Looking Local

LHA WEBSITE, HOUSING APPS, VIDEO CONTENT, NEW SIGNEES & MORE

noreply@blogger.com (Looking Local Newsdesk) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 14:59:00 +0000

DWP FUNDED LHA WEBSITE LAUNCHES

www.letshelpyou.co.uk launched successfully across West Yorkshire in February and is now being promoted by the DWP as one of their vanguard tools for local authorities to consider as part of the LHA Transition Fund.

Focused on tenants who need to move due to changes in their LHA, local authority housing teams across the region are directing tenants to the website as their first port of call as well as using it as an in-house property search facility. At the heart of the site is the LHA calculator that allows people to find available properties within their allowance, and crucially it is free for both tenants and landlords to use.

The website will be key in terms of reducing avoidable contact; one of our West Yorkshire partners estimates that there is an average of four visits/calls to their housing team when relocating a tenant. If councils can redirect just 25% of tenants across West Yorkshire to self serve via www.letshelpyou.co.uk, a save in excess of £175,000 each year.

www.letshelpyou.co.uk will be available for other authorities to deploy locally, find out more here, or see it in action here.

USAGE CONTINUES TO GROW

Our usage statistics show that usage of Looking Local is up 38% on the same three-month period last year.

VIDEO CONTENT LIVE ON LOOKING LOCAL

Partners often ask us about video content, many have useful videos on their website that they would like to make available across other channels; And Stockport Council has done just that. Now their mobile, Facebook and smartphone customers can access five videos from their Looking Local site. See them here: www.tinyurl.com/7f2drvb

HOUSING REPAIRS APPS

The countdown to the new Looking Local housing repairs apps has begun. The Android and iPhone apps – which have been developed in partnership with a number of housing associations – are being tested and will soon be available for all Looking Local customers. Watch this space for news on their release over the next few weeks.

NW & YORKSHIRE HOUSING WORKING GROUP

The first working group across the Northwest & Yorkshire took place last week, hosted by Twin Valley Homes. The event was a great success, with housing partners from across the region coming together for half a day to share good practice, get a sneak preview of the housing repairs apps, hear about the new LHA website as well as share marketing successes.

NEW TO LOOKING LOCAL

Looking Local is pleased that a range of new partners have signed up in the last quarter, from the housing, health and local authority arenas. Some of our new partners include; Home Group, Berneslai Homes, Homes in Havering, St Vincent’s Housing Association, Parkway Green Housing Trust and Family Housing (in association with Birmingham City Council), Surrey CC, Renfrewshire Council, Torbay Council, Glasgow City Council and Leicestershire CC.

NEW YEAR HEADLINES

noreply@blogger.com (Looking Local Newsdesk) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 12:25:00 +0000

2011: MORE PEOPLE THAN EVER USED LOOKING LOCAL

Usage of Looking Local during 2011 again broke all records, with over 1.83million sessions recorded over the year; a 36% increase on 2010.

During 2011 Looking Local launched 'Report It' apps for both Android and iPhones and dedicated interfaces for smartphones enabling quick and easy navigation on partner sites. Later on in the year, we took our 120+ partners on to Facebook, adding to Looking Local's usage and opening up access via new and popular channels. On top of this, TV remains a popular platform by which to access public services, due to the sheer numbers of digital TVs in the UK and the value of the services to those without internet access.

2011 saw a similar increase in terms of pages viewed, with page hits topping 31 million; showing that the content on Looking Local is increasingly relevant and valuable. The average session was 18 pages and around 50% of all usage is out of standard office hours.

LHA WEBSITE SOFT LAUNCH ON TARGET

Work on the affordable housing portal for West Yorkshire continues to plan, with over 500 landlords now registered to upload their property details and the soft launch on track for later this month. Funded by the DWP, the site www.letshelpyou.co.uk will allow people in West Yorkshire to find available properties they can afford in light of changes to LHA. For more info click here.

FIRST GP CONSORTIA SITE LAUNCHES SOON

The first GP consortia to use Looking Local to extend access to local health services on TV, mobile, smartphones and social networks launches later this month. Baywide GP consortia based in South Devon, will extend digital access to homes across Torbay that do not have internet access, as well as capitalising on the ever-increasing ownership of mobile and smartphones.

Specifically patients will be able to make appointments, request home visits, order repeat prescriptions, find out information on test results, understand how to register with the surgery, organise transport around health needs and more.

The service offers direct access to all the GP surgeries in the group as well as the ability to access medical information and health guides from NHS Choices and comment on local health services via Patient Opinion.

COMMUNITY CHANNEL LINK UP - LIVE WELL

Looking Local has created a dedicated 'Live Well' site, accessed via the main Looking Local menu, focusing on health, diet and wellbeing. Available for the whole of January, the site is a direct route for people across the UK to find health advice and local listings to help them achieve new year goals around getting fit.

The site is being promoted on TV by our broadcast partner the Community Channel, via a series of trailers and 'calls to action', and links directly into their programming focus for January. The Community Channel is running a series of programmes throughout the month around getting fit, being healthy and related issues.

LHA PORTAL GETS THUMBS UP & GOOD PRESS COVERAGE

noreply@blogger.com (Looking Local Newsdesk) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 11:35:00 +0000

Looking Local is developing an affordable housing portal commissioned by the DWP for launch in 2012. Following a number of presentations at landlord forums, a national press release and a mailer to our housing customers and contacts, it has been widely welcomed.

With LHA changes set to come in early in 2012, there will be significant movement in the housing market and this portal will help both landlords and tenants handle the changes as smoothly as possible.

To read the coverage from The Guardian click here

If you would like to be kept up to date with the LHA portal project please contact billie.gill@letshelpyou.co.uk

NEW APPS & TABLET DEVELOPMENT

noreply@blogger.com (Looking Local Newsdesk) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 10:52:00 +0000

VIRTEX (VIRTUAL EXTRA CARE) HEALTH PROJECT

Looking Local has been developing an innovative approach for public service delivery for older people, with a focus on reducing isolation, connecting carers, family and friends and delivering healthcare efficiencies. We have now created a useful, connected, safe and trusted service, which is being delivered via a Motorola Xoom tablet; currently being trialled with a range of older people across the UK.

Virtex (virtual extra care) in its base state feels like a digital photo frame carousel. Services and messages are managed by a web based management system and the overall solution integrates a significant level of user centric design. Current services include: Messaging, Video Calls, Photos, Calendar, Public Sector Services and News.

Without needing to know how the device, VOIP, video conferencing or webcams work, without needing to understand tariffs or protocols, an older person can be connected with their ‘inner circle’ (family, friends, care workers, social services and healthcare professionals), wherever they are in the world. There are two integrated cameras on the Motorola Xoom, which allows the trusted circle to see the older person as well as their environment. This in turn leads to a range of possibilities in terms of remote healthcare, ensuring safety, improved contact, tackling isolation and managing public sector resources more effectively.

Whether it is self diagnosis, check-ups, medication reminders, or showing a healthcare professional the state of a non-emergency problem, the video call functionality could change the provision of healthcare in terms of the cost, time and effort on both sides.

