The Wardman Wire

Lynne Featherstone , the Member of Parliament for Hornsea and Wood Green in North London, has taken on a new role as the “Chair of the Technology Board” for the Liberal Democrats. This body aims to coordinate and oversee activity online.

The Lib Dems are a federation of separate associated organisations, rather than being a centralised organisation directed centrally. I was interested in how the Technology Board would operate, and what role it would fulfill – so I asked Lynne for a short email interview, and she kindly agreed.

(Note: I mention Mark Pack. For non-anoraks, Mark is the Lib Dem staff member with responsibility for “Innovation”, which means that he aims to give a strategy to Lib Dem campaigning online. He is also a daily contributor to the Lib Dem Voice blog, and writes a bi-weekly “Gearbox” column on Mondays at the Wardman Wire about the process and mechanics of online politics.)

Lynne Featherstone MP Interview

I promised to publish the results verbatim, so here it is. Lynne’s answers are in italics.

1) What is the Technology Board for the Party for, and what is your remit as its Chair?

I have always used the internet to campaign – and to communicate with all the different people that I have wanted to reach for different reasons, different issues and to achieve a variety of outcomes. And behind the scenes, I’ve always appreciated the importance of technology to make both campaigning and casework efficient and manageable.

The Liberal Democrats have already been ahead of the game vis a vis the internet with an army of bloggers and e-campaigning enthusiasts pushing the envelope already – now is the time to continue and expand our operations.

The use of – and need for – good technology is suffused all through the myriad different parts of the party. This is good in as much as it reflects our decentralised structure but it also means there is a role for a body to provide coordination, oversight and encouragement – but without getting into micromanagement or centralisation. Any my role as Chair – to make sure the body is a success!

2) The Liberal Democratic Party is a federation of organisations. How does the Technology Board fit in locally and regionally?

To be at our most effective, the different parts of the party need to work together – and technology is a key part of ensuring that happens, as well as a key part of helping each individual part of the party do its best.

The Board’s role is in part going to be about helping to ensure that people locally and regionally have the tools, standards and advice they need to do their jobs. But it’s also going to be about changing the way we think and approach challenges.

In my past life I was a designer – and when desktop publishing arrived (I know it’s hard to imagine a life where we designers had to hand trace type at the design stage and then paste it into position before printing) I made the move over to become technology-based. At that time – long ago and far away – there was a lot of concern in the design world about our profession being able to be aped by anyone who could weald a mouse. However, the difference between the use of a DTP package by a designer and by a non-designer is still very much there – albeit two decades on the distinction is not as sharp. So the moral is it ain’t what you use – it’s how you use it!

Likewise with TechnoPolitics – it’s not just about tools. I’m quite taken at the moment with a phrase of Clay Shirky’s – “the revolution doesn’t happen when society adopts new tools. It happens when society adopts new behaviours”. I think a key part of the Board’s role will be to help bring about those behavioural changes. These days, an awful lot of online activity, for example, is not much of a technical challenge. The challenge is getting people to embrace the opportunities and to have that discursive, collaborative outlook which makes the most of social media. The challenge is as much, if not more, about attitudes and approaches as it is about technologies or monies to pay for them.

3) How does your role compare to that played by Mark Pack?

I think there are two key differences I’d draw.

First, we’re a democratic party, which means the party’s members – via our various structures – are in charge. Some individuals – like our party leader! – have a huge amount of power within that, but even Nick is our leader because party members voted for him. So there’s a vital role that staff play in our party – but strategic direction and oversight comes from our accountable party structures.

Second, Mark is the first to acknowledge that what the party can get out of technology should be far more than what he and his staff colleagues do directly. I’m particularly interested in the ways in which we can tap the numerous skills amongst our membership and supporters so that collectively we can do far more than if we simply rely on staff to provide the tools and training and support. There have been some promising signs of this so far – such as the amount of support which volunteer managers of email lists give each other, rather than relying on central party staff – and I think there’s an awful lot more potential there.

4) What do you think needs to be done differently in the UK to Obama’s online campaign, and (briefly) why?

US politics is overwhelmingly about money and about the cycle around individual elections. British politics far less money dominated (and a good thing too) – as you see in the higher levels of leafleting and canvassing, but lower levels of donations, that volunteers typically give here.

British politics – and in particular the Liberal Democrat approach – is also far more about all year round activity, and not ‘build up for one election and then wind down the organisation again’. There’s been a lot of chatter in the US about how Obama is wanting to keep his organisation going. Well duh – that’s what we’ve been doing for decades.

There is also a much greater emphasis on policy in the UK. If you compare British political party websites with US presidential candidate sites, then although the later have far bigger budgets and staff, their policy content is often very thin by British standards. Again I think this is a case where we can give ourselves a small pat on the back, because that extra emphasis on policy is a good thing – and one to be
expanded.

5) Would you list 3 specific things you would like to achieve during 2009 in this new role?

1. For by the end of the year people to think, “It was worth creating the Technology Board”.

2. For people in local parties to have new or better tools in their hands as a result of unlocking that pool of talent amongst our members and supporters.

3. I’ll save the third slot until I’ve had a chance to have more initial discussions about what we’re going to do and how we’re going to approach it!

Tags: lib dem technology board, lib dems, liberal democrats, lynne featherstone, lynne featherstone mp, mark pack, online campaigning, online politics, social media