61
posts-
Intranet Beta - Sprint Notes
Our regular blog readers may remember at the start of last year we shared our exciting plans to replace Essex County Council’s (ECC) Intranet. We’re delighted to say we’re now advancing through our Beta Phase which will lead us ultimately …
-
How we use the PESO model for Fostering campaigns
Becoming a foster carer is a huge lifestyle change. Giving your home, time and attention to helping vulnerable children is one of the biggest decisions you can make. Recently, the Cost-of-Living crisis has made it harder for Essex County Council …
-
A new approach to measuring website performance
Data insights form an essential role in understanding performance of our local government web estate. Laura Clifford explorers what website performance tool suit our data needs.
-
Communications and Marketing Predictions for 2023
Way back at the start of 2022 I shared my predictions for what the year would hold for us in Communications and Marketing. Then, in my last post I noted what I got right and what I got wrong. Keeping …
-
2022 - what I got right, and what I got wrong...
Last year, I posed a bunch of quickfire predictions about what would happen in communications and marketing during 2022. Here they are – and here is my review of how I did. We will become more diverse and more targeted …
-
Reflecting on 2022
During 2022, we’ve never been far away from a crisis. From the ongoing war in Ukraine and the UK’s Cost of Living emergency to the sad passing of Queen Elizabeth, Essex County Council’s Communications and Marketing network has been kept busy …
-
Bringing together Content Design and Service Design to improve our report a concern about a child pages
We hear from Dani Spinage and Hannah Chan, about their work on the Essex.gov report a concern about a child journey and how they combined their two specialties to find a solution.
-
Why coding isn’t just for developers: how some coding skills can help, even when you don’t code every day
Keelan explorers how some coding abilities might be useful even if you don't code every day and why coding isn't just for developers on a team.
-
The Pursuit of Knowledge
“Knowledge is having the right answers Intelligence is asking the right questions Wisdom is knowing when to ask the right questions” Professor Richard Feynman (American Physicist) The Pursuit of Knowledge was the title of the session we delivered …
-
The BLUEPRINT Circular Economy Roadshow
Essex County Council (ECC) is the lead partner of the BLUEPRINT to a Circular Economy Project. Running April 2020 – March 2023, ECC and nine other project partners are helping local authorities to accelerate to the circular economy by upskilling …
-
Gaia comes to Essex | What I learnt
During October 2022, Essex County Council (ECC) was delighted to welcome Gaia to Chelmsford City cathedral. Gaia is a touring artwork by UK artist Luke Jerram, inspired by detailed imagery from NASA, offering a new perspective of Earth. Iulia Apostoiu, …
-
Do you have what it takes to be a Social Media Advisor?
Anyone can post on Facebook, right? Wrong. Essex County Council (ECC) is hiring a Social Media Advisor (12-month FTC), and our team does a lot more than posting on Facebook. Going behind the scenes, these are just some of the …
-
All the things She Said running through my head...
As part of our Women in data and Research group I recently had the chance to participate in a new professional, and personal, development programme She Said! Billed as ‘a guide for millennial women to speaking and being heard’, I …
-
One solution to help them all: Why designing for disabilities benefits everyone
Why designing for disability benefits everyone, Emma, Louise, Dani and Keelan explore what the answers could be.
-
3 tips for a local government social media campaign
Social media is an invaluable campaign tool, whether you’re looking to change behaviour, boost recruitment or increase survey responses. But, without a carefully planned approach, social media can risk reputation and relationships. Leah Bond, Social Media Advisor from our Corporate …
-
Launching the second round of the Arts and Cultural Fund
Across Essex, we have an incredibly diverse cultural landscape of artists, creative practitioners and established/grass roots organisations. Also, creative industries are playing a fundamental role in our economy by employing more than 30, 000 people in over 7, 500 companies. …
-
Making ends meet….
Michele Figg, BSc Geology (Bristol ’98) Listening to the radio a few weeks ago, over a cup of tea (and TBH a biscuit or two), as the government announced measures to alleviate fuel poverty over the winter months, I reflected …
-
Procuring a new e-newsletter platform | What I learnt
Back in May 2021, I joined the Content team to work on a large procurement project, searching for a new e-newsletter platform. Our contract with email provider GovDelivery was ending, so the team were going out to market to find …
-
Delving deeper to assess carers needs
In Essex there are estimated to be as many as 154,000 adults providing unpaid care. NLP is helping us to understand their needs in greater depth.
