Voicebox bid feedback from CLG

In the spirit of the open way in which we developed the Voicebox bid for Digital Mentors, I wanted to share with you the feedback we’ve had from CLG. There’s a lot in here which is positive and also some lessons which we need to learn. Overall, it seems that the Media Trust’s bid met more of the criteria for what CLG were looking for from the Digital Mentors project, so it must have been a great bid. We’re really looking forward to finding out more about Media Trust’s plans.

Download the PDF of CLG’s feedback on the Voicebox bid.

As I’ve said before, even though we’re very disappointed with the outcome, the process of developing the bid has to go down as our most successful failure of the last year. Open collaboration has now become an approach we’re embedding within our organisational culture.

We’re currently looking at how we can encourage decision-makers to move towards more open policymaking and support practitioners to share ideas and good practice via a Digital Engagement blog. Please come and take part at www.digitalengagement.org. In the coming weeks and months, we aim to use the site to develop a bottom-up Digital Manifesto which can be used by partners and presented to government to inform policymakers. We’re in the very early stages of this, so please let us have your feedback about ideas for shaping the blog.

Thanks again for all your support for the Digital Mentors bid and I’m sorry we’ve not been successful.

Thankyou to all Voicebox contributors

I’m sorry to tell you that Voicebox was not successful in its bid to run the Digital Mentors initiative from CLG.  The call came in this afternoon, and to be honest, I’m still reeling from the disappointment.

The successful bidder was Media Trust, and so I’d like to congratulate their team who also worked really hard to develop the winning bid.

As you’ve read from the Voicebox blog so far, we’ve come such a long way since last autumn in terms of the understanding how an open and collaborative approach to developing bids can work, and so this wont be the last time we will use this approach to develop other opportunities that come our way!

A big ‘THANK YOU’ to all of you that contributed to the Voicebox blog. I’ve learned a great deal from you all and hopefully, some great contacts too.  I’m sure these links wont be lost!

In the meantime, I hope you will join with me in offering your support to Media Trust (and their partners) to ensure the Digital Mentors initiative help peoples in deprived communities in England develop skills in using social and community media.

Video update & 6 things I have learned

David Wilcox posted this video interview with me to his blog - and kindly let us know that we could reproduce it here:

Six things I’ve learnt through developing the voicebox bid using an open innovation approach:

1. Partnership is a much better way to do things

I’ve learnt lots of things I didn’t know before, and I know that this group of organisations and people will deliver a better project than we would do it on our own.

2. It takes loads of time to develop ideas in this kind of forum

Involving lots of people takes lots of time. We have spent so much time coordinating comments, responding to people, checking (and double checking) comments and updates on the blog. Including lots of people leads to a better bid, but it also takes lots of time. AND, we could have spent lots more time doing this and that time would have been well spent - if we had it.

3. Social media helped me to put aside prejudices and listen to all comments with an open mind and a receptiveness to learn

Big organisations, little organisations, individuals, and VIPs all have something worthwhile to add. It’s great to be surprised by really insightful comments from people (and organisations) I had never heard of last October. Brilliant. Everybody has made good contributions. Active listening is easier to do using social media.

4. It’s really hard to balance open debate and to provide structure for a constructive discussion

The best debate is both open and led. I’m very experienced at chairing meetings, and always try to balance an open debate whilst guiding discussion to the purpose of the meeting, within a set timeframe. Wow, this is so hard on a blog. I just didn’t have the time to do this properly, even with the great effort and time put in by Anne and Ben too, we really found this hard. We wanted the discussion to be really open and free forming in the beginning and then tried to focus debate and ideas as time went on. We have definitely learnt lots and will do it better next time (if only a little bit).

5. Not everyone likes using social media to develop bids

Some people love this medium, some don’t. Some people find it hard to keep up as it takes time, and it takes a new kind of habit, fitting it into your day, grabbing ten minutes. I really like the cross over between twitter and the blogs, feeding interest. We may have lost people who don’t use blogs, but we did use a mix of media too - we used email to keep up with everyone too. And the phone! And had face to face meetings.

