The Digital Diplomacy Coalition in partnership with the Embassy of Canada present the Digital Diplomacy Open House!
Join representatives from the many embassies and international organizations in Washington DC as they showcase their work and varied approaches to digital diplomacy. More Event Info Here ›
21 November 2013, 5:30-7:30pm
Embassy of Canada
501 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20001
RSVP is REQUIRED. Please RSVP here ›
Photos from our Digital Diplomacy Open House, 21 November 2013.
In Washington, the DDC took to new heights, welcoming more than 1,000 people to events across the city. We were excited to partner with the UN Foundation for the Digital Diplomacy +SocialGood forum with speakers from Washington embassies, the World Bank, NGOs, the UN and beyond.
In February and November, the DDC welcomed 20 embassies and international organizations as they showcased their innovative approaches to using digital technologies for diplomacy.
We’re excited for 2014 and look forward to seeing you at one of our events.
Are you interested in sponsoring a DDC event or partnering with us? Please email us at digidiplomacy@gmail.com to discuss opportunities
January 29th, 5:30pm to 8:00pm
Panel discussion + networking reception
Embassy of the Netherlands
4200 Linnean Ave NW
Washington, DC 20008
RSVP HERE by 27 January
Please bring an ID for security
Promoting trade, economic partnership and national economic strengths have always been core components of diplomacy. In today’s world, governments, organizations and diplomats are turning toward digital technologies to better connect with their stakeholders.
This event will bring together three panelists to discuss how social media and new technologies are being used in diplomacy for economic outreach – featuring:
The Digital Diplomacy Coalition (DDC) invites you to explore how digital technologies are being used to increase economic prosperity, drive trade and address the global issues of today and tomorrow.
Visualising the FCO’s travel advice data:
It’s the holiday season, and as millions of people head off on their travels the importance of a single source of authoritative and accurate travel advice becomes particularly relevant…
London, UK
A blog by the Foreign Commonwealth Office’s Digital Team
Sexual violence is used in conflict as a way to humiliate and destroy communities. A culture of impunity means that millions of women, children and men who have survived sexual attacks in war rarely see any form of justice, and perpetrators are able to commit these horrific crimes without fear of any consequences.
To address this, UK Foreign Secretary Willliam Hague has led efforts to launch a new UN Declaration against sexual violence in conflict at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York this week.
To mobilise support for the new Declaration, we created an online campaign via Thunderclap in the run-up to UNGA. Thunderclap is a ‘crowd-speaking platform’ – in other words, it allows people who care about an issue or cause to create an impact through social media by saying something together.
So, at exactly 2.30pm New York time on 24 September as the UN meeting began, a message was sent out by Thunderclap on the 1,643 social media accounts of people who had signed up to our campaign:
I am calling for all UN countries to sign up to end the use of #sexualviolence in #conflict. It’s #TimeToAct http://thndr.it/TGOAeN
The combined following for those 1,643 supporters is over 2.4 million. By joining our Thunderclap, they have helped us to greatly amplify our message to the UN and build momentum behind the campaign.
We were delighted that amongst the public supporters of our campaign were the Foreign Ministers of Australia, Canada, Poland and Bosnia Herzegovina who also joined personally. We were proud to be joined by Care International, War Child UK and many of the partners who have worked with us to rally international support.
But beyond the Thunderclap, a lot of work went on around the world in preparation for the launch of the Declaration. Thanks to the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict Zainab Bengura, Special Envoy for Refugees Angelina Jolie, governments that have championed the Declaration, and a network of NGOs and supporters worldwide, 120 countries have now endorsed the Declaration with more expected to follow.
Digital initiatives like Thunderclap often work best when they complement and enhance other kinds of engagement; in this case it also allowed a wider public audience to get involved with this cause and make a tangible difference. Perhaps equally important was the message of support it sent to survivors of sexual violence, that they have not been forgotten.
You can read more about the campaign on the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict blog, and find out more about the UK at UNGA68 on Tumblr.
London, UK
A blog by the Foreign Commonwealth Office’s Digital Team
I blogged in July on some upcoming opportunities to join the Foreign Office Digital Team.
We’ve now externally advertised some great jobs.
First, four digital transformation roles:
Second, a great digital comms role – a Digital Communications Manager covering Middle East, North Africa and Global Security issues
In both digital transformation and digital communications, we have high ambitions. Our Digital Strategy is all about being a world leader in using digital tools and technology in foreign policy. We’re looking for a highly motivated highly qualified team that can drive real change, in a uniquely fascinating area and working with our Embassies around the world.
The closing date for the transformation roles is Monday 21 October at noon, and for the comms role, Friday 18th October, at noon.
London, UK
A blog by the FCO’s Digital Transition Leader | Follow Adam on Twitter: @adamwbye
Early in 2012, we agreed the FCO would be a “trailblazer” – one of the first departments to move to the government’s new single site GOV.UK. Travel advice visited by millions each year as well as over 200 country pages in over 35 languages are now on the site.
One year on from GOV.UK’s launch, we’ve just completed a survey of our web editors around the world on how they’re finding the site.
Three-quarters of them believe it has saved them time, and more than not believe it is an improvement on its predecessor. The move has saved us around £1.5m a year, has allowed us to streamline our transactions and join up policy information across departments, and gives us a responsive site that works across multiple devices.
