Demons, downloads and daffodils

Hello, it’s me Kate Bentham again this week, starting with a shuffle of the feet and staring at the floor apology for the delay in getting this summary to you. My standards are slipping. I’ll try harder. Am I forgiven?

So, let’s cut to the chase and get on to those blogs, you’ve waited long enough for them after all. There were 12 perfectly formed blogs this week, which turns out to be one of the quietest weeks we’ve had for a while. If ever you are struggling for inspiration then just get in touch on the #weeklyblogclub tag, and someone will tweet you some ideas. If time is your issue, we can’t help there, but if you found a solution then do share.

A couple of blogs posed questions to us this week, one of which was an important one was around mental health. Susan Munro asks Are You Aware?, do we know enough about mental health issues and the impact on a person’s life. Susan questions if enough is done to raise awareness of mental health to the general public and also questions whose role it is to do this. It’s also important to consider what success might look like, how would we know that people are aware. A very interesting blog to coincide with Mental Health Awareness Week.

Rough Cat aka Llana Rockette  blogs this week about being Scottish and the all of the fabulous things associated with being Scottish. In Scots Abroad – Surely Not That Obvious? Rough Cat looks at Scottish stereotypes, such as accents, weather, communities, sun bathing, and lager. 

Mark Wood is often asked Why hang around on mountains then? In his blog this week he not only explains why but also shows us why. As a talented photographer Mark patiently stands for hours on the snowy Welsh hills to capture stunning images of military jets.

Richard Overy regularly shares wonderful photos with us, which may have been lost but are now found again. This week Richard shares a group photo entitled Wilson & Mrs W. Hoskin  which possibly shows generations of neighbouring families. There are lots of interesting faces to look at in this glimpse of the past.

Samuel-James Wilson also looks at the past this week, with a focus on our cultural and architectural heritage. In St.Andrews Church – Starbeck Church – Update Samuel-James updates us on his campaign to protect the integrity and heritage of this local church, sharing some of the recent correspondence he has received from the local council and company carrying out the work, which does not actually address the professional and informed questions he asks. We wish Samuel-James well with this important campaign.

We regularly get health related blogs and this week is no different. We have a real personal blog by Ros Gray called Daffodils in full bloom , which was posted on the Ayrshire Health Blog. In this blog, Ros looks beyond the technical care of patients and focuses on compassionate, person centred care, and ensuring patient safety. Lots of important questions are asked in this blog, but have your tissues at the ready; it might bring a tear to your eye.

Anyone who likes the sporting section of the weekly blog club summary will be pleased to read there are two sports related blogs this week (sort of). First up we haveThe Sporting Wag who argues that it’s Not All Bad For UAE Rugby But Much More Needs To Be Done, after a recent defeat against Japan. The sporting wag, aka Hannah Chia, suggests that the amateur status of the players of the UAE team will continue to struggle against professional players, unless some investment into a league is taken forward.

The other sporting (sort of) related blog is from Kenny McDonald who in Living life the Wigan way  looks at the leadership and management style of Wigan Football club manager Roberto Martinez. Kenny greatly admires the professionalism of Roberto and how he worked to strive to implement his strategy to avoid relegation. We can all learn something about leadership style from this manager, I even learnt a bit about football.

We have a very helpful blog from  Louise Brown called A quick look at targeting your Facebook page posts this is an particularly useful blog for anyone who manages a corporate Facebook page. Louise has produced a step by step guide for anyone who wants to know more about targeting posts.  Graham Budd shares an interesting blog this week called Getting your name “in the paper”. The blog looks at why someone might object to their name appearing digitally but are very comfortable with other elements of their public profile – I’d be really interested to hear your thoughts on this? Why might digitally differ? if you have any ideas include them on Graham’s blog.

Fragmentation of TV Audiences and Illegal Downloads by Karl Green this week looks at how TV audiences are becoming more and more fragmented as a result of technological developments. Karl also looks at how pay to view channels are causing some audiences to illegally download programmes. A great read.

Finally My personal demons by Karen Hart looks at procrastination and perfectionism, two characteristics she is cursed with. Karen blogs on how they cripple her into inactivity and a feeling that  nothing is never any good. I can certainly see myself in this blog, I often faff about until the deadline, and then sometimes that comes and goes and still I’m not finished. Thank goodness for the invention of Squidgy Deadlines. I’ve certainly needed one this week for this summary. Thankfully I’m not cursed by perfectionism – but you already knew that, you might have read this far to find that out.

If you have enjoyed the blogs this week, be sure to let the blogger know, a simple like, comment or share is really encouraging and motivating. If you have been motivated to write a blog for next week you can find out more about how to on our About page, it really is simple. Or if you have felt motivated to have a go at being a guest curator you can find out how to here, that’s really simple too – and very enjoyable.