6. The journey’s been fun but arriving will be better

In our bid we did our best to explain this journey to our friends at the Department of Communities and Local Government. The delivery of the digital mentor programme (by voicebox) will be better than it would have been if done in a different way because we (the partners) have been on this journey together.  It is the collective wisdom of such a diverse and experienced group of people.  We have used the digital media to develop a bid about supporting people in deprived communities to use digital media. I’m sure the fun’s only just started.

Anne and Ben did most of the work at UK online centres end, so they may also comment here too!

Expression of Interest submitted!

Our Expression of Interest in the digital mentors tender was submitted yesterday. This document will be used by CLG to determine whether our bid should progress to the next stage of the process. We are very confident that ours is a strong pitch, and in the spirit of openness and collaboration, we have republished it below.

Please note that we need help in forming the programme at the heart of this bid. Please get in touch with us through our contribute form to let us know who you are and how you would like to help!

Please outline briefly your past experience relevant to this project and what you see as the main issues involved:

This EOI is from a partnership called Voicebox. The bid is being developed using an open innovation approach via our blog at www.voice-box.org.uk. As the lead, coordinating organisation this EOI focuses on the strengths and experience of UK online centres with whom CLG will contract if our partnership wins the tender.

The UK online centres division of Ufi has played a leading role in digital inclusion policy, strategy and delivery since 2003, when the management of the UK online centres passed from Government Offices to Ufi. Both the central team and the network are committed to exploiting digital technologies to help improve individual lives, strengthen communities and achieve greater social inclusion.

UK online centres are strategically located across the most deprived wards and seven in ten centre users are affected by at least one indicator of social exclusion.

Our grant funding to centres over the last two years has focused on supporting centres to deliver a ‘user journey’ for their customer base; this totals around £4m in grants per year. The journey starts with community outreach to engage socially and digitally excluded individuals, supports them to develop digital literacy skills, and encourages them to progress to education and employment. Member UK online centres are expert in developing personalised, informal approaches to support the needs of individuals and communities through digital technology. The network engages around 3 million people each year in using digital technology.

We have extensive experience of managing large scale projects on behalf of government. As well as distributing grants to UK online centres, we have led a number of major projects, notably:

• Social impact demonstrators (2007-08): The Social impact demonstrator projects were announced in the 2006 Social Exclusion Action Plan, funded by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills and led by the UK online centres team at Ufi. Grants totalling £2m (over two years) were awarded to UK online centre-led projects working in partnership with other community organisations to reach socially disadvantaged people and engage them in ICT activities. The projects were designed to explore the impact of becoming competent in using ICT on personal and social confidence and social exclusion. They sought to establish models of best practice for finding, motivating and supporting the progression of some of the hardest to reach groups in society. The Social impact demonstrator project engaged a total of 12,000 people in technology, most of whom were socially excluded and 40% of whom progressed in terms of training, employment or advice and guidance. We supported demonstrators to share good practice between them. We led in-depth research into what worked in social impact through the use of technology and digital media, and commissioned Ipsos MORI to carry out an £100k evaluation work package. We also led a comprehensive stakeholder PR campaign to ensure the value of the programme was disseminated and understood.
• The design, testing and rollout of the Department for Children, School and Families (DCSF)’s myguide service: www.myguide.gov.uk, a multi-million pound project delivered between April 2004 and March 2008. UK online centres worked in partnership to shape the development of the myguide service, from concept to full rollout. myguide supports hard to reach individuals who were previously excluded from the internet, whether as a result of age, disability, culture, attitude or lack of knowledge and education. Rolled out nationally in October 2007, the myguide website offers a free, easy-to-use email service, web search device and learning environment from a simple website. More than 120,000 people have registered to use myguide as their gateway to the internet, with around 500 new users now signing up every day. We managed longitudinal research and user surveys to guide the development of the project. We led the pilot delivery of myguide through community centres both in the UK online centre network and operated by partners.
• Transformational Government for the Citizen (2006). This project demonstrated the capacity of centres to engage socially and digitally excluded people in using online government services and highlighted the crucial role of the centres as trusted intermediaries. Over a period of six months, 33 UK online centres supported around 25 online services in partnership with six different government departments and four Local Authorities. The project was a finalist in the 2007 eGovernment National Awards, the 2007 e-Wellbeing Awards and the 2007 EU e-Government awards.

