Blue lights and learning, landscapes and inspiring

Posted on May 16, 2013 by weeklyblogclub

This post, the summary of Week 19 Year 2 posts, is the 1,194th on this blog. There have been 16,577 views of the blog. We have created 193 categories and 1,771 tags. 246 people follow this blog, and there have been 970 shares (using the buttons on the posts – so does not count all the sharing activity), mostly on Twitter and next most popular are LinkedIn, and Google + (someone does use it!). I have just binned 71 spam comments. There were 17 posts in Week 19.

Healthcare, tourism and leisure were key topics that emerged during the week, with a mini theme of stages of life, and a lot of learning threaded through many of the posts. If you lack inspiration for a post, do just tweet about it to @WeeklyBlogClub and someone will try to help – or you could look back on previous posts (be aware that some links will be broken due to Posterous shutting down last month).

Health-related posts during Week 19

Scot Health monthly is settling in and Becoming part of the landscape, pulling together health blog posts from throughout Scotland. The number of health bloggers in Scotland seems to have grown every month since I first read the Ayrshire Health blog last year, set up by Derek Barron. This week’s post on Ayrshire Health blog – Interprofessional learning…bridging the paradigm gap - was by a paramedic for the first time. John Burnham started his post with an example of learning from another emergency service’s ‘hot debrief’ held immediately after and by the site of the incident. The recent BlueLightCamp unconference (which included organisers and participants whose names are already familiar to Weekly Blog Club readers) focused on how digital technology and communications are and could be used by the emergency services.

Catherine Howe used the Dan Slee approach to unconference blogging and wrote 20 things from BlueLightCamp13 as her ‘general’ post on the event and issues raised. It is always interesting to listen in on such unconferences and to read the blogs about them since the issues raised are often relevant to other areas of the public sector (note to future historians, once upon a time, the UK had public fire, police, and ambulance services).

Joseph Conaghan suggested some radical solutions to the problems in staffing Accident and Emergency in hospitals in Accident and Emergency in Trouble….Quick, Paint Out The Signs. The Dumfries and Galloway Health blog contributed a post with the most authors for a single Weekly Blog Club post thus far with Maureen Stevenson, Laura Graham, Mhairi Hastings, and Natalie Oakes writing London 2013- International Forum on Quality & Safety in Healthcare by The Patient Safety Team. They picked out some of the key points at an international forum, including learning from healthcare professionals in countries with far less resources, and Robert Francis QC talking about his report on the Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust Inquiry.

Chris Bolton had been thinking more about jargon and specifically about National Health Service jargon and shared what he had found in Don’t spend any money on NHS Jargon Busters – it’s sorted! Download the Apps. Having worked on hierarchical word lists myself (including a rather substantial one), I was very interested in this post. The NHS must have several different ‘languages’ with the different types of professionals that work within it, and including both the medical and the non-medical staff. It would be a fabulous challenge to pull together an NHS hierarchical word list.

Stages of life

Phil Jewitt contributed a lovely guest post to the Shropshire Family Information Service blog on the challenge of being a parent of children as they become adults: Letting go. Jayne Holgate of Age UK Business Directory (Nottingham & Nottinghamshire) wrote a guest post on Weekly Blog Club about one of the challenges that face people at the other end of adulthood: Protecting Older People from Rogue Traders. Hannah Chia wrote about a very busy stage of her life as she settles into a new job at the same time as trying to arrange her wedding from several countries away in Excuses & Being A Good WAG.

Learning

Louise Brown asked What can I teach about content licensing in 15 minutes? in her post. She was preparing a short teaching session as part of her course about teaching adults. It is a complex topic and requires accurate information. Her question certainly made me think a lot, even though I have quite often had to give people some basic information about it in my work. Feedback by Sarah Ball at Participation Cymru covered learning from the learner angle. She had been on the same course as Dyfrig Williams (his post last week about it was Drilling down), and it was interesting to read what had resonated with her.

Tourism and leisure

Karl Green was looking into the future and trying to forecast whether and how television might change in TV Programmes: The Future? Will people in the future be sharing the Eurovision experience at the same time and still sharing comments about it with complete strangers online?

Richard Overy showed a more active leisure experience in his post this week of a vintage photograph of Swimming, taken at a busy lido or outdoor pool. I found myself wondering who took the photograph.

