The original testing ground for new possibilities
Nice video – seems to be a useful way of thinking about ideas diffusing through a dispersed network. Trying to understanding the network and identify important elements within it provides a means of making diffusion more likely. What makes a node important depends on perspective and what you are trying to achieve, so attempting to … Read More “Nice video as model for network PD” »
The run-in to the Christmas break has seen the production of numerous pieces about Gov 2.0 and PD 2.0. As comments on them have got a little long I’ve attached them here rather than have an overly long blog post. Many of these have been hot on the potential of ‘new’ tools but less clear … Read More “What does this video have to do with Public Diplomacy 2.0?” »
While the enthusiasm for using digital media to engage with individuals around the world shows little sign of abating, interestingly the enthusiasm for discussing hard data about those interactions seems to be lagging behind. While not every Public Diplomat need nor can be expected to have a detailed knowledge of vast spreadsheets with numerous columns and … Read More “Using digital media? Be serious about visualizing the data” »
Matt Armstrong a while back highlighted the issue that America.gov had more followers listing their location as in America, than they did followers from the rest of the world. I mapped the data he collected to demonstrate how the location of those followers could be broken down by region. By way of an update, here’s an … Read More “Update: mapping those following America.gov on twitter” »
Does it matter in Public Diplomacy terms if an organisation with which you partner is heavily criticised in an official report? This post continues from an earlier post on the British Council’s partnership with weapons manufacturer BAE Systems. The earlier post focused on the  considerations which must exist alongside the potential benefits of partnership in … Read More “Cautionary note on partnership in Public Diplomacy (part 2)” »
Quick look at 3D network map. This one of followers of FCO accounts on Twitter, will follow-up with further data. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzxMBl3KSZo] Understanding importance or influence within a network depends in part on perspective; both the way you look at it and what your priorities are. The ability to view the map in 3D is all … Read More “The world is 3D – why not a network map?” »
We live in a networked world. Whether known as family, kinship, tribe, village, neighbourhood, community, work place colleagues, or online social network, they are all networks in the sense of being a series of relationships between different individuals. Social network analysis (SNA) explores the relationship between actors within a network by identifying the points that … Read More “Guest post on Mountainrunner: Introduction to Using Network Maps in Public Diplomacy” »
The response by individuals using Twitter to the Iranian election provides important perspectives for the scholarship and practice of Public Diplomacy. The ability to map and analyze the interaction between Twitter accounts can provide a greater understanding of the response to a specific event, in this case the Iranian election, in a way not possible … Read More “THE IRANIAN ELECTION: FOLLOWING A CONVERSATION” »
The current vogue for conducting Public Diplomacy through ‘partnerships’ and the movement in theory on collaborative / collective action can create some difficult challenges in practice. For those who conduct Public Diplomacy in partnership with BAE Systems, the announcement that BAE Systems faces prosecution over bribery allegations, while as yet unproven, creates awkward questions. This … Read More “A cautionary note on partnership in Public Diplomacy” »
Matt Armstrong posed this question on Mountainrunner. The coding of the data he had gathered was crowdsourced via twitter. This has allowed him to run an analysis of the global audience of a government initiative run on a social media application. The result of his analysis demonstrates that 67% – 70% of the audience is … Read More “Mapping the Question: what does it mean if the demographic of two-thirds of your audience is not your target demographic?” »