The UK online centres team places a strong emphasis on robust project management and adopts Prince 2 methodology for all projects and activities within its programme.

In addition, UK online centres has developed an excellent reputation for its work on research and campaigning. Work in this area includes its annual National Digital Inclusion Conference, consumer campaigns such as Get online day, which in 2007 attracted 10,000 visitors to UK online centres, and significant partnerships with Microsoft, Ofcom and NHS Choices to promote digital inclusion. The team has also published widely acclaimed research into digital inclusion.

We have extensive networks within the third, private and public sectors and in addition to the major projects above, we undertake a huge amount of partnership activity. In 2007-08, these included:

• Working with the Media Trust to deliver events promoting volunteering as part of their ‘In our hands’ skills campaign in October 2007
• Working with Digital Unite to support Silver Surfer’s Day in May 2008 and to explore how Digital Unite tutors and UK online centres can work in partnership
• A digital television project with Kickstart TV in the East Midlands and West Midlands
• A partnership with BT to develop a web tool enabling people to establish the levels of digital exclusion within a particular parliamentary constituency
• Supporting Timebank to deliver a volunteering project, DigitAll, in the North-West, pairing young volunteers with older learners
• Developing a project with Virgin Media and the e-Learning Foundation to support low-income families to use the internet
• Developing a community programme in East London with Citizens Online
• Working in partnership with a number of European organisations to develop ‘Telecentre-Europe’, a network for community based digital inclusion practitioners.

We are bidding for Digital Mentors as the lead partner within the ‘Voicebox’ partnership (www.voice-box.org.uk). We feel strongly that success will need to involve open collaboration, with engagement by a range of contributors. Voicebox allows for both individuals and small organisations with expertise and experience in social and community media to help shape the bid. Their contribution will sit alongside larger organisations that will support the demonstrators and bring their own expertise in shaping the programme. Knowledge by all partners in the consortium will be shared openly with overall strong leadership from UK online centres as a credible lead for this initiative.

All the partnership members share a vision that Digital Mentors offers an exciting opportunity to give a voice to socially excluded people by empowering them to become creators of digital and media content, not merely passive recipients.

We are confident that the skills and experience of both UK online centres and the consortium offer both breadth and depth, bringing together experts in community and social media with a range of community networks who have access to both equipment and highly skilled community development workers. This offers a chance to take digital inclusion practice into a new realm and for the UK to become an international pioneer in using community and social media to tackle social exclusion and empower communities.

The main issue involved with running the Digital Mentor programme will be ensuring that as much of the good practice already happening is captured and learnt from. Voicebox is very much owned by a wide and diverse partnership with varied and useful skills and experience. We have already demonstrated that we can engage relevant organisations and can organise a partnership in an open and transparent way.

Please outline your appropriate capability to undertake this project:

UK online centres has adopted an open innovation approach to developing the consortium, and we will lead the consortium to deliver this bid. We have developed a framework in which smaller organisations and freelancers who are expert in the field of community and social media will have the opportunity to share skills and ideas, both on an informal basis and through paid-for advisory roles. This will complement the breadth of digital inclusion delivery offered by UK online centres.

A range of organisations with expertise in a variety of disciplines, target groups and community/social media have contributed, and will continue to contribute to the development of the Digital Mentors project including:

