The Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region (RQHR) has gone mobile with the launch of an RQHR mobile app button on October 4, 2012. RQHR partnered with the City of Regina to provide information about RQHR services to smart phone users.

“The Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region is working to provide innovative ways to provide access to Region information through mobile devices,” said Karen Bingham-Adams, executive director of RQHR Communications. “The Region recognizes the importance technology communications has in providing information, like flu clinic schedules and lists of doctors accepting new patients, to the public as they are on the go.”

“We are very excited by the addition of RQHR to the CityApp,” said Philippe Leclerc, City of Regina, Interactive Communications manager. “As our City grows, we continue to actively pursue new methods to communicate and to provide information in a transparent manner to our citizens. The continued innovation and growth of the CityApp shows there is a demand to receive information using new tools… demand by all citizens, old and new.”

RQHR is launching its mobile app button to include flu clinic information. The influenza immunization campaign will kick off on October 9 and mobile app users will be able to locate clinics in the palm of their hand and add the clinic to their smartphone calendar as a reminder.

Other RQHR features include important Region contact information, hospitals, medical clinics, community health centers and doctors accepting new patients. The app button features a map showing the user’s current location and the nearest hospitals and walk-in clinics within the Region.

The RQHR mobile app button, which is available on the iPhone, BlackBerry and Android can be accessed from the City of Regina CityApp.

For more information, contact:

Corynn Hubick
Communications Consultant - Regina Qu'Appelle Health Region
Tel: (306) 766-5289
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Desirae Bernreuther
Media Relations Consultant – City of Regina
Tel: (306) 777-7486
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Source: RQHR

In three years, Regina, the capital of the province of Saskatchewan, has built the largest Facebook following of any city in the country and its Twitter account ranks in the top five. Find out how.

The City of Regina must be doing something right when it comes to social media.

The Saskatchewan capital's Facebook following is the largest in of any city in Canada, at nearly 21,000 "likes," it's equal to about 10 percent of the city's 200,000-plus population. Its Twitter following, at about 8,300, ranks in the top five city accounts. On YouTube, the city has gotten more than 50,000 video views.

The city has racked up those numbers in just under three years of having a social media presence. Its success has been so stunning that officials have been asked to write about their experiences in Municipal World magazine and have spoken at national conferences for city administrators.

And the whole thing started as an experiment.

Catalysts

"In 2009 we had a civic election, and at that time we started our social media efforts as a way to raise awareness of the elections," says Philippe Leclerc, the City of Regina's interactive communications manager. "It was essentially an experiment. It allowed us the opportunity that, if social media didn't work, we could just shut it down and it would be only connected with the election."

Those election updates on Facebook and Twitter caught people's attention, including that of the candidates, and the city opted to press on with its accounts after the election ended. It became clear fairly quickly how the city could use it.

"Our No. 1 service request in this city is related to snow plowing and winter roads, so we transitioned right into the winter season with our social media," Leclerc says.

In January 2010, one of the biggest snowstorms in decades hit Regina. It was so big that some things around the city just couldn't operate. City officials started sending real-time updates on Facebook and Twitter detailing where plows were going and what was closed or closing. They also answered people's questions about their own neighborhoods. The citizenry really took to it.

"At the time, there really was no way to find that information out before," Leclerc says. "That was a big push in solidifying that it wasn't just shouting."

That summer, the city again fielded locals' questions and service requests when a water plant was knocked offline. More and more, social media was becoming city business as usual.

Full integration

Initially, all requests or questions from city residents were funneled through the communications department, but the city eventually made social media an important part of its call center. From 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., two call-center staffers monitor Facebook and Twitter to seek out service requests and specific tracking terms using Hootsuite.

"They can go in on their own, acknowledge the citizen and say, 'Your service request has been entered into our system,'" Leclerc says.

That request then goes into the city's customer relationship management system and becomes trackable in a work queue. Most of the city's departments have signed service-level agreements to respond to service requests that originate on social media platforms within four hours.

Only the call center responds to service-related questions; everything else goes through communications. The city has encountered only about a half-dozen instances of duplicated responses to requests, Leclerc says.

The city is working on getting a Radian6 tool up and running to measure sentiment, but that doesn't mean Leclerc hasn't been measuring already. The communications team has been manually keeping up with sentiment via Facebook and reporting to the deputy city manager who oversees public works.

