Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Has Haringey Blocked Flickr?
Councillor Alan Stanton reports in another post that he fears that Haringey Council have blocked their staff from accessing Flickr. Can this be?
Alan wrote:
Sadly, the Council's staff now appear to have been blocked from seeing what the borough looks like beyond their offices. Perhaps the photos of dumping posted by Liz, me and others have proved too 'dirty'?
Alan wrote:
Sadly, the Council's staff now appear to have been blocked from seeing what the borough looks like beyond their offices. Perhaps the photos of dumping posted by Liz, me and others have proved too 'dirty'?
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
-
Let's not get too paranoid about Haringey on this one. I work for Camden Council and sites like Flickr and social networking sites are blocked. If you want access you have to ask our IT people and give them the reason need it. Nothing sinister about it. It's to stop people wasting time looking at the photos of their Mum's holiday in Benidorm and having access to unsuitable (and God knows there's a lot of it online) material at work.
-
Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
-
I've just read Hugh's comment here about the Met Police cautious use of Social Media.
I'm still pressing to get Haringey Council staff wider access to social media sites. As I mentioned on this thread, back in October 2009 I was told there'd be a six month pilot scheme opening-up social media sites for staff. It still hasn't happened.
The result is often absurd. I'm told that at times, our branch library staff have been unable to access the Libraries' own Twitter pages. Other staff were blocked from seeing their colleagues getting awards in videos posted on YouTube.
And often the ban gets in the way of very mundane things. A few days ago I reported a knocked over bollard. My report was initially sent to the wrong team because none of the relevant staff had access to my photo.
I understand the points made by Clive and Michael in this thread. But the same argument can be made for banning staff from bringing books, newspapers and magazines to work - they might read them during working hours. Should the Council ban use of phones in case people ring their family or friends? In other words, I'm suggesting staff should be treated as responsible grown-ups; and managers should manage those who abuse this trust
If you meet any candidates out on the campaign trail, you might want to ask their views on this.
(Labour councillor & candidate Tottenham Hale ward)
-
Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
-
Alan, I don''t know if you are still pressing to get Haringey Council staff wider access to social media sites, but you might consider this story from Jordan:
We knew there was waste, but not to this extent [Jordan's Information Minister, Marwan Juma].
Jordan has barred public sector workers from accessing more than 50 websites at work, after it was found they were wasting almost 3 hours a day online [BBC story]
-
-
Yes, indeed, Clive. I'm still pressing.
And I've a set on my Flickr photoblog called Shut your eyes and the 21st Century will go away. It tracks Haringey's brave attempts to protect its delicate and vulnerable staff from seeing my dirty pictures on the internet - showing fly-tipping and other offensive rubbish.
And also blocking staff from finding out what some of their go-ahead colleagues - for example, in the Libraries and the Recycling Team - are posting on websites such F*ceb**k; Tw*tt*r, Y**T*be; and Fl*ckr.
However, I'm making steady progress and currently some forty or fifty staff may be unblocked. I've estimated that, at this breakneck speed, if they can just hang-on long enough, most current Haringey employees will be allowed into the 21st Century well before the next one begins.
Clive, I have no doubt that people in every organisation can waste time on the internet. Some also spend work time reading a newspaper; or phoning and texting their family and friends. A few have the cheek to chat with their colleagues about non-work-related topics.
All these can and should be dealt with as management issues.
Any day soon, I expect to see reports by new companies called something like MobilePhoneStasi or NannyCall explaining how large regular payments to them will prevent Agatha in Accounts ever again ringing her mum in work time.
_____________________
"Hello? Is anybody home?
Well, you don't know me,
but I know you."
-
-
I had no idea that a middle eastern country would adopt such an intelligent approach to the Internet, but then I note that Jordan (not the Sheila) has ambitions to become the high tech capital of the region. And obviously not by blindly adopting every new web idea that comes down the turnpike.
The Communications Minister, Ali Ayed, does not sound like someone who might be browbeaten by accusations that he is not living in the 21st century:
"The public sector's time must be spent in service of the public interest and public servants must focus their attention on the public's needs, instead of wasting their time surfing the web or playing games"
Three cheers for Mr Ayed! Back in our Borough, the question remains: should council employee productivity be seen as an "issue"?
.
-
-
► An update on Haringey's block on social media websites. Prompted by news of the Haringey Green Week from 5 - 13 June 2010; and by Liz posting the Twitter link from our enthusiastic and creative Going Green Team.
Which makes it even more baffling that all but a handful of Haringey staff are still blocked from accessing this and other social media sites ─ including Haringey Libraries.
