The Daily Mash (haven't quoted them for a while!) has a very funny article today on office workers and Facebook ... as regular readers will know, I succumbed to the Facebook addiction some time ago ...... only problem is (and this possibly gives away the fact that I'm blogging from home at the moment!) you cannot access Facebook, MySpace, YouTube - or a host of other really useful sites - at the City Chambers??
So, just no escape from "the hellish, brain-curdling reality that is their shabby, predictable and ultimately meaningless lives" for Councillors :-((
Mind you, on the upside, "Blogger" hasn't been blocked yet :-))
3 comments:
That is really a problem where the council spends so much on IT, IT systems and IT maintenance and they have not figured out how to give the elected members access to sites which they find useful.
It is understandable that some sites must be banned from council computers per se, however there must be the ability to be able to allow certain people access to those sites if it is necessary.
A small example is that a web consultant working at a client in a large publishing company requested access to certain porn sites. At first it caused problems but then the consultant pointed out that the Porn industry were using and developing the ground breaking technology so to keep up with his job, unfortunately, he had to look at some boobs now and again. Totally true and totally understandable and it is totally desirable that the system should be able to accomodate that.
What if a councillor, like yourself, decided that Facebook was his choice of system to communicate with their constituents. Why on earth wouldn't the council's systems allow him that facility?
Another example, in place in Children & Families is that staff are told and the software has been set not to allow staff members or members of the community in community centres the ability to access a local site called, I believe, EdinburghSucks.com. Why would that happen, shouldn't staff be allowed to read information about what is going on in their department and make their own minds up?
I am sure that the council spend a pretty penny on this stuff, it's a shame they for years, have not been able to get it right and taxpayers money has drifted down the proverbial toilet.
If you need any help to bypass the council software, I am sure you would know how to get in touch with me with your flash drive.
Andrew, Here's a neat way to get around this little bit of Big Brother from Tom A...
http://unblock-facebook.org/
Anonymous - thanks; may try that when I'm in the office tomorrow!
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