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Integrated and coordinated communication for Twitter, Facebook, Websites, .....

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Southport could work with Utilities and Waste companies on mutually beneficial apps.

For example utilities, councils and waste companies want photos and details of problems that the public spot. Southport also wants details of good  news. A common app paid for be the utilities would be a good for Southport

We would need some incentive for people to have and use the app.

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Opportunities for Southport to work with educational establishment on unique IT projects are likely to be fairly limited. However, there are a number of areas that Southport and Sefton are well placed to lead in.

An example is providing systems that provide details of social services, charities and general help and advice on social matters. Current systems are generally limited as they use standard internet features, Content Management Systems and Relational Databases. The Semantic Web is far better suited to this type of work but further research is required into both the naming standards and structure (ontology) and non-relational database design. Not only would this provide leading systems for Southport and Sefton but make an ideal project for Universities to be involved with.

The research would not only look at developing a Social Services solution but fill in gaps in the structure of "The Internet of Everything", which is currently one of the top research areas in IT.

As software tools in theses areas tend to be Open Source it should be possible to keep costs down.

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Sefton outsourced their IT to Arvato in 2008 under a 10 year deal. Arvato are responsible for the development of any Digital or IT strategy. This is not made public.

The relationship between Southport's Digital Strategy and the strategy produced by Sefton and Arvato needs to be considered.

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If training and charity projects grow substantially , consider Crowdfunding and/or setting up social businesses.

Assume Raspberry Pi computers will be used at £4 and £32 per unit excluding SD cards, cables, case and keyboards. Assume an average fully configured cost of £50. All software is free. Early units will be loaned with all costs being recouped as units including software are sold at cost.

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It has been claimed that the patient experience at Southport isn't ideal as beds are held longer than necessary and patients may wait in sub-optimal conditions.

Southport should publish details for the end to end experience of a patient. Standard Data Mining techniques can be supplemented by Process Mining to gain a complete picture of a patients experience. Southport hospital should use these modern techniques to identify issues.

Tools tend to be Open Source so costs can be kept down. The tools are also relatively simple for staff used to Date Analysis to pick up.

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Could focus on the free fun stuff:

Scratch  (junior school upwards)
Scratch Junior (infants upwards)
Processing
Sonic Pi
Minecraft - Sonic Pi, Python
Raspberry Pi
Arduino
Python Game
Python and Processing for Robotics

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Southport should work with Digital Industries and Universities to work on such areas as

Marketing
Leisure
Retail
Education
Health Care
Digital Accessibility
Charity Solutions
The Elderly

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The public will be encouraged to provide photographs, art work, music and graphical designs for promoting Southport.

These can be included in Social Media and Advertising Channels.

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There is a world wide shortage in digital skills. Learning and Training are essential for future success. The cost of equipment is plummeting, and the essential skills of educators reducing as free digital software is aimed at non- programmers and has been designed with support from schools.

Southport needs to encourage learning from an early age through to senior citizens. Fun software for teaching programming is aimed at 5 year-olds upwards.

This can be done by advising on educational plans for the public and schools. Only free software and tools will be covered. Training will also be provided.  Training will focus on learning through fun and the use of digital art, music, robotics and games.

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Padlets, Information and Digital storage Sites, Web Sites and Social Media need to be integrated to keep the public and visitors informed, and enable feedback.

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As a leisure resort Southport needs to use a range of digital technologies to market evens and the town as a whole.

Marketing needs to be tied to event planning and use modern market analysis techniques.

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It is now commonplace for towns to provide free public WiFi in town centres. Bournemouth also provide WiFi across the beach area.

Southport wants to be seen as a Classic Contemporary Resort, that is open 365 days for Events, Conferences, Leisure and a world class Shopping Experience. All require a modern Digital Experience.

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A Hackathon  is an event where the public, councilors and experts come together to discuss issues and work through problems. Issues concerned tend to be those that can be helped by IT solutions. Problem areas are generally agreed up front and small teams created to work on individual issues. These are very popular with cities but are now starting to be undertaken by major towns.  It is possible to restrict an event to a specific area such as Mobile Apps.

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The provision of Open Data is covered by Government guidelines and has become a norm for most progressive councils (across the world). This enables projects to be verified against actual data, and opportunities to be identified.

Sefton produces a wide range of  data. However it currently does not provide data in a format that can easily be analysed.

Sefton should be encouraged to provide data in a standard Open Data format.

Southport could advise schools and the public on methods and tools for analyzing this data.

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The world is entering the Digital Revolution, which is likely to rival the Industrial Revolution.

Cities and major towns can decide to be "followers" and miss out on early benefits or become "early adopters".

The challenge for Southport is identifying technologies that not only help with current issues in the town but also provide a platform for further opportunities.

These need to be practical and fully consider cost constraints , available assets and skills.  However, Southport has many assets not available to other towns, which give it a head start.

These include:
90,000 pop with 700,000 visitors.
Major wide ranging events .
Combination of leisure activities able to take advantage of digital services.
Conference Center.
Good Internet Connections.
Large sea front, ideal for WiFi.
Proximity to major cities.
Highly skilled public.
Good education standard.
Ageing population ideal for introducing Digital Accessibility