Photographer Mark Wood contributed his first blog to Weekly Blog Club - New blog & inspiration - and told us of his week which, although full of work rather than leisure, did include a trip to the major tourist centre of London.

I take photographs wherever I go (or, at least, I did till my DSLR stopped focusing on 1st January this year), and find the stunning Northumberland landscape one of the most difficult to photograph because the views are so wide and often so distant, so sometimes I paint them instead. I rediscovered a couple of my old watercolours of Hadrian’s Wall landscapes recently. It is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Northumberland. Ross Wigham wrote about his and his team’s work in promoting Northumberland as a tourist destination to local people as well as those more distant, and reveals some interesting statistics on the use of digital and more traditional offline methods of promotion in Travelling in your own back yard (and getting a social buzz for your event).

Karen Hart’s description of a narrowboat holiday experience in Out of town was so lyrical that I felt really tempted to try it myself. It is almost magic realist in feel and conjures up an England that you think you recognise as an idyllic past, perhaps over a century ago, although it probably could not have existed then. If you only have one post to read out of this week’s collection, perhaps this is the one, especially if you need to be transported to a more peaceful place.

If I have left out anyone’s post, please tell us – it can be difficult to sift through the hashtags at times. As always, thank you very much to all who contributed by writing, reading, liking, following or retweeting the Week 19 posts. If you are inspired to join the contributors, more about how to can be found on our About page. I did not set the [entirely optional] theme for Week 20 since it was already through by the time I wrote this but if you need help or inspiration, tweet us and someone usually helps quite quickly.

Many thanks also to lovely Kate Bentham for taking over for the next week. If you would like to help look after Weekly Blog Club, all you need to know is here.

Janet

Janet E Davis.

Summary of Week 19 posts

Swimming by Richard Overy.

Hadrian’s Wall landscapes by Janet E Davis.

TV Programmes: The Future? by Karl S Green.

Letting go by Phil on the Shropshire Family Information Service blog.

Travelling in your own back yard (and getting a social buzz for your event) by Ross Wigham.

Becoming part of the landscape by Scot Health monthly.

Interprofessional learning…bridging the paradigm gap by John Burnham on the Ayrshire Health blog.

Excuses & Being A Good WAG by Hannah Chia (aka @SportingWag)

New blog & inspiration by Mark Wood aka @f8_media .

What can I teach about content licensing in 15 minutes? by Louise Brown.

Out of town by Karen JK Hart.

20 things from BlueLightCamp13 by Catherine Howe on the BlueLightCamp blog.

Don’t spend any money on NHS Jargon Busters – it’s sorted! Download the Apps by Chris Bolton.

Accident and Emergency in Trouble….Quick, Paint Out The Signs by Joseph Conaghan.

Protecting Older People from Rogue Traders by Jayne Holgate - Age UK Business Directory (Nottingham & Nottinghamshire)

London 2013- International Forum on Quality & Safety in Healthcare by The Patient Safety Team by Maureen Stevenson, Laura Graham, Mhairi Hastings, and Natalie Oakes on the Dumfries and Galloway Health blog.

Feedback by Sarah Ball at Participation Cymru.

Sensibility, sociability, common sense and cake

Posted on May 12, 2013 by weeklyblogclub

I might have missed some (do tweet us if I have and point us at the relevant link, please), although I did look carefully (several times), but there were only twelve posts in Week 18 of Weekly Blog Club – which makes it our lightest week of posts so far this year. The quality and range were still there though.

There was a strong focus on person-centred care and the need for a compassionate approach this week, and not just in the healthcare blogs. Louise Brown wrote about a fascinating memorial to a woman with a tragic story in A church app and a martyr to excessive sensibility.

The Speech and Language Therapy student whom Susan Munro is supervising on a placement wrote about learning a very different approach to working with people with mental health problems and communication difficulties in Therapy Through the Looking Glass; and understanding the need to see the person, not just the condition. Elaine Hunter also gave us a glimpse of what a difference person-centred care, treating people with dementia with humanity and compassion, can make as just one of the elements in her Week in the life of an AHP Dementia Consultant.

