended to limit the involvement of citizens and therefore their ability to communicate using broadband technologies. Somewhat to my surprise, my presentation was well received not only by the committee but also by the participants who were mostly representatives of a wide range of rural community groups. These groups presented many stories about how local efforts to utilise broadband networks had worked quite well until ‘Big Brother’ had taken away their right to use the network, and also how they had been regarded as ‘fools’ by authorities and other ‘people in the “know”’ when they complained about specific telecommunications problems in their local areas. While I was pleased that the anecdotal evidence confirmed my research, I was particularly appalled at how my hypothesis was substantially proven by the lived reality of these very passionate and capable representatives from ‘the bush’.

I would never pretend to have all the answers on broadband, but one thing is very clear. The centralised control of communications networks will help the federal bureaucracy to control how the federally-funded network is used - even more so the winner of the $4.7 billion tender. The problem is that people won’t use the federally-controlled communications network unless it is free to be used in a fashion in which people get to choose how they use it. In the meantime, it appears that the $4.7 billion federal investment in the National Broadband Network will go to one of either two major competitors (7) who do not have ‘open access’ as a major goal. The paradox really gets up my nose in that the typical economist’s free market dogma is driving the approach to broadband infrastructure investment being ‘open’ to ‘competitive forces’, whereas communications networks are conveniently excluded from the same ‘free trade’ dogma.

Free trade was originally intended to circumvent those unscrupulous people who made profits (through measures such as tariffs and tolls) by controlling the transport routes which enabled the real business of trade in goods and services. Well guess what? The Internet provides the modern conduit for trade, but it is the unscrupulous people who are applying the tariffs and tolls again! So while the anti-‘open source’ crowd make claims of the ‘communism’ associated with ‘open networks’ (8), the free-traders are decidedly absent from the broadband debate. Maybe the 'free trade' ideology has proven to be self-serving after all? Or maybe my 'inadvertent' collection of toll receipts (9) (from the supposedly simple trip from Canberra to Sydney which still burns a hole in my wallet) was such that I couldn't help but think it is time for a new type of 'free trade' debate. Or maybe the old free traders have just been around for so long that they have forgotten about the tyranny of tolls and tariffs which fuelled their cause originally? Anyway - it's like preaching to the choir here - the people who need to know simply don't know about broadband :( and the free traders who [intellectually] should have been involved in the debate all went the way of Howard and Edmund Burke! (10).

Notes:

(1) Albanese, A. (2008) ‘Sir Rod Eddington Appointed to Head Infrastructure Australia’. Media Release. URL: http://www.minister.infrastructure.gov.au/aa/releases/2008/february/aa014_2008.htm (Accessed 14 May 2008).

(2) Rhodes, R.A.W. (1996) 'The New Governance: Governing without Government.' Political Studies. Vol. 44:652-67.

(3) de Percy, M. (2008) ‘Broadbanding the Nation: Lessons from Canada or Shortcomings in Australian Federalism? In Australia Under Construction: Nation-building past, present and future. Canberra: ANU e-Press. URL: http://epress.anu.edu.au/anzsog/auc/mobile_devices/ch10.html (Accessed 14 May 2008).

(4) Burke, N. (2007) ‘PM's right hand man asks: what's email?’ The Daily Telegraph. URL: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21434598-421,00.html (Accessed 14 May 2008).

(5) Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (2008) 'Agency resources and planned performance'. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia. URL: http://www.dbcde.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/83695/PBS_2008-09_DBCDE.pdf (Accessed 14 May 2008).

(6) Regional Telecommunications Independent Review Committee (2008) ‘A review of the adequacy of telecommunications services in regional, rural and remote parts of Australia’. URL: http://www.rtirc.gov.au/home (Accessed 14 May 2008).

(7) Australian Associated Press (2008) ‘$4.7bn for national broadband network’. URL: http://www.news.com.au/business/money/story/0,25479,23694523-14327,00.html (Accessed 14 May 2008).

(8) See Blankenhorn, D. & Rooney, P. (2005) ‘Is open source communist?’. URL: http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/index.php?p=210 (Accessed 14 May 2008).

(9) Any outsider who drives through Sydney these days will be appalled by the highway robbery which is performed with the use of 'legitimate' yet confusing roadsigns which all read "e-Pay only this way" until you inadvertently end up at a toll booth where you get to pay about $5 for the privilege of being lost in a maze of poor signage. Why the equivalent of the 1789 French Revolution (to the power of 60 billion) hasn't occurred yet in Sydney is beyond me. But still, it is way cheaper to drive the 260 km from Canberra to Sydney and return, even taking into account the minimum $20 parking per day (and don't forget those 'inadvertent' tolls from your friendly NSW highway robbers!), than it is to spend the average $250 return flight (without counting the $80 taxi fare each way!).

