New Media Awards 2007 Atos Origin

2006 Winners

The winners for the New Media Awards 2006 were:


Accessibility

Winner: Commission for Social Care Inspection
http://www.csci.org.uk
The Commission for Social Care Inspection inspects and reports on care services and councils to improve social care and cut out bad practice. CSCI provides information for those who need care, such as the disabled and elderly, and for carers themselves. The web site answers questions about finding a social care provider, provides examples of good and bad care, acts as an outlet for complaint against poor-quality social care providers, provides free access to inspection reports and makes available an extensive database of carers. CSCI effectively designed the site considering its audience’s special needs and the vulnerable position many have found themselves in. The site also offers great usability through its use of audio, easy to read pages, illustrations and clear instructions for use in six different languages.


Advocacy

Winner: Pledgebank
http://www.pledgebank.com
Whether it is pledging to form a human chain around the Westminster no protest zone, donating money to charities or running through the fountains at Piccadilly Gardens, MySociety’s Pledgebank encourages people to come together to better their communities, inspire others or just have fun. This site harnesses collective action and raises awareness of important issues by allowing users to publicise personal pledges and advertise others to join. It is a free, simple service and charitable organization that connects people who want to make a difference. By acting as a catalyst for social good, Pledgebank exemplifies the positive force of the internet. It gets people to pledge, "If you do something good for the world, I will, too."


Contribution to Civic Society

Winner: mySociety: Write To Them
http://www.writetothem.com
MySociety: Write to Them is a wonderful example of a service which the government could provide. The site helps UK Citizens locate and contact their Councillors, MP, MEP, MSP or Welsh and London Assembly Member for free. More than 40,000 Write to Them messages reached politicians last year, alone. In addition users can join e-mail groups through which they can gain more personal interaction with their local politicians. Write to Them is a superb conduit for democracy and the exchange of ideas for the 21st century’s technological world. It is a simple, efficient and effective way to have local concerns heard by the politicians in power.

Highly Commended: Patient Opinion
http://www.patientopinion.org.uk


Education

Winner: Sonic Postcards
http://www.sonicpostcards.org
Sonic Postcards blends beautiful online imagery with real world elements to create a whimsical journey through the sounds and images of everyday life across the UK. A schools programme aimed at children ages nine through 14, inspires them to gather sonic soundbites from their local environments and exchange them, via the internet, with children in other schools. The hands- on programme has children embarking on fieldtrips to record the sounds, learning to use audio editing software back in the classroom, then combining the sounds with pictures and video to create the sonic postcard package and uploading it onto the internet. By navigating through an online map, visitors to the site can experience the cheerful chirping of birds, the whirring of airplanes, the hammering of stones in a quarry and many more collected noises. Sonic Postcards wins in the education category for not only helping children learn about new media technology by capturing sounds and images, but also its ability to use the internet to gather children across the UK for a fun and educational experience.

Highly Commended: Film Street
http://www.filmstreet.co.uk

Highly Commended: Ordnance Survey



Elected Representative

Winner: Derek Wyatt
http://www.derekwyatt.co.uk
Derek Wyatt is an experienced hand at using the web and has consistently absorbed new technologies into his site as means to communicate with his constituents. His mix of weekly blog entries and podcasts provide users with a variety of means to keep updated on Wyatt’s work and local issues. Wyatt not only uses the frequently-updated site to keep constituents informed, through his blog and debate sections, he gives users the opportunity to debate issues and give him feedback into the subjects that really matter to voters. By keeping the focus of his cleanly-designed web site on local and national news and, most importantly, his constituents, Wyatt has continued to show his venture into new media is heartfelt.

Highly Commended: David Miliband


Independent Information

Winner: openDemocracy
http://www.opendemocracy.net
OpenDemocracy focuses on the news the mainstream media often leaves behind. Writers take vital global topics, ranging from climate change to terrorism, and present them in a comprehensive, user-friendly angle that leaves readers inspired and impassioned. OpenDemocracy is a community where individuals who want to make a difference in the world can gather to discuss the issues of the present and set strategies for the future. The site’s articles not only inform, by also leave readers full of ideas about how to organise to tackle major issues. OpenDemocracy’s forums also give readers a chance to debate authors’ views and develop a global discussion of current events. The site routinely proves its unwavering commitment to democracy world-wide. Its ability to utilize a democratic process and its global focus in the realm of news analysis puts OpenDemocracy a clear winner.

Highly Commended: UK Freedom of Information Act
http://foia.blogspot.com


Innovation

Winner: BBC Back Stage
http://backstage.bbc.co.uk
Backstage is an open source developer network launched in July 2005 to encourage innovation, identify talent and spark creative use of the BBC generated content. Web developers can choose from a wealth of content feeds to create and post prototypes of the information’s applications. So far, most creations involve use of the BBC’s television and radio programme listings and traffic information. Examples include a searchable database of current traffic congestion, a news digest sorted by how positive or negative articles are and hourly news updates of the latest BBC headlines via Instant Messenger. However, this is just the beginning. This year’s judges loved how the site acts as a springboard for new ideas and makes old material available to a new audience.

Highly Commended: ReadSpeaker: Podcaster
http://www.readspeaker.com


Modernising Government

Winner: Love Lewisham
http://www.lovelewisham.org
Lovelewisham is based on a simple premise: residents want to keep their communities clean and safe. This web site gives Lewisham residents the opportunity to take digital photos with their mobile phones of any environmental issues, such as graffiti, rubbish and pot holes, and send them via SMS message to alert clean- up crews of problem areas. Visitors to the site can then chart the progress of the clean- up online through before and after photos, or they can also request and SMS update when the mess has been controlled. “The software exudes brilliance not only because of its ease of use and simplicity, but because of it's sheer effectiveness,” Lewisham resident Kamal Uddin said. Lovelewisham’s web site wins this award for its ability to focus on a specific community problem and employ a genuine use of new technology to fix it. This is a novel idea that could and should be replicated by more local governments.

Highly Commended: Stop Crime- Devon and Cornwall Police
http://www.stopcrime.co.uk