-
Combatting food waste with Love Essex
Love Essex are on a mission to inspire residents to reduce their waste and to reuse, repair and recycle as much as possible. Cathryn Wood, Senior Circular Economy Officer has outlined how her team are combatting food waste. Why is …
-
Why can't we just get the data?
Why can't we just get the data? Why are there so many problems? Why are you asking me so many questions??? These are three things that I get asked regularly by people throughout my organisation, from senior management to frontline …
-
Truly mobile: Enabling myself to be versatile in different environments.
Bianca showcases how she has enabled herself to be truly mobile.
-
Writing an Effective Campaign Brief
Providing an effective campaign brief ensures our colleagues and stakeholders are starting off on the same page - no pun intended! Charlotte Farrant, from Essex County Council’s Campaigns team has prepared some tips on how to write an effective campaign …
-
Everyone's talking about it, but is anyone actually doing it?
There is always a buzz topic in the world of data analytics and in the last few years ‘data literacy’ has been thrust into the spotlight. Specifically, “raising data literacy”. ‘What do we mean by data literacy and how do …
-
Practice Makes Perfect: Our Approach to Learning Our Trade
The greatest piece of advice I was given when I joined Essex County Council as a Junior Analyst almost exactly one year ago, was to dedicate time to learning. This is just one example of the strong culture of personal …
-
Content Design Principles to Boost SEO
Today, search engines are incredibly intuitive. They monitor how people use your website – did they find it useful? Did they leave straight away or did they continue onto another page on your website? So, for your website to perform …
-
Data – Providing Clarity in Crisis
As an authority, Essex County Council is no stranger to crisis management. We have a large coastline and as such regularly face flooding risks. We have well practiced processes in place to deal with these short-term crises. The processes work …
-
PUM today, PUM tomorrow
As we explore tools that make working as a team more seamless, Bianca takes us through the use of Personal User Manuals to encourage deeper connections with a team.
-
Why renting in later life matters for everyone
Renting in later life seems to touch on almost all aspects of life. Here we're sharing the findings of our first phase of analysis.
-
Back to School
“I can’t wait to be a student for a week!” Sophie and I said to each other as we signed up for the Institute for Analytics and Data Science (IADS) Summer School at the University of Essex in July. You …
-
Thinking outside the [Primary Support Reason] box
Data loves a binary but as any social worker would I’m sure tell you - people don’t fit neatly into boxes! For much of our analysis there is a need to segment individuals into various groups, whether its budget code, …
-
Keeping Cool Throughout the Project Lifecycle
As we approach another week of high temperatures how do you go about starting well to ensure you remain as cool and prepared as possible and what does it have to do with a data and analytics project lifecycle…. What …
-
How joining the LocalGov Drupal collaboration is enabling us to deliver digital services for Essex residents
Dating back as far as the first “Hello, world!” was published on the internet, there’s been a driver for all organisations with a web presence to meet ever developing standards in line with what users of today expect and what …
-
Forecasting adult social care demand to prepare for the future
It’s often the case when we are busy, that we don’t take the time to reflect on or celebrate our successes. I am therefore enthusiastic to be taking the opportunity to do just that in this blog, sharing our methods …
-
Capturing golden nuggets through immersive research
Did you know that the average household throws away £60 worth of food every month? Or that recycling one banana peel can generate enough energy to charge two mobile phones? Food waste is a big problem for the planet, for Essex, and for our residents. To help inform a county-wide campaign, we set out to explore behaviours around food waste using an online research community approach.
-
Understanding Universal Credit Recipients
We recently began analysing Universal Credit claimant levels to support the Skills and Employability team to better understand why, despite record low unemployment, Universal Credit (UC) claimant numbers had barely decreased from their March 2021 peak[1]. [2]. Once we started …
-
It started with (the absence of) a SEND forecast….
We’ve never had the ability to place plan in SEND, now we can build new schools based on growth and needs forecasts, Ralph Holloway, Head of SEND Strategy and Innovation, ECC What started as a conversation two years ago about …
-
Harnessing collective insight to tackle complexity
As the idiom purports the certainty of 'death and taxes', two others, it could be argued, follow on closely behind these days: digitalisation and complexity. It could also be said that our health, individually and collectively, impacts and is impacted …
-
Salute our Forces this Armed Forces Day
ECC's Armed Forces Champion, Cllr Derrick Louis reflects on his own time in the Army as Armed Forces day approaches.
-
It’s fun to go to the J-S-N-A!
Essex County Council, in collaboration with health partners, has a duty to undertake an assessment of the current and future health and wellbeing needs of the county’s communities on a regular basis. This process is referred to as the Joint …