Did any of you notice that I confused Week 46, Week 47 and Week 48 over the last week? Or were you all too polite to mention it? I have corrected last week’s summary now. It had all started with some incorrect copying of the list of posts, I think, and my having a lot on my mind (how to find paid work within the next couple of weeks).
I had thought that there were only 7 or 8 posts this week, but when I listed them, there were a very respectable 15 (if you think yours is missing, just tweet @WeeklyBlogClub).
We had more vintage moustaches to draw attention to the #Movember annual charity event from Richard Overy in Do you happen to know these fellows? One man who knows himself – Ben Whitehouse – this week wrote about for what he is thankful in Thankful (it was Thanksgiving day over in the US at the end of Week 47 of Weekly Blog Club). Samuel-James Wilson was thankful for the medical care he received this week (though not for the random accident that caused him to need it) in Unwanted Sightseeing.
Chris Bolton thought a bit more about best practice and a set of related terms in Best Practice Glossary or Buzzword Bingo? (and which of us has not played buzzword bingo, which seems especially prevalent in public services?).
Do you remember Mark Braggins’s series of BlueLight Camp posts earlier in the year, about the unconference for the emergency services, considering how digital tools can help their work? He is now involved in planning BlueLight Camp 2013 and has been looking back on the comments and posts written about the last one: BlueLight Camp: Post of posts. Debbie Provan wrote Healthcare meets the software revolution for the Ayrshire Health blog this week about how healthcare professional do and could use digital tools, including social media, for learning and for providing good healthcare information to the public. I was particularly interested in what she wrote about institution’s networks still barring access to social media sites. There were loud echoes of what I found was happening in cultural institutions a couple of years ago when researching barriers to their using social web tools.
Another post looking at public services, though not specifically just the digital aspects, came from Rob Francis: How to move from giving the public a voice, to enabling them to have a role. I found this particularly interesting because I am involved with a recently-formed local community group which is working out its relationship with the local authority, and we have both councillors and council staff attending our meetings and events. There has been a proactive community for years but changes last year and this in the council and other public organisations have been changing the way things work, and how things will work in the future.
Louise Brown has been learning more from Andy Mabbett about how to map her local area and add information about it to Wikipedia. She wrote about it (with illustrations of what she has been doing) in A day of maps and facts. Andy also wrote about the day, if you want to know more about it.
Derek Barron might benefit from a map to information retrieval. His post this week On the road to nowhere asks the readers to suggest ways in which to approach finding specific information that he needs to do the literature review that is the first stage of his PhD.
Matt Bond returned this week with a very serious and highly relevant post What should we be learning from the Lord McAlpine case? He looks particularly at how it might affect the use of social media by public services. This is the must-read post of the week for all who use social media, whether for work, voluntary work or personal purposes.
Another useful post this week, especially those who are just thinking of starting their own business, came from Anna-Clare O’Neill, writing Ten tips for freelancers on Ross Wigham’s blog. Even if you have been working freelance for a while, you could find this post helpful.
Hannah Chia declared this week that It’s Hard Work Being A Rugby WAG. She gives the partner-of-a-sportsperson’s view of sports but perhaps not the one that you might expect (she does like watching). The title of Peter Olding’s post – Teenagers – Who’d have ‘em – might lead you into thinking that it is about teenagers being confrontational, but this is an amusing tale of witty subversion.
Janet Harkin wrote about an interesting tourism initiative in Ireland in her post Destination Donegal – creating The Wild Atlantic Way. It sounds like a great idea. I think that tourism not only brings in income but can sell a country or an area as a place for other businesses. The North East coast is one of my favourite places to photograph and paint, and one of my two posts this week was an almost abstract, monochromatic view At the edge – sand, seaweed, wave in which I tried to capture the movement on that edge where sea and land meet. My other post was taken in a tourist attraction and also featured edges but this time of a linear nature: Red and white flower.
Posts that focus on pictures are always popular. Derek Barron Storified a conversation we had on Twitter in A theme is born, and thereby set the [entirely optional] theme for Week 48, based on Janet Harkin’s post last week, My day in 10 pictures. We would love to see other people’s days in 10 pictures. We could even have a hashtag: #dayin10pics.
Thank you very much to all who wrote something this week. Thank you very much also to all those who have read, Liked, followed, and tweeted about Weekly Blog Club – you are as much part of the club as those who write. Anyone can join in on any week – do read the About page (recently revised and expanded a little to cover some of the frequently asked questions).
If you would like to volunteer to look after Weekly Blog Club. there is information about what is involved is on the Admin info page, and you can suggest a week (or even weeks) that you could do on the Who looks after Weekly Blog Club when page.
I hope you are able to keep dry and travel safely this week.
Janet
Summary of Week 47 posts
BlueLight Camp: Post of posts by Mark Braggins.
Ten tips for freelancers by Anna-Clare O’Neill on Ross Wigham‘s blog.
It’s Hard Work Being A Rugby WAG by Hannah Chia.
Do you happen to know these fellows? by Richard Overy.
On the road to nowhere by Derek Barron.
Teenagers – Who’d have ‘em by Peter Olding.
What should we be learning from the Lord McAlpine case? by Matt Bond.
A day of maps and facts by Louise Brown.
Unwanted Sightseeing by Samuel-James Wilson.
Best Practice Glossary or Buzzword Bingo? by Chris Bolton.
Red and white flower by Janet E Davis.
At the edge – sand, seaweed, wave by Janet E Davis.
Destination Donegal – creating The Wild Atlantic Way by Janet Harkin.
Healthcare meets the software revolution by Debbie Provan on the Ayrshire Health blog.
How to move from giving the public a voice, to enabling them to have a role by Rob Francis on the OPM (Office for Public Management) blog.
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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