It might have been quite a soggy week weather-wise for many in the UK, but spirits were not down amongst the Weekly Blog Club contributors and they came up with a topics mix more varied than British weather for Week 24.
Mark Braggins continued his excellent account of his Orkney odyssey with Northern Blue Lights, his day spent at the Northern BlueLight Camp, an unconference about and for the Northern Constabulary. The issues covered should be of interest to many, since some of the their experience so far in using social media will apply to other public services too.
Phil Jewitt looked at and reflected on his work in Putting your ear in. The need to listen was a key point (and applicable to most workplaces). Ross Wigham listened to some people on the brink of trying to start their public relations careers, and he found it very worthwhile. Find out what happened in Kids today….
Louise Brown took a day off during the week and contributed one of the more unexpected posts this week: Taxidermy, Tring and taking time out. Her post made me want to visit the museum in Tring. Her mention of a post box prompted Peter Olding to write about how hard he is trying not to spot that type of street furniture: Post Boxes – they are everywhere. He also raises the issue of whether security still trumps recording our heritage. I remember when there used to be post boxes at railway stations, and one could post letters at the last minute straight into the mail train.
The birthplace of trains, Newcastle upon Tyne, has a new maritime vessel that is art (whilst being seaworthy) and I wrote a bit about it to accompany the photographs I took on my first visit to it during the week: ~Flow June 2012. It is one of the Olympiad projects, and is moored on the Tyne, opposite the Baltic Mill. It is free to enter, accessible via a ramp (though people in wheelchairs might prefer to visit at high tides when the incline is shallowest), and open from Wednesdays to Sundays from 11am to 5pm. I recommend taking plenty of time to fiddle with knobs and levers, and to watch the wheel turn or the river flow whilst listening to the sounds created in various ways through the Tyne itself. It uses data to create mesmerising music that has an organic quality.
~Flow probably deserves the more lyrical prose of Diane Sims than my rather inadequate description. Diane shared with us as her Week 24 post, Pointing at what isn’t there, a piece that she wrote to accompany an exhibition curated by Lizzie Hughes, The present is a point just passed, at The Stephen Lawrence Gallery, Greenwich University from 7th June to 11th July 2012. I do hope that nobody minds if I enthuse a little about this. Diane’s words are art. They are poetic and haunting. I will go back to re-read more than once, and continue to think about the meaning.
Dan Slee’s post this week also made a big impact but in a different way: it made me even me chuckle (and I do not like football). He explained how Euro 2012: My Sophisticated Stoke City-influenced Who To Support Grudgeometer works. It could be applied to other situations. I did wonder if it could be an app, but concluded it is too human a Grudgeometer.
There were great posts this week but I hope that everyone will agree that the best post of all was Carolyne Mitchell’s about her getting her MSc: Trust me, I’m a scientist. The story of how she got to this glorious achievement should encourage others to continue learning. I thoroughly admire Carolyne for achieving this, and how she managed to fit in with the rest of her already busy life.
If I left your post out, do send a message to @WeeklyBlogClub. If you want to start contributing posts, our About page tells you what you need to know. Blogs can be short as well as long. They can be a few pictures with captions, or two or three links with a couple of sentences with each on why they are useful – or the more traditional length of prose. Past posts have also included poems and playlists.
Any ideas for the Week 25 (entirely optional) theme? Summer weather? Summer conference/unconference/festival season? Or cake? There was no mention of cake this week. Surely we cannot go for too many weeks without mention of cake?
Thank you very much as usual to those who contribute posts, and to those who read and show appreciation. All are appreciated.
Janet
SUMMARY OF WEEK 24 POSTS
Euro 2012: My Sophisticated Stoke City-influenced Who To Support Grudgeometer by Dan Slee.
Northern Blue Lights by Mark Braggins.
Kids today… by Ross Wigham on the CIPR (Chartered Institute of Public Relations) website.
Pointing at what isn’t there by Diane Sims.
Putting your ear in by Phil Jewitt.
Taxidermy, Tring and taking time out by Louise Brown.
Trust me, I’m a scientist by Carolyne Mitchell.
Post Boxes – they are everywhere by Peter Olding.
~Flow June 2012 by Janet E Davis.
Weekly Blog Club was set up in early January 2012 to encourage people to blog regularly, and especially to encourage those working in and with the public sector, charities and voluntary organisations in the UK to find their own 'voice' through writing.
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