(10) Howard's claim that the Liberal Party was a combination of the philosophies of John Stuart Mill and Edmund Burke would have had no impact upon Burke whatsoever (he accepted the American Revolution while denying the legitimacy of the French Revolution and would no doubt have empathised with Mr Howard) but would make J.S.M. (a fan of 'combinations' or unions) roll in his grave!

Opportunities and Challenges for Social Policy: Engaging Youth Online

In this article I outline some of the opportunities and challenges presented to social policy practitioners considering the use of social networking tools to engage with youth online. At present, most government uses of online social networking tools are limited to placing advertisements on banners in applications such as Google’s ‘Blogger’, Microsoft’s ‘My Space’ and the latest and most popular application, ‘Facebook’. However, little research has been conducted on the use of publicly-available social networking tools in social policy initiatives or the possibilities such tools present. Indeed, the tools themselves present challenges to entrepreneurs in designing business models which provide appropriate returns on investment, despite the market value of Facebook alone being estimated at some $US15 billion (1). Nevertheless, the market significance and exponential growth in numbers of users worldwide suggest that social networking tools are more than just a passing fashion. In this era of ‘responsive government’, information communications technologies (ICTs) have ‘the potential to further promote a culture of democratic decision-making in Australia’ (2) and here I suggest that social networking tools specifically provide a relevant, efficient and popular means to engage with youth on their own ‘cyber-turf’ if social policy practitioners are willing to confront the challenges.

Recent successes by policy practitioners engaging with youth include the Commonwealth’s ‘Stamp Out Chlamydia’ (SOC) campaign, described by one of my colleagues, a marketing lecturer at the University of Canberra, as ‘the best example of social entrepreneurship’ by a government agency. On the ground, this campaign is run by nurses and health practitioners and is a leader in engaging youth in social policy initiatives. The campaign provides free testing for the early detection of Chlamydia for participants while at the same time increasing awareness of a disease which is easy to catch, but also relatively easy to prevent and cure. Data from the testing is being used for research purposes through collaborative partnerships with universities and other health organisations, providing multi-faceted policy outcomes such as increasing awareness, engaging with citizens and increasing knowledge through research. As youth are at most risk of catching and spreading the disease, SOC was specifically designed to target tertiary students in Canberra. The secret of the campaign’s success has been the level of engagement with youth through the use of non-traditional media such as Canberra’s BMA (a free magazine devoted to local youth culture), the design of a youthful, ‘Jack Black-style’ logo displayed in most Canberra clubs, and dynamic and engaging staff at the coalface who actively seek support from target groups in the local community to help market the campaign’s events.

Hopefully the policy networks established during the SOC campaign can be utilised for other social policy initiatives, but there is a risk that the end of the campaign and subsequent staff turnover may result in these networks dissolving over time. This is an area where social networking tools could actually sustain and expand these local policy networks by enabling the networks to develop ‘virally’ online, reaching further into the target audience. The ‘viral’ nature of social networking tools occurs for two main reasons. First, any member of a campaign participant’s network can see another member’s interaction with the campaign’s social networking site. This means that, through the anecdotal ‘six degrees of separation’ phenomenon, it is possible to engage a very large, global audience. The major difference between social networking tools and other forms of communication is that the target (or receiver of the message) chooses if, when and how they receive the message. My experience with the tools to date suggests that human curiosity is the driver which encourages the target to at least see what another user has been doing – this type of curiosity is a very powerful marketing ‘hook’. Regardless, the target chooses if, when and how to receive the message and subsequently their level of involvement in the network, so the use of these tools tends to avoid the negative experiences often associated with more intrusive marketing campaigns.

The second reason for the viral nature of social networking tools is the accessibility to documented information which is available from any Net-connected computer anywhere in the world (where access to the relevant site is not restricted). Campaign events can also be added to individual ‘event’ sites, enabling the site’s hosts to monitor users’ indication of attendance and to organise their social calendar online. This function is particularly useful as youth are notorious for ‘forgetting’ about events - social networking tools provide timely and accessible reminders of the event’s starting time and location. The contact details and interaction of participants (selected at the participant’s personal level of privacy protection) are documented in real-time (or as the correspondence occurs), reducing the effort needed to document the correspondence or store emails and other records on an ongoing basis. Traditional records of interaction tend to be kept for a time before disappearing into silos of ‘too much information’ which are fated to deletion once the employees involved change jobs.

