Taking Positive Activities information further: Sharing information

This post is taken from the ‘Sharing the Learning Report‘ from year one of the Information and Signposting Project (ISP), which is available in full as a downloadable document.

In the last two ‘Sharing the Learning’ series posts we’ve explored key steps to effectively gathering and managing positive activity information. In this post we turn to look at sharing information and ways to get it to young people.

Step 1: Publish information

Although there is no prescription for how local authorities publicise information, the Government does hold a set of core expectations about what information should be provided and how it should be presented and maintained. Crucially, it is expected that the information be comprehensive, accurate and accessible.

In emphasising the need to involve young people in the production and design of this information provision, authorities are also encouraged to take into account the importance of creating media which young people perceive as attractive and engaging. This may include providing access to information from other sources than the local authority, such as other (commercial) websites, radio stations or simply through friends. Authorities are further encouraged to consider the benefits of using such channels to pursue with young people and external partners any innovative approaches to publicising activities and facilities; particularly where these are seen as being likely to attract the most marginalised young people.

In practice many authorities have tended towards representing their offer in whatever online spaces they can get easy access to, even if this is limited to the main local authority website or its sub directories. Some authorities have developed external partnership sites to present their main ‘youth offer’ but when the ISP commenced, none of the pilot authorities were actively promoting their information via independent third party channels. This is largely due to a lack of appropriate resources and an associated tendency to focus on in-house publication.

However, finding all the in-house information about positive activities from the full range of local authority service providers can be challenging. The widespread reliance on static directory listings means that information can rarely be searched in a dynamic way, despite this being the most effective way of sourcing information. Furthermore, this format also reduces its capacity for being re-presented in other media such as a social network site or text messaging service.

The ISP has worked with the pilot authorities to establish common data standards which have enabled the information to be brought together and presented in a single searchable website.

Step 2: Syndicate

With positive activity information held in a standard format it becomes possible to make it more accessible to young people via syndication. Through the Plings platform positive activity data gathered by the pilot local authorities can now be fed into a range of social media, which means that rather than young people having to look for information, they are more likely to come across it in the spaces where they already go.

Rather than simply expecting this information to start appearing in a variety of new spaces the ISP is now meeting, discussing and planning with the local authorities, taking account of internal risks, to help develop guidance and formulate the most appropriate local marketing strategies. Inevitably this involves aligning our activity with existing approaches and methods, facilitating the application of different tools in different contexts and then further refining approaches on the basis of feedback, research and analysis.

Step 3: Share data

Guidance makes it clear that involving young people in the production and design of the information provision will help identify appropriate content and ensure the relevance, appeal and accessibility of the information provided. However, in responding to these duties, much of the consultation conducted by local authorities with young people to date has focused on the presentation of information and the look and feel of branded youth offers. Less attention has been paid to the ways in which young people currently access information or the effectiveness of the channels of communication being used.

The involvement of young people has also tended to make use of traditional consultative techniques including youth councils, forums and committees rather than the role that new media can itself play in revealing young people’s information search preferences and wider views on service provision.

Through use of a broad range of research and consultation techniques including online surveys, activity diaries, activity search games, online feedback channels and user centred design workshops, the ISP has gathered critical learning around the search behaviours of young people. The key message is that trusted information needs to be presented in the spaces where young people will come across it rather than expecting them to come and find it.

So rather than simply dumping positive activity information in social networking sites, where the information may be swamped by the sheer volume of alternative content marketed by commercial campaigns, the ISP has worked to build attractive applications which allow young people to engage with and share information. This approach has the potential to become much more social, with young people suggesting places to go and things to do, inviting others to join them and highlighting their frustrations at periods of boredom.

The boredometer is a social networking application developed to relieve young people of their boredom by asking friends to suggest ways to fill up their time when they put out a ‘shout’ that they have nothing to do. It is currently available on the Bebo social network platform and will be available on Facebook in 2010.

Share your learning

If you’ve been involved in sharing positive activity information for the Information and Signposting Project, or for any other projects, what learning can you add? Post a short comment below to share your learning…

The content in this post is Crown Copyright, originally from document DCSF-01077-2009.