Posts related to 'presentations'

Victorian Transport Infrastructure Summit 2008

Published by Alex Makin on Thursday 13th of November, 2008

This afternoon I was invited to participate within a panel discussion for the 2008 Victorian Transport Infrastructure Summit. This year’s summit had an emphasis on sustainable transport and the need for a coordinated approach from all levels of government.

As the Deputy Chair of the Eastern Transport Coalition, I discussed our recent survey results which demonstrated that residents within the eastern suburbs overwhelmingly support the call for better public transport.

In addition over two-thirds of respondents believed that governments were not giving sufficient priority to the provision of public transport. In support of this view, the majority of people stated they would use public transport if it were adequately provided.

The message from Eastern Melbourne is clear - the one million residents of Melbourne’s outer eastern suburbs want governments of all levels to work cooperatively to provide better public transport.

• View the slides I presented at the Victorian Transport Infrastructure Summit.

Councillor Magazine: How councillors can harness the Internet

Published by Alex Makin on Friday 31st of October, 2008

Councillor is a quarterly magazine designed to help educate current councillors and demonstrate innovative approaches to local government.

I was contacted by Councillor Magazine to write an article on how councillors can harness the Internet to assist in encouraging dialogue with their community. The article was featured in the September/October edition of the magazine:

How Councillors can harness the Internet

City of Maroondah councillor Alex Makin has operated his own website and blog since 2004. In this article, Cr Makin describes how councillors can also establish their own website and blog, and why more elected members need to use the Internet to engage the community.

Compared to the UK and the US, Australian politics has been relatively slow to embrace the capabilities of the Internet and its potential to re-engage the community and our constituencies.

While the use of websites is not new, Australian politics is still typically not using the Internet for more than a digital version of their off-line campaigns. The Internet, through the use of blogging has the potential to be so much more.

As local Councillors, representing the needs of our local constituencies, we are best placed to take a leadership role of embracing the Internet to create dialogue and re-engage with our communities.

We need to move beyond static webpages and move into an era of dynamic blogging and dialogue.

Going beyond a website

Some Councillors already have experience with establishing a website. A blog extends the capabilities of a website by providing interactive content.

A website can be likened to a static shop window, which displays information but provides little opportunity for someone to interact with the content.

Standard websites can also become difficult to maintain over the longer term as information becomes out of date.

A blog, otherwise known as weblog, is an interactive website, likened to a diary, that allows you to post new entries, keeping content relevant and allows people to post comments and subscribe to updates.

Blogs use categories and tags to file new content and provides readers with the opportunities to subscribe to updates so they are notified when new content is posted.

Getting started - what do you need?

Establishing a website is neither difficult nor expensive.

There are numerous free tools, such as www.wordpress.com or www.blogspot.com, which provide templates and a basic blogging presence free of charge. Using these tools you can set up your blog, complete with photographs and content within 10 to 15 minutes.

While these free tools provide you with a good start, there are advantages in having your own web presence.

To do this you firstly need a domain name. A domain is the physical name of the site, such as www.alexmakin.com.au. Domain names are easier for people to remember and also provide greater flexibility in how your site will look and function. A .com.au domain normally costs around $65 per year, US .com domains are slightly cheaper.

Secondly, you need a web host. The host provides the computing system that stores your website and makes it viewable on the Internet. Total costs for hosting a site varies but you generally do get what you pay for.

If you want to set up a blog you’ll need a host that supports database and dynamic capabilities, namely functionality called mySQL and PHP. Most mid-level hosting packages provide these features.

I use a carbon neutral hosting provider that provides maximum reliability and detailed site statistics, my costs are roughly $300 per annum.

While free blogging providers certainly have their use, your own dedicated web presence will provide you with greater flexibility in the functionality and features of your site.

In addition many hosting providers are able to supply detailed site statistics so you can ascertain how people are accessing your website and the content they are accessing.

Getting your blog online

One of the common mistakes people make is keeping their blog separate to the rest of their website.

Web users typically dislike navigating through a site; so if the content isn’t there when the page loads, it is unlikely that they will look to find what they want.

Likewise don’t reinvent the wheel. There are many blogging programs, such as Wordpress (www.wordpress.org) that are available free of charge and provide the functionality that you need.

Wordpress and other blogging tools, such as Movetable Type use templates that guide the layout of a site. There are many templates that are available and these can be further customised.

Once you have downloaded Wordpress or a similar package, you will need to upload to your website. Your hosting provider should be able to assist with this, once uploaded you will be able to install the package and begin blogging.

Wordpress (which is the program I use), allows you to create two types of content, pages and posts. Pages are designed to be static content that is always available, like contact or about pages. These are the links across the top of my site.

Pages contain information that generally does not change, such as my contact details or information about the ward I represent.

Posts are the blogging element of your site. Posts are filed in specific categories (such as urban sustainability, accessibility, delegates reports that I use on my site), as well as tags, which help define the content of the post (such as accessibility, public transport, planning and so on).

Posts relate to a certain event or activity that occurred at a point in time and hence newer content appears towards the top of the page. Blog posts can be used to discuss council events, community meetings or other activities you undertake as a councillor.

