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.

Taking Positive Activities information further: Managing 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 our last post in the Sharing the Learning series, we explored key learning on how to gather positive activity information. As more information is collected, finding ways to manage it effectively become more pressing. In this post, we explore key steps to effective management of positive activity information…

Step 1: Standardise and aggregate data

The variable range and consistency of positive activity information held by local authorities has made it difficult for them to present good quality information on all positive activity ‘instances’. Most authorities have been able to produce leaflets and brochures in PDF and hard copy formats which provide relatively comprehensive information for ‘fixed’ time periods such as school holidays. However, it is a far greater challenge in relation to the population and maintenance of ‘live’ media channels such as ‘one stop shop’ branded youth offer websites.

The technical demands of such resources require a level of data consistency, which can be challenging, but which does fit with non statutory guidance highlighting the core elements of data required to ensure effective publication of high quality positive activity information.

Through the ISP, an aggregation platform has been mobilised to help collate and pool activity ‘instance’ data together. This phase of the project involved intensive work with local authorities and third sector providers and the use of a variety of approaches including data feeds, spreadsheets and direct input tools to ensure the collection of data from organisations at different stages of development.

The action of aggregating data with consistent standards has established the foundations for a new dialogue and set of trials underpinned by a shared confidence in the quality of the information being worked with.

What information to include?

• Name and description of the activity
• Where the activity is delivered
• The date, start and end time of the activity
• The provider and contact details
• Cost of the activity
• How to get to the activity
• The accessibility of the activity and venue for young people with disabilities

You can find out more about the data standards that the Plings platform uses on the technical documentation website.

Step 2: Enhance the data

Beyond the collection of positive activity information in its raw form the ISP has been keen to look at ways in which additional material can be added to these datasets, so that they become more descriptive and ready for communication. Increasingly, it has become apparent that the communications and marketing teams involved in promoting positive activities have an interest in, and increasingly prominent role to play, in improving the quality and form of the data.

Through its first year the ISP has been generating a series of tools and resources to help the pilot authorities:

• Tag — providing simple exercises and tools that enable people to quickly and easily tag activities with keywords and categories in a ‘fun’ way which will help people to find activities.
• Search — producing games and tools focused on optimizing the search terms that young people use when trying to locate information
• Describe — providing materials and guidance on the presentation of text with which to describe activities in generic and locally appropriate ways
• Illustrate — presenting graphics and pictures for people to use when promoting activities

These resources are increasingly being adopted to enhance the quality of the raw data being submitted, with the end result that the information will become more relevant and appealing to its target audience

Step 3: Use analysis to plan & commission

The Government has put in place arrangements to capture the impact of the statutory duties included in Section 507B and related policy initiatives. Local level data is currently being compiled through the TellUs survey 5. This data provides valuable information to help us understand young people’s opinions on matters affecting their participation in positive activities and will also help local authorities to meet the requirement to ascertain the views of young people.

In accordance with the Government’s new commitments to ensure the provision of positive activities on Friday and Saturday evenings there is growing pressure on local authorities to monitor this provision. Following a recent review by the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit it has now been agreed that data on local authorities ‘youth offer’ is to be collected in early 2010 6.

Through the ISP efforts have been made to synchronise the easy analysis and reporting of positive activity data with the data aggregation process which resulted in the production of the first dedicated positive activity information analytics tool. This tool provides the functionality to interrogate activity instances and to filter them by authority, ward, location, type of activity, provider, day and time, both retrospectively and in relation to upcoming activities.

Important as the activity data is, authorities’ analytical and reporting needs extend beyond the counting of activity instances in particular wards. It is vital that they are also able to present information accessibly as it relates to the channels of communication being used to promote activities and, critically, the engagement with those channels. A series of tools to assess people’s engagement with activity data have now been identified which will be mobilised through the next phase of the project so that each of the 20 pilot authorities will be able to seamlessly monitor and report on their published youth offer. Furthermore, this functionality will enable real time local analysis which can be used to inform a wider commissioning strategy for positive activities.