A current example of a ‘viral’ network is the US Facebook group ‘Psychology Marketing project - I need your help!!!’ set up by Monic Rokel which at the time of writing had 768,016 members globally. The project was designed to demonstrate ‘how influential viral marketing can be’ by the researcher generating a network of 200,000 random members. The membership goal was achieved in less than a week and following the project’s success, the network continued to grow well beyond its target despite the aim beyond 200,000 initially being ‘just for fun’. Nevertheless, viral networks present a challenge to public administrators who have traditionally attempted to control information dissemination and the nature of citizen engagement. As viral networks tend to resist centralised control (3), one of the major challenges in adopting social networking tools for citizen engagement is the need to relinquish control.

Relinquishing control presents a challenge to the use of social networking tools for two main reasons. First, most government agencies (and businesses) restrict the use of Net-based applications such as Facebook and Windows Live Messenger in the workplace because of the risk of staff using these networks for personal reasons during work time. However, according to Dawson (4), firms such as Deloitte Australia actively use Facebook inside the organisation, encouraging staff to use the tool to connect with one another and also to expand the organisation’s network. Second, there are obvious security issues involved in using any third-party or external system. Nevertheless, numerous private sector organisations actively use this software and have been able to overcome the security issues (5), so the challenges are not insurmountable.

There is an abundance of freely available social networking tools such as Facebook which in 2007 registered Australian members at the rate of 100 new users per hour (6). In addition, Facebook and YouTube were used to great effect in Rudd’s ‘Kevin07’ campaign despite the Coalition government’s criticism of these innovative campaign tools (7). The political use of Internet-based tools is not new - former British Prime Minister Tony Blair used an online participatory forum which proved very successful in the UK. The lessons from Blair’s use of online participatory forums are well documented (8) and some of the lessons from the UK experience are relevant for social policy practitioners, particularly the choices to be made about moderating participants’ comments in the light of bureaucratic control. Too much moderation can affect participants’ willingness to participate whereas too little can present a significant risk to government agencies if participants use the forum inappropriately or use offensive language in their correspondence.

The point is that online participatory tools can be effective if used appropriately. Major opportunities provided by engaging youth on their own ‘cyber-turf’ include increasing awareness of social policy campaigns regardless of physical distance and also increasing awareness of and attendance at social policy events. When used in conjunction with traditional marketing methods, social networking tools can help increase face-to-face participation by providing users with information and ‘diarising’ events. Attempts to increase youth attendance at student events at the University of Canberra are certainly proving this to be the case. ‘Viral’ networks are growing on tools such as Facebook with many interest group networks being created by the students themselves. Indeed, there are various Canberra-based sites dedicated to voicing youth concerns with innocuous policy issues such as local bus timetables which would no doubt be of interest to policy practitioners and politicians.

The major challenges to the effective use of social networking tools include: overcoming the traditional need for the bureaucracy to control public communication (protecting integrity reduces timeliness); online security and work practice issues (most social networking tools are banned or blocked in the workplace); a lack of technical skills to use the tools effectively (particularly by those specialists who run the social policy initiative); and possibly the reluctance of policy specialists (both practitioners and academics) to view social networking tools as a legitimate forum for policy participation. However, social policies such as the Rudd Government’s intended use of monies collected from the 70% increase in excise on sales of premixed ‘alcopop’ drinks in an effort to curb binge drinking in teenagers (9) will no doubt be the subject of much debate. If citizens, particularly youth, are to be involved with and educated about such issues, there are plenty of opportunities for non-traditional methods to engage youth in social policy communities online.

The most likely problem is that by the time public administrators are convinced of the usefulness of social networking tools, changes in technology and youth trends may require advanced skills for these tools to be utilised effectively in the future. The amount of time and effort required to stay abreast of the strategic and technical skills necessary for the effective use of social networking tools cannot be exaggerated. For this reason, it will be very difficult for policy practitioners to catch up if they are not learning how to use the systems to encourage participation in social policy now. In the meantime, the benefits of a free, globally available and rapidly expanding communication network waits for the next generation of social policy practitioners who dare to challenge the traditional approaches to citizen engagement.