When I first designed the website in 2004, the concept of blogging was still relatively new, so I referred to the blog as an Internet Journal.

The Journal stores the posts I created with the five newest entries listed first.

Each blog post provides an opportunity for people to comment. This way your community can add their thoughts or ask for additional information.

Blog posts can also be linked to each other, meaning you can provide an easy chronology of events. For example, I link my delegates’ reports, to each event that I discuss so that people can easily find additional information on the activities I attend and speak about.

Posts and pages are created just like using a standard Word Processor or email program. Like email you can also attach other documents to your posts to allow people to download additional content, I normally discuss presentations I deliver and include the slides for people to download.

The template system in Wordpress or similar tools controls the layout of the post so you simply need to type its content. This means each post and page will have a similar look and make it easier for people to navigate throughout your site.

My website has had three substantially different designs and the template system meant the content of my site was unaffected by these changes.

Separating the layout of a site from its contents makes it much easier to maintain and extend compared to traditional web pages.

Extending your blog

Comments are usually moderated meaning that they need your approval prior to being included on your blog. This means you have the possibility to prevent inappropriate comments from being included on your site. Likewise spam filters exist which block spam comments from appearing.

While you have the ultimate control over what comments are included within your blog, do not go overboard in preventing feedback.

The purpose of a blog is to encourage dialogue and interaction and all relevant comments should be encouraged. Also make sure that email and phone details are available as some people will prefer these methods of communication.

Once you have established your blog and website it is worth considering ways of expanding its reach. Blogs utilise RSS feeds which allows people to be notified when new posts are created.

RSS feeds operate similarly to email where a subscriber receives the content of the post. RSS feeds are a standard feature of blogs and it is worth encouraging your readers to subscribe to them.

In addition you can also create an email subscription list for people that prefer to receive emails. This way email subscribers can receive an email message of your blog post and raise awareness of the activities you undertake as a councillor.

Just as newsletters assist in informing the community about our activities as a councillor, an electronic newsletter or RSS feeds can expand the reach of your communications with the public.

Wordpress has a number of plugins, which can add additional features. Examples of plugins include the calendar and event system I use on my site. This enables me to post details of meetings I attend. Likewise previous posts can be accessed through the calendar or using the search functionality.

The web as an accessible medium

The Internet, through accessible web standards, means we can truly create a medium that can be experienced and accessed by all people.

Screen readers, larger font sizes, colour contrast and other technologies are available to assist people with disabilities to view content on the Internet and your website should be mindful of accessibility issues.

For example screen readers cannot read images so any graphics you include on your site should not be used in place of text.

In addition, the layout of your site should be mindful of people who prefer larger font sizes and your site should adapt to these requirements.

Future use of the Internet by councillors

Councils are the closest form of government to the community and we need to consider new methods of encouraging community engagement and interaction. In particular the web has the potential to assist us in communicating with younger people, as well as people with disabilities and the many other people in our community that prefer communication via the Internet.

Just as mobile phones are now considered essential equipment for Councillors, no doubt a web presence will be seen as a necessity shortly into the future. As councillors we have an obligation to remain relevant and keep pace with new technologies.

Creating a web presence is neither difficult nor time consuming and while purchasing your own domain and hosting provider may incur some expense it will be of benefit to the wider community and assist in conveying the work you undertake as a councillor.

Maroondah Business Week 2008 - Sustain and Grow your Business

Published by Alex Makin on Tuesday 21st of October, 2008

Monday, 27 October 2008
9:30 am	to	2:00 pm
Tuesday, 28 October 2008
10:00 am	to	5:00 pm
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
7:00 am	to	7:30 pm
Thursday, 30 October 2008
9:00 am	to	11:00 am
6:00 pm	to	9:00 pm
Friday, 31 October 2008
9:00 am	to	11:00 am
5:30 pm	to	7:30 pm

Maroondah Business Week will run from from October 27-31 with the theme of Grow and Sustain Your Business.

Highlights include presentations from Sigrid Thornton at the Eastland Women in Business Lunch to be held on Monday the 27th of October, David Parkin at the NAB Business Breakfast on Wednesday the 29th of October and Jen Harwood who is returning to hold a business networking event.

Topics include access to finance, getting started in small business, time management skills and developing a web presence. An information session will also be held on transforming walkers into shoppers, an important topic given the effects that rising petrol prices have had in encouraging sustainable transport, such as walking.

Business Week concludes with the QIC Cocktail Function on Friday the 31st of October, which will welcome new businesses and celebrate businesses that have been operating for more than 30 years within Maroondah.

For more information on Maroondah Business Week please visit www.bizmaroondah.com.au

Eastern Transport Coalition Public Transport Summit

Published by Alex Makin on Friday 4th of July, 2008

The Eastern Transport Coalition represents one million residents across the seven eastern metropolitan councils within Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.

Today’s summit highlighted the need for public transport improvements within the eastern suburbs to become sustainable and accessible through providing transport choice for residents facing worsening traffic congestion and rising petrol prices. The theme includes the infrastructure needs of the region and included presentations on the need for new rail lines serving Rowville and Doncaster, as well as required improvements to the Belgrave and Lilydale rail lines.