This is a significant project in terms of the range of public service providers who work with older people. Looking Local will be publishing research and findings in early 2012.

HOUSING REPAIRS SMARTPHONE APP IN DEVELOPMENT

Following the success of Looking Local’s national ‘Report It’ smartphone apps focused on streetscene issues (potholes, grafitti, fly tipping, broken streetlights etc) launched in January this year, we have begun work on a housing app.

The Housing app will follow a similar approach in terms of usability and functionality allowing tenants to report a range of internal and external housing issues, as well as reporting anti-social behaviour and the ability to contact their housing association. The functionality of the smartphone such as the camera facility and GPS will be integrated where appropriate.

We are working with a number of partners to ensure the app reflects their needs, the housing app will be launched in 2012 and will be a welcome addition to Looking Local's suite of apps.

NEW VOLUNTEERING APP FOR ANDROID SMARTPHONE OWNERS

Looking Local has teamed up with volunteering website Do-it to deliver a new app for Android smartphone owners allowing them to search of volunteering opportunities across the UK. Whether people have a spare hour or a week, want to do something one-off or regularly, the new app gives access to Do-it’s one million plus opportunities.

DRIVE USAGE ON YOUR LOOKING LOCAL SITE

noreply@blogger.com (Looking Local Newsdesk) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 10:52:00 +0000

The first week of November Caerphilly saw usage from Looking Local soar as they added Fireworks information to their service. In one week alone their site received 7,800 hits as part of over 1,700 sessions, which shows that keeping content up to date is key to driving usage.   

With the winter coming on and potential road, school and facility closures driving people to self serve for this information on TV, mobile and now within Facebook makes a huge difference.

Last year Fife put all their school closure information on their Looking Local site and promoted it within their schools with a simple leaflet to all parents. This led to over 16,000 calls being diverted from call centres over a two week period and more than paid for the marketing of the service.

FACEBOOK, POLICE 101 SERVICES, NHS SCOTLAND & MORE

noreply@blogger.com (Looking Local Newsdesk) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:46:00 +0000

LOOKING LOCAL DELIVERS INTERACTIVE PUBLIC SECTOR SERVICES ON FACEBOOK

To leverage the popularity and potential of Facebook to deliver public sector services, Looking Local has launched an app allowing the 25 million plus UK Facebook members to use interactive public sector services within the UK’s most popular social media network.

In addition to being able to find partner services via Looking Local on Facebook, partners can embed services into their own Facebook sites individually or en masse. Whether it is the ability to search for a job via Jobcentre Plus, report local issues or contact councilors, the app allows for deep integration and brings public sector interactivity to Facebook.

If you are a Facebook member, log in and see it here or go to Looking Local's Facebook page and click Looking Local from the left hand menu. Bracknell Forest has worked with us to show how embedded service look within their Facebook page, click here to see it.

To read more on this story click here.

POLICE NON EMERGENCY 101 SERVICE LIVE ON LOOKING LOCAL

People across Gwent can now report non emergency crimes, incidents and concerns to Gwent Police Force using Looking Local on TV (Sky & Virgin), mobile, Facebook and smartphones. The site is available in both English and Welsh and as with 101 issues reported by phone or online, all reports go direct for handling at their police headquarters.

Chief Superintendent Alun Thomas of Gwent Police says “This is another way in which the public can contact the Police on less urgent (or non 999) issues. As technology moves forward, we want to be at the forefront in providing new ways to access policing services. Looking Local – 101 opens a new channel for 1000s of people in the community”

Looking Local is working on optimising the 101 service to launch as a smartphone app which will include the ability to attach photo evidence and geo-tag the reports. With 101 rolling out across the country by the end of 2011, there is a very real opportunity to widen access to 101 on a variety of devices and channels by using Looking Local.

NHS SCOTLAND LAUNCH NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE ON LOOKING LOCAL

NHS Scotland has launched a national service extending access to a range of health services via Looking Local’s channels.

OFCOM reports that Scotland has the lowest broadband penetration in the UK at only 61%, being particularly low amongst low income homes and older people. In addition to TV access, Looking Local NHS Scotland to capitalise on the growing number of smartphone users and people who chose to own a mobile or smartphone instead of getting a home PC and internet connection.

Patients can access services from NHS 24, NHS Inform, Care Information Scotland and Scottish Backs as well as undertake health questionnaires. The service offers real time GP appointment booking, access to local health services (dentists, doctors, opticians, pharmacies), information from the Health A-Z, seasonal health advice, news, health and wellbeing guides, as well as links to local support organisations.

To read more on this story click here.

NHS Scotland is continually looking to improve the service and just this week has added a range of advice and content around back, muscles and joint problems, you can see this new feature here.

LINK UP WITH BROADCASTING PARTNER THE COMMUNITY CHANNEL

To build on the partnership Looking Local has with Community Channel, Looking Local is linking up with the TV channel’s broadcast theme around health and addictions for the month of November. In addition to driving traffic, we believe this will bring the relationship between the broadcast and interactive services to life.

The Community Channel has a range of programmes scheduled around this theme and will be running TV trailers promoting the services Looking Local partners offer, from the obvious health listings and addiction guides available from NHS Choices as well as housing, jobs and other related council services.

UPDATE - MARCH

noreply@blogger.com (Looking Local Newsdesk) — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 12:50:00 +0000

LOOKING LOCAL’S IPHONE APP RECEIVES GREAT FEEDBACK… “I want to congratulate the council on the best development they have made in years! This is perfect for a people of many different ages to get involved and show they care about their local area.” Vicky, Stockport “Whoever thought of the i-Phone App for WDC and whoever wrote the code deserves a bonus payment.” Anon, Wychavon SOCITM ADVISES: ‘GO MOBILE’: One of the main points to come out of the SOCITM Better Connected 2011 Report was for all councils to 'Go Mobile' to ensure efficient front line service delivery, by encouraging self-service and thus savings. "As people are using the internet more and more 'on the move', mobile devices are ideally suited to responding to a consumer wanting to complete a simple task. Yet our survey shows that only 4% of all council websites were rated 'very good' when accessed on an iPhone." SOCITM Better Connected Report 2011 Looking Local’s solution provides easy entry into the mobile and smartphone market for any public sector body, our iPhone app will soon have an Android equivalent and promotion of the app, with the next step being having the ability to surface any partner service as a standalone, branded app. Read more here: http://lookinglocal.gov.uk/site/news/2011-03-15-socitm.html CHOICE BASED LETTINGS ON TV CAN CREATE OVER £40K OF SAVINGS: A recent CLG-backed business case says that delivering choice based lettings on TV – specifically via Looking Local – can help reduce frontline costs and widen access to this key local housing service. For housing associations and local authorities with around 8,000 properties the savings can be around £40k pa. Find out more here: http://lookinglocal.gov.uk/site/news/2011-03-15-cbl.html LOOKING LOCAL’S NEW SHORTCODE – 61061 –DRIVING MOBILE USAGE: The latest improvement to the Looking Local solution now provides partners with a simple and free way to promote the mobile side of their Looking Local service and reach customers ‘on the move’. With budgets tight but the need to deliver frontline services and efficiencies increasingly important, the Looking Local shortcode – 61061 – is a tool by which public sector can direct people to self-serve, whether at home or on the move. By texting their postcode to 61061, the user gets an immediate SMS response with a link to their local services within Looking Local. Latest figures show that 91% of the UK adult population owns a mobile phone, the surging popularity of smartphones, the millions of internet enabled handsets and our changing demands in terms of the speed and availability of public sector services, means that by promoting the shortcode you can simply and effectively drive more people to self serve when and where they want. TIMEBANKING LIVE ACROSS ALL BUREAU SITES: Access via TV, mobile and smartphones to Timebanking UK has now been extended to over 80 Looking Local sites, allowing people across the UK to find out more about Timebanking and get in touch with their local timebank. The work was funded by the Digital Inclusion Unit at CLG and specifically focuses on people who are socially and often financially excluded – many of whom don’t have internet access – to give them alternative ways in to ask for help and get involved with their community. There are many benefits to having a strong community in terms of service delivery, engagement, feedback, participation and potentially even savings. Unlocking the wealth of expertise, time, energy and knowledge within a community could encourage a new collaborative way of providing services; there is huge potential and many believe that working together can make a real difference. Timebanking allows people on a very local level to give and receive help, via an appointed local ‘time broker’ (the person who runs the local time bank). Initially piloted in Kirklees, the national integration with Timebanking UK’s software, means we are able to extend public access on alternative channels to this key community focused time exchange programme.

