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Interviews for the GOSH Child Health Portal 2001-2003 | 14 April 2016

Roundabout, November 2001 Issue No. 18

Joint Website Launched

A two-year project to turn our joint institution’s website (www.gosh.nhs.uk) into a respected child health portal got underway with the launch of the first phase of development in September. The second phase of content development will get the site ship shape for a UK-wide publicity campaign as the hospital’s 150th birthday celebrations begin in January.

The site’s web editor, David South, has been working on the project since arriving here in June, having worked on award-winning websites for the United Nations.

“The first phase saw collaboration from staff across both institutions,” he says. “An impressive amount was done, and we have now laid the foundations for future improvements to the content on the site. I really want to offer more for children. Over three million children in the UK now surf the internet.”

The opportunity for both institutions is enormous. As the internet has evolved, it has become increasingly clear that the future of its development lies in the public sphere. US government sites now outstrip commercial operations, selling far more books than the largest online bookseller, amazon.com. Here in the UK, the http://www.ukonline.gov.uk site is working to offer one-stop access to all government services, including health care.

Unlike commercial operations, the hospital and the Institute are an unbiased resource for the public to turn to. Currently, the joint site has more than 180 factsheets for families covering tests and procedures, illnesses and diseases and operations. It also has the complete archive of Dr. Jane Collins’ Times column, with its jargon-free look at child health issues.

“This being London, we have the unique advantage of being at the centre of so many developments, and having the opportunity to communicate this through our website,” says David South.

Across the NHS the Modernisation Plan involves the largest data collection exercise in its history. More and more resources will be offered online, and the content produced by individual trusts like ours will be linked with national sites like NHS Direct.

New GOSH/ICH website

With over three million children in the UK now using the internet, and a total of 33 million UK citizens accessing it through work, school or the home, no organisation can afford not to make the most of this valuable communications tool. Estimates vary, but some put the number of health-related websites at more than 100,000. Trust is an even more important issue, as users search for accurate information. It is in this context that the new hospital and ICH website, http://www.gosh.nhs.uk, launched in September. Web editor David South puts us in the picture.

The new site reflects the hard work and collaboration of staff across both institutions, and it is hoped it will quickly make its mark as a trusted resource on complex child health issues. The site also becomes one of the most visible signs of our on-going modernisation programme, and can uniquely tie together the breadth of our work in a way that no other medium can. The site development project spans two years and will fit in with the wider move across the NHS to offer a wide range of services online.

The next phase of the site’s development is aimed at getting the site ready for a larger publicity campaign slated to coincide with the hospital’s 150th birthday celebrations with start in January. In preparation for this public launch, a number of improvements will be made to the site’s content, interactivity, platform and design. To put it simply, the site should become a critical first stop for anybody seeking our services, or wanting to learn more about the latest research and care developments in the field of complex child issues.

The joint site will also be available via Gosweb for staff in the hospital who don’t already have internet access.

As the project evolved, regular updates were communicated to colleagues and the public through the media.

The BBC story from 2002’s launch of the GOSH Child Health Portal’s children’s content (www.gosh.nhs.uk).

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Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5311-1052.

© David South Consulting 2022

Southern Innovator and the Growing Global Innovation Culture | 14 April 2016

A paper prepared for the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) in 2013. The paper marked a key milestone in both China’s innovation achievements and that of the global South as it embraced the mobile and information technology revolution.

In 2013, the global Human Development Report took on the theme “The Rise of the South”: a theme first mooted as a potential cover story for Southern Innovator’s launch issue while in development in 2010 (http://www.davidsouthconsulting.com/blog/2015/7/27/you-heard-it-here-first-influencing-perspectives-on-the-glob.html).

In 2013 the Cities and Urbanization issue of Southern Innovator was launched at the Global South-South Development Expo (GSSD Expo) in Nairobi, Kenya.

In September 2015 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-34372188), China’s President Xi Jinping announced China would spend US $2 billion on South-South cooperation initiatives. This has been called “a ‘game changer’ in international relations” (http://www.ipsnews.net/2015/11/opinion-chinas-new-south-south-funds-a-global-game-changer/). President Xi also said of South-South cooperation, it is: “a great pioneering measure uniting the developing nations together for self-improvement, is featured by equality, mutual trust, mutual benefit, win-win result, solidarity and mutual assistance and can help developing nations pave a new path for development and prosperity.”

Also that year the United Nations launched its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), utilising innovation and South-South Cooperation as the tools to accelerate development goals.

Southern Innovator was cited in UN strategic plans and the magazine’s influence can be seen across the UN as it works to achieve the SDGs. In a sense, Southern Innovator‘s design vision and data-driven and mobile-driven innovators were folded into the bigger policy agendas and funding priorities of the SDGs today.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5311-1052.

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