Below is a summary of the evaluation. You can also view the full report (PDF 934KB).
About the evaluation
Thank you to everyone who returned our second questionnaire about INtouch kirklees. We received responses from 227 households, 48% of the 477 households
participating in the project at that point. The evaluation was carried out by the University of Huddersfield and University of Stirling. It also included interviews with
project partners, staff and community members. This is a brief overview of the final evaluation report.
Becoming involved
Half of the participants lived in Dewsbury West and half lived in five other neighbourhoods in Kirklees. Those in Dewsbury West already had ntl digital before the project
began, whilst some participants in the other areas had no knowledge of digital TV. Community Consultants worked in each of these five areas (but not in Dewsbury West)
to give participants help and support.
Using INtouch kirklees
Most people found INtouch easy to use and useful. However a significant proportion continued to experience technical difficulties. They found the need to use a PIN
confusing and inconvenient.
Community consultants
Community consultants played a vital role in getting people involved in the project. They were helpful, well informed and established good contact. Participants who
had met a community consultant tended to be more involved in contributing to discussion groups and the 'Have your say' and 'Making choices' sections.
Content
Most people using and providing INtouch felt the content should be more in depth, more regularly updated and more opportunities for interactivity. They thought
that the content was improving as the project continues. The section people look at most is 'My community' and other sections with information about local events, facilities and services.
Interactive sections
The majority of people found the interactive sections, including the on screen forms, easy to use. Having the ability to search for information is the most popular
interactive feature. The idea of e-voting through INtouch is also popular. Only a small number of people have contributed stories but most people feel it is important for
them to influence INtouch and it helps them to make their voice heard.
Is it useful?
Most people agreed that INtouch makes it easier to access public services, makes them more likely to use public services and more aware of the services available. It has
made them more confident in using new technology and electronically accessing public services.
Conclusions
Mostly, one person in each household uses INtouch at least once a week for up to 30 minutes. The most popular area is the 'My community' section and information on local
events, facilities and services.
Most people have found the community consultants to be helpful, well informed and easy to contact, but only a few keep in contact with them. Community consultants
have played an important part in INtouch.
An increasing number of people are using INtouch to find information about public services and have contacted a public service by email, but the telephone is still the most
popular method of contacting the council.
Some of your comments about INtouch:
"It's an interesting project and basically I'd like to see how far it goes with community issues.we need to take an interest in our own community, and this can go a long
way to helping people help themselves."
"I love it me. I can't afford a PC and this is the nearest I've got."
"Now we have the capability. we could go home and we could actually put that information on the site. Initially we couldn't have done that, we'd have to do it through
writing to give it to someone else."
"The community consultant has been very helpful and anything too technical which I haven't understood, they have put into plain language so I could understand it."
"I think it's a lot more versatile than it was at the beginning, it's easier to access, and I think its running a lot better than it did at the beginning. There's a lot more
different topics on than what there was at the beginning."
Further Information
If you would like a full copy of the report please email intouch@kirklees.gov.uk or call us on
(01484) 414823.
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