The performance platform – on which FCO services were some of the first to appear – as well as a visualisation of worldwide travel advice use point to what will be possible in the future.
At the same time, our survey also showed a range of outstanding concerns, with a proportion of web editors still needing to be convinced of GOV.UK’s benefits.
A lot of this reflects a culture change as people get used to the different principles behind GOV.UK – for example the cleaner look, the fact that GOV.UK is designed for search, and the need to design content in terms of user need. But some of it also reflects genuine scope for further improvements.
We will be working with the Government Digital Service to further improve some of the “worldwide” sections of GOV.UK for both international users and consular customers. We want detailed analytics to be available to our web editors. And we will continue to work with others to ensure that GOV.UK has the functionality needed to support innovative government communications.
GOV.UK wins design of the year award 2013
The good news is that, due to its agile foundations, GOV.UK will continue to innovate and develop. Its success is testimony to a range of skilled staff in both the Government Digital Service and in departments. I was proud to represent the FCO at the ceremony at which GOV.UK was awarded “Design of the Year” and it is good to see a range of governments visiting the UK to learn from our experience.
This is just a first step in the government’s ambitious digital agenda.
London, UK
A blog by the FCO’s Digital Transition Leader | Follow Adam on Twitter: @adamwbye
During a crisis Twitter has proved essential for the dissemination of critical information. Building on this reputation Twitter launched a new service called Twitter Alerts in the US, Korea and Japan in September 2013. Twitters have now released the service in the UK and the Foreign Office has signed up to take part.
The service works like this:
The Foreign Office will use the new alerts system from Twitter to complement our existing use of social media to support British Nationals as well as our traditional consular operations.
We are also using social media to make it easier for British Nationals to get advice or help when living or travelling abroad. The FCO travel advice and consular teams answer questions tweeted to @FCOtravel between 9 – 6 every weekday.
The Foreign Office has seen the impact and value of a variety of social media platforms in situations ranging from natural disasters to terrorist incidents. When a crisis breaks social media is the first place many people now turn for the latest information. It is imperative that the Foreign Office continues to innovate to ensure that it can provide the best service for British Nationals.
Further information
Follow @FCOtravel on twitter.
Follow FCO Travel Advice on facebook
Visit the FCO travel advice website pages
London, UK
A blog by the Foreign Commonwealth Office’s Digital Team
Within the context of a globalized environment, each institution, whether public or private, needs to take the maximum advantage of social media channels, which usually include very low costs and have a wide range of coverage.
In an embassy like ours in San Salvador, the digital work and maximization of resources takes great relevance because of the opportunity to reach people.
With a local staff of 6 people (2 UK staff members and 4 locally engaged employees) the British Embassy in El Salvador has been communicating Foreign Office priorities and objectives to different sectors of the Salvadoran population through a range of social media and digital channels.
El Salvador is a small Central American country, with a population of more than 6 million people. According to a research published in July 2013 by one of the main newspaper in the country (La Prensa Grafica), about 25% of the total population is using Facebook, making it the most important social network for Salvadorans.
The digital activity of this Embassy took off with a Facebook page and an FCO blog which were managed by Zoë Smith, Deputy Head of Mission. The blog was about all the activities and projects made by or related to the Embassy and how she managed to put everything together to start working in San Salvador.
The Facebook page was launched and became active, but it got stronger after the Embassy´s projects and events started to be public and people became part of them.
This encouraged the Embassy to keep working not only to use this as a tool for all the upcoming projects, but to create awareness of the new British Embassy in San Salvador, showing how to conduct diplomacy in a different and modern way in the country.
One of the activities that helped the Embassy to get strongly established on the Salvadoran social networks was British Week, which took place between 8 and 15 June , 2013, and more specifically the “Brit Jam” (a band contest playing British covers) that allowed the Embassy to grow up to five times their Facebook followers in less than a month, opening the opportunity to communicate effectively to those interested in learning more about British music, culture, education, and even the UK’s policies and points of view.
For the Brit Jam, a key element was the creation of an interactive Facebook app where bands had to register and find information about the event. In addition, Twitter served as a tool for all participants and the finalist bands´ fans could vote for their favourite, this helped us determine the winning band of the contest..
Added to this, both social networks allowed us to transmit everything that happened during British Week live.
Even the Brit Jam´s official radio (Radio Femenina, one of the most important stations in the country), broadcast one of its live shows from where the contest´s semi-final was taking place.-.
The content created by the radio on their social networks, related to the Brit Jam, positively affected the impact that the event had already generated by the Embassy’s own means, achieving greater public exposure of British Week and therefore of the British Embassy.
The Embassy has achieved great recognition among the local population through the dynamism of our social networks.
One example is the engagement of our Ambassador with her Twitter account (@HMALindaCross), showing that despite having limited resources, this digital age provides significant opportunities when engagement is achieved with your target audience.
With the help of some interns we have been able to maintain and improve our communications workflow.
Keeping up the vision of becoming a fully digital Embassy, we have been starting to use other social networks like Instagram. And in the future we hope to continue growing into new projects that will allow us to continue effectively communicating the most important messages from the FCO and strengthen the good relations between the UK and Salvadorans.
