I am dedicating this inaugural post to @Baskers. This time last year, I would not have felt able to speak as freely on the subject of the baseless pillorying she has received from certain 'journalists' as I have been doing over the last week. Now I am no longer a public servant myself, I feel a duty to take advantage of my free citizen status and make my voice heard. The irony of this is not lost on me, and has got me thinking. Hard.
A week has gone by, and we still don't know what the outcome will be for Sarah personally. As Tom Watson observed, this is a big test for government transparency. I can only hope that those concerned are well-informed enough to make the right decision.
In the meantime, I have been wondering where this will leave the Public Servant 2.0 in the longer term. Sarah has been ably defended by many articulate and enlightened people in blogs and in the mainstream media, so what are the themes that emerge from this discourse? What will we want to say in our defence if/when this happens again? And why should it be a defence? Why don't we draw a line in the sand and assert our right to be doing what we do, on our terms, as long as we do it responsibly.
I know that there is good guidance such as Participation Online in place, and overarching professional codes apply. These serve their purpose from the organisational perspective, but what should we as individuals get out of the deal?
It would be good to be able to put forward a statement of principles of engagement that we as a community can point to in these situations, in simple terms so as to be widely comprehensible. Here is a starter for ten. I welcome all comments and contributions!
The Baskers Principles [working title]
Public sector workers who make good use of social media can deliver great benefits, both to the organisations they work for, and more importantly to the public they serve.
In return, we ask that:
We are trusted to further the discussion on how to deliver better public services by the most effective means available to us, in line with our professional codes
We are allowed to identify ourselves and take responsibility for our opinions and actions
Our professional presence is judged professionally, and our personal presence personally
We are supported in the face of ill-founded criticism [or blatant bullying!] in the online world as we would be in the offline world
