Carolyne Mitchell expresses her views (making it clear that they are her own views, not those of her employer) about changing local authority boundaries in Scotland in her Week 21 post.
She makes some very interesting points, including one about hard-to-reach groups being not those that you would expect in a local government context.
The themes had a very sibilant sound in the 14 posts for Week 15 of Weekly Blog Club. Social media, sociable enterprise, social history, and what could be described as social projects were strong themes this week. Much of the social nature actually related to work contexts. We happen to be building up quite a collection of advice and case studies of using digital media, and especially of the social aspects.
I will start with the sports section this week. Hannah Chia tackled the subject of the very eventful Oxford Cambridge Boat Race in The Boat Race: Two Boats & One Idiot by Hannah Chia. Peter McClymont shared memories of his childhood sport obsession – Subbuteo – in his post Only a game: “Flick to kick”.
My post - Memories of children’s television cartoons - prompted others to share their memories of television cartoons from when they were children. It is interesting to see how some remain the same for people up to about a decade apart in age.
Dan Slee uncovered a bit of the past that reminded him of how people had communicated differently in the days when the local newspaper was the key public communication medium at local area level: ‘this, children, is how people did protests before facebook.’
Irena Souroup used the medium of online to communicate her disgust at the news that a think tank had been counting the cost of bank holidays, and had concluded that each one costs the country £2.3 billion: The Centre for Economics and Business Bollocks.
Elaine Walton wrote a guest post on Janet Harkin’s blog this week about counting on a good number of her social media followers responding to her questionnaire: When your Social Media reach counts for something. Her points on using a social network in such a way should prove useful to many. Louise Brown shared her wonderfully organised approach to managing online information - Sifting the online wheat from the chaff - which was equally useful, and prompted us to think about whether we could be more efficient.
It was good to see a contribution in Week 15 from Al Smith since Weekly Blog Club was suggested and initiated partly to encourage him to write regularly. Al contributed a very interesting post - Tackling behaviour change - about Cannock Chase District Council’s approach to serious social problems and how they have been using social media in the campaign.
Kate Bentham’s post focused specifically on how she had developed communication between the council and families through Facebook: One Big Facebook Family. Some of the other Weekly Blog Members were particularly taken with her giving Curly Wurlies [other brands of chocolate bars are available] as incentives.
First-time contributor Ross Wigham introduced people to his patch – the glorious hidden jewel of a county, Northumberland – and shared how the county has been adopting online methods of communication: Using social media in the public sector.
An article about a woman’s research into which streets in Rome were named after women inspired me to write a post to suggest community projects about maps, linking past and present people with places: Gendered UK street maps? This attracted more comments than any of my other posts so far.
Travelling has been the original spark for a conversation on Twitter that two of the regular Weekly Blog Club bloggers followed up. It had involved #IslandGovCamp – and cake = and had caused the invention of the term ‘sociable enterprise’ (I think it was Mark Braggins who first suggested the term? And note: not the same as ‘social enterprise’). Phil Jewitt put forward his definition, and proposed extending the unconference spirit, in ‘Be’ in Social (and also may have mentioned cake). Mark explained a bit more about the Orkney connection, mentioned family history in passing, provided his definition of ‘sociable enterprise’ in A ‘Sociable’ Enterprise? (cake might have been mentioned again).
Finally, if you are based in Scotland, please read and respond to Lesley Thomson’s post: Anyone for teacamp? It sounds like a great idea.
If you want to join in the Weekly Blog Club, new contributors are welcome and should read our simple, basic rules on the About page (‘rules’ might be an exaggeration). If you do not already have a blog, we can help guide you a bit into setting one up. We aim to be friendly and supportive. Readers are also an important part of the club, and your positive comments and clicks on any ‘Like’ buttons available on posts are much appreciated.
The (entirely optional) theme for Week 16 could be:
Having suggested those three, I expect most will write about something entirely different – and at least three of them will coincidentally be on the same theme.
Janet
Sifting the online wheat from the chaff by Louise Brown.
The Boat Race: Two Boats & One Idiot by Hannah Chia.
Using social media in the public sector by Ross Wigham.