I’m back again for the week 21 summary. So until then, take care, eat some cake and keep blogging.

Kate 

Summary of Week 20 posts

1. Living life the Wigan way by Kenny McDonald
2. My personal demons by Karen Hart
3. St.Andrews Church – Starbeck Church – Update by Samual-James Wilson
4. Wilson & Mrs W. Hoskin by Richard Overy
5. Scots Abroad – Surely Not That Obvious? by Rough Cat aka Llana Rockette 
6. Daffodils in full bloom by Ros Gray
7. Why hang around on mountains then? by Mark Wood
8. Are You Aware? by Susan Munro
9. Fragmentation of TV Audiences and Illegal Downloads by Karl Green
10. Not All Bad For UAE Rugby But Much More Needs To Be Done. by The Sporting Wag
11. Getting your name “in the paper” by Graham Budd
12. A quick look at targeting your Facebook page posts By Louise Brown

Questioning Y

A reflective blog from Phil Jewitt, questioning why more women didn’t pitch a session at CommsCamp13, but also considering how if an idea is such a good idea why others haven’t picked it up before.

Questioning Y by Phil Jewitt

 

 

I love technology, art and learning!

If you’re interested in contributing to the Weekly Blog Club you can find out more on the About page.

Summary of Week 7 posts

Epicurus and a simply PhD lesson by Derek Barron.

And we have another year by Sasha Taylor.

Dear May by Richard Overy.

The naked public servant by Phil Jewitt.

The future is now by Louise Brown.

Falls Prevention with @clareRCGP on Twitter by Claire OT.

Once Upon a Time . . .  by Norma Clark.

Busman’s Holiday. The Jefferson Memorial, Wastewater Treatment and Root Cause Analysis by Chris Bolton - @whatsthepont.

Choosing Quality Childcare by Shropshire Family Information Service.

Charlecote at 4am… by Phoebe Taylor and Charlecote Park.

Stepney City Farm ‘can change the world’ by Karen JK Hart.

Healthcare: We’re all doomed by @micmac650 by Ayrshire Health.

What’s in a Name? by Susan Munro.

Weekly blog club by Louise Atkinson.

Let’s start an evolution by Kenny McDonald - @MarCommsKenny.

Participatory websites – what does good practice look like? by Dyfrig Williams – @PartCymru.

This is the happy love songs playlist by Janet E Davis.

This is the much longer playlist of the ironic, poignant or plain sad love songs by Janet E Davis.

My ValenTyne by Janet E Davis.

What on earth are you doing here? by Ben Whitehouse.

A Done List by Kate Bentham.

OFF SPIN: Why Malcolm Tucker must die

For week 44 Dan Slee blogs about the damage Malcolm Tucker from The Thick Of It can cause to the reputation of government comms professionals and how for the public, it can warp the perception of the role. For this crime, Malcolm Tucker must surely die.

OFF SPIN: Why Malcolm Tucker must die by Dan Slee

Marketing – a game for everyone to play

This week Vindicat blog about how just beacuse there may be a software package for anything and everything these days, including marketing now it seems, it doesn’t make everyone suddenly skilled in all aspects of business.

Marketing – a game for everyone to play by VindicatPR

An apple a day

Phil Jewitt highlights how from April 2013 Localgov will have a responsibility for Public Health, and how the council can help to make every contact count to improve the health and welbeing of its residents – whatever that means.

An apple a day by Phil Jewitt 

Is that a challenge?

I have gained so much from weekly blog club, from Janet and other bloggers who have shown me the ropes, I wanted to use my turn at the helm to say thanks. > Thanks to you all. So, some 6 weeks ago I offered to cover Week 43 to give a little something back and give Janet a well earned break. And boy I bet she needed it after 25 posts last week.

My turn came round quick, and actually went quick too. I’d geared myself up for potentially tweeting from the wrong account and mis-posting links. I deliberately do not have my work twitter and personal accounts on the same mobiles for that reason. Fortunately, I coped without a mis-tweet and actually saw it’s quite doable to run multiple accounts from the same phone. However, there might have been a dodgy link somewhere, so apologies if there was. Any road, as they say in Yorkshire, I hope my stewardry was acceptable. And actually, I enjoyed the experience and ask in support of Janet that if anyone might be interested in helping out, then please tweet @weeklyblogclub or myself @philjewitt for a quick chat on what’s involved or see the About page.

One of the principles of weekly blog club is it’s for the readers as much as the writers. For those writers who needed the squidgiest deadline, apologies if it appeared a tad harsh on sticking to the extended deadline of 6pm on Thursday. As they also say in Yorkshire “tell it how it is earlydoors and ‘av dun, don’t give ‘em an inch else they’ll tek a mile”. We say a lot of stuff in Yorkshire! It was the only way I could guarantee a summary ready for weekend morning readers, and I know that’s a time when people like to dip in. To those who unfortunately missed the deadline this week, they will be included next week.

