Local gov digital engagement – In at the deep end!Michele Ide-SmithPaul Henderson

Our challenge• Wisbech – market town in North Cambridgeshire• Poor Place Survey results – NI 1, NI 4, NI 17• High unemployment, economic deprivation• Large migrant community - Polish, Latvian,

Lithuanian, Russian• Low educational attainment and IT skills• Slow broadband access, lack of computer

ownership• Hard to engage migrant communities, youth,

older people, disabled people, time pressured 25 – 40’s using neighbourhood panels, community fairs

Our objectives

•Use social media to help build stronger communities and improve cohesion – shared visibility of community issues and culture

•Identify areas where issues are prevalent, in order to focus Agency service delivery and help set priority outcomes

•Offer an alternative channel to communicate and educate communities on priority issues

Partnership working

Rosmini Centre

Wisbech

What about hyperlocal?

•Few active hyperlocal sites (we did an audit)

•Some Parish Council sites – but not social•Facebook and Gadu-Gadu are the most

popular social sites (from community survey)

•We need to stimulate hyperlocal activity to build an active online community to engage with

Community management – pro’s•Democratic and self-moderating•Sustainable model – owned by the

community•Building community skills in social media,

use of digital media and social reporting•Public service providers have less liability•Low / no cost technology and flexibility to

try a range of different tools

Community management – Con’s•Lack of control, service providers fear criticism•Reliance on a few motivated individuals, could

be hijacked by one community group•Lack of motivation and interest from community•Lack of skills in digital and social media•Unclear how service providers intervene if there

are tensions or conflict arises•Reliance on continuing existence of providers of

free social media platforms / tools

Using existing groups/networks

Approach• Build on success of existing e-democracy models• Develop strong partnership working ethos• Use existing social media tools where possible• Co-creation and community ownership – engage

community throughout the design process• Clearly defined roles and agreements

▫Community Manager▫Community Champions – enthusiasts, voluntary and

community sector, Parish Councils▫Residents▫Public Sector Agencies▫Councillors

Outcomes• Reduced avoidable contact (NI 14)• More representative view of priority issues (NI

4)• Improved information, targeting of resources• Outreach reaches wider geographical audience• Better information for residents• Residents have visibility of issues raised by

others (cohesion - NI 1) and can raise issues confidentially

• Councillors can pro-actively engage residents• Increased social media literacy and skills

Links with other projects

•Talk2Croydon (CVS run e-democracy site)•E-democracy Forums•CitizenScape (Public-i EU funded project)•Harringay Online and other hyperlocal

sites•Networked Neighbourhoods research•Local 2.0 (Young Foundation)•Citizens Advice Bureau Advicehub project•Any others??

Process and techniques

•Survey •Focus groups•Stakeholder workshop

What do you think?

Don’t like

Like

Don’t like

Like

What did they think?

Blogs

Easy to follow

How is it being made?

Impressed with

site

Very up to date

InformativeKeeping

you up to date

Notes problems and safety issues

Needs to be

brilliant to catch attention

Problem page would be better

Is it safe? Safety of my information

Dull

Doesn’t catch your interest enough, it’s too plain

Can groups and

individuals set up blogs?

Like the layout

impressed at how up to date it

was

lots of information on

progress

Can see pictures of other people who

write about problems and you can see how they

were fixed

NacroUrban 25-

40Older

people

Google maps

Easy to use

Easy to understand and use

Liked you could zoom right into

your house

Had used it for directions

but didn’t know about

public transport

times

Don’t like someone seeing my own back garden

love itI like this site

you can get directions straight away where you want and it shows by car, walking and on public transport

Very clear and detailed pictures

Amazing details

Easy/clear instructions

All had used it

NacroUrban 25-

40Older

people

FixMyStreet

Anonymous settings

confusing I like this site

Basic (very)

not much being fixed

Probably better off reporting straight to the Council/police etc

Not always sorted in good time, my report is still waiting to be dealt with after 6 months and even a year

Easy to use

Very good for people who want to move to an area

you can’t see when the problem is likely to be fixed

easy to use and a good site

Very good easier than traipsing to somewhere to report a problem

Like it, good to know it’s there

Now I know about it, will probably use it

Why do they want my email

to report a pothole?

very good

could be useful

Does it really work?

No-one heard of it

NacroUrban 25-

40Older

people

Pledgebank

Never heard of it

A do-gooders website

Very good idea and needs more publicity

Basic- no confusion

Easy to use/understand

Good idea

You can write your own things, problems and chat to people to get things done

helps you if you have a problem

bad pledge fails to get enough subscriptions

Wouldn’t use it

Not interested

Only loudest voices being heard, not

the majorityDon’t think I would join in

Not used an online petition

No-one heard of it

NacroUrban 25-

40Older

people

WhatDoTheyKnow

Wouldn’t use it, boring

Not sure that you could trust statistics from

the council

Don’t believe you would get the real

information

Don’t think we would use

it

Never heard of it

very plain boring site

Not interested

not what I expected

Positive: none, unless you want information from a specific authority

Slow/boring

No-one heard of it

NacroUrban 25-

40Older

people

Twitter

Interested in it – but not got time

for itEveryone heard of it/ no-one used it

irrelevant information

Very childish

Annoying- what’s it for?

What’s the point?

Need to be careful what you say on

there –especially politicians

Never been on it

NacroUrban 25-

40Older

people

Any trends?

•Normal people:•Haven't heard of this stuff (FixMyStreet etc)•Will and do use simple, well designed sites (eg Google Maps)•Don't turn to social media if they've got a problem - yet•Need a hand•Think Twitter is rubbish

Stakeholders help 'Design' the site

• (Hat-tip to @davidwilcox • and the Social Media Game)

Stakeholders help 'Design' the site

Throw scenarios at the site e.g.Park safety

• Families are afraid of going to play areas in the park because of drinking and drug-taking

• CCTV cameras have been put up, but this has just moved the problem to another area of the park

• Would like more patrols or something to be done to make it safe even during the day

• Roles– Stacy: mum who lives near the park– John: partnership member who receives the query

via the site– Mary: councillor/contractor who has respond to the

problem and do something about it

'Test' the site

Matters arising

•Processes and procedures outside the site•Marketing & communications planning•Roles and responsibilities of partners•Not (too) many technical challenges

What next?

•Refine user stories•Prioritise functions•Build and test in the real world