Digital engagement experiences shared by past e-Government students and Auckland Council staff
Past e-government students plus Auckland Council staff close the learning loop by sharing their digital engagement experiences, reflections and learnings in a recent EGOV course.
Learning continues and deepens after a course has finished when theory is put into practice. Theories and models from the classroom are reassessed in the light of what happens in their ‘real world’ use.
The School of Government would like to thank past EGOV503 students, Martin Rodgers and Rachel Brown, and 4 staff from Auckland Council for closing this learning loop by generously sharing their digital engagement experiences, reflections and learnings with this year’s class. EGOV503 is a Trimester 3, masters-level course about managing ICT-enabled public engagement.
After completing EGOV503 in 2014, Martin became the project manager for the New Zealand Flag Referendum process, which used digital channels to communicate with the public and receive submissions for new flag designs.
For her final assignment of the 2017 course, Rachel submitted a strategy and plan for digitally engaging people in the development of the Ashburton District Council’s Long-term Plan 2018-28, which was subsequently implemented as Our Place.
Auckland’s various councils have, over the years, used a variety of digital technologies to engage Aucklanders. This year’s EGOV503 students were fortunate to hear directly from people responsible for some of this work. Kenneth Aiolupotea, Head of Citizen Engagement and Insights, provided the strategic context for the Auckland Council’s use of digital engagement. Ayla Hoeta talked about Upsouth, an online community platform that enables people from South Auckland communities to sponsor ideas and earn income. Warren Marshall’s case study was about the People’s Panel, which allows its 35,000 members to provide feedback on different topics each month. Justin Durocher presented on the use of robotic process automation that enabled 26,500 pieces of feedback on Auckland’s Long-term Plan to be analysed in less than 2 weeks.
What all these examples highlight is that successful engagement is about much more than using the right digital platform. It’s about developing clear and realistic objectives, appropriate strategies and resources, careful planning and being reflexive enough to adapt your approach.