Month: May 2008

Fair Play – a brief review of this partly online consultation for young people.

I’ve just played the online consultation game from the Department of Children and Families. You can find it here www.dcsf.gov.uk/playspace. Sorry to the folk at the department if I’ve slightly skewed the result. I ticked the over 13 button (which is true) as were the rest of my answers.

I expected to be very dismissive of the game but I was instead interested. It was an intelligent way to use a simple game to narrow down who was sharing their opinions. Allowing choices of things to go on the playground as a reward was a good idea (I immediately chose the treehouse, tunnel and den – why wouldn’t you!). The main problem with the game as a tool for consultation is I have no real incentive to work my way through to the the end. However it might work as a social object – to encourage a group of people to talk about what they want from play areas. It is also only one game – so inevitably won’t be well enough targeted for different age groups.

There is a separate online questionnaire, which I imagine is where the department is really expecting to get useful data. This, and all the other information could do with being more smoothly integrated. At the moment the game has it’s own set of pages, the rest simply appears on the web in a way which suits the department internal bureaucracy rather than the user. The game ought to have it’s own site with all the other information radiating out from that. It also would work best as w widget or some sort of onlne object which can be integrated into other people’s sites, myspace pages etc. Then the audience can distribute the consultation.

Summary:

  • A good stab
  • Not in the slightest web 2.0
  • Would have benefited from being executed with more conviction.

Coca-Cola replies to Simon …… social journalism in action?


Cola Life

Anyone who has read this post or this one will know about my friend Simon who is trying to persuade Coca-Cola to use it’s distribution system to help re-hydration tablets reach children in Africa. Poor sanitation causes diarrheoa, which causes dehydration, which kills children.

iPM on Radio 4 has picked up on the idea and with some of their rootling Simon now has had a response from Coca Cola:

This is just in…from Salvatore Gabola, Global Director
Stakeholder Relations at Coca-Cola. I’ll be taking him up on his offer
of a chat. We will get there a step at a time.“This is an extraordinarily interesting discussion. And it is one
which goes to the heart of the key question of how we can make better
use of the successes of business to serve the development needs of the
world in general and of Africa in particular…..


Salvatore has already been looking for ways to make distribution less damaging. To support Simon in his ongoing conversation the m ore of us who sign up to say we like this simple idea the better. Click here to join the facebook group. Think of it as a project in journalism for good and you playing your part in the 5w’s and an H.

Image from lecraic.

Youtube Insights – Analytics for Youtube

This isn’t new – but I’ve just become aware of Google Analytics thanks to this tweet.

Very useful tool for telling us the age/gender and location of the people who are watching our Youtube films. You can find it by clicking on My Account once you’re logged into Youtube and scrolling down until you see a link to Insight.

Surprisingly almost all Podnosh viewers on youtube are from the UK, which is good because the films are designed to encourage improvements in neighbourhoods in the UK.

What next? I couldn’t find more detailed geographic data – like city etc. Will google extend analytics with more info if you pay?

Simon Berry’s Coca-Cola idea makes it onto the BBC iPM blog – interview here.

Remember this post earlier this week encouraging you lot to join Simon Berry in his campaign to get Coca Cola to start using it’s distribution network to save lives by transporting re-hydration tablets to remote areas of Africa. One in Five children in Africa die before they are 5 because of diarrheoa.

Simon tweeted that the BBC is interested in his idea and this is what the iPM blog makes of what he is doing:

Simon Berry and others on the blog have been keen for iPM to to hear more about his big idea.
For more than ten years, Simon worked all over the world as part of the
British aid effort. He thinks there is a simple way to help the one in five children in Africa who die from simple causes – usually diarrhoea. And the answer is Coca-Cola.
Not the product – but its distribution network. We’ve asked Coca-Cola
to debate, but in the meantime Eddie has been speaking to Simon about
him and his idea.

Listen to Simon’s interview here.