First ICT Foresight report is published
Today we published the first in our series of ICT Foresight reports, which we wrote with Ross and Milica at the Hansard Society. This first report examines the impact of ICT on the sector’s ‘voice’ and representation roles by looking at the activities of consultation and campaigning. It explains technological, political and social trends, highlights current innovative practice in the use of ICTs and discusses both risks and opportunities for the future.
It is free to download from the NCVO website (not ideal I know but we just have no time to put up a HTML version). Here is the introduction:
This is the first in a series of Third Sector Foresight reports on the emerging relationship between voluntary and community organisations, and information and communication technology (ICT). ICTs have been with us for some time – though evidence suggests that voluntary and community organisations have not readily taken advantage – but the pace, breadth and disruptive nature of their increasingly widespread introduction and use make this a good point at which to review progress and look at future opportunities. This report, which is based on desk research and a survey of almost 300 senior managers in the voluntary and community sector, maps out emerging trends in relation to the critical ‘voice’ and representation roles of the sector, covering campaigning and consultation.
It is probably a cliché to state that ICT is changing many aspects of our society including how we communicate, how we transact business and how we consume goods and services. There are numerous examples, from the relatively mundane (providing information and advice via a website) to the fully interactive (signing up to a social networking site such as MySpace). Increasing ease of use, combined with ever-lower costs, is likely to make these new ICTs both ubiquitous and pervasive.
Such changes have also influenced the structures and processes of the State, including the ways in which government and its agencies communicate, consult with, and deliver services to, its citizens. Although ICTs are not driving the shift to more participatory forms of government, the opportunities they afford have been timely. Large-scale IT projects run by government departments often make the news, but just as important are the small-scale, sometimes experimental, advances made by local statutory bodies in areas such as consultation.
Voluntary and community organisations (VCOs) are not immune from such changes, and indeed many are embracing them. In the areas of consultation and campaigning (the focus of this report), VCOs are key intermediaries in the relationship between the State and its citizens– as well as independent, distinct voices in their own right. In addition, it is becoming more apparent that many new social change organisations are growing from purely online origins. The main body of the report examines these roles and relationships, looking at how ICT has or could change the nature of such relationships, and in some cases what is achievable. There are an increasing number of innovative organisations using ICTs to engage with their stakeholders, a few of which are illustrated in this report. However, for others the new ICTs are “indistinguishable from magic”, requiring skills or knowledge that rapidly become obsolete (“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” Arthur C. Clarke, 1973).A challenge, therefore, for this report has been navigating between utopian visions of the possible and realistic guidance on the probable.
The structure of each chapter therefore reviews current drivers and trends, and illustrates these with case studies on the innovative use of ICTs. It also considers implications for those organisations wishing to follow up the issues. The final section of the report contains a glossary that aims to cover some of the most frequently used jargon in this area.
Finally, other reports in the series will cover accountability, social networks, and delivering services. If you have any comments, either on this report or issues you would like to see covered in future reports, contact us.