Politicians are in danger of turning the public off political podcasting if they continue to use the medium to distribute prepared speeches, according to Stephen Coleman, Professor of Political Communication at the University of Leeds.

“These new technologies only work well if they link the perspective of a politician with those of other people. If it is seen by politicians as another broadcast medium like TV or radio, they will meet with the same indifference,” he told E-Government Bulletin.

Coleman believes podcasting could become a “significant way for people to become politically engaged”. Agreed, but as we’ve said before, only if politicians quit being so boring.

Many bloggers have commented on the political podcasting phenomenon earlier this year, when Prime Minister Tony Blair and opposition party leader David Cameron both podcasted for the first time.

On Cameron’s podcast, Audacious Communications wrote: “Arguably it appears as a piece of propaganda, which misjudges the opportunities that podcasting presents to engage listeners.”

NevOn felt that Blair sounded scripted while Cameron came across as more informal.

Blog Relations shamed The Daily Telegraph, who broadcasted Cameron’s podcast, for allowing him to speak for seven minutes without being challenged.

Digital MediaWatch predicts video podcasts, or vlogs will replace audio podcasts by the end of the year. “…politicians will finally have a cheap platform where they can show off their pearly white smiles.”

Adventures of a Boy was especially sceptical of political podcasting. He wrote: “…using a weblog or podcast to communicate with those that voted for you might show just how little you actually care about them.”

While most bloggers have focused on Blair and Cameron’s podcasting debut, apparently they were not the first major UK politicians to use podcasting. Charles Kennedy podcasted recorded campaign speeches in 2005 - not quite the same as creating an original podcast, but ahead of the others nontheless.

Around the world, politicians have started podcasting. Just to name a few:

• John Edwards, former running mate to Democratic candidate John Kerry
• Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger
• French presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy
• Australian Senator Bob Brown

It’s cheating a bit, but President George W. Bush’s weekly radio addresses are converted into podcast format.

In an interesting article in The Australian, data showed it is the older age groups, rather than the younger ones, who are tuning into podcasts.

David Miliband is chuffed by all accounts with the launch of his new, official ODPM blog. As the first UK Minister to launch such a venture many might say he has every reason to be. Yet, earlier this month there were reports of worries in Whitehall when whispers that David might start blogging began to circulate. Concerns were raised that David could publish views that went beyond his ministerial brief.

In fact, David has been blogging internally at the ODMP since January and only yesterday did he open himself up to public perusal.

The move has been warmly welcomed by Bloggers4Labour as well as those who have already posted comments on David’s site. Whilst Bloggerheads have asked everyone to “be nice to the new boy” and Cllr Stuart Bruce is reminded of the time he started blogging in 2003, not all bloggers have put out the welcome mat.

One commentator calling himself Leon wrote: “Without doubt a brave move for a Government Minister but will that constraint mean a lack of character and candor?”. Others, like Guido Fawkes, have been even harsher, complaining that the comments made to posts don’t appear until the next day.

Personally I have issues with the excessive use of lilac but that’s just me. It is good to see that at least one Minister is trying to use blogging to communicate with the unwashed masses and that should be encouraged.

Many of us having been asking for such a move for some time; now that it’s here let’s just hope that his blog can live up to the high standards set by the ODPMs strapline: “Creating sustainable communities”.

The Disability Rights Commission have found that more than 80 percent of websites surveyed fail to meet basic accessibility requirements, The Guardian reported today.

It’s a good thing then, that the Usability Exchange website launched today. The organisation aims to reduce the number of unfriendly websites for disabled users by providing website testing services by disabled users.

Instead of using automated tests, oraganisations can now easily find out what disabled users think of their website. They can even watch testers attempt to navigate their website through the use of remote viewing software.

This launch comes just as the British Standards Institution published new guidance last week, PAS 78, for those who commission or maintain websites, to ensure that any site they make or maintain is user-friendly for disabled people.

Usability Exchange has been nominated for a 2006 New Media Award.

As someone who can barely remember what life was like before the internet, it was quite an experience attending yesterday a lecture given by the inventor of the web – Sir Tim Berners-Lee. A confusing, mind-boggling experience.

First, while no one I talked with after the event cared to admit, Berners-Lee talked way too fast. Add that to the fact that he was discussing the Semantic Web – the next phase of the web he is developing – and I was left swimming against a deadly current of jargon and ideas about onotologies and URIs.

Basically, the purpose of the Semantic Web is to make raw data available for anyone to use in a variety of applications. The data is classified and linked together by a standard set of onotologies (think tags). For further explanation, visit the World Wide Web Consortium, the organisation founded by Berners-Lee that has been developing the semantic web for the past eight years.

Berners-Lee said that he expects the life sciences industry, much like the high energy physicists with the world wide web, will go gang-busters for the Semantic Web because they will be able to share and cross-examine data. Cures for cancer and AIDS might be found that much quicker if researchers had access to each other’s information.

“The whole value-added of the web is serendipitous reuse,” said Berners-Lee.

