simply.limerick.ie James Sweeney Mihai Bilauca Limerick City Council, MWRA IRELAND Limerick, 26 th of April 2012

Introduction simply.limerick.ie

Limerick City Council Committed to Accessible Digital Services 2005 – Accessibility audit by NCBI-CFIT All websites must be at least WCAG – AA 2007 – Full redesign of main council website 2008 – access.limerick.ie in collaboration with MWRA and EU support 2009 – Additional websites designed WCAG-AA DIEGO

What is DIEGO? An EU pilot project with partners from 6 EU Countries: Spain, the U.K., Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Ireland Ireland represented by MWRA and Limerick City Co A simplified web based interface; An integration platform for delivering accessible services; Project started in 2010 and it will be completed in 2012 NO CITIZEN LEFT BEHIND

DIEGO Services in Limerick

Main Services Live Limerick.ie content: Daily Events & Amenities in Limerick City & County; Public Complaints: Roads, Water, Housing, Environment; Book meeting rooms in Watch House Cross Library Multimedia: Videos from Limerick.ie Insider DIEGO simply.limerick.ie

Other services Public Announcements, Road Closures, Art Events; Limerick Municipal Museum - Latest Additions Boards.ie – popular public comments in Ireland; Daft.ie – national property listing; Maps and Photo Gallery Contact your Councillor DIEGO simply.limerick.ie

DIEGO availability Public Libraries (3 main libraries in Limerick City) City Hall Information Point Community Centres: King Island, MILES, St Mary's Adult Education Centre Demonstrations have been made to: Southill Disability Group Headway Ireland Limerick Institute of Technology DIEGO simply.limerick.ie

Kings Island Community Centre

Cllr. John Gilligan presents DIEGO

Cllr. John Gilligan enjoys using DIEGO

Kings Island Centre – Where people meet...

DIEGO - Training Session

DIEGO - Another Training Session

DIEGO – Southill Disability Group

DIEGO – Limerick Institute of Technology

Community Centres are essential!

LIMERICK COMMUNITY CONNECT

BenefIT3 Training Program funded by The Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Over 300 people trained so far DIEGO used as a stepping point In a first phase, 10 computers from Limerick City Co, to be re-used and provided FREE; Limerick Community Connect helps setting-up PCs; IT Support for Community Centres Limerick Community Connect

DIEGO is made available in Limerick City Libraries Watch House Cross Library

Watch House Cross and the Regeneration

City Librarians using DIEGO for room bookings

PROs Simple and easy to use web based interface; Easy to integrate existing and new services; A new channel to address the needs of people that otherwise would be marginalized; Usable in areas where literacy is a challenge; CONs Long term maintenance of infrastructure; Accessible access to information is already provided; Digital exclusion is a product of social exclusion; Overview

Improved Services Ongoing evaluation of current set of services; More services to be added based on demand; Ineffective services to be dropped; Long term sustainability to be determined based on overall evaluation; Improved Availability MILES and St.Mary's Adult Education Centres to be enabled with: – Touch-screen capabilities; – Open Source technologies for virtual desktops – Long term IT support contracts; NEXT

Realistic projects for Digital Inclusion are not easy! 1.Technology must be functional 2.Content is critical 3.Public Services need to be modified and simplified 4.Services to be made available in the community; 5.Engagement of Community and Voluntary groups; 6.IT Support in community centres must be ensured; 7.Inter-agency Co-operation is essential; Lessons learned

simply.limerick.ie DEMO James Sweeney