Last October the Council "cabinet" approved a six-month pilot scheme to give all staff access to social media sites ─ as recommended in a report by senior officers. On 16 February I wrote to Stuart Young, Assistant Chief Executive, asking when the pilot was due to start. I've yet to get a reply on this.
(Tottenham Hale ward councillor)
-
-
Alan, you surely have to recognize that not every council employee is as conscientious and hardworking as you.
Others with better knowledge than me have commented that there are significant numbers of council employees who aren't especially diligent already. Managers cannot be everywhere all the time and we should not seek to advocate things that will make their jobs more difficult.
I think the examples you've quoted of usefulness (to council staff) are not typical. Giving free access to the web to council employees, when they are supposed to be working, is a sure-fire way of wasting prodigious amounts of time. Time that the public is paying for and time which for many people, are severely straightened times. Is this fair?
If social media sites, why not let council staff watch TV as well? I'm sure you could make out a case for it, but overall that might not be realistic.
-
Permalink Reply by Liz on
-
One of the things I hated about blanket bans on accessing social media sites when I worked in a school (I wished to use You Tube to access teaching material for example) was this assumption that I was feckless and would be unable to function if someone let me use a site which also happened to have videos of cute cats etc. Many, many sites were blocked by type e.g. games, social network to the children, which I agreed with although teaching how to use sites safely and responsibly should be on the curriculum, but also to the teachers. Of course, the kids got round the blocks to sites and continued to play games...while I couldn't get onto sites that had built educational software to enhance learning.
It's a matter of whether you think public sector staff are adult and responsible or children who can't be trusted. If the latter is the case, then you either remove them or get to the bottom of why they are not diligent. A staff member who is not performing well will find ways to avoid work by reading the paper, gossiping in the corridors, playing solitaire on their pc or playing with their smartphones which access the web anyway. The TV argument is not relevant. There is no perceived use for it in the office so why would you allow it? (Incidentally, during the world cup where games were on during the day, TVs were set up in offices across the land because employers realised people would simply fail to come to work if they couldn't watch it. In my school, kids and teachers watched it together and that probably did more to improve relationships in a tough school than any amount of Personal and Social Lessons)
Managers are already failing if they can't agree policies over the use on innovation and enforce them. Tackle the root cause of this culture of poor output which would not be the advent of social media or the arrival of the internet in the office, but something much deeper in terms of how people are valued, managed, trained and treated as workers in an organisation.
-
-
It's a matter of whether you think public sector staff are adult and responsible or children who can't be trusted.
Liz I'm sure you were one of the responsible employees, but I don't think your dichotomy (above) applies. It's not that council staff are all responsible or that they're all irresponsible. Surely the point is that the quality varies. Not all motorists drive responsibly, but the legislation aimed at them necessarily applies to everyone.
Television carries many channels with information that would be useful to (some) council staff. Documentaries on a whole range of things would be informative. Trading Standards officers could learn from the experience of programmes like Rogue Traders. The Parks Department could learn from Gardening programmes. Council Purchasing may benefit from bargains on the Shopping Channels. I'm sure given time I could make a better case than this for TV's for everyone in River Park House.
But I am being selective here and there are other channels and programmes that wouldn't be quite so useful in delivering services to the public.
Long before the Internet, a schoolmate of mine went to work in the Finance Department of a council and I'm sure he was a diligent employee. He said in all seriousness that about 25% of the staff needed to be sacked straight away. The reason? Because they weren't doing any work!
-
Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on
-
Reminds me of Angelo Roncalli when they made him Pope in 1958. Asked by his brother, a farmer from Bergamo, how many people worked in the Vatican he said 'probably about half of them'. Which seems about right for any organisation, with or without Flicker or Facebook.
-
Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
-
Ditto for investment banks and they're supposedly incentivised with bonuses and random firings.
-
-
Eddie I take the point about the similarities between the council and the Vatican. I can see parallels in a number of areas like bureaucracy, hierarchy, permanence, secrecy, use-of-jargon, unresponsiveness and belief in infallibility.
But it is possible to take these analogies too far, and I would question the following aspect of the proportions performing work in the respective organisations:
Whether or not the proportion actually working may or may not be the same, there is this significant difference (and it also applies to John's point about investment banks): while any inefficiency in the Vatican is only a drain on Church finances and on services to Catholics (and inefficiency in the private sector a loss to a particular company's customers and shareholders), the waste and inefficiencies that exist in councils are a loss to all council-tax payers and to those, particularly the poor, who are dependent on Council services.
While a half of an organisation not working may be true (I doubt its that high), it surely cannot be "right" when it is the public who pay for it.
.
- ‹ Previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
- Next ›
© 2024 Created by Hugh.
Powered by