But it’s not just for high-minded scientists. If the maps that Google or Yahoo use for their mapping applications were made available as pure data, they could be used in other ways that haven’t been thought of, or done, yet.

“I want to do Google Maps things to a ridiculous extent,” said Berners-Lee.

Many attendees said they were “inspired” by the lecture and “excited” about the concept of the Semantic Web.

“It was totally mind-blowing once I realised the implications of giving everything that we know exists in the physical world a URI,” said Ian Yorston, head of digital strategy at Radley College.

Yorston said that this would mean it would be quite easy to pull together small bits of data to make a larger application – such as a flight simulation through the Grand Canyon, using URIs for a plane, people and maps.

Other attendees expressed concern about the implications of having such a great volume of data accessible to anyone – such as privacy and identity theft.

But there were some who didn’t buy into the idea at all.

“I think we’re already looking at the future of the web,” said Miles Metcalf, an IT researcher at Ravensbourne College. Flickr and Delicious, where the entire community can create tags, are aimed at democratising information much more so than the Semantic Web, Metcalf said.

Ian Forrester, a software engineer for the BBC World Service, was sceptical of the way the semantic web would classify a very messy world with simple URIs.

Forrester brought up the example of “God”.

“What would God mean? Where would it link to?” he said.

I’m curious about this idea of a global community of scientists sharing data across state borders. The west certainly doesn’t want to share data on nuclear power with the rest of the world.

The event was held at the Oxford e-Horizons Institute, in collaboration with the Oxford Internet Institute, the Oxford e-Research Centre and the School of Electronics and Computer Science of the University of Southhampton.

A webcast of the lecture is expected to be posted on the Oxford Internet Institute website sometime soon.

William Sands has also blogged on this topic.

Check out Berners-Lee’s blog.

It’s been a bumpy road to launch Choose and Book, the electronic booking system that allows NHS patients to choose the date, time and place for outpatient hospital appointments. However, at least one medical centre has fallen in love with the e-booking system.

The Middlestown Medical Centre in Wakefield in West Yorkshire has been using Choose and Book since December 2005. Since then more than 300 patients have made their hospital appointments via the new service, according to the NHS.

While 300 out of 7,000 patients seems low, the NHS says that the majority of referrals from Middlestown are done with Choose and Book. (Sceptics might say that a “majority” could mean anywhere from 51 to 99 percent.)

Dr Terry Gair, one of the practice’s six GPs, sings the system’s praises. He was so enthusiastic about Choose and Book that he wrote his own manual to help his colleagues navigate the referral system.

Middlestown’s patients have enjoyed using the booking system which allows them to make a hospital appointment while they are still at the GP’s office, or at home over the phone or on the internet, according to office staff.

Middlestown is one of 18 practices in the Wakefield West Primary Care Trust area. Currently, eight other practices in the trust use Choose and Book, with plans to get the remainder on board by late spring, according to NHS.

Implementing Choose and Book has taken longer than expected – the original plan was for 250,000 first visit appointments to have been made by December 2004, but only 20,000 had been made by November 2005, reported the eGov Monitor last year.

Last moth, the membership magazine of the British Medical Association, BMA News, reported 67,820 referrals have been made by GPs in England by December 23, 2005. If all the data is reported by eGov and BMA are accurate, that would indicate a huge jump from in one month’s time.

The latest implementation goal is for 90 per cent of GP referrals to be made through the system by March 2007, according to an eGov Monitor article last month.

The government-funded University for Industry, or Ufi, which operates an e-learning network to improve literacy, numeracy, and employability skills among adults, is failing to attract users, according to a report by the House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts.

Since it’s inception in 1998, Ufi has provided 4 million courses to 1.7 million people via the network called learndirect, but the committee report says that a majority have not taken any classes in the last three years. And about half of the users don’t appear to meet their goals.

Furthermore, the report found that even though the Ufi’s mission is to increase productivity and employability, the company has not taken many steps to work directly with employers, instead focusing on individuals. Only 37 percent of small and medium businesses know that learndirect is intended to help them. Of those businesses, only 4 percent use the service.

In the report, MPs make several suggestions to improve Ufi’s performance. At the top of the list is devising a strategy to work more directly with employers. The committee recommends working with the Small Business Service and sector skills councils.

MPs say Ufi also needs to reduce spending on management and marketing, which is currently at 30 percent of the operating budget. And a business plan must be drawn up to show how Ufi is going to bring in £40 million a year. The programme was expected to be self-funded by July 2005, but has only recovered £12 million in commercial income thus far – a long way off from the £930 million given in education funding over the first seven years.

While it is clear that a service like this is needed – at present time only 40 percent of employers provide training for their employees – this is a debacle of epic proportions. On their website, Ufi say that since the November committee hearing, they have reorganised the company, which will result in a £10 million-per-year savings and developed a plan to be earning £44 million-per-year from private sector employers by 2011. It’s a start…

Pope Benedict XVI was recently given an iPod Nano as a gift from staff at Vatican Radio, according to the Catholic News Service.

This news reminded us of our earlier posts on the furore that erupted over the Pope’s website and email address when he was elected last April.