"Senior management has accepted this," he says. "Senior management is using this."

On the move

Recently, the city's Transit Department launched its own Facebook and Twitter pages, after a trial period.

"Before transit went off on their own, we brought them in for about six months," Leclerc says. "They came under the corporate page, and we tested it out."

Communicators checked to make sure the department had enough content and could easily respond to requests. No other departmental accounts are in the works, Leclerc says, though it's certainly a possibility. He just wants to avoid seeing them die on the vine.

The city has another municipal election coming up this year, and the impact of social media couldn't be more apparent. In 2009, none of the mayoral candidates had blogs or Twitter accounts. Now, all eight of the candidates do. Taking a cue from the city, they're asking citizens what they want in a new mayor.

"That's a pretty fundamental shift in the way politicians and citizens interact," Leclerc says. "We are going to have the most social media content-heavy election in the country."

Mobile

Last year, the city launched a mobile app for iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry, which has so far gotten about 9,500 downloads. About 80 percent of those downloads have been locals, Leclerc says.

The app takes a portal approach, which means users can find information on topics including restaurants, local events, and, soon, health care. Leclerc says he made a real effort to keep the app from becoming overwhelming using information modules. There are about eight buttons on the intro screen, he says.

Though residents have done most of the downloading, Leclerc says he's looking to help the city's tourism division, too. He's considering adding a module for hotels, and he's working with tourism officials to help people attending conferences get around the city using an in-app map.

Source: Ragan.com

We live in a mobile world. With new research indicating that smartphone users outnumber basic phone users and 100 million Americans are relying on iPhone, Android or Blackberry to power their day, it?s no surprise that people are yearning to get more done on their phones.

And now, the local government is beginning to heed the call of smarter mobile tools.

City government agencies around the world continue to explore mobile applications to provide services more effectively and to reach citizens in new ways. And it's not just for civil services; cities are embracing apps to highlight their own civic culture and even promote community action.

Here are 10 cities that offer mobile apps for citizens, tourists or both. Does your city have an app? What do you like about it? Let us know in the comments.

The City of Calgary embarked on a 5-app pilot project to improve civic life, and The City of Calgary Pets app was one of the top recommendations. Using the app, citizens can view adoptable dogs and cats, watch videos, and find key information about licensing and responsible pet ownership. For current pet owners, the app can help you find emergency vet clinics throughout the city.

To date, the City of Calgary Pets app has garnered nearly 10,000 downloads. The City of Calgary Animal and Bylaw Services group attributes an increase in people visiting and contacting city shelters to inquire about dogs and cats available for adoption to use of the app.

According to Jacob George, manager of corporate marketing and communications of the City of Calgary, the Pets app and other apps in their program "provide yet another channel for the city to communicate in a way that is accessible and convenient for citizens."

The app is available on iOS, Android and BlackBerry devices and was developed by Purple Forge, a private sector company that has developed apps for municipalities, federal government agencies, politicians and advocacy organizations.

Another application developed by and for Calgary is the Calgary Road Conditions app. Since its launch three months ago, the app has had more than 15,000 downloads. It was the first City of Calgary mobile app to reach the top of its category, making Calgary the first Canadian municipality to have a top-ranking app on iTunes.

Read the rest of the article here.

 

Want election information at your fingertips? The City of Victoria has updated its free Victoria Votes iPhone app for the upcoming civic election.

Victoria?s largest demographic is between the ages of 25 and 39, a group that is also very active in communicating through social media.

The Victoria Votes app is intended to be an additional way to reach Victorians and make election information easier to access. The app complements other sources of voting information, including victoria.ca, Twitter, Facebook and voter information cards recently mailed directly to every household.

Available for free on iTunes, voters can download the app to their iPhone, iTouch or iPad.

The app provides information including where to find the nearest voting station, who is eligible to vote, and identification requirements. Users can link to Twitter and Facebook to share the latest civic election information. It also provides information on advance voting days and other accessible voting options.

The app was originally launched in 2010 for byelection and referendum information. Users who downloaded the app for 2010 can simply update their app for this year?s information.

General voting day for the civic election is Nov. 19, and advance voting is on Nov. 9 and 14 at City Hall.