NOTES:

(1) Guth, R.A., Vara, V. & Delaney, K.J. (2007) ‘Microsoft bets on Facebook stake and web ad boom’. In The Wall Street Journal, 25 October.
(2) Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) (2008) ‘Principles for ICT-enabled Citizen Engagement’. Canberra: AGIMO. URL: http://www.agimo.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/55745/Principles.pdf (Accessed 28 April 2008).
(3) De Percy, M. (2008) ‘Broadbanding the nation: lessons from Canada or shortcomings in Australian federalism?’ in Butcher, J. (ed) Australia under construction: nation-building: past, present and future. Canberra: ANU E Press.
(4) Dawson, R. (2007) ‘Companies that close networking doors jeopardize their future’. URL:http://www.rossdawsonblog.com/weblog/archives/2007/08/%20companies_that.html (Accessed 28 April 2008).
(5) Ibid.
(6) Schliebs, M. (2007) ‘One hundred Aussies per hour joining Facebook’. URL: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22027833-2,00.html (accessed 27 April 2008).
(7) ABC News (2007) ‘“Kevin 07” just a media tart: Govt’. URL: http://www.abc.net. au/news/stories/2007/08/07/1998490.htm (Accessed 28 April 2008).
(8) Wright. S. (2006) 'Government-run Online Discussion Fora: Moderation, Censorship and the Shadow of Control' in British Journal of Politics and International Relations. Vol. 8, No. 4, November 2006: 550-568.
(9) Viellaris, R. & Stolz, G. (2008) Alcopop tax 'will stem teen binges' in The Courier Mail, 28 April 2008.

Social Capital: The Cause and Effect of Broadband

Social capital, when defined as the 'networks of relationships among persons, firms, and institutions in a society, together with associated norms of behavior, trust, cooperation... that enable a society to function effectively' (1), has noticeably diminished in Australia. Paul Kelly's (2) concept of the Australian Settlement, although often debated, challenged and refined by Australia's best in the Australian Journal of Political Science, outlines one of the key factors which has helped to diminish this capital: state paternalism. State paternalism for my purposes here refers to Australia's persistence in seeking single national solutions to problems which are best dealt with at a local level (3) - an attitude I regard as a relic of Settlement. And, funnily enough, state paternalism, which diminishes social capital, is also causing Australia to lag behnd the rest of the developed world in the infrastructure which actually enables the networks necessary for building social capital: broadband.

While conducting research in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to discover why Canada is fourth in the OECD (4) for broadband outcomes (5), it was readily apparent that Canada's federal system is inherently rich in social capital. Communities with poor or no broadband access could approach businesses, civil society organisations and all levels of government to lobby for solutions. Indeed, various municipal, provincial and federal solutions have helped to maintain Canada as a leader in global telecommunications and where these solutions have not been forthcoming, some communities have decided to build and maintain their own networks! It is not a national single solution which has kept Canada at the head of the pack, but 'full participation of all interested parties', enabled by a transparent regulatory framework with a focus on 'consensus building' in developing and implementing regulations (6). Further, federal government programs helped to educate communities in policy processes while aggregating demand to attract private sector solutions, creating additional social capital in the process.

Meanwhile, back in Australia, state paternalism from both major parties left voters with a choice between two shades of grey: a national solution with mostly private sector solutions or a national solution with slightly less private sector solutions. But neither of these 'solutions' address the shortcomings in social capital which is both the cause and effect of sound broadband outcomes. While state paternalism persists, Australians will simply get the Settlement regurgitated and repackaged with modern wrapping. This attitude is so deeply ingrained that even attempts by federal governments to involve the private sector result in government simply handing over the Settlement to business while the 'disinterested' citizenry follow along (usually only out of curiosity) until there is enough public outcry. The bottom line is that the Dark Decade of luddism and neglect of social capital, super-imposed on the persistent Settlement attitude of state paternalism, have left Australia in a deep hole. Until governments entrust people to be involved in transparent policy-making processes, tired old 'national solutions' will keep Australia at the wrong end of the OECD broadband rankings. It is time a new approach, specifically localised infrastructure solutions, are trialled to improve broadband outcomes. National solutions haven't worked and to persist with the same old policy is, well, as the saying goes: 'When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging!'

NOTES:

(1) In Deardorff's Glossary of International Economics, see http://www-personal.umich.edu/~alandear/glossary/s.html.
(2) Kelly, P (1992) The end of certainty: The story of the 1980s. St Leonards: Allen & Unwin.
(3) Gans, J. (2006) The Local Broadband Imperitive: Appropriate high-speed Internet access for Australia. Melbourne: CEDA
(4) OECD (2007) OECD Communications Outlook 2007. Paris: OECD.
(5) That is, access to (penetration) and speed of the relevant broadband services.
(6) OECD (2002) Regulatory Reform in Canada: From transition to new regulation challenges. Paris: OECD.