Share your learning

If you’ve been involved in managing 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.

Taking Positive Activities information further: Gathering Data

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.

Section 507B of the Education Act 1996 1 requires every unitary and county local authority in England to secure access for all young people aged 13-19 – and those with learning difficulties up to the age of 24 – to sufficient ‘positive leisure-time activities’. In order to support this access the duty also requires that local authorities publicise information on positive activities and facilities in their area and that the information offered should be comprehensive, accurate and accessible.

For this to happen, local authorities need to make sure they are collecting all the information needed. In this post, we explore key learning from the Information & Signposting Project on gathering positive activity information.

Step 1: Ensure a coordinated response

In many authorities the collection of positive activity information is dispersed across different departments with responsibilities for sport and leisure, libraries, youth services, extended schools and the anti social behaviour and youth crime agendas as well as those providing communications, marketing and IT support.

To avoid problems associated with duplication, lack of compatibility, departmental insularity and the exclusion of third sector providers it is critical that authorities adopt a coordinated approach towards the gathering of positive activity information as the foundation of an integrated communications strategy. Statutory guidance suggests that ‘local authorities consider bringing together, or creating effective information channels between designated officers from relevant departments to share information on provision and on other providers of positive activities’. It explicitly states that planning should not be undertaken in isolation by individual services.

The Information and Signposting Project has found clear advantages in the identification of a specified cross departmental role within local authorities, with responsibility for managing and publishing positive activities information held by the authority and other providers. In many cases the Family Information Service, which is responding to a similar duty under the terms of Section 12 of the Childcare Act 2006, will be best placed to adopt the role of data manager.

Step 2: Map the offer

Statutory guidance states that, as part of the positive activity provision planning process, local authorities need to undertake a detailed analysis of which facilities (places to go) and activities (things to do) are currently available and accessible to young people.

The ISP has found that most authorities have made efforts to map their positive activity provision and that many published hard copy directories of providers with some information about the services they offered shortly after the duty was established. In most authorities hundreds, if not thousands, of activity providers were identified, which has made it hard to resource a sustainable system of activity mapping.

There is also inconsistency across authorities both in terms of the number of activities mapped but also the interpretations being made of positive activities. Only some have chosen to include volunteering activity and very few have included private sector leisure provision such as cinemas, ice rinks, bowling alleys, sports centres and gyms as suggested in Government guidance.

It is critical that local authorities develop systems and processes that enable high quality information about positive activity provision to be maintained on an ongoing basis, whereby providers update information about their activities directly. This will enable the information gathering process to be established as the key to wider communication and commissioning strategies.

Step 3: Reach out

The guidance on the publication of positive activity information makes clear that the scope of what is included should stretch beyond local authorities’ own provision to embrace all relevant public, private and third sector activities and facilities and, potentially, activities based in other local authorities’ areas of jurisdiction.

Whilst there is no statutory requirement to inspect activities or facilities offered by independent providers 4, in accordance with good safeguarding practice, guidance does make clear that local authorities should not promote activities or facilities which they believe to be inappropriate or unsafe. Local authorities are also responsible for assuring the safety of their own activities and facilities and those commissioned from third parties.

Many local authorities are therefore understandably nervous about promoting activities they have not quality assured or which are not subject to their regulatory procedures. In the face of the resource implications associated with the safeguarding agenda and risk assessing and quality assuring third sector provision, the ISP has found that some authorities have chosen to exclude it from their information gathering. Equally, some third sector organisations are reluctant to share information that they believe will not be promoted or which they perceive to have commercial value or data protection issues attached to it.

To address these issues, through use of the Plings platform, a network model has been developed to enable clearer lines of accountability and wider engagement. This approach encourages activity providers to contribute their data via feeds and direct inputting tools irrespective of their relationship to the local authority, since they can identify the benefit of sharing it with their own networks regardless of the local authorities’ interests. Equally, it enables those authorities to have an awareness of provision from other sectors without being compelled to promote it prior to obtaining satisfactory assurances of the standard of provision.

Share your learning

If you’ve been involved in gathering 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.