Stephen Hale

Head of Engagement, Digital Diplomacy

FCO Logo
« List season | Main | How can the web help... »
Tuesday 06 January, 2009

What do you need to be a web professional in government now?

I've spent a lot of time in the last couple of months in interviews, talking to people applying to join the Digital Diplomacy Group. Interviews can be awkward (and they are clearly an imperfect way of recruiting people) but I've met some really interesting and talented people, and I'm confident that the Foreign Office will really benefit once our new team members are in place. 

But the process has made me question what exactly we are looking for from web professionals in government. A couple of years ago it would have been enough for candidates to demonstrate excellent editorial skills, proficiency as a developer, or a sound understanding of user experience to get a job in a government web team. We are still looking for these skills, but now we are also looking for people who understand the motivation of individuals or groups to contribute online, form communities, and collaborate. And they have to be able to apply this knowledge to the policy process, and be able to persuade (often) reluctant policy makers and diplomats the value of making changes to the way they work. I think we're asking for quite a lot.

The resignation over Christmas of one of the leading web professionals in UK government - citing some of the frustrations of being a web specialist working in government - has begun a debate about the pros and cons of working on digital media from within government, and the recognition in senior positions of web professionals.

I have an ongoing dicussion with my boss about the type of people we should recruit to work on digital diplomacy. I think we need to recruit specialists - people with a deep understanding of the web - who can then apply this knowledge to foreign policy issues. He is more inclined to recruit people who really understand foreign policy, who can then apply that knowledge to the web. Of course, we need people who can do both the web and foreign policy, but I don't think there are that many people out there at the moment with experience in both.

Posted at 13:24 06 January 2009 by Stephen Hale  |  Comments[9]

  • Share this with:
Comments:

Particularly hard to test at interview for the ability to persuade reluctant policy makers to operate more openly. The nature of the job has definitely changed, and it's an odd blend of skills we're looking for. Technical knowledge of mark-up and web languages is now almost totally obsolete. There's quite a few people having similar discussions at the moment, and not a moment too soon.

Posted by Neil Williams on January 06, 2009 at 07:13 PM GMT #

Two excellent characteristics would be insight and persistence. Imagination coupled with a habit of mind encouraging collaborative endeavor would help. Skill in pattern recognition is useful. Organizational processes need to be designed with interagency environments fully accepted. Happy New Year -btw

Posted by William Theuer on January 07, 2009 at 06:49 AM GMT #

As someone from a web/information background I'd find it almost impossible to get policy work and vice versa - government views the two as completely separate disciplines with very separate career paths. I reckon secondments are a good way forward - giving people the chance to experience work they'd otherwise have no chance of getting into. Perhaps FCO's policy makers would be more willing to consider shorter term attachments, combining gaining of policy experience for candidates, with application of web skills to policy issues as a result for policy section. Surely a win-win?

Posted by Diane Brodie on January 07, 2009 at 11:56 AM GMT #

Dear Stephen, Are there any plans to create a public portal on the FCO website with uploaded videos of public events, press conferences and speeches from senior officials? The State dept. has a very useful video library for the public to view and it would be nice if the UK had something similar.

Posted by James on January 07, 2009 at 04:23 PM GMT #

Very interesting topic of discussion! I work for the United States Government and in my agency we have a very small team of people who have extensive social media skills. These tend to be contractors. The government personnel are the ones who are versed in the policy and in the technology side. You cannot possibly be good at everything therefore these government personnel are more generalists in portfolio. The know and understand the policy side of things, but also can walk and talk the technology side. They are responsible for running pilots, working with program/policy officers on specific projects and educating senior executives in Government about the value of these new tools and how they may be used for meeting the mission. We also conduct mid-level briefings for specific people and open brown bag sessions. We have also started to integrate this new way of thinking and a "how to" orientation on Web 2.0 and government to our training center. At this point it is not mandatory, but we would like to make it so in the future. These all go a long way in helping to overcome the culture change that is necessary to adopt and use these new tools think about our transition from typewriters to computers. Make no mistake this is not an easy job and it can be fustrating because in general governments move slowly. The trick is to be tenacious and find a group of like minded people who will help cheer you on. The good news is all governments are trying to figure out how to use these tools, who to hire and how best to balance the policy with the technology. The only completely wrong answer is ignoring it and not take the plunge in trying to address the use of Web 2.0 in the business of government. By the way, a book that may help you determine what skillsets may be needed is Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff. It is required reading in my office if you intend to work and engage people with social media.

Posted by Izabel Cortes on January 07, 2009 at 06:36 PM GMT #

Hi James - we do have a partnership with British Satellite News for producing this kind of content: http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/about-the-fco/what-we-do/funding-programmes/public-diplomacy/bsn. We're planning to look at how we present all our video content early this year. I'll post more about this.

Posted by Stephen Hale on January 08, 2009 at 08:19 AM GMT #

tansistion from typrwriters to computers?!?!?! whoa...how old are you guys?!?!?!??

Posted by steve Mc (Canada) on January 08, 2009 at 08:09 PM GMT #

Thank you Stephen. I was aware of BSN, but their reports are invariably too brief and highly edited to get any real insight. Why doesn't the public have access to watch the foreign secretary's press conferences, or watch important public events which are carried out by HMAs on the ground? The youtube page is good in this regard, but it is very limited geographically and seldom updated. I imagine this would probably involve logisitical constraints and budget problems, but an element of this really would go a long way to raising awareness of how the UK govt is implementing its 5 key fp objectives.

Posted by James on January 12, 2009 at 11:39 AM GMT #

I work for Parliament and was at the FCO for a bit in 2005. I'd say to be a web professional in govt nowadays need you need to be a project manager, writer, video/podcast producer, editor, social media guru, pr bod and community manager! And then throw skills like being able to interact and sell ideas to senior management on there. And have enough technical knowledge to use CMS' and other tools and work with developers. I totally agree with what you say about specialists, Stephen, and thought the FCO had it backwards in their generalist-first approach when I was there.

Posted by Alistair Reid on January 19, 2009 at 04:58 PM GMT #

Post a Comment:
  • HTML Syntax: NOT allowed