Author: b5044281

Our initial goals were to rebuild bridges between people in Walker and encouraging pro-community organisations to cooperate, by promoting activities and opportunities, increasing people’s awareness of what is being offered for them and encouraging businesses present in Walker to social reinvestment. We were to achieve this by creating a set of tools, both digital and non-digital, for the community to encourage volunteering and entrepreneurship and to share ideas and communicate

These goals received positive feedback at interviews of relevant parties and as such remain largely similar. However, encouraging businesses to reinvest in their communities is a side-track, although this may be a way in which the website can be partially funded. Similarly, it would be doing too much too soon to work on both digital and non-digital, as this can provide the greatest immediate benefit. We have decided that a greater emphasis on encouraging people to volunteer is also important, and as such this has taken on a greater focus. As such, our update project goals are:

• Promote activities and opportunities for residents
• Encourage pro-community organisations to cooperate with each other
• Encourage local people to become more involved in volunteering with their local community groups

To ensure that we were on the right track with our ideas, we research three relevant projects that were related to some or all of our project goals.

Example 1: PeopleCan

• An initiative in Bradford ran by the council that has the aim of encouraging community action and volunteering.
• Provides links to apply for volunteering
• It uses Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus and YouTube to widen its scope
• There is a volunteers’ section which includes a recruitment notice and advertising posters and videos
  • There are volunteering ‘awards’ available to the best performers / contributors
  • Advantages to CVs are mentioned as a benefit
• ‘Community Action’ page aimed at prompting cooperating between communities and local government to deliver community projects, eg litter clears
• Ongoing events are posted, and there is an option for people to suggest events

Example 2: Voluntary Norfolk

• A group based in Norfolk that is creating a volunteering network across the county
• Aims are to:
  • Encourage social inclusion by the engagement of local people in the community regeneration and development
  • Promote, support and develop volunteering and the work of voluntary organisation and groups
  • Enable people to contribute their time, skills and talents for community’s benefit
• Offer training to help people into work and improve volunteering skills

Example 3: Erewash Partnership

I interviewed Ian Viles, the chief executive. This organisation is based in Derbyshire and aimed at delivering economic development projects and support for potential and existing businesses, and helping local people to access training

1. If we were to build a community website targeted towards the Erewash borough what requirements would you include?

We currently have a website tailored to business participation & 2 town centre listings… A website aimed at including the community would have to be less technical. A list of business partners & event listings for the borough would be key. A good starting point for us would maybe be to build from our current Ilkeston & Long Eaton town centre websites.

2. Out of the following features (map, event calendar, help into volunteering access, community noticeboard) would you consider the most important in a community website?

The map and event calendar… because our aim of community enterprise means we encourage the use and betterment of local business & a map would easily lay out where to find them. The calendar… would help promote our & other events in the borough aimed at attracting visitors & therefore business.

3. In… Walker particularly, it may prove difficult to encourage the community to actually use the website. Have you any suggestions as to what may prompt their participation?

Keep the website easy to navigate… If users can access what they want by an easy route that isn’t too confusing / time consuming… Make it an enjoyable experience as much as a technical website.

This suggests that we are on the right track. Many of our suggested options are functions are suggested or used in the above examples. It is clear an event calendar is a popular function, evidenced by both PeopleCan using it and Erewash Partnership suggesting it. Voluntary Norfolk in particular provides lots of ideas on how to engage with and encourage new potential volunteers. CV support is evidently a worthwhile option.

In terms of next steps to take the project forwards, the next immediate step would be to take it back to the community groups of Walker. As the proposal suggests the website should be self-reliant, it depends heavily on their input, which has already been positive. Something akin to a partnership of willing Walker community groups, who can then streamline ideas into a functional mock-up of the scheme. This would allow them to collectively apply for grant funding, increasing the chances of funding being approved.

Based off user test feedback, a ‘What’s New’ section would also be desirable to allow users to identify changes – such as new events, for example. Whilst not the main target audience, there is a wish to include features incentivising children to use the site. Businesses could be encouraged to advertise their activities and job training opportunities too. Comments on the noticeboard should be approved before being posted online as a safeguard against abuse of this feature.

Long-term, if we were to pursue this idea we would include a feedback system to encourage constructive criticism – both positive and negative – on events, which would allow the event creators to make changes going forwards. This can only be a positive as it allows community groups to improve what events, services and classes they offer and to make it more tailored around the needs of the community. If their offerings are more attractive, it will potentially attract more use and traffic, both to these and the website itself. A more efficient use of funding towards these services means that there is more available to improve elsewhere. Additionally, if they can be shown to be working this will potentially help towards further future funding.

Expanding on the volunteering scheme as the website becomes more well-known and established is also important as a method of encouraging further volunteering. A method of doing this would be to improve rewards as increased site usage and funding allows, possibly to include incentives such as shopping vouchers or vouchers towards education classes. Giving people a route into work at the end of volunteering would be a major advancement in improving the lives of people in Walker. Self-help is a key aspect of what our interviewees suggested would be successful motivation tool.

Branching out into a newsletter would allow for those without access to the internet – around 40% – to see information on the community groups, events and volunteering information organised into one place. It wouldn’t be as comprehensive as the website, but would remove the major problem of lack of total coverage from the website solution concept.