Update 24th-29th January

noreply@blogger.com (Looking Local Newsdesk) — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 17:39:00 +0000

LOOKING LOCAL WINS A NATIONAL E-GOVERNMENT AWARD
Looking Local was delighted to win the coveted award for ‘Local e-Government Excellence: Take Up & Usage Growth’ at the national e-Government awards in London last week. Key to the award was ‘Ensuring high and growing take-up of an e-enabled service through effective service delivery and marketing’. The award reflected the importance of additional electronic channels in widening access and closing the digital divide.

To read more on this click here
To see images click here

COMMUNITY CHANNEL TRAILER PROMOTING LOOKING LOCAL
Our partner on Sky, the Community Channel, has been running a trailer to encourage viewers to push the red button and interact with Looking Local since December. The trailer references the services that people can access via Looking Local and gives people the important messaage that they do not have to be online to be able to access public sector services.

See the video here

Update: Jan 1st-9th, 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Looking Local Newsdesk) — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 11:36:00 +0000

NATIONWIDE PUBLIC SECTOR IPHONE APP

The main focus for Looking Local since Xmas and the New Year has been our new iOS App, which allows iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch users direct access into the first nationwide public sector app combining a wide range of local and national services.

Available now in the iTunes store, it is free and gives people across the UK immediate and intuitive access to local councils, housing associations and a wide range of other public sector organisations on these increasingly popular devices.

A logical extension of our work on mobile phones, Looking Local feels this brings real benefits to iPhone users as well as our partners – local authorities, housing associations, health authorities and other public sector organisations – who are able to promote the app to their customers without having to concentrate resource and budget to develop or manage it in-house.

For more on this story click here.

Update: 6th-10th December 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Looking Local Newsdesk) — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 16:37:00 +0000

Looking Local Breaks Usage Records
Last week was the busiest week ever for Looking Local, usage broke the 600,000 hits per week barrier for the first time in our history.

Main contributors to this feat were the Fife Road/School Closures plugin and the Intouch Kirklees site, which received its third highest amount of hits ever (28,218). Also worth a mention is the Caerphilly School Closures plugin, a relatively new addition, but one which accounted for the majority of traffic to their site.

The Fife Road/School Closures plugin continues to show real tangible results in terms of channel shift, last week’s usage showed an average of 24 sessions per head of Fife’s population, which is incredible.

Disabled Go Launches on TV via Looking Local
DisabledGo provides detailed access guides to a range of different venues like cinemas, hotels, restaurants, council offices, parks, tourist attractions etc. The aim is to provide information that will allow disabled visitors to decide whether a venue is right for their requirements and plan ahead. Looking Local is pleased to welcome DisabledGo to the portal, now people across the UK can find accessibility digests by venue, town or distance whether on DiTV or mobile phone.

Speaking about the new service Dr. Gregory Burke, Chief Executive, DisabledGo said, ‘Our steering groups around the country were concerned that people without the internet were missing out on our information. We have invested to put that right. More people will be able to use DisabledGo on their television.’

Users can select a region and then choose the type of venue they are interested in visiting (e.g. Restaurants in Canterbury), they might be looking for specific facilities like Braille signage or graded parking, or just general disability awareness training amongst the staff. The disabled facility details will also be supplemented with other relevant information about the venue such as directions or opening times.

TV is the Channel of Choice for a Growing Number of People
Looking Local has been running a series of questionnaires on TV asking people what they want from public sector on DiTV, what they like, didn’t like on Looking Local etc. The results are very welcome with increasing numbers of people regularly using DiTV and wanting government services on these additional channels.

Headlines from questionnaire run between July-Nov 2010 showed:
o 59% of Looking Local users, used interactive TV very regularly (‘all the time’, daily or weekly)
o Nearly 50% of our users are repeat customers
o 75% said using Looking Local was easy
o 30% of people said government services on TV were very important to them
o 45% had no internet access and 37% had no new media skills
o Over 55% said they traditionally would call their council to undertake their business, 16% in person and still 6% by letter

We see this as further proof that people are using DiTV for public services, find it easy to use and would otherwise use more expensive communication channels.

Update: November 22nd-3rd December, 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Looking Local Newsdesk) — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 13:04:00 +0000

Looking Local Launches on Community Channel
Looking Local has now launched on Sky via the red button on the Community Channel. Now viewers of the Community Channel will see a constant on screen red button offering ‘Local Services’ and be able to get straight to the home page of the service from broadcast programmes.

The Community Channel is working on a 30-second promotional trailer to explain to viewers what Looking Local offers, which is currently in production and should be aired in the next few weeks. It is hoped that the fit between content and the thousands of viewers that watch the Community Channel will increase traffic and open up opportunities for both parties and partners.

The Community Channel is on Sky Channel 539. Read more

Record Breaking Usage in Fife as Snow Hits and their Local Services Closure Plug-in Usage Rockets
Fife’s school closure plug-in has broken all records this week attracting astounding usage due to the bad snow. So far this week the site has recorded 70,000 hits as part of 8,820 sessions, proving beyond all doubt that the right plug-ins can significantly divert traffic from traditional contact methods.

Housing Services Continue to Grow on Looking Local
This week North Lincs launched Choice Based Lettings on their service, extending their web service provided by Abritas. Choice based lettings is another real traffic driver as their records prove; this week has broken all usage records for North Lincs to date, with over 10,000 hits. See their service in action here.

