Civic leaders across the country are being encouraged to set up blogs to help them communicate more directly with the public. The e-Democracy and Directgov projects want local authority councillors and officers to record their thoughts and experiences online. They have piloted the site www.readmyday.co.uk in association with the Hansard Society. The aim is to develop direct and authentic communication, hosted on local authority websites.

Participating councils so far include Kingston, North Lincolnshire and Lewisham. Under the tutelage of Griff Wigley, who apparently makes a living out of this sort of thing, civic bloggers will learn the art of informing and educating citizens on local issues and government services. The idea is that they will do so in a more engaging way than perhaps they have been used to.

We assume that such blogs will not take the form of:

9.12am got up… 9.15am had cup of tea… 9.34am departed on ‘fact-finding’ junket at taxpayers’ expense… etc.