The Centre for Economics and Business Bollocks by Irena Souroup.
Memories of children’s television cartoons by Janet E Davis.
‘Be’ in Social by Phil Jewitt.
‘this, children, is how people did protests before facebook’ by Dan Slee.
Gendered UK street maps? by Janet E Davis.
One Big Facebook Family by Kate Bentham.
Anyone for teacamp? by Lesley Thomson.
When your Social Media reach counts for something guest blog by Elaine Walton on Janet Harkin‘s blog.
A ‘Sociable’ Enterprise? by Mark Braggins.
Mark Braggins’s Week 15 post will enlighten the uninitiated about the Weekly Blog Club. He also mentions the Island Govcamp, the possible (we hope ‘probable’) blogging, vlogging road trip to Island Govcamp, Orkney, family history and cake on his way to considering the definition of a ‘sociable’ enterprise.
Peter Olding’s Week 14 post is about the naming of social media accounts by companies – in this case, a train company – and how some might need to think more carefully about their abbreviation.
Check all media outputs before choosing a name by Peter Olding.
What an irresistible title Kate Bentham has chosen for her Week 14 post! Learn useful things, such as what not to forget when you go camping (wild or tame), and how to make a hot water ‘bottle’ with just stones, fire and foil.
Confessions of a so called Wild Camper Part One by Kate Bentham.
For her Week 14 post, Louise Brown has written a lovely reflection on the people that she has met and the things that she has done as the result of being on Twitter.
Although there are fewer posts to read this week (15 rather than last week’s 22), they are all, as ever, well worth reading. The (always optional) theme for Week 11 was women because the Weekly Blog Club week happened to start on International Women’s Day. Another main theme that emerged during the week was ‘just doing it’ – people sharing with us something that they had done for their community or friends, or for themselves instead of expecting others to do it for them.
Hannah Chia started the week with dragons, wasps and princes with her posts on a rugby match – Dragons 2s v Wasps 2s: Pseudo Match Report - and Prince Harry doing sporty things to connect with people: The Sporting Prince: Harry Charms on Diamond Jubilee Tour. Later in the week, she wrote about some footballers doing that thing where they roll about on the ground in agony one moment and look fine the next (with some great illustrations of such events): Naughty, Naughty Didier Drogba.
More sport nearly happened in Phil Jewitt’s post, but his plans being thwarted led to a thought-provoking post about aspirations to quality, especially for the public sector: More than a mission statement. Interesting ideas about public services and their use of digital technology came out of Matt Murray’s post about GovCamp Queensland: #GovCampQld – thoughts, people, tweets and links. Those who have attended UKGovCamp, ScotGovCamp or one of the LocalGovcamps in the UK will probably find Matt’s post a fascinating read.
In Wind turbines for dummies* Peter McClymont wrote about some of the issues that the most local of local authorities (parish councils) face when looking at planning applications, including not having the resources to obtain the impartial expert advice they need.
Others shared knowledge and advice freely this week, or wrote about having done so. Louise Brown shared a useful infographic about the new Facebook timeline style page that many will find useful: Understanding the new Facebook Page timelines for charities. Peter Olding gave an example of helping someone else to share information online in Taking back the Big Society. Those thinking of blogging or just starting to blog, could find Kate Bentham’s post, reflecting on her first weeks of blogging, encouraging and useful: A blog about blogging. Rob Stewart advised on how to avert the danger of one’s blog being insecure when using wifi in public places: Blogging securely with WordPress and SSL Part one. His post could help both new and experienced bloggers.
I hope that the other Weekly Blog Club writers will forgive me for picking out John Patterson’s post as the ‘must-read’ post of the week. From the comments by others that I have seen so far, I think many would agree that John’s post should inspire the rest of us to just do it, rather than hesitate and procrastinate: Train-ing to overcome.
Someone else with a great deal of determination wrote about getting on with doing it herself. Diane Sims produced Saving Newsome Mills (part two): The day the sun came out as her Week 11 post. Hopefully, there is at least one more part to this heritage story.