Charter Housing has also launched on Looking Local this week, with a Quickcode ‘242’ (CHA). Offering CBL, news, reporting functions and a wealth of housing based information, services and support, they are new addition to the rapidly growing number of housing associations using Looking Local to deliver tenant and resident services. See the service here

Update: November 8th-20th, 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Looking Local Newsdesk) — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 16:25:00 +0000

Looking Local partnership with Community Channel
Later this week Looking Local will be accessible on SKY via a constant on screen red button on the Community Channel, Channel 539. For many years Looking Local has sought a broadcast presence and this partnership delivers just that. The seven million plus viewers of the Community Channel will be prompted to ‘push the red button’ on their remote control, which will lead them through to the Looking Local portal.

We are working behind the scenes to prepare for the move, which was brought in part due to the announcement that DirectGov will be leaving the SKY platform. Currently they have a screen on their service announcing their service will be turned off from Dec 22nd, but that local services will still be available via Looking Local and the Community Channel.

DirectGov is leaving the DiTV arena due to budget cuts but is keen to still make services available on TV, so we shall be working with them in the coming months to understand what of their current content and services will be appropriate to port over to Looking Local to boost the service.

As the service remains the same but the access pathways are different, we are currently working with partners on their marketing materials so that they are up to date.

Looking Local selected as a finalist in the e-Government National Awards
We are pleased to announce that Looking Local has been selected as a finalist in the Local e-Government excellence: Take-up & usage growth category for the e-Government National Awards 2010.

Our entry concentrated on the facts that we have increased the number of partner that we work with over 50% this year, we feel that this shows that organisations realise that to deliver quality technical solutions on the two ends of the technical spectrum with a decreased budget, Looking Local is incredible value for money. Also Looking Local’s figures for 2010 show a 23% rise in usage of Looking Local services with over 22.7 million hits and 1.4 million sessions (Nov’09-Nov ’10), the fact that we are breaking into the mobile market with real gusto and delivering a lot of social media apps on TV is also playing in our favour.

The competition says: “Finalists include a great diversity of excellence in e-Government and public sector services from across the UK – Councils, Central Government, Voluntary organisations, universities and others are all represented in this year’s “best of the best”. View the full shortlist here and fingers crossed, awards are announced in January.

North Lincs TV & Touchscreens featured in press
North Lincs received some positive press coverage this week following press releases and visits by their local press to a sheltered housing scheme where the Digital Unit and Housing teams have been working on delivering services via touch screens and TV.

Working as part of the Virtual Town Hall project with Looking Local, North Lincs now give access to a range of housing and local services enhanced by feeds in from community boards, Flickr, Twitter and local online forums.

Caerphilly County Borough – School Closures plug-in – LIVE
Following plans for the Schools Closure Plug-In on the Caerphilly site, the service has gone live and is already attracting interest.

There were three main reasons as to why the web team drove through the plug in;
- The idea had received many positive comments from headteachers, parents and schools during the heavy snowfall earlier this year
- It will provide access to the school closure facility to those who do not have Intenet access
- The underlying technical infrastructure and mechanism for updating the information was already established during it’s development for the website

When a school is closed due to an emergency or bad weather the nominated person at a school - usually the headteacher - logs onto the system via the web at work or home and enters the school status. Within a minute of the information being updated the new ‘school status’ appears on the website and Looking Local.

Caerphilly will use a range of methods to promote the new service including a press release, residents’ newspaper articles, Twitter, their CyberK8 text messaging service, intranet and the school led headteachers email/notes to parents

Following in the footsteps of Fife, Kirklees and others who have integrated with this core and time crucial service, Caerphilly are hoping that when the bad weather hits this year more people will be aware of local closures by self service channels meaning that call centres are not overburdened and that those who are not online can use DiTV to get the latest updates without having to phone.

Update: November 1st-5th, 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Looking Local Newsdesk) — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 14:03:00 +0000

Caerphilly Launch School Closures on their Looking Local site
As the winter weather closes in, school closure information is crucial to millions of parents nationwide. And so launching at the perfect time, Caerphilly this week added real time updates in terms of authority-wide or school specific closures to their Looking Local site.

Developed in house and connecting to their school closure database, their plug in will let parents and carers know when schools are closed on both TV and via mobile, 24 hours a day. So whether parents are watching the morning news and weather wondering whether it will affect their local schools or on the way to school using their mobile phone, they can simply go to Caerphilly’s Looking Local and find out.

Other partners such as Fife and Kirklees have found that offering school closures information on their service has been really popular and saved their call centres from taking thousands of calls on those days when the snow or bad weather demands that schools shut their gates.

In fact last January Fife’s school closure plug in drove record traffic; In the first week of January during heavy snow they logged 7,137 sessions (over 21,000 hits) to the school closures information on their DiTV service alone. In one week Fife was able to justify their Looking Local subscription, as over 7,000 enquiries were redirected to a self service channel at a peak time. Based on SOCITM Insight 2008 channel costs, this was a saving of over £22,500 in one week alone, if one were to think all the people would have otherwise called the council/school.

Social by Local – Looking Local to be part of the Online Conference
Looking Local’s Operations Manager Guy Giles will be participating in the Local by Social online conference being organised by the I&DeA next week, speaking on the use of social media on TV.

His session begins at 3pm on Tuesday the 9th and is one of a number of topical sessions on the use of social media tools by public sector figures and leaders.

If you are interested in social media in general and specifically on how it is being used on TV today and thoughts around it future application, this is something not to miss.

Click here to register on the Comminities of Practice site where this will take place, as well as to find out more, read best practice and participate in the online conference.

Timebanking Videos on Youtube
As part of a Digital Inclusion Team funded project Looking Local has been working with Kirklees Council and Newsome Timebank to widen access to their timebank services via DiTV.

This is proving popular and recently videos of people promoting the use of Timebanking and accessing it via TV were posted on Youtube.

The aim of the project is to widen access to the digitally excluded to allow them to participcate in this local community service where people give time and can receive help, build friendships and strengthen local communities.

Looking Local has been working on integrating the Timebanking UK technology nationwide, and it is now available to all partners if they have active timebanks in their area and are interested in widening access via TV and mobile.

You can hear what Pam and Janet have to say about Timebankingon TV here: Pam & Janet

To view more many videos on Timebanking click here , they give a great understanding of how it can help people and communities.

For more on Looking Local and Timebanking click here

Sandwell Homes Launch Choice Based Lettings
Choice based lettings is an ever popular service with many of our housing partners, which is proven to drive traffic and offers residents a really useful way to browse and bid on available properties with their families in the comfort of their own homes.

Sandwell Homes has this week launched this key service on their Looking Local site, widening and creating fairer access to those in their community without PCs. Sandwell Homes Property Shop can be used by existing members and allows new members to register via TV and mobile.

Other housing partners have seen fantastic usage of CBL on TV to read more click here

Update: October 18th - 22nd, 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Looking Local Newsdesk) — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 16:09:00 +0000

Warrington Promotion - All Guns Blazing
Promoting Looking Local services is key to making sure people know that services are available on DiTV and mobile and getting them to use them. Warrington has just launched a great marketing campaign using all channels possible to promote their service; radio, literature, an advertising truck as well as community demonstrations.

