UK: Talk London

TALK LONDON

http://talklondon.london.gov.uk

1. Implementation procedure

Name of the institution running website/application:	Mayor of London
Type of the institution running website/application:	an implementation carried out by local government institution
Source of financing:	public resources - local governments and other local authorities,
Year of launching the website/application:	n/d
Service's/application's rating:

2. Implementation's characteristics

TALK LONDON is a consultation service run by London’s authorities allowing holding consultations in the form of a discussion forum. To start a discussion, one has to submit an article – commentary to a given aspect of the city’s life. Each article may be accompanied by analyses, research results, etc. All discussions are divided into several thematic categories: Health & Communities; Safety; Home & Spaces; Travel; Education & Economy.

Only registered users can take part in discussions. Registration is done individually, the only verification criterion being submitting a postal code from within London’s area.

The service users can:

Participate in social consultations but getting involved into discussions held within a discussion forum. They can submit commentaries to the available articles and reply to other users’ comments.
Take part in, for example, opinion polls carried out as part of the service through the Talking Points – every second month a survey is conducted including several questions relating to issues significant from the point of view of the city’s inhabitants.
Become part of focus groups open within the service in the form of a chat.

TheTALK LONDON service uses social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Google +. The integration also includes the possibility of submitting comments and sharing contents in the TALK LONDON application through the websites of the Mayor of LONDON. The application doesn’t feature separate pages or accounts in the aforementioned portals.

3. Detailed description categories

Type of the service's/application user:	G2C: citizens
The application service's usage area:	participation and opinions ("we inform and talk")
A communication - an indication of all the media and dissemination	Independent website dedicated to the application / solution eGov
Access to the full functionality of the service	Access to the service requires you to register your account on the site - registration requires a specific data Name Surname email adress postal code age/date of birth gender password other poll's question
Tracking of user's activity:	without verification / automatic verification
The service's/application's usage areas	The public consultation the government dialogue with citizens, eg. On infrastructure solutions
Forms of interaction with users:	Forum Social networks (connected with Fb, Twitter, etc.) Search engine Chat Comments
Service's/Application's integration to social networking sites	Yes
Availability of service/application use instruction	Simple description - http://talklondon.london.gov.uk/terms-conditions
Is the connection encrypted?	Yes