William Perrin TAL

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Talk About Local Empowering communities with
simple websites Hyperlocal websites and public
sector information PSI In Action Caledonian
Club 20 October 2009 William Perrin -
william_at_talkaboutlocal.org Talk About Local (West
Midlands) Ltd http//talkaboutlocal.org
William Perrin TAL
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www.kingscrossenvironment.com over 700
articles Four volunteer writers aged
40-65 Small number of authors Campaigns,
information, wildlife, events etc
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• 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

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www.digbeth.org Digbeth gritty industrial area of
South Bham Arts, events, positive
stories Digbeth is Good redefined image of
Digbeth on line Costs - 10/month Wordpress blog
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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
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www.harringayonline.com Nearly 2,000
members Green Lanes Chatty informal feel Wide
range of local issues 15 month
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www.sheffieldforum.co.uk discussion forum 3.7
million posts 85,000 registered users Population
Sheffield 450,000
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www.parwich.org Four or more writers Village life
popn. 400 400 views a day 10 per
month Wordpress.com site
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• 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

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http//Kingtonblackboard.org UK online centre
Marches Access Point Started August 2009 with
TAL Rural town life and news Wordpress site
http//kingtonblackboard.org
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http//W14london.ning.com Deprived area of West
London Started August 2009 with TAL and local
NDC Local discussion and information Over 100
members already Ning.com site cost zero
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Public Sector Information in action Street light
broken for 163 days From snagging to failure Can
performance data help hold to account?
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Took a lifetime to find relevant information on
web Street light repair Islington average 26.5
days Lever for getting things done Light gets
fixed due to this and other factors
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Superb local information service easy to use
and comprehensible Abstract information made
useful Endangered by post codes madness What does
Royal Mail spend 18 million pa on?
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Planning - to exercise democratic rights, need to
know Existence Document Meaning of
document Route for comment Deadlines Consultation
process Meeting timetable Results of meeting..
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WhitehallTownhallBlackhall
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New front end on over 300 public service
outlets National service layer beyond capability
of CLG Radical unified interface for hundreds of
often poor services Basic PSI critical
boundaries, post codes, maps, email addresses
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Excellent pooling of feeds But Council
Information retrieved often hard to understand
for machines and people eg officers powerpoint
and meeting minutes _at_countculture
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RSS and other feeds of local information Works
with local Lichfield blog Dont need to be a big
unitary to do this
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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
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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 them Buy pizza, beer
etc better investment than cost of one day's
consultant form an SI
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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_at_talkaboutlocal.org Talk About Local (West
Midlands) Ltd http//talkaboutlocal.org
William Perrin TAL