Overview

Current figures show that 10 million adults in the UK are without home Internet access (as reported in the Networked Nation manifesto, June 2010); a figure which becomes more dominant in lower socio-demographic groupings. Many people don't want access, some cannot afford the hardware and/or connection and many more simply do not have the skills to use computers or the web. This means that a significant percentage of our adult population is unable to use websites - whether they are public or private - to engage with services and reap the benefits that the web offers, whether that is speed, savings, wider choice or access.

We hear about social media applications being used in all walks of life nowadays, they pervade our technology habits and have millions of people commenting, interacting, sharing and showing. Now partners using Looking Local technology can use outputs from a number of the most popular social media sites to enhance their TV sites to inform and involve more people in the community dialogue. Many of these are pertinent to the Big Society debate and are already used by our public sector partners, such as Twitter and Flickr and allow them to pull in content from these applications to enhance content on their Looking Local sites.

Whether one agrees with the details as to how the Big Society aims will realise themselves or whether communities will take on programmes of work traditionally managed by the public sector, there is without doubt an appetite and theoretical shift in terms of community thinking and a will from many people on an individual level to re-engage with their local area.

Twitter

Many public sector organisations use Twitter to update their residents on news, emergencies and even manage crowd sourcing to tackle local issues and increase community support. Now partners can integrate their tweets into their Looking Local sites and widen access to the latest news and needs of the local community.

Timebanking UK

Timebanking is a service that attempts to rekindle the advantages that a close knit community once experienced, when people used their skills and aptitude to willingly help each other - and receive help from others - to make life a little easier. By offering skills and help there are benefits on numerous levels not simply that a task is complete or a need fulfilled. Timebanking engenders friendships, community, knowing your neighbours, offers personal satisfaction in terms of giving, builds confidence, saves money, can make the local environment a better place to live - to name but a few.

However with so many people not having online access, a significant part of the population - and possibly those who need a helping hand most - do not have the ability to become part of the timebanking community. So it was felt that making Timebanking UK - a dedicated national timebanking portal - available on other electronic, self service channels, could increase access to the service, thus hopefully increasing participation and encouraging community at various levels was something that needed exploring.

Request the full report of TV - Timebanking here.

Flickr

A picture tells a thousand words and the TV needs images in many cases to bring services and information to life. Looking Local partners can now use images of their local area to illustrate their sites on Looking Local, whether it be around debate and consultation on local issues or to show would be visitors the highlights of the area.

Consultations

Partners can use Looking Local to widen the local debate to the digitall excluded and activate communities, whilst driving penetration across poor responding, expensive to reach demographics and save on paper/phone-based research. A recent pan-Wales consultation asked for responses to how the future of plastic bags should be handled in terms of charging, which garnered a range of responses.

Questionnaires, Competitions and Polls

Looking Local allows partners to author and integrate polls and questionnaires throughout their sites on any subject. Design of the polls needs to be considered to ensure maximum use by viewers who are limited to the remote control. However when designed well, responses can be easily communicated and the tool highly effective. A recent competition run across Wales received hundreds of responses and gave Welsh authorities great feedback in terms of how people used their sites and what they wanted on TV.

Patient Opinion

Our integration with Patient Opinion allows TV viewers to access the content available on the award winning website and see real life experiences on local health services. Patients, relatives and carers can share their experiences of health services and Patient Opinion aims to route their stories to just the right people in the NHS who can make improvements. The service has covers hospitals, hospices, ambulances, community services and mental health services across the UK and is now available to TV viewers.