• AbilityNet, whose special expertise is ensuring that whatever your age, health condition, disability or situation you find exactly the right way to adapt or adjust your ICT to make it easier to use
• Age Concern, whose mission is to promote the well-being of all older people and to help make later life a fulfilling and enjoyable experience.
• Barnsley Council, which takes a leading role in delivering digital inclusion initiatives and aims to pioneer relevant public services based on citizen feedback.
• BCS (British Computer Society) - whose contribution could include the provision of a qualification for champions or mentors, the option of a certificate of participation for those people who have benefited from the project and a route to progression or qualification where there is a desire by participating people to formalise their skills.
• Cambridge Housing Society – whose approach to supporting residents in the use and development of ICT for their benefit will be of great interest to this project.
• CDI (Committee to Democratise Information Technology), which is an NGO promoting citizenship, literacy, ecology, health, human rights and non-violence, through information technology and educational and vocational training programs.
• Citizens Online, which has experience in research and mapping (for among others, IDeA, BT and Becta) as well as delivering projects that address the issues of universal internet access and promoting digital inclusion.
• Citizenship Foundation, which has extensive experience of supporting volunteering for effective change, both through national programmes such as Giving Nation (which encourages young people to give, volunteer and campaign for causes that matter to them) and their professional volunteering programmes.
• Community Media Association, which is committed to promoting access to the media for people and communities. It aims to enable people to establish and develop community based communications media for empowerment, cultural expression, information and entertainment.
• CSV Media, which has experience in delivering a range of information materials in multiple platforms to a range of audiences.  Through its partnership with BBC English regions, CSV has access to radio, online, TV and big screens to showcase user-generated content.
• Davepress, run by Dave Briggs, who has an impressive range of contacts in the fields of social and digital media and has been invaluable within the partnership through the development of the www.digitalmentor.org and www.voice-box.org.uk sites.
• Digital Outreach, which is working as part of the digital switchover team delivering a comprehensive and well trained voluntary sector network in the Borders region.
• Digital Services Community Interest Group bring high quality digital services to remote areas of Cornwall.
• Digital Unite, which specialises in delivering digital literacy –skills, voices, empowerment - to older people.
• E-mpirical Ltd, whose experience includes using remote support technologies to provide supported learning to hard to reach learners who may not want to go into a centre to learn.
• Folly Consulting, whose interest areas are 1) the role of cultural engagement, participatory community development and empowerment through creative expression, and 2) making available tangible access to knowledge and resources through open source, open networks and distributed systems.
• Funding Matters, which has unparalleled knowledge and experience of the funding sector and can identify important additional funding opportunities to supplement this project.
• Harringay Online, an ultra-local community website for the residents of Harringay which embraces social media and multiple digital media to communicate across its community
• horsesmouth, whose popular online mentoring site supports safe, informal one to one mentoring and encourages people to publish and share their inspirational stories for the community.
• Leonard Cheshire Disability, which provides innovative services that give disabled people the opportunity to live life their way.
• Media Trust, which has extensive experience in delivering training seminars and courses in diverse media and communications subjects.  They also plan and manage large scale national campaigns, produce film and video for Government, charities and voluntary organisations, give charities access to thousands of journalists via their Community Newswire partnership with the Press Association, broadcast the digital TV channel and online platform Community Channel, provide hundreds charities support from a range of media and communications professionals.
• Mentorwell, whose skills include advising clients on the legal and safety risks of the use of online media.
• North Lincolnshire Digital Inclusion Unit, whose experience includes e-mentoring for young people in, and about to leave, care; eClinics - virtual therapy solution for people with clinical depression (mentioned in the DI Action Plan); various other e-participation initiatives such as e-petitions, and blogging.
• The Novas Scarman Group, which is an IPS with charitable aims formed from the merger in Jan 2008 of Novas Ouvertures  - a housing association with managed hostels and supporting people contract work – and the Scarman Trust – a community development charity. It is from the latter that the background in community development, community learning and digital inclusion comes.
• On Road Media, an award winning social enterprise set up in 2005 to train people from marginalised communities - those who are not represented in mainstream media - in citizen journalism and social media. They train people to produce powerful podcasts and video blogs and to set up their own social networks to connect, share information and contribute to wider public debates. This summer Gordon Brown presented On Road Media with the Catalyst Communities award for www.savvychavvy.com (‘chavvy’ is the Romany word for child), a social network for young Gypsies and Travellers in the UK.
• Opportunity Links, which provides solutions for delivering information to families, young people and older people - locally, regionally and nationally.
• Royal National Institute of Blind people (RNIB), which can champion accesibility issues for people with severe sight loss and blindness, and which already offers a range of digitally inclusive services for the people they serve including training and support, access to accesible equipment and a national radio station.
• Ruralnet UK, whose expertise includes supporting organisations and networks to find new and effective ways to help rural communities improve and strengthen their local economies. They work through promoting and enabling collaboration, research, consultancy and knowledge and information transfer, and have significant technology expertise in new media.
• Skirrid Consulting, a firm interested in supporting people through technical challenges online.
• Sunderland City Council, who as winner of the Digital Challenge displays a range of experience using digital technologies, as well as running a city-wide e-champions programme.
• TPAS, which provides independent support, information and advice to both landlords and tenants in the development of resident empowerment in the housing service
• UK online centres, which provide millions of people with access to computers and the internet, plus help and advice in using them.
• A View to a Skill, a learning centre which specialises in delivering first steps computer ICT training in the home.
• We Share Stuff, which offers experience in community media, broadcasting, web design, online learning, adult education and IAG.