“We tied our awareness campaign in with national Customer Care week, which enabled us to promote the services our Contact Warrington centre. The Contact Warrington staff did all the demos and we also did demos at the Centre for Independent Living for the disabled community. The Contact Warrington staff also provided the voices for the radio ads.” said Gabi Lockyer, Communications Account Manager Neighbourhoods & Culture.

Demonstrations for staff were held at two locations to get them up to speed with what Looking Local is, how it works and what it offers. Whilst shoppers at Warrington Market got to try the TV service in a mocked up lounge setting in the food hall.
What a great idea!

In addition Warrington:

- Drove an environmentally friendly ‘green machine' ad van which drove around the borough advertising the service
- Issued information via internal mail, our internal newsletter and on notice boards
- Put information about the service in their neighbourhood newsletter The Wire, which goes to all the homes in the borough
- Had small handouts for people to take away from the demos

The full update including the ad van can be seen here
Leaflets and handouts can be found here

There is a wealth of marketing ideas and examples on our wiki click here for more on marketing Looking Local

Update: October 11th - 15th, 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Looking Local Newsdesk) — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 11:33:00 +0000

ONLINE SCHOOLS ADMISSIONS LAUNCHES ON LOOKING LOCAL
Looking Local is delighted to announce the successful launch of online schools admissions on the Birmingham City Council site. This is the first time ever that parents will be able to use the TV to access this key and often emotive council service. Working with Digital Birmingham, families without computers can take advantage of the online schools admissions service being able to make their applications on TV, mobile and even by using the Nintendo Wii.
To read more click here

FANTASTIC RESPONSE TO LOOKING LOCAL’S REGIONAL TOUR
Following the announcement of our regional events, Looking Local has had a great response from organisations across the country interested in coming along to hear the latest on Looking Local’s TV and smartphone solution, as well as understanding first hand from partners how it saves them money and widens access to front line services.
If you would like to come along, click here for our venues and the ability to sign up.

LOOKING LOCAL HAS A ROLE TO PLAY IN ONLINE BRITAIN
Digital Champion Martha Lane Fox told the SOCITM conference this week that the government could save £1bn annually by moving just one of its services from face-to-face to online… We think Looking Local has a significant role to play in enabling government to move towards fully electronic services. Many argue that there will always be a significant minority who will not go online, and in that Looking Local can deliver services to via TV, games consoles and mobile phones, we are surely the missing piece in the jigsaw.

With the upcoming digital switchover, technical progress towards TV and PC convergence, growing number of Looking Local partners, increasing usage, increasing smartphone ownership, combined with our recent research undertaken with older people showing that they are happy to use the TV for services and many are keen and able to use games consoles to access services once shown how to work them, Looking Local can without doubt help government turn off services by widening access to the digitally excluded.

We are already working with local partners who are looking to provide 100% fully electronic services such as Birmingham City Council, who see DiTV as an important tool in terms of widening access to services as far as possible. Their online schools admissions is now available via Looking Local on TV and mobiles phones. Click here to read more.

Looking Local is working with the government backed BBC intiative, YouView, to ensure our public sector partners are accesible on this new platform, which is set to launch in the first half of 2011 and give an incredible boost to the DiTV and IPTV market. For more on this click here

Update: Ooctober 1st-8th, 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Looking Local Newsdesk) — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 13:41:00 +0000

PATIENT OPINION LAUNCHES ON LOOKING LOCAL

Looking Local is pleased to announce a partnership with Patient Opinion, their award winning service has now launched on the NHS Sefton microsite and will soon be available to all health partners.

Patient Opinion is a not-for-profit social enterprise which enables patients, relatives and carers to share their experiences of health services and aims to route their stories to just the right people in the NHS who can make improvements. The service has been running since 2005 and covers hospitals, hospices, ambulances, community services and mental health services across the UK.

This integration now gives the digitally excluded a voice in local healthcare and joins a growing set of leading healthcare services on Looking Local. Read more here

LOOKING LOCAL ON TOUR

Looking Local has announced a series of workshops around the country during Autumn 2010, where prospective partners can meet with Looking Local representatives and hear about the benefits DiTV and mobile services can bring their organisations and customers.

We shall be in Nottingham, Birmingham, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Manchester, London, Bristol, Exeter and Peterborough with guest speakers from a range of public sector outfits. These speakers are currently using Looking Local and will give their insight into how these new channels are bringing efficiencies and benefits to their organisations.

Please contact events@lookinglocal.gov.uk if you are interested in attending

SEE IT IN ACTION

This event in London’s East End showcasing a range of projects that have been sponsored by the CLG’S Digitial Inclusion Team, proved to be a great day for Looking Local. We had an amazing response to the new iPhone interface with people being able to see and use Looking Local on the iPhone there and then. Public sector organisations realised that they did not have to build or manage the interface themsleves and their services already looked good on this popular device.

We also met with a range of potential new partners as well as spreading the word around the work on Timebanking and e-Credit Union that we were specifically there to promote.

Update: September 11th-30th, 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Looking Local Newsdesk) — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 12:37:00 +0000

LOOKING LOCAL BACKS YOUVIEW TV
Project Canvas has confirmed that it will go live as YouView some time in the first half of 2011. YouView is the new name for the BBC-led venture that promises a combination of catch-up TV, free-TV, apps and widgets. Looking Local has this week confirmed its support of YouView, making it clear that it will seek to use the new platform at the earliest opportunity.

Guy Giles, Operations Manager, Looking Local, said:

"Until now the potential of taking our services direct to subscription free TV seemed out of reach. Additionally, it has not been possible for us to deliver a true 'TV' experience due to the lack of a broadband connected TV platform. As a local provider of TV services the barriers to entry have been too high. YouView will help give us a much more direct route to viewers while also helping us to meet the challenge to reach out to those that are digitally excluded.

“I welcome the Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt MP's support for the development of new hyper-local TV services this week. This chimes well with our efforts to deliver improved public services to local communities.”

Broadband TV News reported: 'YouView’s first application will be a seven-day EPG that goes both backwards and forwards, providing instant access to catch-up TV services from shareholder broadcasters that include the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five.'

'Viewers will be able to simply search for the kind of programmes they like by genre, interest or locality, including films, sports and new content from the internet. Plans to offer an applications store will also give viewers new types of services and levels of interactivity with their favourite programmes.'

The full story can be foundhere: www.broadbandtvnews.com/2010/09/16/breaking-canvas-to-be-branded-as-youview

The YouView site can be found here

NATIONAL HOUSING FEDERATION ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND SOCIAL HOUSING EXHIBITION 2010
Looking Local spent three days and the leading national housing event last week where there was a huge amount of interest in our new iPhone interface and the Twitter and Flickr integrations. Many at the show saw the value of these technical advances in terms of the Big Society debate, with Looking Local giving public sector outfits the ability to deliver high quality communications and services to all in the local community and allowing those without internet access a voice in the wider debate.

TRISTAR HOMES GO LIVE
September has been a great month for our housing partners. Following hot on the heels of five other housing associations, Tristar Homes has launched a brand new service on Looking Local in an effort to widen resident communication channels and manage costs.