Cameron Sharkey, in Don’t Panic, clearly was impressed by the compassion with which he saw people being treated by healthcare professionals during his induction on NHS Scotland’s Management Trainee Scheme. Dr Ewan Bell wrote of the need for person-centred care in hospitals, and gave as an example of what should not happen his own experience when he as a child had to have an operation in his post: Abuse of the Body – Person-centred Care. It seems plain common sense that a child should not have been on an adult ward with his parents only allowed scant access during fixed visiting times. A little compassion and understanding, as well as better communication, could have improved greatly the care he received.

One of the things that makes hospitals rather intimidating is that the doctors and nurses use a lot of very unfamiliar words and terms. Explaining the medical jargon without being patronising could make hospital visits and stays a little less scary. Chris Bolton considered language in workplaces in his post: Jargon. A tool of exclusion, efficient technical language or just the ‘cheeping of birds’? I think we all use specialist language in our workplaces, because there are things, materials, technologies, processes and techniques that are specific – or have several polysyllabic words and need to be abbreviated for frequent everyday use. Sometimes, however, jargon seem to be used more as part of a group identity – and you know who those professional groups are.

It would be interesting to know how much jargon used within different departments, and different professionals within services hampers communication as the project (evolution?) on which Phil Jewitt is working at Leeds City Council moves towards breaking down barriers and becoming The Sociable Organisation. His post explains more about it, and is probably the must-read post of the week, especially for those who work in or with the public sector. If they succeed, it could lead to a radically different approach for a large local authority. Personally, I have found the enclosed nature of departments, services and units decidedly bemusing when I have worked in or with local authorities or other large organisations and have always wanted to know what other people.

It was lovely to read A weekend @BlueLightCamp by Karl Loveday on the @BlueLightCamp blog because he was so clearly inspired by everyone and learned a lot, including what can be achieved in a short time when working collaboratively. As one who was following the weekend remotely (and decided too belatedly that she could and should work on a hack – and will eventually get her idea written and sent to Mark Braggins, one of the organisers), I was delighted to hear that at least one attending in person got so much out of it.

Andrew Jacobs was less than impressed with a method of learning offered in an email that got through the net of his office spam filters and explains why in Buy, buy, buy!. I was rather surprised that any company would even try offering something even less interactive than a 19th century classroom.

Dyfrig Williams was gaining knowledge this week on a course about public engagement and shared something of his experience of it (and a couple of good illustrations) in Drilling down. Karl Green considered other mediums of conveying knowledge and literature in his post for Week 18 - Books and E-readers: The Future?

Finally, after all the food for thought provided by everyone else this week, I provided a link to Modern Art Desserts by Caitlin Freeman with pretty pictures of cake inspired by great art – true soul food, I think.

If I have left out anyone’s post, please do say. As always, thank you very much to all who contributed by writing, reading, liking, following or retweeting the Week 18 posts. If you are inspired to join the contributors, more about how to can be found on our About page. Do join in at any point during the year, and if you need help, tweet us and it should get a response from one of us. One of these days, I will write an article on starting to blog (since people are beginning to ask more often).

Now I need to try to catch up on Week 19 posts so lovely Kate Bentham can take over for the rest of Week 20.

Janet

Janet E Davis

Summary of Week 18 posts

Books and E-readers: The Future? by Karl S Green.

A church app and a martyr to excessive sensibility by Louise Brown.

Jargon. A tool of exclusion, efficient technical language or just the ‘cheeping of birds’? by Chris Bolton.

Don’t Panic by Cameron A Sharkey on the Ayrshire Health blog.

Drilling down by Dyfrig Williams on the Participation Cymru blog.

A weekend @BlueLightCamp by Karl Loveday on the @BlueLightCamp blog.

Therapy Through the Looking Glass by Susan D Munro‘s placement student on the mentalhealthslt blog.

Week in the life of an AHP Dementia Consultant by Elaine Hunter.

The Sociable Organisation by Phil Jewitt.

Buy, buy, buy! by Andrew Jacobs.

Modern Art Desserts by Caitlin Freeman by Janet E Davis on the Suburbis blog.

Abuse of the Body – Person-centred Care by Dr Ewan Bell on the Dumfries and Galloway Health blog.

In the thick of it as the times are a-changing

Posted on May 6, 2013 by weeklyblogclub

Thank you very much to Kate Bentham for looking after Weekly Blog Club for two weeks and to Louise Brown for looking after it for a week. It was good to get a break from it and to free up my thinking to tackle other things for three consecutive weeks. If you want to help out by volunteering as a guest curator, all you need to know is here.