Given that the budget reflects the fact that this is a demonstrator project, not all the organisations listed will have funded strategic roles - nor do all of them wish to take on these roles. Some will wish to be considered for local demonstrator projects, while others wish to contribute ideas. To provide clarity and structure, organisations will be selected to lead on the seven work packages identified below. The work package leads will be appointed for their expertise and partnerships in their appointed area and will need to commit to working in an open and collaborative way. UK online centres, as the consortium lead, will take on the project management role.

The bid will be developed further in consultation with the organisations and individuals listed above, and others which present themselves over the bid development period. We believe this approach will allow for robust decision-making whilst also allowing ideas and innovation to be shared and developed.

Clear roles will be established during the bid development.  Demonstrator projects will be decided during the first two months of the programme and will be an open process involving partners in Voicebox and others interested in delivering digital mentor projects. This will be informed by the mapping and gapping research and analysis.

We intend to continue with an open innovation approach through www.voice-box.org.uk as we develop our bid further.

Through a collaborative website (www.digitalmentor.org) we have consulted on the work packages which need to be co-ordinated in order to deliver a successful demonstrator project. These work packages are:

1. Project Management - the overall leadership, coordination and management of the project.
2. Research and mapping – including the identification of Digital Mentor organisations and people.
3. Digital Mentor demonstrators – this will follow the research and mapping work package to identify the needs and the range of demonstrators to be supported and coordinated.  The demonstrators will come from a range of different organisations and will test a variety of approaches. This work package will be project managed by a single organisation within the consortium to ensure clear roles and responsibilities for delivery are agreed.
4. Training and development of the community based digital mentors – both face-to-face and online including toolkits and aggregating currently existing content.
5. Advisory support - this will involve strategic advice and project support from a range of experts across a wide spectrum of social and digital media (e.gg community media).
6. External communications and dissemination – which may be through existing online technologies, conferences, partner media campaigns and events.
7. Sustainability Planning - sustainability and testing for rolling demonstrators out nationwide will be built in from day one.

Underpinning the work packages will be careful and efficient project management using the expertise of UK online centres. We will ensure that project management processes are followed throughout each of the work packages to ensure that all milestones are met, in line with the project plan.

Because the resources gathered and developed through this project will be open to all, the issues relating to staff turnover will be managed.  Similarly, the management of the project itself will use Prince 2 principles, thereby ensuring that new staff involved with the project will be able to get up to speed quickly and efficiently.  UK online centres have project management staff who can cover for illness or turnover if that ever becomes an issue.

Please outline the kind of approach you would take to this study:

At the very centre of the project are the individuals and communities who do not currently have a voice.  These will be supported by a discrete number of ‘digital mentor demonstrators’ which will encompass a range of target groups, geographies, technologies and methods of engagement.

The role of the partners which directly support the demonstrator projects will be to define the right models and frameworks that test variables such as: the use of different kinds of mentors; the use of different media or multiple media; rural and urban solutions; and use of different trusted intermediaries.  The final programme will also innovate through the creation of a ‘network of networks’ aggregating good practice and support, as well as a sophisticated wrap of support services.  These will all be available to the whole community so that even from the start of the demonstrator projects mainstreaming can be achieved.

The demonstrators will be chosen following a ‘research and mapping’ phase.  Demonstrators will be chosen around June 2009 to reflect the needs identified in the research (i.e. the approach the demonstrators can take, and where different solutions are needed for different types of communities, including rural communities).  Innovation will be highlighted and supported where existing practice is not in place.  The selection of the demonstrators will be done in an inclusive, open and transparent way.  All data collected will be published in the public domain so that the sector can share it.