Tristar Homes in Stockton has gone live with a range of services including the ever popular choice based lettings, provided by Abritas. They have also employed the TV Key option, THTV, so that their residents can quickly access services on both Sky and Virgin.

RYDER CUP COMPETITION WINNER ANNOUNCED
The pan Wales competition to boost usage of their Looking Local services this week rewarded the winning participants with their tickets to the Ryder Cup. Having run for nearly two months the competition received hundreds of entries, all of whom had to find out information only available on Looking Local and thus introduce themselves to the wide range of services available and the ease of using it.

The competition was a great tool to encourage usage and is an idea that can be worked on in other areas to market Looking Local to those who have yet to use it.

Update: September 6th-10th, 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Looking Local Newsdesk) — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 11:07:00 +0000

LOOKING LOCAL LAUNCHES iPHONE SERVICE
Looking Local is pleased to announce the launch of a dedicated iPhone service giving customers immediate access on these increasingly popular devices. With budgets being squeezed but the need for public sector services to be available across all platforms to enable quick and relevant access, this is a major innovation.
Read more here: www.lookinglocal.gov.uk/site/news/2010-09-15-iphone.html

BIRMINGHAM ONLINE SCHOOLS ADMISSIONS PLUGIN GOES LIVE
Birmingham has become the first partner to offer online schools admissions via Looking Local, giving access to this key headline service to their DiTV parents.

Around 80% of Birmingham’s schools admission requests are already received online and in an effort to offer the widest possible electronic access Birmingham has launched it on Looking Local. The plugin enables parents to request places at primary and secondary schools as the rounds open. It requires registration but allows the applications to be saved and returned to at a later date.

Efficiency savings, giving equal access, broadening choice and investigating the potential of fully electronic services were all factors in this significant development. Click here to see the service:
www.lookinglocal.gov.uk/digitv/cds/Birmingham/Netgem/screen.html?id=183691

BBC PROJECT CANVAS MEETING
Looking Local met with members of the Project Canvas team this week and was updated on progress and expectations around their programme of work to develop standards and an interface for the delivery of online video and interactive services to broadband-connected Freeview and Freesat set-top boxes.

In the ‘BBC Trust - Market Impact Assessment’ document, it states that Canvas will give a massive boost to broadband TV numbers with around a further 500,000-850,000 homes moving to broadband for TV - not PC - purposes in the coming few years. This is great news for us as our services are already available on broadband STBs and thus would increase user numbers significantly.

Project Canvas is looking for expressions of interest around apps that could feature on STBs, Looking Local is considering what and how we would pull together our service to be Canvas focused and will submit an outline in due course.

LOOKING LOCAL ON TOUR
Looking Local will be hosting a series of workshops across the country during October and November to promote the latest developments around both DiTV and mobile.
Contact emma.giles@lookinglocal.gov.uk to find out more

QUICKCODES CONTINUE APACE
Looking Local partners are increasingly becoming aware of the benefits a Looking Local Quickcode can bring to their service; giving their customers direct access to their microsite. Viewers can get insert the quickcode on the home page on Sky, Virgin and mobile phones and immediately go to their local services without having to click through the regional menus. This saves time and on mobile, money and makes the journey to local services a lot easier.

A great one goes live this week, FABTV, for Fabrick Housing up in the north east.

LIVE THIS WEEK
This week we welcome the first mental health trust to Looking Local, East London NHS Foundation Trust has an incredible range of services for adults, carers and families to support them and widen access.
See more here:
www.lookinglocal.gov.uk/digitv/cds/eastlondonnhs/Netgem/home.html

Newyddion da - translation for those not fluent in Welsh, ‘Good News’ – now ten of our Welsh partner sites have a welsh language version, with Powys being the latest to offer dual language.

Update: August 24th-September 3rd, 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Looking Local Newsdesk) — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 11:34:00 +0000

GREAT RESPONSE FROM CUSTOMERS TO LOOKING LOCAL ON TV
Hundreds of people have responded to the competition run across all welsh sites on Looking Local to win a pair of tickets to the upcoming Ryder Cup. The competition was run to let people know about the new service and encourage people to use Looking Local for their council and partner communication.

When asked what they liked about Looking Local there were some great responses, proving that the service is reaching the type of people who really need it, that the services are well chosen and easy to access.

“I don’t have a computer and everything I need to know and find are right at my fingertips, so I let my fingers do the talking, Easy Peasy!”

“Being able to access local services and information at the press of a button, great service, well done.”

“I can't believe that it is so easy to find the information I want - from the TV!!!”

“It's convenient for finding information out of working hours when you are unable to contact an office via the telephone, information is available at the touch of a button.”

“The site is user friendly and helps find information in a timely manner. It is well laid out and I will certainly use it again.”

“Fantastic way to get council information and I don't have to move from the sofa!”

“This site gives you helpful information, about jobs, transport, health etc. Its a great site for all ages to explore, it gives society a chance good informative, valued information that they may need.”

“Ease of availability in accessing vital services throughout the borough and the fact that I don't have to leave the comfort of my home. It is truly an amazing innovation.”

CREDIT UNION INTEGRATION IN FINAL STAGES
Integration with Progress Systems is complete and is currently undergoing a QA review. This means that partners using Progress System Credit Union software will be able to allow customers access to a range of service via Looking Local on TV and mobile in the very near future. Currently piloting with Hull & East Yorkshire Credit Union, an evaluation of the service will be run over the next few months.

IV TV - A RATINGS HIT WITH CUSTOMERS
Irwell Valley’s interactive customer service TV channel launched in Spring 2010 and is proving a big hit with customers. Independently collected figures show hundreds of viewers are visiting the new channel weekly to find out what’s going on in their neighbourhoods, request repairs, apply for a home and Gold Service membership - plus a whole host of other Irwell Valley services.One Irwell Valley customer phoned in to explain why she finds the channel so useful. “I don’t have internet access so I decided to take a look at IV TV when a flyer about the new service was popped through my letter box. You can access so much information about what’s going on in your area and I’ve even been able to do some research about a medical issue through IV TV. The service offers far more than I expected and I would really recommend it.”

HOUSING SERVICES ON TV CONTINUES APACE
This week Looking Local are pleased to announce that Aire Valley Homes and Fabrick Housing Group both went live with a great range of services and Durham launched the ever popular choice based lettings within their service.

You Homes Newcastle also implemented a great cross channel promotional banner right across the front of their website, telling residents of the launch of their DiTV service via Looking Local, with a supporting page as to how to access services, what is available and why it is a useful alternative.

Update: August 16th-20th, 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Looking Local Newsdesk) — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 16:11:00 +0000

FINAL TESTING FOR TWITTER PLUG IN
Looking Local is in the final stages of QA on the new plugin to our solution, which will see all partners able to pull in feeds from the incredibly popular Twitter site. It is all part of our push to integrate more social media applications with Looking Local and create a TV service that brings the non-PC TV viewer the benefits of these popular social media services.

First use of the Twitter plugin should be live early in September. We shall update you here.

