Usage on Looking Local has increased 300% over the past 12 months
Part of this increase has been due to a successful promotional campaign run on the Virgin platform
Since the 'credit crunch' has started to hit home, usage of the Jobcentre Plus service has increased and Looking Local is working on pulling together a package to help people with their varied problems and needs with partners like Community Legal Services, Citizens Advice, Jobcentre Plus, NHS, Learning Direct
In 2009 Looking Local are working on having a presence on Freeview, as requested for many years by many of our partners. This would be a non-interactive text version, with the ability to respond/reply via a mobile phone
The launch of Miniweb (see more later) and TV Keys (allowing direct access into local sites) will provide a quicker way for citizens to find local government services and will allow local authorities to advertise their services in a more efficient way. Milton Keynes are the first to have invested in this technology and will be promoting their service with the key TVMK, which is the simple alpha-numeric code (as seen on every telephone and remote control) '8865' (T=8, V=8, M=6, K=5)
2009 will also see the launch of the DCSF portal offering local event and 'what to do' information for young people. Looking Local, as part of a consortium with Plings and a range of other providers, is developing a consistent, wide ranging set of information with 20 local authorities, which hopes to be the foundation for a national solution. This information will then be made available on a range of media, platforms and sites.
Telecare and telehealth also features significantly in Looking Local's work this year with projects ongoing with Virtex and as part of an EU funded consortium, these will use enhanced Freeview boxes
Looking Local and Digital Outreach will be researching the use of digital interactive TV as part of the digital switchover programme. Trying to assess and ensure a programme of help to maximise the interactivity these boxes provide to those who have a high usage of government services, but little PC and Internet experience
Looking Local has just launched the first iteration of the portal on the Nintendo Wii platform. Hoping to reach older people, maybe with mobility issues and younger people, who have bought the consoles for gaming. The Wii seems to be a platform that has appeal and usability across the age range. Already some care homes have bought Wiis for their residents to help them keep fit and reports suggest participants enjoy the competitiveness. Looking Local is platform agnostic and simply tries to provide local government services on the most appropriate and accessible platforms possible.
DONNA GALT - NEW MEDIA MANAGER, DIGITAL BIRMINGHAM
Measurement of usage per device is essential to improve and give access to services
Found that 42% of respondents to the Digital Birmingham DiTV questionnaire did not have access to or did not use the Internet
Digital Birmingham consider those people born since 1984 as 'Digital Natives', people who are comfortable, capable and keen on technology. The people born before this date are the ones that a channel strategy needs to concentrate on, DiTV good for rejecters of technology
Since launch Digital Birmingham has achieved a 17% month on month growth on DITV, predominantly via word of mouth
Digital Birmingham has undertaken some interesting channel pricing analysis which can be seen in more detail in their presentation
GARY SIMPSON - PROGRAMME MANAGER E@SY CONNECTS
GP Appointments on DiTV was launched in South Yorkshire and now one of their surgeries is taking over 50% of their appointment bookings electronically. This has led to a decrease in DNAs (Do Not Shows) from 13% to less than 0.5% in six months
Now launching 'Neighbourhood Watch', which is essentially a street level reporting tool using trusted members of the community as the bottom level of a network which connects to the council, police, transport providers etc. It collates street level intelligence and is able to more efficiently direct reported issues and requirements to the right agency, as well as create a map of resources that are required and identify 'local hotspots'
The most important thing to remember about any service is not the whiz-technology, not how useful the agency thinks the service is, but who uses it, that they are involved in the service, realise it is designed and made for them, to make their lives better and that member of the community are involved in the process at every step of the way
GILL DUFFY - HOUSING & ADIVCE MANAGER, SOUTH NORFOLK COUNCIL (CHOICE BASED LETTINGS)
Since the launch of CBL online and subsequently on digital TV, for the Greater Norwich area there are 15,286 households registered, 3,150 adverts have been placed and 174,421 bids have been taken
Within six months of launch, DiTV has become the second most popular channel to the web, with more usage than telephone, face to face and paper
Launching CBL on their DITV service added no administrative overheads
Pictures online and on DiTV are essential; people want to see what they are bidding on. For instance one RSL (registered social landlord) placed an ad with no picture for three weeks, in the fourth week they added a picture and immediately got 12 bids. Multiple image capability is already available and soon video tours will be possible
The service only allows people to make two bids per week, but crucially tells them where they are in line for each particular property. This enables them to bid accordingly, i.e.: if they are 15th in line for one property, and 2nd for another they may choose to retract their first bid to bid on another property. This is a great improvement on the previous service which was not able to tell people where they were in the priority listing or even what their eligibility was for property types
"There has not been one complaint about the DiTV service, which is testament to how easy it is to use."
IAN VALENTINE - MINIWEB
Miniweb is now available on Sky and will launch on Virgin and BT Vision later in 2009, this means that by the end of the year 15million homes will have access to Miniweb
Miniweb will allow viewers to access interactive services quickly and easily by a TV Key, this is a number based on the alpha-numeric buttons on the remote control e.g.: ABC=2, DEF=3, GHI=4, E.g.: 'HULL' would be 4855. This number pressed at any time would send you in to the interactive service for Hull
Miniweb will also allow push messaging, so reminders could be sent to viewers (as set-top box ID will be registered), this could be a key capability for health reminders
Miniweb will allow services to offer video on demand and will enhance the way people watch TV and will offer similar functionality to the web and promote choice in viewing habits
Miniweb will allow simple searching of interactive services (similar to Internet search engines) and crucially allows the viewer to continue watching TV whilst looking for information or services
MARKETING PANEL DISCUSSION
34% of population not online
Local drop-in centres have been struggling with offering the Internet due to lack of technical knowledge and sys-admin overheads, introducing Sky and allowing access to local government services via Looking Local was much easier
Introduce your high volume services and transactions first , then look at traffic and what is being used and looked at to give you an idea of how to augment, improve and streamline the service
Community engagement at the start was key, went to the streets to find out if people wanted a TV service and what they would want on one
Press activity and word of mouth are the key promotional tools to get people to use the DiTV service. However council magazines, website directions and TV icons on the list of council services in all literature also worked - needs a co-ordinated approach across all channels
In Wokingham, the call centre hold message announced that services were available on DiTV and how to get there, it also told callers that the directions to the TV service were available on the website. In January the most viewed page on the website was how to access the TV service.
PLINGS - TIM DAVIES
Surfing the web is now more popular than watching TV for young people
Their intake of technology is based on a multi channeled approach and often they are using different media at the same time
90% of 11-20 year olds have a social networking profile
Mobile internet usage increased 855% between 2007-8
The feedback channel is the most important for young people, whatever the media/platform
Young people often use different channels to confirm information, and this may be done multiple times... So someone may be sent a text about a service (say a youth club), but check that it is on online, ask a friend via a social networking site what it is like and use DiTV to see the activities it offers. Hence all channels need to offer information on the service, need to be up to date and a feedback channel on all platforms needs to be available, one break in the chain may result in a negative interaction
Mobile texts and alerts, must be kept to 140 characters so as to fit on to one screen, this allows you to also add a link so that people can go to a website for more info.
