In all the, er, excitement, of my new-but-temporary role I missed the announcement of Mike Bracken’s appointment as the new Executive Director for Digital in UK Government.
Much has already been written elsewhere about Mike and his new job, and in his own words too.
It is nice to see someone in this role who appears to use the tools that underpin much of what is happening around Government digital, by having his own blog, Twitter profile and so on. Above and beyond the leadership within Department’s own digital teams, people need to see a dynamic, hands-on person at the helm, holding the torch for digital engagement and all its uses.
I suppose no-one should be judged by the design and content of their blog, but if one did, then Mike seems like he is a straight forward, clear kind of guy. For now, we’ll ignore the fact that commenting is turned off.
Quite rightly, Alphagov and the recommendations of Martha Lane-Fox’s
report are high on the agenda. However, out of those things I, and many others, are keen to understand what the future holds for digital communications teams in Government.
I don’t mean management of corporate websites as such, but the creation of online content across multiple channels, to help deliver policy objectives. There is still much to be done to bring consistency to digital engagement across Government, and at the same time use these tools to improve the efficiency and scope of our press offices and internal communications teams.
With the future structure and make-up of centralised Government communications still hanging in the balance, I hope we’ll have an update soon.
Image courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/oedipusphinx/