TOUCH SCREENS PROVE TO BE THE ANSWER FOR GREAT PLACES
One of the UK’s biggest social housing providers, Great Places has been piloting Looking Local’s technology to provide a totally new approach to resident information and services within their housing complexes. By combining text, interactivity and video, Great Places delivers a resident focused offering via a specifically designed interface, bringing individual as well as organisational benefits.

Access to the Great Places service was piloted via touch screen TVs installed in one of their new developments built specifically to accommodate Alzheimer and dementia sufferers. Following successful trials, Great Places has now confirmed it will be extending touch screen access at a further three sites.

FINDING OUT WHO USES THEIR SERVICE:
MANCHESTER CITY LAUNCHES WITH USER FOCUSED QUESTIONNAIRE
New partner Manchester City Council launched this week with an in depth site offering a range of information, news and services. One key element of their new Looking Local site is that they have integrated a Looking Local authored questionnaire - available to all partners - which asks people what they were looking for, whether they have PC access, how they would usually contact the council, what other services they would like to see made available and how they heard of the site etc.

All responses are collected by MCC and will help them ensure their site is fit for purpose, reaching the people they intended and bringing efficiencies moving forward.

QUICKCODE FOR TRISTAR HOMES
Quickcodes allow your customers direct access to your Looking Local service on both Sky and Virgin, without the need to go through regional menus to find your offering. Tristar Homes in Stockton is the latest partner to sign up for a Looking Local Quickcode which removes several layers of navigation for their residents.

Update: August 9th-13th, 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Looking Local Newsdesk) — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 10:09:00 +0000

FLICKR PLUGIN
Looking Local is the first service to offer DiTV viewers access to images posted on the world famous Flickr website. By integrating a feed of images into our technology, we are able to pull in selected images to enhance our partner’s services.

Undertaken as part of our work with North Lincolnshire Council, images of their local area will appear alongside consultations and local debates to give added information and context. Moreover the addition of images will keep their site fresh and begins to really blur the line between the web and TV experience.

Images from Flickr will soon be able to be routinely pulled in by partners, this is one part of a larger piece of work which will see a range on social media applications made available on Looking Local.

PICKER INSTITUTE
A meeting with the Picker Institute this week developed some interesting ideas around opportunities to deliver services for patients suffering from dementia.

These developments will sit well alongside our long standing GP appointment and repeat prescription service, NHS Choices information, the telecare and telehealth services Looking Local offer and the upcoming Freedom to Roam project. All combined they present a strong portfolio of health services that can be delivered ‘off the Looking Local shelf’ by health authorities across the UK.

BLAENAU-GWENT USE YOUTUBE TO PROMOTE TV SERVICE
Blaenau Gwent has become the first Looking Local partner to produce a short film and post it on YouTube promoting their Looking Local service; what a great idea!

The 50 second piece focuses on the need to report a fly tipper and shows the range of ways people can contact the council. With a link from their home page, the video is just another way of telling people about their channels, using all sites and networks available, and in this case, for free.

Update: August 2nd-7th, 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Looking Local Newsdesk) — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 13:33:00 +0000

LOOKING LOCAL & BBC PROJECT CANVAS
Looking Local has a meeting confirmed with the BBC’s Project Canvas team early in September. Project Canvas is an initiative that sees 1) the BBC and other UK public-service broadcasters, 2) UK ISP's, BT and TalkTalk, and 3) UK broadcast transmission company, Arqiva, partnering in order to attempt to develop a common standard and interface for the delivery of online video and interactive services to broadband-connected Freeview and Freesat set-top boxes.

Project Canvas has been working across the industry to ensure the success of convergence particularly around the technical and operational standards. Looking Local responded to a consultation around market impact last year and is excited about the impetus it will have in the DiTV market. We are looking forward to meeting with them to ensure (y)our services meet the new standards and will be accessible on this new breed of set top boxes.

LOOKING LOCAL TO BE INVOLVED WITH FREEDOM TO ROAM
Looking Local is pleased to have accepted an invitation to be part of the 'Freedom to Roam' project funded by the Technology Strategy Board. Subject to final TSB approval, Looking Local will be exploring how best to extend the delivery of telecare and telehealth on mobile devices. More here soon. . .

OXFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL SIGNS UP TO LOOKING LOCAL
We are pleased to confirm that Oxfordshire County Council will soon be publishing their services via Looking Local on TV and mobile. Initial thoughts suggest that there will be a particular focus on adult social services on their site and we welcome them on board.

DUAL LANGUAGE SITES
Swansea is the latest of the Welsh sites to offer dual language services via DiTV and mobile, with their site now fully translated into Welsh. See here: http://lookinglocal.gov.uk/digitv/cds/abertawe/Netgem/screen?id=154671

Looking Local is able to offer multiple languages without technical issues for most European languages, there may be extra work required for languages using other fonts such as cyrllic etc.

HULL & EAST YORKSHIRE CREDIT UNION MARKETING
A new partner HEYCU has signed off on a range of marketing pieces this week; a new flyer, poster and leaflet to promote the new access channels which you can see here:
http://lookinglocal.gov.uk/wiki/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=16580615

Designed and printed at Kirklees, Looking Local worked as the intermediary ensuring that HEYCU’s needs were met. In particular the leaflet sees a number of HEYCU’s former leaflets and forms being combined to be clearer and easier for people to sign up. It saves HEYCU time and money in sending out a membership forms as it is now part of the information leaflet.

Update: July 24th-31st, 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Looking Local Newsdesk) — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 13:56:00 +0000

Integration with the DisabledGo Service
Initial technical development is underway by DisabledGo to provide access to their database of disabled friendly services in many areas across the UK via Looking Local. Giving DiTV and mobile access to their detailed guides on a range of different venues, will widen the reach of this valuable information and be an useful addition to our partners.

The aim is to provide key facts that will allow disabled visitors to decide whether a venue (e.g.: cinemas, hotels, restaurants, council offices, parks, tourist attractions etc.) is right for their needs and requirements. Users will be able to search for a location and venue (e.g. Restaurants in Canterbury) and then assess the disabled features of each individual venue.

Users might be looking for specific facilities like Braille signage or graded parking or just general disability awareness training amongst the staff. The disabled facility details will also be supplemented with other relevant information about the venue such as directions or opening times.

Social Networks Benefit Older People
A recent US study shows that having friends and a social network can improve the life chances and happiness of older people. www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-10775086

‘Having a good network of friends and neighbours boosts survival chances by 50%. . . Losing this social support, they say, cuts survival odds far more than being obese or not exercising.

‘Many people in later life struggle to maintain social networks due to mobility difficulties, access to transport or following the death of a spouse. The isolation and loneliness many face can also lead to symptoms of depression, affecting one-in-four older people.’

The work Looking Local is currently doing to widen access to email, photo and calendar sharing for older people via TV as part of the T-Seniority and Assisted Living programmes is helping older people keep in touch with their families and friends as well as modern life. We hope that we will be able to address the issues raised in this recent research as well as provide a range of other relevant services.

