I’m barely back from my trip to Austria for CeDEM and my Twitter research methods seminar at the University of Vienna, as well as my public talk for Quintessenz and the Internet Research Group at the University – but today I also presented a brief talk on using social media in corporate communication at the Cooperative Research Centres Association conference here in Brisbane. CRCs are one key form of government-supported research centre in Australia – and the CRCA is the peak body coordinating and representing their activities.

Krems.
The next CeDEM 2011 session starts with a presentation by Peter Mambrey, whose focus is on the potential role of Twitter in e-participation. He begins by noting the expansion of the media ecology and the take-up of new media forms by specific groups in society; this creates new opportunities for political participation and self-empowerment, but also challenges for local administration and government.

There is a rising expectation of service quality, growing demands for local service delivery and expertise, competition between cities for citizens and enterprises, demographic change (with a marked population decline in some areas in Germany, for example) …