The focus of the funding will be on the demonstrators.  Each demonstrator project will have within it one or more digital mentors (i.e. the people on the ground working with the ‘voiceless’).  Some will be technophiles, some will be passionate community champions eager and active to inspire others.  They will be supported by a network of organisations and individuals that will come together to share their experiences and advice.  This support network will be a mix of small, local and targeted entities (individuals, small enterprises and larger organisations) and their support will be both online and offline.

The project will be carefully managed by UK online centres to ensure budgetary control and the achievement of agreed outcomes.

The project will be delivered in the following key phases:

1. Mapping and research of existing projects, best practice, and support resources
2. Identification of ‘demonstrator projects’ - including innovative ideas AND building on what’s happening now
3. Commissioning and managing ‘demonstrator projects’ delivery
4. Sustainability planning - (built in from the beginning)

The principles we will adopt in delivering this project include:

LEADERSHIP

UK online centres offers the necessary leadership required to deliver this multifaceted activity. Strong leadership and focused project management will be our foundation.

COLLABORATION

We will continue to encourage contribution from the widest possible community. Only through collaborating with the current community of practice will we develop the best demonstrators, the best criteria on which to select them, a firm understanding of good practice and a network of support building on current activity.

ADDED VALUE

We intend to bring added value through additional sources of funding and support.  For example, there is an opportunity to use up to £500k to develop myguide products and services that support digital mentoring and we are investigating the most appropriate way to take advantage of this opportunity.  Other examples of leveraging capacity to deliver include:

• The Community Media Association has a network of 600 members and we are looking at ways in which this network can broadcast the value of being a digital mentor or receiving digital mentoring.
• The Media Trust runs a professional volunteering service called Media Matching which would benefit from an investment so that the service could increase and support volunteer mentors throughout England.
• Citizens Online are leading a bid for the Empowerment fund which would be well placed to link up with the Digital mentors programme.
• UK online centres’ network of 6000 centres around England can be leveraged to reach socially and digitally excluded people who can benefit from digital mentoring.

We will bring substantial in-kind resources in staff time and ensure that we build on key initiatives that can bring a multiplier effect to the work of the demonstrators themselves. All partners will provide in-kind resources where they can.

Sponsorship will be sought to supplement the programme monies available.

SUSTAINABILITY

Already the bid process has brought together grass-roots, middle layer and national organisations together who don’t often find the time to develop joint working and partnerships. We intend to capitalise on this. We are discussing the establishment a ‘network of networks’ or a national strategic alliance of relevant partners, which would have greater collective strength to lobby for and seek out future funding opportunities, as well as make the links between existing provision. We will look to foster networks and links with other initiatives so that sustainability is built-in from the outset. The programme will be developed in such a way that it is clear to measure success and to roll-out nationwide if successful and funding is available following the next Comprehensive Spending Review period.

Major digital inclusion programmes to date have generally focused on computers and the internet, and on training individuals to be active participants in an increasingly online world. Digital mentors will be the first major programme to support ‘voiceless’ individuals and communities to be creators of content using the technology which suits them. It is this innovation, and its potential to make digital inclusion strategy and delivery more empowering, accessible and creative for millions of socially excluded individuals and communities, which has captured the imagination of so many policymakers and practitioners working in this space. Add to this the potential for new partnerships between hitherto distinctive communities of digital inclusion experts, community development experts and social media leaders - witnessed already on the digitalmentor.org website - and you have the ingredients for a pioneering programme which can achieve a significantly greater social impact for both individuals and communities.

Please list any previous projects carried out for the Department:

As outlined in the first section, UK online centres has extensive experience of delivering projects for Government Departments. While its core contracts are with the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills and the Department for Children, Schools and Families, UK online centres have recently seconded policy and communications staff to support the development of the Digital Inclusion Action Plan. It has also worked in an informal advisory role with the Digital Inclusion Team within the City of London, and has close links with DC10+, the co-partner in the 2008 and 2009 National Digital Inclusion Conferences.

Other consortium partners’ experience in delivering projects for CLG includes:

Citizens Online: Profiling work focused on digital inclusion of ex-offenders and NEETS; Digital Challenge- judging and membership of board; Inclusion through Innovation- editorial support of document writing.