The keynote speakers, Professors Peter Newman and Graham Currie, spoke about the importance of public transport in reducing greenhouse emissions and mitigating the effects of rising petrol prices. Both speakers reiterated the trend of rising petrol prices and demonstrated quite clearly that such increases were only going to continue.

While the Premier was unable to attend, Rob Hudson, the Parliamentary Secretary for Public Transport, stated that the Government would release a new transport plan by the end of the year. While the State Government released Meeting Our Transport Challenges in 2006, the plan was widely condemned as being inadequate and failed to plan for any infrastructure improvements in the eastern suburbs. It is hoped that the government’s next plan will rectify these shortcomings.

The Opposition Leader, Ted Baillieu, spoke about the government’s litany of public transport plans and the increasing cost of inaction. While the opposition leader did not make any commitments, he did highlight the need for rail lines to Doncaster and Rowville.

The summit was extremely well attended by community members, as well as local councillors, State MPs and members of local environment and transport groups. Time was provided to allow attendees to discuss the needs of the eastern region and during this time the need for accessibility improvements on public transport was mentioned.

I spoke on the needs of the Belgrave/Lilydale lines and Ringwood with Cr. Samantha Dunn from the Shire of Yarra Ranges, who spoke about the need for rail duplications to improve the reliability of the line.

My presentation focused on the need for rail improvements between Box Hill and Ringwood and the importance of Ringwood as a regional centre within the eastern region. The expectations of eastern Melbourne and its 1 million residents were conveyed at this summit. The State Government must act and deliver the much needed public transport infrastructure, including the redevelopment of Ringwood Station, that is urgently required for the region

Please continue reading to view a copy of the speech I delivered at the summit.

(Read more…)

Melbourne 2030 Reference Group: ‘Creating A City That Works’

Published by Alex Makin on Tuesday 13th of November, 2007

As part of today’s meeting of the Melbourne 2030 Reference Group I was invited to introduce the Eastern Transport Coalition and to discuss ‘Creating A City That Works’, a report compiled by the Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability.

The presentation provided an opportunity to discuss the aims of the Eastern Transport Coalition and its goals on improving the sustainability of Melbourne’s eastern suburbs through advocating for public transport improvements.

The report, which was released in May 2007 examined the sustainability of Melbourne and had three key findings:

• The need for stronger coordination between planning and transport
• The need for better coordination between roads and public transport
• The fact that current unsustainable urban trends, such as failing to provide effective public transport, cannot continue.

Passenger vehicles contribute 56% of Australia’s transport related emissions, meaning public transport and providing an alternative to car dependence, will be a requirement for any effective strategy that aims to reduce greenhouse emissions.

The current Victorian State Government has proposed legislation that will enshrine greenhouse reduction targets, these will not be achieved unless public transport is improved. The lack of a detailed action plan and interim targets for achieving the State Government’s goal of 20% public transport modal share by 2020 is particularly concerning.

While the number of people using public transport has increased, modal share according to the 2007-2008 State Budget papers has remained around 9%. The lack of interim targets and a detailed plan to achieve these goals makes it difficult to measure its progress. While the State Government continues to support its lacklustre transport strategy, Meeting Our Transport Challenges, the Commissioner demonstrated that the patronage targets were not ’strongly reiterated as a policy that drives MoTC [Meeting Our Transport Challenges]‘

Furthermore the Commissioner stated that “The 20/2020 target needs to be supported with a series of clear intermediate steps that show how it will be achieved.”

It is clear that the State Government must revise its transport policies if it intends to truly designate public transport as a priority.

The ongoing lack of coordination between public transport, roads and planning has had serious ramifications at a local level, particularly in regard to the Ringwood Transit City. State Government support for Ringwood has been marred with uncertainty, including the current lack of commitment over the much needed upgrade of Ringwood Station and improvements for pedestrians attempting to cross Maroondah Highway.

The desire to improve pedestrian access in Ringwood, such as providing less waiting time for pedestrians across Maroondah Highway has been continually stymied due to the lack of coordination between VicRoads and the Public Transport Division of the Department of Infrastructure.

Likewise the current inadequate rail frequencies beyond Ringwood, which result in a mere half hourly service during weekdays and an even worse frequency of bus services, restricts the potential for public transport to reduce car dependence within the centre of Ringwood.

As the ward councillor for much of the transit city area, I have been insisting on improvements to sustainability, such as footpath construction with new developments and water and energy sustainability, but a commitment from the State Government is required to ensure the provision of public transport improvements.

If coordination between State Government departments was improved and if an action plan and interim targets were developed to secure the goal of increasing public transport modal share to the 20% by 2020 then a commitment to the redevelopment of Ringwood Station and other public transport improvements would have been readily provided.

The next State Budget, due in May 2008, will test the State Government’s commitment to both Ringwood and our urban sustainability.

• View presentation on Creating A City That Works - delivered to the Melbourne 2030 Reference Group