I was thinking today about why trade unions don’t make a bigger deal of Open Source software – not just to use themselves more often, but as a model for the businesses their members work in. We like co-ops well enough, for example, or social enterprises.
I guess there could be an element in some quarters of resistance to the intially strange idea of amateurs voluntarily taking on work that’s been traditionally done by paid staff in formal companies – the same issues we see wherever the internet is perceived to be pitting people’s leisure interests up against the work of professionals. More likey though is that it’s all a bit new to us. I don’t know many unionised coders myself, let alone union Open Source coders. (more…)
People sometimes ask me “John, why should trades unions get involved with Twitter?” No, honest, they really do, my life is *that* exciting at times…
My standard response is that it all depends. The microblogging service Twitter is potentially attractive to unions as it’s something of a liberal and Labour ghetto, and it gets a lot of column inches for being flavour of the moment and making people look modern. However, Twitter is almost a platform in search of a utility, and different people/unions might get very different things out of it, or of course nothing at all, depending on how they naturally want to communicate. (more…)
I’m not too proud of having been a lousy student. I don’t think I ever got an assignment in on time, and really found it a struggle to get much information out of libraries or lectures and into my head. Of course, since leaving uni for the world of work, I’ve found a big sop for my wounded pride in managmenty self awareness tests. It’s all because I’m an activist learner you see (not my fault whatsoever, honest!), and find it awkward to learn something unless I’m actually in the process of trying it at the same time.
We’ve seen a whole bunch more union related blogs over the last year, at all levels of the movement (check out the lists at TIGMOO.co.uk for many of them). But one thing I’ve noticed has impressed me in particular, and that’s the first attempts at cleverly using other people’s blogs to talk to members. I’m not talking about the Gen Sec posts that pop up on Comment Is Free every now and then, or the more mainstream political blogs, but something much closer to unions’ membership – the online trade press. (more…)
Another day, another aggregator. I’m getting quite into union aggregator sites of late, and think there could be something in this cheap and cheerful technology that could really be powerful for unions.
The latest experiment is Union Newswire. It collates and republishes links to union press releases from 19 UK organisations. The idea is to make a one-stop shop for journalists, bloggers or students following developments in unions. Rather than remember to check 19 sites, it gives you a choice of ways to stay up to date with the news you need from each of them, depending on how you want to work – web, email, RSS or Twitter. (more…)
If you’re involved in trade unions, you’re likely hearing a new buzzword right now: “Just Transition”. My guess is that if you’re like me, the frequent repetition of this neologism doesn’t help clarify anything whatsoever, but it’s worth sticking with, as it’s an interesting concept, and one where unions may really be able to make a contribution. (more…)
And, inspired by the IBEW social media organising vid, I thought I’d try out Prezi.com’s shiny new beta embed feature to show a presentation on the same lines that I did for UNI Global Union a few months ago.
BTW, I think Prezi has some good potential for union organisers too – a fair sight more compelling than the death-by-Powerpoint you get at many union meetings, and easy for people to use outside the context of the meeting.
Looking over this year’s TIGMOO.co.uk league table of UK union bloggers, it’s clear that the last year has seen a lot of new activity. Now over a third of the top 25 union blogs are new entries for 2009.
Union and political blogs in the USA continue to point the way, with insider commentary from LaborNerd, effective online campaigning from SEIU blog, or comprehensive and timely labour movement coverage from AFL-CIOnow. But things are growing over here too. (more…)
Just finished compiling this year’s TIGMOO.co.uk Guide to Union Blogging, just in time for Congress 2009. If you saw last year’s, you’ll know what to expect from it. I’ve spent a few hours adding up all the posts, comments, Alexa traffic estimates and Google inbound links, and predicted a top 25 blogs from the 120 odd on the network.
Who has the top spot this year? I can tell you that this here blog has slumped down the rankings a few places (sob), and that a third of the top 25 are new entries since last year, so there’s a lot to be looking out for.
…starring our photocopier, as it can act a whole lot better than me. Thanks to Moby for allowing me to use the splendid track “18″ on this, and to Lianne for clicking repeatedly.
BTW: As Mark Twain would likely have tweeted – had I more time, I would have uploaded a shorter video. If you do, have a go at the TUC 60 second video contest on YouTube, which I’ve missed by a mere 150%.
