Author Archives: Andy Williamson

About Andy Williamson

Dr Andy Williamson is a Digital Strategist and commentator. His work focuses on digital engagement, e-campaigning and the strategic use of social media. A former advisor to the New Zealand Government, his work influences digital policy and practice in a number of continents, including the UK.

Policymaking in the Cloud: Doing Things Differently

Posted on 24 February 2012 by Andy Williamson

Tweet Cloud computing is a popular buzz word. It means that the data and applications we use can be hosted anywhere then distributed to us on any device, wherever we are, whenever we want them. It extends one of the … Continue reading →

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Crowdsourcing policy: First, create a crowd

Posted on 16 February 2012 by Andy Williamson

Tweet If there was one sound bite that stood out for me at the last Translation Layer event, it was Steph Gray’s ‘policy is written by those who show up’. If that’s the case (and it’s hard to argue against … Continue reading →

Posted in About Political Innovation | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

The problem with think-tanks: An alternative model

Posted on 12 September 2011 by Andy Williamson

Tweet I’ve described so far a number of fundamental problems that I believe prevent think-tanks being as effective as they could be, to be blunt, that prevent them being useful (in the big picture sense). There’s always a risk when … Continue reading →

Posted in Observance | Tagged | 2 Comments

The problem with think-tanks: Transparency

Posted on 9 September 2011 by Andy Williamson

Tweet Running alongside issues of quality and independence discussed already here is transparency. This comes in to play at a number of levels for the think-tank but, in a broad sense, is the outside world’s way of establishing the veracity … Continue reading →

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The problem with think-tanks: Independence

Posted on 8 September 2011 by Andy Williamson

Tweet I’ve talked about the quality of the work produced, I now want to focus on the question of how independent a think-tank is – or isn’t (either in reality or perception). I don’t just mean the blatant ideological instrument … Continue reading →

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The problem with think-tanks: Quality

Posted on 7 September 2011 by Andy Williamson

Tweet My earlier discussion on the value of and necessity for different types of research brings me to the first problem that the current think-tank situation creates; quality. In academia there is a considerable amount of valueless, low quality research … Continue reading →

Posted in Observance | Tagged | 2 Comments

The problem with think-tanks: Introduction

Posted on 6 September 2011 by Andy Williamson

Tweet I wrote recently in The Guardian about what I perceive to be a crisis in the political think-tanks. This crisis is ostensibly brought on by two factors, the first is the inevitable (but slow) tidal drift of ideology and … Continue reading →

Posted in Observance, Uncategorized | Tagged | 1 Comment