Welcome!
.....back to the second Editors and Publishers Newsletter and to the DigiTV Wiki. Due to the excellent response to our "Tell us what else you would like to see?" section of the last newsletter, we have pick out the most requested, and included them in this edition.
If you haven't been here before, the Wiki is a sort of encyclopaedia of all things DigiTV. It's a resource freely available to you and contains useful information such as:
- Business cases
- Training material
- How to link to plugins
- Marketing material
- Useful CMS guides
- Quick Reference guides
- Logo and image guidelines ....and much more
So do feel free to browse or use the search facility to find information that is useful to you. It is your resource so do let us know if you have any ideas for additions or improvements.
What's in this edition...
In this edition we have:
- How to link to the GP Appointments plugin
- Plugins - What people are doing
- Why and how you should review your microsite plus tips
- DigiTV Forums
- The importance of internal communication about DigiTV
How to link to the GP Appointments plugin
There are two options when linking to the GP Appointments plugin:
[Option 1:|cmsha:How to link to common content^GP Appointments - (Common Content Setup).doc] This allows you to link to a generic section held within the common content folder of the CMS, but will not allow you to list your available surgeries
[Option 2:|cmsha:How to link to common content^GP Appointments - (Full Setup).doc] This option will allow you to list your surgeries but can take a little longer.
For a full list of available surgeries, click [here|cmsha:How to link to common content^GP Surgeries Location details.xls].
Plugins - what people are doing...
Forget about TV and Mobile for the moment. A plugin is simply an easy way for two computers to talk. DigiTV has commissioned a number of nationally available plugins such as Jobcentre Plus Jobsearch and GP Appointments, but plugins can be quickly and easily developed by a microsite owner or by a software partner. Avon & Somerset Police developed 7 plugins in just over two days!
An example of a few plugins that have been developed are:
- Police 'Wanted'
- CMS integration - to save having to enter content in two places
- Choice Based Lettings - browsing and bidding on properties
- Library services - booking and renewing items
- e-Petitioning - to allow a citizen to view and sign online petitions
To find out more about what other microsite owners have been doing click here.
Why and how you should review you microsite
It is really important to review your microsite content on a regular basis. Keeping your site fresh and up to date keeps people coming back for more.
Even something as simple as, updating your "News" section using press releases from your website gives returning citizens something different to look at.
Techniques:
A good way of finding out what is hot and what is not on your site is to check your Usage Stats.
By drilling into the Usage Stats section of your microsite, you can see which screens, forms and questionnaires are being viewed the most. These pages need to be at the top level of your site and easily accessible by the end users.
Another good way of finding out what information would be useful on your site is to contact your Customer Service department and find out:
What people are getting in touch about?
What are the most frequently asked questions?
With this information you can decide if you need to change your content to reflect customer enquiries. You can also decide if it would be appropriate to add an FAQ section on your microsite.
If you have any questions or would like any advice with regard to this article, please click hereto contact us
DigiTV Forums
We have two DigiTV forums available to you. These are websites where you can ask questions, share experiences or just have your say.
- Starter Kit forum - for editors, publishers and anyone involved in DigiTV
- Plugin Developers Forum - a technical forum for anyone interested in or developing a plugin for DigiTV
Want to ask a question? Want to air your views? Have a rant? Ask a technical question? This is the place to do it!
We would really like the DigiTV community to learn from one another and the forums are a great way to do this. You can just read - or even better join in.
The importance of internal communication
Your DigiTV microsite is only as good as the content you put in it and we have already talked about keeping your site 'up to date' and interesting (don't forget you can use images now).
- Make sure you use you whole organisation for ideas on how best to use your microsite. You microsite is there to help provide information and services to those who are often digitally and socially excluded. You may find that other departments are not aware that your organisation has these TV and mobile channels available to them.
- Make sure that interactive form recipients are aware of DigiTV and that the forms are sent by a citizen from their TV set.
Do make sure that your whole organisation is aware of your Looking Local service and don't forget to tell them it's available on TV and mobile!
Tip of the Month
Tip 2:
To ensure that your citizens can access your service quickly and easily, ensure that your Postcodes, Towns and Villages are correct and up to date.
This is done by entering your "Microsite Configuration" at the root of your microsite.
This facility can be used by the citizen when searching for their area on the Looking Local menus using either the first part of their postcode and their town or village name.
In the next Newsletter......
- More of your ideas...
- More about plugins
- Tip of the month
