What Works Is Better Than What Is New
by Dan Jellinek
The use of video content and interactive features to engage citizens, particularly young people, are increasing trends for council websites in the brave new world of ‘Web 2.0′.
Last month saw the launch of a project by North East Derbyshire council that unites these trends: ‘YOURspace’, an online magazine with interactive and video elements that encourages community groups to send in their own films.
The site (http://www.neddc-yourspace.org.uk ) is intended to be informal and approachable, to engage various local audiences but particularly younger people. Features include polls, tips on how to get involved with local democratic and community activity, and the ‘video vault’.
Elaine McGovern, E-information Officer at North East Derbyshire, tells E-Government Bulletin: “We were aware we were not attracting young people to the website, and wanted to reach out in a different way.” The council has contacted all parishes, local community and voluntary groups and schools to see if they have or would like to make any video content for the site, and also to have input into the site’s development.
“We have had discussions with quite a few community groups, and they feel they might have or be able to make content, there seems to be interest.” Some of the early video content has been filmed by the council itself. McGovern says, such as a clip on local democracy week and one on the council’s health referral scheme, a partnership with the local health service to encourage people at health risk into healthier lifestyles.
“The health referral film was planned before YOURspace but it is a really good way to distribute it, better than by DVD. We have also sourced some content externally, such as a film about Fairtrade, because we’re buying into the Fairtrade concept.”
The council’s leisure department is also working on some publicity videos for the site which will enable young people to view potential activities and vote on which ones they would like to see the council launch.
The interactive magazine was created with software from multimedia and webcasting specialists public-i, and McGovern says it was partly inspired by South Oxfordshire council’s online community video magazine ‘Outburst’ http://www.southoxon-outburst.co.uk/ .
Ironically this latter site seems to be dwindling through lack of activity, but McGovern is convinced that such features are where the future lies for council websites. “It is part of the future. You can make websites as interesting and transactional as you like, but some people need an extra hook, particularly young people.”
One key feature of YOURspace is the interactive online game ‘Myabodo’, a feature which is free for any council or organisation to link to or embed in their website. The game was commissioned for general use last year by Defra, to encourage young people to think about climate change. Players build and customise fun little cartoon houses an engaging way and observe the results this has on their environmental footprint.
Gez Smith, e-Democracy Consultant at Delib, the digital agency which created Myabodo for Defra, thinks North East Derybshire’s project is “a great idea, and councils should always be looking for ways to blend more seamlessly with what people are used to on the wider internet. Councils could certainly be doing more of this online, and it would be pretty straightforward to replicate the YOURspace site with the free platforms that are out there at the moment like Wordpress and YouTube.”
Smith says councils tend to lag behind other organisations in terms of web innovation, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. “In a way, innovation isn’t something to be proud of any more in this area, the knowledge of what works online is already out there. Councils need to work harder to make sure they’re copying what works, and not re-inventing wheels that other people found to be broken a long time ago.
“People should lose the focus on innovation and doing what is new, and focus on whether it works or not. A lot of innovation in e-democracy over the last five years just hasn’t worked, despite winning awards for ‘innovation’.”