Today, we decided to follow up on one Benedict-email enthusiast, known as the Irish chancer, who had bought the email address popebenedictxvi@hotmail.it on eBay. It appears that the blog he launched, Cyber-Pope in response to his “misadventures on eBay that led him to form a new religion - Confusionism”, has petered out. (A new website is supposedly in the works.)

With so many other Pope blogs and fan club webpages controlled by his followers, we would like to suggest that perhaps Pope Benedict would like take the Cyber-Pope blog over himself. Instead of simply having his speeches posted on the official Vatican website, blogging would give him a chance to candidly communicate with the computer-savvy masses.

But why stop there?

Apparently, when he received the iPod, his holiness said: “Computer technology is the future.”

If he is so accepting and comfortable with the high-tech world, perhaps the Pope should try podcasting. And while he’s at it, maybe start texting an inspriational message of the day to mobile phones. (Though we admit texting is nothing new to the Vatican, who used messaging and e-mail to update the press on the medical condition of Pope John Paul II, we reported last year.)

Techno world has MPs beat
The ID card has absorbed a good deal of parliamentary time but many MPs and peers still tend to log off from matters technological

SatNav warriors invade Somerset village

New standards for website access
New guidelines on how to make websites more user-friendly for disabled people have been developed by the British Standards Institution (BSI).

Upgraded IT goes on the buses
Daniel Thomas reports on the £117m revamp of London’s bus communications systems

Pushing the envelope on ecommerce
Royal Mail is investing in extending the capabilities of its online services

London Business School to give web-based document and file management to students

An update to yesterday’s post on Virtual Work Experience…

The group of fourth years at Queen Anne High School who piloted the Virtual Work Experience programme gave the 3-D simulations rave reviews.

These students had already completed their work experience and found the programme would have been extremely helpful to them before entering the world of work, said Shona Cochrane, principal teacher of Guidance at Queen Anne.

“It can be daunting going into a new environment. Some students find it almost terrifying,” Cochrane said.

Virtual Work Experience allows students to see what they can expect on their work placement – from the receptionist standing and greeting them when they arrive, to chatting with colleagues in the kitchen.

“It is an ideal opportunity to learn about social interactions,” Cochrane said.

While originally designed for students in remote locations unable to participate in a work experience, the programme can be used to teach all students about professionalism and employability skills, Cochrane said.

Students take a preparatory class before going on their work experience. They will be able to use the simulations in this class as another way to learn about working environments. If a student is unsure what type of placement they would like, they can test different settings virtually. Computer games are an effective teaching tool because it makes the material tangible to a wide array of learners – visual, audio and kinaesthetic – Cochrane said.

“We need to make our resources stimulating and varied,” Cochrane said. “Kids love going on the computers – it’s an area where they feel comfortable.”

But the benefits of Virtual Work Experience don’t stop there.

After testing the programme, students gave their feedback and suggestions to the designers and were “astounded” when they saw that their opinions were incorporated into the newest edition, Cochrane said. Seven students accompanied Scottish deputy first minister Nicol Stephen to the launch event last week.

“I can almost see them grown taller,” Cochrane said.

A 3-D work experience programme was launched last week in Scotland and will be rolled out to all secondary schools in August.

The computer game-like programme allows students to tour a variety of simulated workplace settings and complete interactive tasks likely to occur. The first three virtual worlds were unveiled in February: Contact Centre World, Hairdressing and Beauty World and NHS Trauma World.

Three more worlds are under construction for the August rollout: Food and Drink, Passenger Transport, and Retail.

The programme has been created by Careers Scotland – Highlands and Islands, in partnership with BT and number of other private and public sector agencies, including the Learning and Teaching Scotland, and the Scottish Executive’s Determined to Succeed division. The programme will also be accessed by the schools through the Learning and Teaching Scotland website.

The argument in favour of the programme is that students can now access businesses they would not otherwise – because of a student’s rural location or the business’ inability to provide work experience opportunities.

The students at Queen Anne High School in Dunfermline have been able to test the programme and give their feedback. Principal Kenneth Powrie said the programme was “wonderful” because it gives the students “an idea of what’s ahead of them” before going out on their work placement.

But the idea of virtual work experience seems counter-intuitive. The whole point of work experience for 16 to 18-year-olds is to immerse themselves in the “real world” – surrounded by real, live working professionals who can’t be shadowed in a text book.

This concern has been recognised by those launching the programme. In an eGov article, Scottish deputy first minister Nicol Stephen said: “Virtual Work Experience will complement not replace traditional placements, increasing the scope and scale of opportunities available to our young people.”

Indeed, the Virtual Work Experience website further explains the purpose of the programme: “The key to a positive and enjoyable working life is loving what you do and doing what you love. In order to make this happen you need to make a well informed realistic decision about your chosen career path.”

I generally like this concept, but the word “realistic” is a bit scary – what happened to the days when parents told their children they can be anything they want to be, do anything they want to do, as long as they work hard enough? Future doctors of the world need to be realistic about their ability to handle blood – but children don’t need virtual reality to help them figure that out.