Submission to the EU’s Ambient Assisted Living Programme
The piece above ties in nicely to the fact that Looking Local has been asked to revitalise a project consortium that was previously successful in bidding for funding for the provision of social network applications to older people via television. A recent call for projects from the EU’s Ambient Assisted Living programme has prompted the consortium to submit a new proposal, about which we are very hopeful.

The aim is to re-connect with a group of people who are often the most isolated and vulnerable in our communities using the one piece of technology in their home that they are comfortable with – the television. If agreed the work would include our first foray into a two-way live video conferencing system, which would then be able to be applied to other audiences for a range of other public sector services. Decisions on this new round of funding should be made later this summer.

Looking Local Technical Future Meeting
Our technical development team met this week not to discuss the many ongoing projects, but to take a view of how Looking Local might look in the longer term. With so many organisations now sharing the same technology alongside a wealth of national partners discussions centred around a future where the TV and mobile services are much more personalised to the viewer/user’s needs and areas of interest. This approach would be far more user-centric and allow people to access relevant services more quickly and would be particularly apposite for mobile phone use.

Update: July 26th-28th 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Looking Local Newsdesk) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:27:00 +0000

WALES LAUNCHES LOOKING LOCAL AWARENESS WEEK
The Welsh Assembly Government has just launched a pan Wales competition, only on Looking Local, to promote usage of and access to DiTV services as part of a Welsh Looking Local Awareness Week. On offer is the chance to win two tickets to the forthcoming Ryder Cup, this is a great idea and should drive usage dramatically. Looking Local is coming up with plans to help and support Awareness Weeks in other regions. More detail will be made available here on that soon. And more good news from Wales…

WALES ON DITV IN MEDIA SPOTLIGHT
Welsh partners and the Welsh Assembly Government have been getting great press coverage following releases from Cardiff, WAG and Caerphilly. BBC Online and ITV have carried stories about the pan Wales Looking Local service and the individual sites and what they offer. Cardiff’s press release included a great citizen quote to give it a realistic slant as well as commentary from elected members.
BBC Online piece can be found here: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-10762786

SMART PHONE SALES RISE
Looking Local’s emphasis on mobile phone development looks to be well placed as sales of Android Phones have soared according to a recent GfK Retail and Technology report: "Sales of Android-based phones more than quadrupled in the UK during the most-recent quarter.... Smartphones as a group accounted for exactly two-thirds of all contract sales in the second quarter of the year."
Full story from The Register here: www.theregister.co.uk/2010/07/27/uk_android_sales/
Looking Local is currently developing an improved mobile phone offering which we will launch in the autumn, find out more detail here in the coming weeks.

BEYOND 2010: SMART DELIVERY SEMINAR
Looking Local Operations Manager Guy Giles has confirmed he will be delivering a seminar at the Beyond 2010, alongside Digital Birmingham – a partner of Looking Local. The event will be held at the ICC on the 21st October (Looking Local seminar from 13h30-14h45). The event looks like is has some fantastic speakers and should be a good day. More event details here: http://www.beyond-2010.com/
See what other events we shall be at here: http://lookinglocal.gov.uk/site/bookdemo.html

HULL CITY COUNCIL LAUNCHES CHOICE BASED LETTINGS ‘LITE’
Alongside a number of housing partners who offer viewing and bidding via integrated choice based lettings schemes (for more see here: http://lookinglocal.gov.uk/site/case_studies/cbl.html) Hull’s Looking Local service now offers choice based lettings in a ‘CBL Lite’ way. Now Hull’s residents are able to view properties, but not yet bid on them, that will be the next step… See it here: http://www.lookinglocal.gov.uk/digitv/cds/hullcouncil/Netgem/screen.html?id=147651

LOOKING LOCAL & THE NETWORKED NATION MANIFESTO
In the recent Networked Nation manifesto (http://raceonline2012.org/), Digital Champion Martha Lane Fox highlighted the ten million adults in the UK who have never used the internet. Of this number four million are from the most disadvantaged backgrounds, 39% are over 65, 38% are unemployed and 19% are families with children. We believe that Looking Local is part of the answer in reaching these people, particularly as research shows that this figure increases significantly for tenants of social landlords, in some areas being up to 80%.

Looking Local has been successfully publishing public sector services and giving people access to everything from reading circles to jobs, 24-reporting, choice based lettings and a huge range of local information and services for over six years. Our usage, number of partners and business case (http://lookinglocal.gov.uk/site/businesscase/headlines.html) shows we are giving access to people across the digital divide; widening access, broadening choice.

Update: July 19th-23rd, 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Looking Local Newsdesk) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:34:00 +0000

LOOKING LOCAL BREAKS 120 PARTNER BARRIER
Looking Local broke the 120 partner figure this week – Hurrah!
New partners during 2010 have taken Looking Local to a new level and the increasing subscription shows that our service, solution, efficiencies and audience is right on the money for public sector organisations.

NEET PROJECT OUTLINES SOLUTION
A major milestone in our project to deliver a mobile solution focused on the NEET (Not in Education, Employment of Training) community was reached this week, following a successful workshop with all partners and most importantly the frontline staff (NEET Personal Advisors) up in Kirklees.

The proposed solution is driven by an ethos of encouraging engagement between NEETs and their Personal Advisors (PAs) and will use a range of social media tools; some elements will be bespoke but others will use off the shelf, well used technologies. The solution is yet to be confirmed but aspects may well include an SMS-driven CRM system, using existing social network tools such as Facebook to allow PAs to create their own client groups to more effectively communicate with the NEET community as well as the build of specific Smart Phone applications.
Background can be found here: www.lookinglocal.gov.uk/site/news/2010-05-19-neet.html
Keep an eye here for developments

LOCAL DIRECTGOV
Looking Local Operations Managers Guy Giles was invited this week to take part in a workshop about the future of Local DirectGov. At the London event Guy contributed to the debate as to how to take their service forward in this new age of austerity and how to make best use of digital media, syndication and different platforms. The debate continues…

LOOKING LOCAL DISCUSSES MOVING HEALTHCARE IN WALES ON TO NEW PLATFORMS
Our discussions this week with Informing Healthcare and NHS Wales were positive as all organisations are keen on making GP appointments and patient records digitally available across Wales. Looking Local already offers GP appointment and repeat prescriptions via its partnership with EMIS, but is keen to widen the access to all surgeries and systems to ensure access across the range of digital capabilities. Now that all of Wales are live on DiTV and mobile via Looking Local, we hope to work on a health and healthcare pilot in Wales to make this a reality.

HOUNSLOW HOMES LAUNCH EVENT
Hounslow Homes, a new partner of Looking Local, officially launched their site last Friday with a great event in west London. Hounslow Homes showed a TV version of their Looking Local service live on a large TV, as well as setting up a data projector to show the web view. A second plasma showed how people can access Looking Local with a Wii set up and delegates demo’d the service out on all media. To ensure the event well, they got a launch cake made with some freebies (fridge magnets, etc) giving access instructions, etc. Good luck with it all HH…

NEW SITES LIVE THIS WEEK …
Include Durham Housing Solutions, the Welsh version of the Ceredigion site and Norfolk County Council.
Great to have you all on board…