For more information and to download the app, visit www.victoria.ca/election. 

Ref: BC Local News, November 2011

On Oct. 17, the Government Technology Exhibition and Conference (GTEC) honoured some of the best innovations in government technology at the municipal, provincial and federal levels. Our client, the City of Calgary, was runner-up in the Transforming the Business of Government category for the iPhone application we developed for the city's 2010 municipal election.

What was notable about the event was the number of honourees who were involved in mobile projects. The City of Mississauga won a gold medal for its MiWay mobile website for public transportation and the Ontario government's OSAP group was also an honoree for its mobile application.

This is a good sign for Purple Forge. As a provider of mobile apps, we are glad to see the increasing interest in the development of mobile applications for constituent communications and delivery of services to the public.  Mobile apps also represent the next generation of "green" digital solutions, which will help the government to reduce mail and print budgets over the next 10 years.

The wheels turn slow, but they do turn consistently

But our company likely would have died waiting to see this day come if we had not had other sources of revenue. As mentioned in my first blog, new companies need to export or die. This is particularly true in the public sector, considering that the sales cycle for Canadian governments is at least 18 months.  We started soliciting government departments at all levels in 2009, but it wasn't until late 2010 that we saw our first agreements signed, and not until mid-2011 before we started to unlock real revenue potential. Here are some of the key tips I can share on being a small company doing business with governments in Canada.

Government managers are busy, be prepared to wait

It's a widely held belief that the people who work in government are lazy. This couldn't be farther from the truth. Senior managers in government work as hard as people in the private sector, and also have to deal with the volatility of the political infrastructure that oversees them.  Your project may be of significant interest to the manager you are working with, but the minister may have other work in store for your manager. Be prepared to wait at least a fiscal budget cycle to get your project into the work rotation, and even longer if there is an election in the works. Changes in power and cabinet shuffles can play havoc with the prioritization of work in government.

Government managers are people too - treat them like real customers

Relationships are as important in the public sector as they are in the private sector. Government is not a monolithic Borg-like entity; it is filled with managers looking to serve the public in the best way possible. Even though you can't take them out for a meal as you would a private sector customer, there are plenty of professional ways to engage and understand their needs.

One of our key lessons learned is that they make acquisition decisions based on "best value" and not always lowest cost, so it is important that you spend time and explain the advantages of your offer to them.  The discussion will not begin and end on price. "Best value" has many forms of expression, and government managers do understand that what might be lowest cost now might not work for them in the long term.

Procurement vehicles are confusing,  help managers figure out how they can buy your product

Be prepared to spend some effort on finding out the best way for your government customer to purchase your product. Sole sourcing, whereby they pay you as a specialist without a competitive bid process, is popular, but can be limiting as you might be sacrificing profitability to meet their sole-source purchasing limit. Sole-source bids can be extended, but this may create more headaches for your customer as they navigate their internal procurement processes and policies.

Competitive bidding processes also pose issues. If the government manager picks the wrong procurement vehicle for the project, they may be asking you to bid on a professional services agreement, when they really need to be asking vendors to bid on a goods and materials contract.  This can lead to lots of wasted time for government managers in evaluating spurious bids or non-bids. Educating the customer on how they can best develop a request for proposal to acquire your product or service is as important as understanding their requirements for the project.

Government is not a good guinea pig - have your act together

If you are piloting something new with the government, you are in for trouble.  You should have the kinks worked out of your product before serving it to them. Given managers' busy schedules, unforeseen delays or quality issues can derail a project and bring embarrassment to the political hierarchy.  A demonstrated track record will go a long way to helping you start a conversation with a government manager on procurement.

Our experience with the government has been fruitful, with occasional delays and procurement frustrations that have in general been worked out because of the relationships we have developed. We feel we have developed a solid portfolio of work that will serve as our calling card into other departments.  As government does begin to come around (those wheels turn slowly) to deploying more mobile apps, we are extremely well positioned to serve the government and the public with a strong, battletested service offering.

John Craig is the co-founder and VP of Sales and Marketing for Purple Forge.

reference: http://francis-moran.com/index.php/marketing-strategy/a-small-business-guide-to-working-with-government/

By PHYLICIA TORREVILLAS
27 October 2011 05:01

PHYLICIA TORREVILLAS/METRO

Vancouver's chief election officer Janice MacKenzie unveils Thursday at city hall the new voter-engagement initiatives, which looks to increase voter turnout for the Nov. 19 civic election.

