William Perrin TAL

Talk About LocalEmpowering communities with simple websites

Hyperlocal websites and public sector information

PSI In Action

Caledonian Club 20 October 2009

William Perrin - william@talkaboutlocal.orgTalk About Local (West Midlands) Ltdhttp://talkaboutlocal.org

www.kingscrossenvironment.comover 700 articlesFour volunteer writers – aged 40-65Small number of authorsCampaigns, information, wildlife, events etc

•Cemex campaign – long running anti social plant operations•Videos of noise pollution in YouTube – unarguable prima facie case•Send links to CEMEX CEO UKMEA and Council noise officers•Successful resolution – plant restructured

www.digbeth.org

Digbeth gritty industrial area of South B’ham

Arts, events, positive stories

Digbeth is Good redefined image of Digbeth on line

Costs - £10/month

Wordpress blog

Stoke-on-Trent www.pitsnpots.co.uk

Campaigning, challenging style

Reflects local frustration at political scene

3 writers, 28,000 comments on local politics

Wordpress site

£20 a month

www.harringayonline.comNearly 2,000 membersGreen LanesChatty informal feelWide range of local issues£15 month

www.sheffieldforum.co.uk

discussion forum

3.7 million posts

85,000 registered users

Population Sheffield 450,000

www.parwich.orgFour or more writersVillage life – popn. 400400 views a day£10 per monthWordpress.com site

• TAL(WM)Ltd SME using UK online centre network of trainers for national reach and leverage

• UK online centres reach out to engage activists in their communities

• Community sites in over 150 places across England

• Engage 3,000 people• Give people confidence and

support to create local sites using free tools

• Online support network and website

• Built using West Midlands talent

http://kingtonblackboard.org

http://Kingtonblackboard.orgUK online centre – Marches Access PointStarted August 2009 with TALRural town life and newsWordpress site

http://W14london.ning.comDeprived area of West LondonStarted August 2009 – with TAL and local NDCLocal discussion and informationOver 100 members alreadyNing.com site – cost £zero

Public Sector Information in actionStreet light broken for 163 daysFrom snagging to failureCan performance data help hold to account?

Highway authority BV 215b - average time taken to repair a street

lighting fault, where response time is under the

control of a DNO Enfield 7.74 Ealing 9.35 Tower Hamlets 12.31 Harrow 13.40 Barnet 16.98 Hounslow 17.27 Southwark 17.43 City 19.00 Hammersmith and Fulham 20.21 Wandsworth 20.76 Hillingdon 20.81 Richmond 21.09 Waltham Forest 21.93 Haringey 21.96 Kingston Upon Thames 22.00 Barking and Dagenham 23.34* Merton 23.53 Havering 24.95 Kensington and Chelsea 25.88 Islington 26.50 Croydon 27.06 Redbridge 27.28 Newham 27.46 Sutton 27.89 Brent 30.54 Hackney 32.16 Lambeth 32.84 Camden 32.94 Bromley 35.69 Lewisham 38.77* Westminster 39.84* Transport for London 42.40 Greenwich 70.99 Bexley 77.45

Took a lifetime to find relevant information on webStreet light repair – Islington average 26.5 daysLever for getting things doneLight gets fixed due to this and other factors

Superb local information service – easy to use and comprehensibleAbstract information made usefulEndangered by post codes madnessWhat does Royal Mail spend £18 million pa on?

Planning - to exercise democratic rights, need to know:ExistenceDocumentMeaning of documentRoute for commentDeadlinesConsultation processMeeting timetableResults of meeting…..

WhitehallTownhallBlackhall

New front end on over 300 public service outletsNational service layer beyond capability of CLGRadical unified interface for hundreds of often poor servicesBasic PSI critical – boundaries, post codes, maps, email addresses

Excellent pooling of feeds

But Council Information retrieved often hard to understand for machines and people– eg officers powerpoint and meeting minutes@countculture

RSS and other feeds of local information

Works with local Lichfield blog

Don’t need to be a big unitary to do this

BCC DIY

Functional rebuild by volunteers of £2.8m Birmingham City Council site

For a while you could even PAY your council tax through the site

£38,000 (estimate)

Arguably most radical grass roots web project in this space right now

Public bodies need to engage with local sites and offer them your PSI (as Bham are doing here)Find out what they are talking about and see what you have to help themBuy pizza, beer etc – better investment than cost of one day's consultant form an SI

William Perrin TAL

If your organisation wants to create local websites for your community(ies) or discuss how you can unlock your local information contact us at talk about local.

William Perrin - william@talkaboutlocal.orgTalk About Local (West Midlands) Ltdhttp://talkaboutlocal.org