Irena Souroup wrote about her determined efforts to do handicrafts whilst on maternity leave in order to set herself goals, create a product, no matter how difficult and fiddly the process: The Smugness of Knitters.
Janet Harkin had content from a guest on her blog this week. In honour of International Women’s Day, she shared two lovely poems, one about being a woman, and one about watching a daughter dance: Lipstick by Mel Bradley and Chloe by Mel Bradley.
I was hoping to write a post about one historical woman whose life I am researching, but I ran out of time to write it (or anything else) in Week 11. Women’s History Month does not end until 31st March, however. To make amends for not writing a post this week, I offer you a link to a post I wrote a while ago about other women (some of you may have seen it before): World War 2: 1 woman.
Any ideas for the Week 12 (entirely optional) theme? Please add to comments on this post if you have suggestions. Tweet out if you want inspiration during the week and the Links – useful page has not led to anything that prompted a good idea. Someone usually responds within an hour or so with suggestions. My topic this week is likely to be about cultural data, or selling art, since I need to think about both of those this week.
Thank you again to the readers as well as writers. It is great to see more people ‘liking’ posts and following the blog. If you are someone thinking of writing, do check out the About page for how – and then just do it – write.
Janet
Summary of Week 11 posts
Dragons 2s v Wasps 2s: Pseudo Match Report by Hannah Chia.
The Sporting Prince: Harry Charms on Diamond Jubilee Tour by Hannah Chia.
Understanding the new Facebook Page timelines for charities by Louise Brown.
Saving Newsome Mills (part two): The day the sun came out by Diane Sims.
Lipstick by Mel Bradley (guest post on Janet Harkin‘s blog).
Chloe by Mel Bradley (guest post on Janet Harkin‘s blog).
More than a mission statement by Phil Jewitt.
#GovCampQld – thoughts, people, tweets and links by Matt Murray.
Taking back the Big Society by Peter Olding.
Naughty, Naughty Didier Drogba by Hannah Chia.
Wind turbines for dummies* by Peter McClymont.
A blog about blogging by Kate Bentham.
Train-ing to overcome by John Patterson.
Blogging securely with WordPress and SSL Part one by Rob Stewart.
John Patterson writes about making the difficult decision to do something about which most people would not think twice to do. Do read this, especially if you think your commute in/out of the office was difficult.
Train-ing to overcome by John Patterson.
Note: the outcome is in a footnote at the very end.
Ian Curwen started his Week 10 posts by updating on his weigh-in back on 23rd February. After a good (in the sense of enjoyable) weekend in York, all the exercise proved useful in continuing to move forward.
Week 6 of Weekly Blog Club had a remarkable 15 contributions this week. This was remarkable because one regular was too ill to write one, many of the other regulars were dashing around the country attending unconferences and other events, and bad weather distracted most of the UK.
Several Weekly Blog Club bloggers attended the LocalGovCamp North West held at Preston on Saturday 4th February, and 1 or 2 of us followed some of it on live video then audio feeds. The Twitter Gritter was a topic that day, and Dan Slee picked up on it again for his Week 6 post. He pointed out that sometimes public sector people can deliver much better and cheaper services than any outside contractor (something I was arguing in heritage 20 years ago).
Mark Braggins got so much out of LocalGovCamp NW that he is spreading it over more than one post, and the first one just covers the journey and his first impressions of Preston and the unconference’s venue. I am sure that I am not the only one looking forward to his account of the sessions. Mark produces very readable and and enjoyable, as well as useful, reports of these events.
The third one to be inspired directly by LocalGovCamp NW was Peter Olding who picked up on the idea of local authorities using Flickr and went on to explain why he did not think using Creative Commons licences was the best idea. It will be interesting to see any responses to his post in Week 7.
Sadly, a couple of our writers have lost people recently about whom they cared. Phil Jewitt and Carolyne Mitchell took different approaches but both wrote movingly and beautifully about their losses. Both their posts are well worth reading.
Graham Budd tackled the rather awkward issue of publicly thanking a local authority for a specific piece of work in his neighbourhood when he also happens to be an employee of that council.