When I set up the blog and Twitter account, I thought that people would probably stop contributing after a couple of months, and I do get concerned that Weekly Blog Club is not sustainable because looking after it is quite time-consuming. I mentioned this in conversation to someone a couple of months ago who said “just stop doing it – if people want it, they’ll pick it up.” I was startled, slightly shocked, at the suggestion and realised that I feel a sense of responsibility to keep it going. I might try different approaches to the weekly summary though.

I had wondered some time ago about it becoming more of a magazine (or zine), with articles appearing directly in here (either written straight into this site or copied from the original blogs (always with links back to original blogs, of course), and with a more designed, magazine look to it. It would be one of the most eclectic zines on the Web! The question has also been raised as to whether it could be a sponsored site. Since I am also being asked more often for advice on blogging for beginners in the public sector and community groups, I had also wondered if it might be viable at any time in the future as a Community Interest Company, with modest payments for maintaining the website and being host/editor. The post-Leveson Royal Charter could be a problem though, since it could affect multiple-author blogs that are sponsored. Your thoughts on these issues are welcome.

But back to the thick of it… There were slightly fewer posts (16) in Week 17 than has been the usual so far in 2013. The variety and the quality remained undiminished, however. Most of the posts could be broadly grouped as being about communications, public sector or, more specifically, the health services.

Murray Glaister’s post demystified the process of moving to using The Electronic Casenote (eCn), how case notes are being digitised and the system is being used. Having been involved with digitising mainly historical texts and images in cultural heritage, including developing controlled vocabularies (I might write a post about this sometime) to embed in metadata, I was very curious as to whether anything like that is or would be included in the Electronic Casenote system.

Fiona McQueen was asking difficult questions in When Will the Lessons Stop? on the Ayrshire Health blog, following the publication of the Francis inquiry into the Mid-Staffordshire NHS.

Susan Munro considered the issue of having a student working on placement in her post Look To The Future. As someone who has supervised students on placements in the culture sector quite regularly over the years, I was very interested to read Susan’s views on this in the much more sensitive area of mental healthcare. Whatever sector you work in, it is worth helping to teach or train the next generation of professionals, and can be surprisingly rewarding.

Another mental health professional, Derek Barron, wrote a post this week that would be relevant in all sectors, Leading in a new environment, about the issues of starting a new management job, what kind of a difference he might make on this short (three-month) secondment, and the nature and stages of leadership.

In Changing Times on the OPM blog, epidemiologist Kate Pickett, Professor of Inequalities in Health at York University, shared her thoughts on the inequalities in our society, and on what needs to change and how things could change.

The North East of England needs change to improve the future chances for its citizens, environment and regional economy. Could things change for the better in the with more effective communications between people in the region and those in Parliament? Ross Wigham, after spending years trying to convince friends that his job is not like The Thick of It’s Malcolm Tucker, hosted a CIPR North East event recently on how communications people in the North East can engage with those in ‘the Westminster Village’ The thick of it – 10 tips for engaging with Parliament.

Dan Slee blogged about FOUR REASONS: Why I’m not in the CIPR and his post brought forth some interesting responses, including an amusing blog-length one from a CIPR person on what benefits Dan (and others) would gain from belonging. Of course, a CIPR person would know that Your PR is only as good as your product, as Kenny McDonald wrote, with examples of what happens when the product is not adequate.

Carolyne Mitchell was asked about how to narrow down the selection of PR professionals who had applied for a job. Since it was a role involving digital communications, she recommended looking at their presence online. In Meet my professional digital footprint, she went through how to do it (bear in mind that most search engines give results skewed to what your preferences are perceived to be), sharing examples of her own. I must admit that I spent a few hours checking out mine (if you have a common name, it is advisable to try it also with keywords relating to your work). You should be aware of which data about you emerges through search engines.

Lesley Thomson was focusing on Jamming with Learner Journey Data on the OKFN Scotland (Open Knowledge Foundation Scotland) blog this week. It is always interesting to see what people think of doing with public data at such hacks, and hard work but enjoyable to participate. Do have a look at the prototypes the hackers produced.

