Winslade Exhibition Report - 22nd & 23rd September 2000

The neighourhood network exhibition on the Winslade Estate, New Cross, Lewisham attracted visitors from Lewisham and other Local Authorities, from Central Government bodies, from local voluntary organisations, and local residents, including children.

Held in the main community hall on the estate, the 18 meter by 10 meter space was fully occupied by an intranet made up of hardware and software provided by many different suppliers. This is perhaps the first truly networked exhibition, where all exhibitors formed an integral part of the network exhibited.

The opening times of the exhibition, Friday from 12 noon to 8pm and Saturday 10am to 4pm were planned to facilitate attendance for local people. Many of the 'official' visitors attended on Friday afternoon with local people coming in during the early evening. The Saturday session captured the interest of more residents, local children and young people.

The web pages created are now online at http://lewisham.overmet.net/

The layout in the hall was designed to offer opportunities for people to read a good deal of information and the five 'computer stations' with half screen enclosures to give more personal space for exploration of the system software. The elevated stage area was used by both the technical staff and printing out facilities. People who spent some time in the hall also used the top space to do more detailed work.

There were several adult visitors who spent considerable time on Friday and returned on Saturday bringing relatives and children, to both introduce them to the exhibition and continue work they had begun on Friday.

The Chair of the Tenants Association brought a steady stream of Committee Members and neighbours to the event, she was also invaluable in taking responsibility for many of the details, such as access for the exhibition team and making endless cups of tea. Proving that a local person on the ground is essential.

The technical staff were kept very busy with visitors, explaining and demonstrating to them the concept of Neighbourhood Intranets and the use of the DIY web page authoring tools and other online facilities. On Sunday they were particularly active moving around small groups and individual children giving intensive support.

On Friday, the Mayor of Lewisham and Donald Stavart, who is leading the Winslade project in the council, and other visitors from Local Authorities and Housing Associations began to explore the application of neighbourhood networks to their own situations. One person traveled from Scotland specifically to explore the potential for their housing stock.

We found that those responsible for new build and housing regeneration only began to grasp the opportunities when "walked through" the network structure, and it's finances, as a whole.

The network diagrams with approximate costs, and the immediately available use of a real network on which to experience the benefits of a neighbourhood intranet proved invaluable. Even so, we found that active guidance through to understanding the relationship of parts and the whole was needed. Otherwise visitors tended to see only individual computers with fixed cost permanent Internet access, which is a valuable benefit in its own right. However, without guidance, visitors tended to be unaware of the additional benefits afforded by the intranet services and available network technologies. Network cameras and Net Meeting video-phone, the shared web sites and the BIO remote sensing network device provided "local content" which greatly assisted in visitors appreciation of the potential of high speed local communications. The immediately available technical expertise in different areas allowed some to explore specific aspects of this whole in greater depth, lending credibility to the capabilities of the technologies.

On Saturday, a group of teenagers were engrossed up to the point where nearly missed their football match while two of the technical staff talked them through the software for web page building and web site management.

Around a dozen children built their own web pages using digital cameras to take pictures of themselves and friends with text covering information about who they were, their ages - or even claiming to be a BMX champion!

There were several delighted faces that lit up as they watched their work coming out of the printer. Small prizes of Cisco screwdriver kits were received with excitement and packs of information were distributed for them to take home to their parents.

The children were extremely well behaved, this was due to both their facinated interest and the intensive support and patience from the technical staff.

Many of the adult visitors commented on what a great idea the exhibition was and also what a difference a Community Intranet could make in encouraging communication and community spirit.

One the constant questions from the young visitors was 'Can we come back next week?'

The Neighbourhood Network exhibitited

SHARED SERVICES:

NEIGHBOURHOOD NETWORK COMPONENTS:

USERS IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD:

THE "VISIBLE DIFFERENCE" WEB SITE FOR LEWISHAM A client computer connect to the Internet providing guided tours of the "Visible Difference" web site for Lewisham.

SUPPORT PERSONEL:

Future Developments

Discussions with national and regional bodies has confirmed the potential benefits of closely linking neighbourhood networks to regeneration activities. In addition, the potential longevity of this "information infrastructure", and the high quality and low cost available by using neighbourhood networks for consultation and communications is of interest not only to social landlords, but also those involved in "e-democracy" initiatives, community safety and crime reduction, health, education and re-training issues.

The potential savings in building and services monitoring and management available through using networked systems is also attractive to landlords of dense housing, particularly Housing Associations in the UK. Networked instrumentation and monitoring also provides an objective indicator of "best value" in service provision, that can be made visible, in an appropriate format to appropriate audiences.

Additionally, all landlords recognise the need to maximise the occupancy of their properties by successfully competing for tenants. Low fixed cost permanent Internet access, with an appropriate level of intranet services, provides a competitive edge not only for social landlords but also for more up-market landlords.

The feeling of safety, in the home and in the neighbourhood, seems universally attractive, with the networks supporting this in a variety of ways, from the possibility of full-time medical monitoring in the home; the "virtual neighbourhood watch" using local network cameras; to "knowing the neighbours".

An important next step is for Overmet to clarify the benefits of neighbourhood networks for 100 housing professionals at the "Innovation in Housing - Using IT to Regenerate Communities" conference on the 22 November 2000 in Central London. There is a web page referring to it at: http://www.training.capitagroup.co.uk/cover.asp?eventcode=LH1463