It’s quite mad to think that there wasn’t a Flickr group for local government.
Snow ploughs? Yes. There’s two groups. There’s more you can shake a stick at for libraries and museums but there was nothing for the overall umbrella institution of local government.
So, after a bit of messing about there’s now the Local Government Does Brilliant Things Flickr group. Feel free to have a nose around and explore it.
What’s there? A whole array. This Japanese election poster with a man and a lapdog is stunning. So is Brian doing the bins. And as for the Korean school dinner… that’s about as far away from the pink custard of my school days as it’s possible to get.
Amazingly, after two weeks there’s now more than 400 images posted to the new group from several dozen Flickr streams. The excellent US blogger, Gov 20 Radio host, Flickr user and advocate for Nation Builder Adriel Hampton has got behind it too with this blog post which is rather great to see.
What is Flickr?
It’s a social photography website that people, clubs and organisations have been using in growing numbers. Or six billion to be exact. That’s the number of images uploaded so far.
You join and upload images and you can post them to an array of different groups with a common theme.
Yes, local government can be a frustrating institution at times and when it’s done badly it can be as horrid as the little girl in the story. But even it’s fiercest critic must admit that local government does some really good things. It’s by celebrating them that we ensure it’ll be around in the future.
Celebrate the routine stuff…
I’m becoming increasingly interested in the routine things that local government does. We’re hopeless at shouting about the day-to-day things that get taken for granted. That’s the play equipment, the park, the roads we drive on the school bus or 700 other services.
It’s fascinating to look through what’s been posted to the local government Flickr pool so far to see shots of routine tasks being done elsewhere in the world.
Yes, there’s a place for the set piece media ribbon cutting shot. But the routine shots of people just doing everyday things for me are what really stand out. All to often what we think is everyday is actually a really vital service to someone else’s parents.
So, you’re no David Bailey. What can you do?
It would be really fantastic if you could post some too. They really don’t have to be a staggeringly good quality. A camera phone will do.
Just so long as there’s something of local government in them.