There were 15 posts in week 43; impressive, as I thought you might have blogged yourselves out in week 42. Thanks also to those who retweeted and liked or have commented so far.

I deliberately didn’t set a theme this week as I wanted to see what would come in, and set myself a challenge to see if I could find a common thread. You can be the judge.

The first post Shame about your face dad by Ross Wigham brightened up the start of a murky week. Ross provides a collection of the challenging questions that our little folk sometimes ask, mostly at the most inconvenient times. Where do they get them from?

A potential theme appeared early on as challenge was also the name of the game in Introducing camp camp by Paul Coxon. Paul questions whether the market for public sector unconferences is becoming saturated. Both Ross and Paul’s posts received great responses. It shows that discussion and debate can be created and maintained by posting interesting content and in responding.

Don’t know where was at the time by Richard Overy asks a challenging question too and So not a jolly by Phil Jewitt  reflects on the challenges facing the public sector in trying to engage and move towards a society of civic enterprise, where things will need to be done differently. The commission on the future of local government is something that those of you in the public and third sector especially should be aware of.

What is stop-motion animation anyway? by Louise Brown,  Instagram v Facebook – a socmed off for marketers by Janet Harkin and Consumer coverage can be yours by Sarah Hall were all posts explaining how the challenges of portraying sometimes complex data/products had been overcome using the different media of infographics, film and advertising.

We welcomed back Hannah Chia in week 43 with two posts; Sporting Summer Round Up and Lance Armstrong – A false hero. Both posts consider the challenges that sportsmen and women face in aiming to be the best and in being seen as role models, or not.

A Christmas Carol by Carol Woolley provides an insight into the challenge of practicing well before Xmas for the many festive musical concerts that she looks forward to being part of. On the other hand, Viva la vida! or Why I want you to get lost by Ben Whitehouse was a post about how he had succeeded in the challenge of finding a way to get away from it all, for some of the time anyway.

Thanks for coming by Andrew Jacobs was a cryptic look at the challenges that we face in learning experiences and A hiccup for the health check-up by Martin Brunet, via the Binscombe Doctor Blog, highlighted the challenges for the medical profession when politicians look to interpret scientific data.

So that leaves 2 posts to account for. The ‘ultimate challenge’. Posted by Martin Brunet, End of Life Care Pathway – Giving the Time to Choose What Matters was sensitively covered by Karen Jones, again via the Binscombe Doctor Blog. After reading this post, I think we will all have the same conclusion that what we chelp about is nowt compared to what some do in their daily work.

Finally, somewhere, a social media mojo has apparently been lost. Personally, I’m ‘avin none of it. Lost: Social Media Mojo is an honest explanation of the challenges facing us due to the cuts to local government. Kate Bentham describes what has temporarily knocked her off track, but all’s well that ends well as Kate shares a plan to get her back doing what she does best. It was good to see the twitterlove that wound its way to Shropshire.

And that is why we love weeklyblogclub.

Phil Jewitt

Summary of Week 43 posts

1. Shame about your face dad by Ross Wigham
2. Introducing camp camp by Paul Coxon
3. Don’t know where was at the time by Richard Overy
4. So not a jolly by Phil Jewitt
5. What is stop-motion animation anyway? by Louise Brown
6. Lost: Social Media Mojo by Kate Bentham
7. Sporting Summer Round Up by Hannah Chia
8. Consumer coverage can be yours by Sarah Hall
9. A hiccup for the health check-up by Martin Brunet
10. Thanks for coming by Andrew Jacobs
11. A Christmas Carol by Carol Woolley
12. Viva la vida! or Why I want you to get lost by Benji W
13. End of Life Care Pathway – Giving the Time to Choose What Matters by Karen Jones posted by Martin Brunet via The Binscombe Doctor Blog
14. Instagram v Facebook – a socmed off for marketers by Janet Harkin
15. Lance Armstrong – A false hero by Hannah Chia

Consumer coverage can be yours

Some days you might think you can’t even write your own blog post but have you ever picked up a glossy magazine and wondered how you would get coverage?

Sarah gives us some tips (which includes drinking coffee).

Consumer coverage can be yours by Sarah Hall

Joining up

Phil Jewitt has been to the pub, in work time – but don’t worry it’s all for the benefit of joining up organisations, challenging boundaries and working together for the benefit of the end user.

Joining up by Phil Jewitt

London Calling – A Scottish Cop’s Experience of Policing with the Met

Andy Wilson gives a fascinating personal insight in to policing the Olympics, and some of the differences in style and approach between different forces.

London Calling – A Scottish Cop’s Experience of Policing with the Met by Andy Wilson