Need information on how and where to vote in the upcoming civic election? There's an app for that.

Vancouver's chief electoral officer Janie MacKenzie launched Thursday an array of voter-engagement initiatives they hope will appeal to younger voters and new Canadians.

Advanced voting days have been doubled from four to eight ahead of the Nov. 19 civic election and voters can download an iPhone app called Vancouver Votes, which features information on voter eligibility, when and where to vote, candidate names, a tool to see if you're on the voters list and a civic quiz.

"In 2008, voter turnout at the Vancouver civic election was 31 per cent," MacKenzie said. "This is the lowest it's been in 50 years."

"With this app and other social media such as Facebook and Twitter, we are reaching out to our younger voters - those 18 to 35," she added. "We want to engage them in a conversation about the role and importance of voting and the role of local government."

She hopes these new initiatives will help boost the downward trend in voter turnout all levels of government have been experiencing in the last 50 years.

The B.C. provincial elections in 2009 saw a 51 per cent voter turnout, down from 70 percent in 1983. MacKenzie added Vancouver civic elections usually stay in the 31-35 per cent range.

"We want to make it as easy as possible for people to vote in the election," she said, adding people can call 311 to obtain voting information that is available in 180 languages.

They have also translated the Capital Plan borrowing questions to Chinese and Punjabi, she said.

"(In 2008) less than 20 per cent of the eligible voters actually cast their vote on the capital borrowing questions," she said, adding the vote gives city council the authority to borrow $180 million for capital projects such as bridge maintenance and upgrading affordable housing.

Election results will be posted around 8:30 p.m. on Nov. 19 at vancouver.ca, which will refresh every five minutes. 

Click here for more information

Chief electoral officer says they're trying to get more people to vote

Dan Burritt 2011/10/27

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - People who live in Vancouver now have eight days to vote ahead of time in the civic elections and will also be able to download an election iPhone app called Vancouver Votes. Its features includes voter eligibility, a candidate list, and a civic quiz.

"In 2008, Vancouver voting in the civic election was 31 per cent; this is the lowest it's been in 50 years," says Chief Electoral Officer Janice MacKenzie.

"With this app and other social media such as Facebook and Twitter, we are reaching out to our younger voters -- those 18-35 [years old]," she explains. "We want to engage them in a conversation about the role and importance of voting and the role of local government."

"It's essentially where the rubber hits the road. Our city government makes decision on services that you use each and every day: street lights, sidewalks, roadways, traffic lights, garbage collection," she adds.

MacKenzie is also reminding people they can call 311 anytime. "Through this easy-to-remember number, callers can obtain voting information; information that is available in 180 languages."

The election results will be posted at vancouver.ca around 8:30pm on November 19th and refresh every five minutes.

Click here for more information

Municipal elections are taking place in Vancouver November 19, 2011. You can find out various information about your registration, where to vote, and more from the election office or online. However, if you?re on the go and want all of this information in your purse or pocket, there?s also an app for that.

Read more at Miss 604

In a bid to improve on Vancouver's dismal voter participation, the city has released an app that makes it easy to keep track of the Nov. 19 civic election.

With voters choosing a mayor, 10 councillors, seven park commissioners and nine school trustees, as well as giving the yea or nay to specific questions on capital borrowing for community facilities, transportation and public safety upgrades, there's a lot of information to pack into an app and this one does it well.

Created by Purple Forge, the company behind My Politics Canada and other political apps in Canada and the United States, Vancouver Votes covers all the bases from finding out whether you're on the voters' list to where you go to vote.

At a time when people are moving into tent cities to have their voice heard, we can only hope that Vancouverites will at least make it to the polls.

In the 37 elections for the city since 1930, only five have seen a voter turnout of 50 per cent or more.

Vancouver Sun, November 1, 2011

City hall has found another way to get into your iPhone - a mobile app to help you navigate Calgary's bike routes and pathways.

It's the latest of many programs for mobile devices the city's communications branch has developed.

Others offer city press releases, list pets for adoption, or have invited budget consultation or provided details for last fall's election.

