What I’ve done

For the last year I have been keeping a low profile but I’ve still managed to undertake projects for the British Council and Oxfam as well as providing digital marketing consultancy for a range of small businesses. I’ve also built a rather smart website for an artisan cheesemaker based in Bath. You should try the produce, its fabulous.

Until January 2009, I worked in the UK civil service for seven years. I was employed at the Ministry of Justice, and its predecessor departments, for all that time. But I also did bits and pieces – some credited, some uncredited – across Whitehall.

Ministry of Justice

• Developed and delivered their digital communications strategy (possibly / probably the first one in Whitehall).
• Corporate website – designed the structure, functionality, content, and editorial policies for launch of the department’s website in May 2007. Sitemorse ranked it 2nd in its benchmarking of 400 public sector websites in Q1 2009. Not bad for a site almost two years old. I also led the refresh of the site, which launched shortly after I left in early 2009.
• provided consultancy, strategic advice and/or design ideas for a number of Ministry of Justice “umbrella” organisations including:
  • • • • the Judicial Appointments Commission,
        • the Judicial Appointments and Conduct Ombudsman,
        • the Office for Judicial Complaints,
        • the Official Solicitor and Public Trustee, and
  • • • • the Office of Public Guardian.

The Wales Office

• The first government department corporate website built using the WordPress blogging / CMS platform. I provided strategic consultancy, developed the proposition and procured resource to build and launch the site in early 2008.

The Governance of Britain

• An attempt to use social web tools to both aggregate and syndicate information and conversations from across government, and the wider internet, around a range of issues designed to stimulate debate about citizens’ involvement in democratic institutions.

Cross-government web community

• I devised and organised the first two UK government barcamps for public servants working in digital media, held in January 2008 (at Google) and January 2009 (at the Ministry of Justice), and set up a regular series of informal networking ‘teacamps’ that still take place in Westminster, London each month.

Government Communications Social Media Review (2007)

• I provided specialist advice and expertise as part of the review team based in the Cabinet Office. We examined; the opportunities, challenges, risks and implications of social media for government, what role government should play in this space, and what guidelines civil servants needed to engage in social media as part of their jobs.

More information about this, and other roles, can be found in my LinkedIn profile.

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