There were several posts that had very work-focused themes this week. Janet Harkin shared a tool for helping to prioritise work. Sarah Lay shared the main points from her presentation – ‘Magic Numbers: Measuring the Quality and Quantity of your Social Media Activity’ - at the Epic Social Media for the Public Sector conference in Exeter. Many could find this useful for thinking about an evaluation framework. Please note: towards the bottom of her post, Sarah also asks for people to take part in a survey – please participate if possible.
Continuing the work focus was Kate Bentham who was concerned about the consequences of third parties using out-of-date data from local government open data, especially childcare data. Kelly Quigley-Hicks was concerned that young people making career decisions did not see local government public relations as an attractive option, and wondered if local government PR needs some PR. Matt Murray wrote about the use of social media by local government in emergency situations (specifically, flooding in his area of Australia). I hope that some of the readers who are involved with local government communications aspects of emergency planning will share their thoughts and ideas with Matt. It would be a good thing to use blogging to help each other to help others across the world.
There was a mini culture theme this week. There was a musical topic from Andrew Beeken in his first post for Weekly Blog Club on the practicalities of recording MIDI to iPad (good to see a ‘How-To-Do’ amongst the posts). I blogged about the importance of everybody having access to the best of art, architecture and design in the UK (with a mention of how art schools have tended to produce rock and pop musicians).
Finally (and certainly not least), we had the romance of travel in two posts (the less pleasant aspects of travel were also mentioned in Mark Braggins‘s post). Louise Brown told us of romance on a Scottish island and how a telephone box there connected with an old black-and-white movie. Peter McClymont told us of a road trip he made in the United States, during which he encountered bison, bikers, and carhenge – truly the stuff of travel dreams for at least some of us.
Thank you to all the Week 6 participants for such interesting and highly readable posts. Week 7 could have the optional theme of love or romance. How many think of town halls and civic centres as romantic places? And yet so many get married in these buildings every year. Which public places do you love or consider romantic, from either a professional or personal viewpoint?
Janet
Stop the world, I want to get off for a while by Phil Jewitt.
Every thanks you ever wanted to post on Facebook (but were afraid to do so) by Graham Budd.
TWITTER GRITTER: Beware Inferior Private Sector Product by Dan Slee.
In Praise of the Priority Matrix by Janet Harkin.
Memories of a digital detox by Louise Brown.
High art for the masses by Janet E Davis.
Bill Anderson 1934-2012 by Carolyne Mitchell.
Epic Social Media for the Public Sector – South West by Sarah Lay.
A Danger of Open Data by Kate Bentham.
Does local government PR need some PR? by Kelly Quigley-Hicks.
Preston is a nice place. Oh, and Local Gov Camp North West (Part 1) by Mark Braggins.
Record MIDI to iPad by Andrew Beeken.
FlickR and the creative commons by Peter Olding.
Social media during the #bigwet January 2012 by Matt Murray.
Most awesome places in the world: number 1 in a series of… by Peter McClymont.
http://localgovcampnw.eventbrite.com/ (the original invite/ticketing)
http://topsy.com/localgovcampnw-estw.eventbrite.com/ – some tweets about the event.
http://johnpopham.wordpress.com/2012/02/02/celebration-2-0-and-localgovcamp-north-west/ – John Popham writing beforehand about what he will do at the event.
http://n0tice.com/report/2572/local-gov-camp-nw-updates – a collation of LocalGovCamp NW material by Sarah Hartley.
http://www.jadu.co.uk/localgovcamp – Page including material about various LocalGovCamps by one of LocalGovCamp North West’s sponsors.
http://tobyblume.posterous.com/reflections-on-local-gov-camp-new-blog-localg – Toby Blume’s reflections on the event.
http://talkaboutlocal.org.uk/bins-mags-shops-and-more-talk-about-local-at-localgovcampnw/ – blog post by Sarah Hartley – thoughts by Mike, Sarah and Karen of Talk About Local about the LocalGovCamp North West.
http://pigsonthewing.org.uk/lightning-talks/ - Andy Mabbett’s blog post about Lightning Talks at LocalGovCamp North West.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&v=8gGbirbrlMY – the Lightning Talks at the end.