The pathways app, announced Tuesday, reproduces the full city cycling map and links to updated route closures.

It features quick links to local weather as well as the latest Calgary Parks news on Facebook and Twitter.

Another feature lists city parks, providing photos and descriptions in addition to detailing amenities and distance from your location.

The app also provides safety cycling safety tips and etiquette.

The free app is available through iTunes.

Read more

The City of Calgary launched their Pathways and Bikeways app today - more details here.

Thumbs up to Calgary for developing another first - the City of Calgary Pets app. They're reuniting lost pets with families and showcasing pets up for adoption. Let's hope more municipalities emulate this example of technology at its best - helping people and their pets.

- Yvette Van Veen, Pets Reporter, The Toronto Star

GTEC announced the Honourees for the Distinction Awards Program for 2011. GTEC is Canada's premier government event and largest IT event in the country and the Distinction Awards Program recognizes the top public sector IT leaders for their exceptional performance.

The City of Calgary Civic Election iPhone App was among the selected honourees.

Purple Forge's John Craig discusses the issues around executive changes at RIM with Toronto Star business reporter Michael Lewis.

Purple Forge's Brian Hurley talks with Bloomberg Businessweek reporters Devin Banerjee and Hugo Miller regarding the issues surrounding RIM devices for customers and app developers.  

City of Calgary Pets, the official mobile app of Animal & Bylaw Services, makes information regarding the programs and services provided by The City of Calgary Animal & Bylaw Services more accessible to Calgarians.

By downloading the free app, iPhone, BlackBerry and Android users will have a real time view of the photos and descriptive information regarding the impounded and adoptable cats and dogs sheltered at the Animal Services Centre at 2201 Portland Street S.E.  Knowing their pet is safe and waiting to be reunited with them at Animal Services provides peace of mind for pet owners who have lost their cat or dog. Timing is also important for Calgarians anxiously watching the status of cats or dogs and waiting for a specific pet to become available for adoption at the Animal Services Centre. City of Calgary Pets provides information on when and how to license a pet, the steps to follow if a pet is lost, and a list of the 60 participating I Heart My Pet vendors who offer the owners of licensed pets discounts on merchandise and services. Information needed when time is critical such as the contact numbers for Calgary's 24 Hour Emergency Vet Clinics or how to report an aggressive animal incident is also only a touch away using City of Calgary Pets.

City of Calgary Pets is a free app.  For more information on how to download City of Calgary Pets visit calgary.ca/mobileapps.

Thanks to the new CityApp, real-time construction information in Regina is only as far away as your iPhone or iPad.

The City of Regina introduced the tool to inform residents about road work as it recognized National Public Works Week on Wednesday with an open house at the public works yard. The event included the official kickoff for this year's construction season.

 

Naheed Nenshi has been extolled as the "Obama of Canada" for his use of new media, social media and mobility as tools to become the mayor of Calgary.  The numbers themselves are very impressive.  By October 18th, the day of the election, he had over 11,000 Facebook "Likes".   His closest contender, Rick McIver had about 4300.   The election itself had a 53% voter turnout, demonstrating amazing public engagement in a city where the previous voter turnout (2007) was around 32%. 

Quickly, contrast this with Canadian Federal political numbers.  Right now Nenshi has almost 19K Facebook "Likes", only 21K Facebook behind Stephen Harper, 14K behind Michael Ignatieff and 12K behind Jack Layton. Not bad for a guy who's name isn't on the national news every night!

But lets go apples to apples for a second.  Ottawa, a similar sized city, ran what was for the most part a two horse race between Larry O'Brien and Jim Watson.  Both races employed a mix of new media, social media and mobile applications, however both combined Facebook fans fell 2x short of Rick McIver's 4500 Facebook fans.  Voter turnout was also low, about 44%, down from 54% in 2006.  Why was Ottawa such a different race on the social media scales? 

Better yet, what is it about this guy Nenshi?

Download and read the full article

Some predicted this election would be the "Twitter campaign", yet political parties are slow to lean on web tools.

The Green Party has launched a very original political app, but many young voters feel there should be more technology.

Several YouTube videos show university students taking part in a ?Vote Mob.' One of them was shot at the University of Ottawa; the first one was in Guelph.

The web-organized events were done to show youth interest in campaign issues and their plan and desire to vote.