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Using the web for advice - Hostels Online

By Matt Harrison, Resource Information Centre

There is tremendous demand for the 2,500 beds in the 50 hostels in London offering direct access accommodation to single homeless people. When homeless people call at a hostel that is full, drop in to an advice centre, visit a day centre or call Shelter's London Line freephone helpline, staff have to ring round hostel after hostel until they find one that has an empty bed for the night.Hostels Online is a new project designed to improve the service single homeless people receive from advice centres or hostels when they are looking for a bed for the night. The main aim is to provide quicker and more effective access to emergency hostel accommodation. Resource Information Service (RIS) – publishers of the London Hostels Directory – are managing the new system. Matt Harrison of the Resource Information Service takes up the story.

Hostels Online uses the Internet to provide an on-line database of available direct access beds, updated by the hostels as vacancies arise or are taken up. The project uses an interactive website to display a list of hostels, the number of vacancies and when the information was last changed.

Instead of having to phone round all the emergency hostels, advice services and day centres can view accurate and up-to-date information about vacancies in all the participating hostels using a web browser.

We started with a successful 4-month pilot scheme to test the idea and the technology, funded by the Corporation of London and involving fourteen hostels, day centres and advice services. We then obtained funding from the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions and London Boroughs Grants to expand the system to cover all direct access hostels in London and the key advice services and day centres. The full Hostels Online system was launched on 1 December 1997.

To achieve this we have had to install modems, software and Internet connections in over fifty hostels, day centres and advice services to date. Participating organisations provide their own computers and telephone lines, whilst we offer free training and technical support to all users.

The Hostels Online web site, designed for us by a firm of consultants, offers access to the database of hostel vacancies, plus full information about each hostel, including maps and policy information. Users can search the database for suitable hostels and exchange information via e-mail. In addition we can fax up-to-date information from the web site to organisations without an Internet connection, or whose connection is down. These faxes are sent automatically, via a modem and phone line connected to the web site host computer in Oxford. Agencies can either request a fax by telephoning RIS, or can subscribe to the service and receive a customised fax of vacancies in every relevant hostel each day at 10am.

Installation

Working on this project has presented us with several challenges, mainly because of the variety of computers and the low level of staff technical knowledge. To try and minimise technical support problems, we wanted to set up the system so users could simply click on one icon and access the Internet automatically, with no need to remember multiple passwords or use more than one piece of software. To achieve this we had to set up web browsers which autodial the Internet as needed and remember passwords.

We also incorporated web-based e-mail into the Hostels Online web site so that users didn't need to learn how to use separate e-mail software.

We also wanted to standardise on a web browser and Internet Service Provider (ISP). As many computers already have Internet Explorer loaded, we decided to standardise on version 3. For Windows 95 machines this presented no problems, but setting up Windows 3.1 machines to autodial the ISP was harder. We ended up using Trumpet Winsock and scripts to automate dialling to the ISP.

We chose Pipex Dial as our ISP for dial-up access as they offered us a free Internet connection for each registered charity, centralised administration and monthly billing of the accounts we needed. Their connectivity has been reliable, and their support staff helped us solve the Windows 3.1 problems.

We've used a mixture of external and internal modems. External modems are easier to install and offer better feedback on problems via LEDs (little flashing lights), but internal modems overcome speed problems with older machines. As the system is only in use for a few minutes a day in most of the hostels and day centres, they have been set up to share existing fax lines rather than use a dedicated phone line.

A couple of the larger users have networks in place, and wanted access to a variety of workstations, but had no Internet connection. For the purpose of this project we set up these users with a single dial-up account using a Windows 95 'gateway' machine with a 56k modem, and then shared the connection using a shareware program called Wingate. This offers simultaneous access for mulitple users at any time (starting at $69.95 for 3 users), and is entirely satisfactory for general web browsing. The gateway machine can still be used as a normal PC, and the system autodials the Internet as needed.

Training and support

The key to getting the system to work well is to ensure that the data is up-to-date. This will only happen if the hostels update their information regularly. To ensure this we offer training to all staff who may need to use the system. This is a significant undertaking as there are about 1,000 staff and volunteers across London who may need training. In many cases, users who have been trained can train new users, but we have found that in some organisations the more IT-Iiterate staff are reluctant to let the novices use the system, and the novices then perceive the system as not relevant to them. To overcome this we offer regular training visits, and a program of free training sessions at our offices.We also offer technical support via a dedicated telephone number, which is diverted to a mobile phone at the weekends.

Each weekend a member of staff takes the phone and a notebook computer home to deal with urgent technical queries and monitor use of the site. Following our experience of the pilot scheme, most of the support is of a pro-active nature, with us ringing people who haven't used the system that day to ask if there are problems. We found that when the Internet connection stopped working, it was often several days before a member of staff rang us for help.

Feedback

The system was launched on 1 December 1997, and has been well received. Initial scepticism amongst advice services has been replaced by enthusiasm for its potential:

"I wasn't too sure it was going to work that well but I'm a believer!" (Advice Worker, North London)

The ability to monitor vacancies in this new way is vital both to identify vacancies and, as we are planning to open a short stay project locally we can go to potential funders with a very strong message about demand." (Advice worker, West London)