Transforming Citizen Participation (FutureLearn)

Get ahead in the ever-changing field of public service as you’ll explore the latest citizen participation practices. This understanding will help you analyse the new forms of deliberative, collaborative, and participatory decision-making that are evolving globally.

Discover the power of using social media and clicktivism

How people consume news has changed radically in recent years, fuelled largely by the emergence of social media platforms.

You’ll explore how these platforms could be used as a force for good and the techniques you can apply to harness social media.

Within this, you’ll unpack the concept of ‘clicktivism’ and how social media has made it possible for electronic, lower-cost activism.

Understand the concept of social listening

Delving into social listening, you’ll learn how to monitor the views of citizens and how to extract valuable insights from this.

You’ll also explore the presence of public servants of social media, and the opportunity of a ‘digital frontline’.

Study real-world social media strategies

Some social media strategies have been highly effective at disseminating information or fostering a sense of community, but others have been less so. You’ll explore both to understand the best practices in social media strategies.

This course gives you the opportunity to hone your skills and boost your CV as you learn from the experts at the University of Birmingham.

Syllabus

Week 1: Can social media be a force for good?

Week 2: Is anybody there?

Week 3: Push, pull or collaborate?

Week 4: Trust them to tweet?

Learning on this course

You can take this self-guided course and learn at your own pace. On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.
What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

- Assess the extent of social media usage and the motivation of the users.

- Explore different ways in which social media has transformed citizen participation.

- Critically evaluate the digital "front line" that has been created by social media where citizens can upload crime and incident reports.

- Assess the notion of "sousveillance" and its value in improving relationships with citizens.

- Assess the benefits and dangers of engaging with the public through social media.

- Assess the social media and networking strategies of different organisations.

- Identify and resolve different types of social media implementation failure .

- Critique the benefits and challenges that come from live streaming front-line public service work such as police work.

- Evaluate the reach of different forms of social media posts made by public servants to members of the public.
Who is the course for?

This course is designed for professionals who want to make an impact in the public sector at local, national, or international levels.

It will be of particular interest for those in key industries including local council and government, emergency services, or civil service.