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Welcome to Hull - and to STREAM, our internet protocol television service, broadcasting to PCs, set top boxes and, soon, mobile phones throughout the city.
The Digital Challenge
Kingston Upon Hull is one of ten local authorities shortlisted for the Government's prestigious Digital Challenge award. The Challenge will support one authority to bridge the digital and social divides, and to deliver tangible service improvements, through the use of digital technology, Hull's bid focuses on STREAM and the delivery of learning, business, health, community safety and voluntary sector services in a large part of East Hull.
Click here to download the Final Bid (2.19MB pdf)
Click here to download the Expression of Interest (431KB pdf)
Video resources
Click here to watch An Introduction to Learning STREAM
Click here to watch An Introduction to Business STREAM
Click here to watch Hull 2008 - Our Digital Vision
Click here to watch Kim Ryley's Interview
Overview
STREAM is interactive television, available through broadband, that connects people to services and each other in ways that are meaningful to them.
It's video-rich, on-demand and easy to use - via PC, interactive television or mobile phone. It is free, and in every home.
STREAM gives individuals a personalised way of accessing local information and services, delivered by providers or residents themselves.
The content is created largely by residents, who share their views with those with similar interests and needs, through video, ratings and reviews. By taking part, they help to shape services that are relevant and compelling.
Service providers acquire a better sense of priorities, working together to target their resources and sharing how they transform services. Through STREAM, they reach residents individually.
STREAM already exists. We have shown that the technology and approach works. With the Digital Challenge, we can meet a wider range of needs, both in and outside the city.
STREAM transforms Digital Switchover into an opportunity for Local Authorities to cut costs and meet the needs of the most excluded.
STREAM shows other cities how they too can create empowered neighbourhoods, where residents organise, shape and define priorities, and become active citizens.
Our Digital Vision
2008: An interactive service, STREAM, keeps residents and businesses connected with, and able to determine, what's happening STREAM keeps the people of East Hull connected to services and each other in ways that are meaningful and convenient to them. It has changed the relationship between the people and their city. It has identified and created opportunities.
No-one is left out. This isn't a separate network for the excluded - STREAM is socially inclusive, free and in every home. People get what they need from STREAM, so those who need more, get more.
Local faces and voices on STREAM mean that the information and services on offer are relevant and compelling and grounded in the needs of the community. Now it is easier for everyone in the neighbourhood to know what is going on locally, what support and services exist and how to get involved.
People have found that they are members of new networks, virtual and real. They learn from the health experiences of those with similar conditions, they share concerns about crime and they understand how others rate services available to them.
People don't necessarily feel like 'activists.' They are just interested residents with a new and direct way of finding out what is relevant to them, and relevant to other residents who share their needs and interests.
The result of their involvement has been a dramatic improvement in quality of life in the area. Local decision-making is more transparent and people can see how they make a difference. This is an empowered community. This is Double Devolution in action.
There has been a huge impact on service providers from across the public, private and voluntary sectors. Assessing the needs of the city's residents is simple. The priorities are clearer. It's easier to focus on the things that matter, and ignore those that don't.
The best local services are now available virtually and on-demand. Investment in the New Deal for Communities area has widened to benefit residents in the surrounding area. Targeted online business support in East Hull has helped the port grow, creating local jobs.
Through STREAM, providers share a platform, applications and ways of working. The cost of producing and distributing new services has fallen dramatically, meaning it is possible to design services for the most specific needs quickly and cheaply.
A transformed service in one service area acts as a model for transformation in another. Providers learn from each others' successes and failures. The 'Service Lab' makes this knowledge available everywhere.
Other local authorities now use the STREAM platform to deliver their own video-rich services into homes, using the tools and methods developed in Hull to take advantage of Digital Switchover and reach the most socially excluded.
The UK is a recognised pioneer in transformed services.
Why back Hull's Digital Vision?
Our digital community will be accessible to everyone, it will bring people together, and every single person involved will find it useful and engaging - but each and every one of them will use the service in different ways, in different places, for different reasons. It will 'look' different to everyone.
Someone working in the public sector will find their job transformed for the better - there will be an unprecedented focus on all public service provision and an informed population. Public sector workers will be secure in the knowledge that they are acting in the best interests of their community.
The greatest benefits to be gained from our Digital Challenge have nothing to do with hardware or software, or even providing access to technology. Putting the words 'digital' or 'wireless' in front of the same old services wont magically transform them. Our Digital Challenge will help to transform the way providers deliver services so that we can better meet the needs of every person in our city.
About STREAM
STREAM is a division of Broadband Capital Limited, a private company created by Hull City Council in June 2005 to develop and deliver innovative approaches to public service delivery using broadband technologies. Broadband Capital Ltd is a not-for-profit organisation established in the public interest. Click here to visit the Business STREAM service.
Letters of Support
Rt Hon Alan Johnson MP
Lord Puttnam of Queensgate CBE
Adit Yorkshire and Humber
Age Concern
HANWAG
Hull CitySafe
Hull Community Care Services (Page 1)
Hull Community Care Services (Page 2)
Hull Community Network (Page 1)
Hull Community Network (Page 2)
Hull CVS (Page 1)
Hull CVS (Page 2)
Hull Primary Care Trust
Humberside Police
North Bank Forum
Preston Road NDC
PROBE (Hull) Ltd
Contacts
For more information about our Digital Challenge, please contact
Steve Fleming
Group Manager, Knowledge Economy
Kingston Upon Hull City Council
steve.fleming@hullcc.gov.uk
Mark Jones
Managing Director
Broadband Capital
mark.jones@broadbandcapital.co.uk
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