The ‘How to Hack into a Government Website’ section in Peter Olding’s My report from UK GovCamp 2013 was probably one of the reasons why it was the most popular post of Week 17. His very clear and readable account of the sessions he attended at this annual public sector unconference was particularly helpful, especially for those of us who had not been able to go.

The organisers of UK GovCamp 2013 did try to provide some live feed of the event this year. It would be great if more people thought of using technology as an alternative for those who cannot be in a specific place at a specific time. Chris Bolton, in his post Better Understanding – the benefit of meetings. Remember the first time? considered whether alternatives to face-to-face meetings can be useful.

Karl Green was thinking about the benefits of the analogue versus digital this week, and wrote about the The Joy of Real Books in a world in which people are increasingly reading books on electronic tablets.

The demise of another boy band was the subject of Lindsay Narey’s amusing post: JLS won’t Beat Again – dealing with another boy band bombshell. I must admit that I struggle to see the difference between most boy bands and have never understood the attraction. My tastes in music and men have always been somewhat different.

I was delighted to see that Lesley Thomson was unable to withstand the lure of the songs of me challenge any longer, and that her songs of me was her first personal post. Of course, she had interesting songs and stories relating to them. If we ever have a Weekly Blog unconference, we will have a very substantial and mixed playlist from all the songs of me posts as our pre-/post-unconference party.

Richard Overy’s vintage picture posts prove that one does not have to write great swathes of text for a post. His weekly posts are inevitably Liked and retweeted. A well-chosen image and a couple of sentences about it can be exactly what people want to see. Richard’s post this week was Uncle Joe, an intriguing image that lacks something that would tell you at a glance how Uncle Joe won his trophies.

If I have left out anyone’s post, please do say. It is not always easy to keep track of which posts are to be included in a week when handing over from one host to another.

Thank you very much to all who contributed by writing, reading, liking, following or retweeting the Week 17 posts. If you are inspired to join the contributors, more about how to can be found on our About page. Do join in at any point during the year, and if you need help, tweet us and one of us should respond quite soon.

Now I must get on with the Week 18 summary. (If you are writing a post, we are in the middle of Week 19).

Janet

Janet E Davis

Summary of Week 17 posts

The Further Adventures of Karl: The Joy of Real Books by Karl S Green.

Uncle Joe by Richard Overy.

Meet my professional digital footprint by Carolyne Mitchell.

FOUR REASONS: Why I’m not in the CIPR by Dan Slee.

Leading in a new environment by Derek Barron.

When Will the Lessons Stop? by Fiona McQueen on the Ayrshire Health blog.

The thick of it – 10 tips for engaging with Parliament by Ross Wigham.

Look To The Future by Susan D Munro on the mentalhealthslt blog.

Better Understanding – the benefit of meetings. Remember the first time? by Chris Bolton.

songs of me by Lesley Thomson

Your PR is only as good as your product by Kenny McDonald.

Jamming with Learner Journey Data by Lesley Thomson on the OKFN Scotland (Open Knowledge Foundation Scotland) blog.

My report from UK GovCamp 2013 by Peter Olding.

The Electronic Casenote (eCn) by Murray Glaister on Dumfries and Galloway Health blog.

Changing Times by Professor Kate Pickett on the OPM (Office for Public Management Ltd) blog.

JLS won’t Beat Again – dealing with another boy band bombshell by Lindsay Narey on the High Tea Cast blogzine.

You say goodbye and I say hello

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Louise

Hello everyone, it’s Louise here.

You haven’t made my week as host an easy one, there have been 18 wonderful posts to keep me busy and out of trouble.

So, where to start, with our newbies of course. Mark O’Donnell is an engagement officer and he needs to understand the latest tools so that he can help others to use them. Mark introduces his work in Pizza, tigers and a puffer fish. Another debut post from Karl Green. In Getting to know your Karl we learn some juicy facts, read more to find out! As some people join, others leave. In his farewell post (just to his current job, not blogging we hope!) Stuart Mackintosh looks back at the good, the bad and the beautiful in Farewell then, local government.

The Boston Marathon prompted two posts this week, looking at two sides of disaster comms. Kate Bentham shares some wise words, warning people to be careful what they click as you can’t unsee what you’ve seen. Carolyne Mitchell looks at how people get and share news during a disaster in From eye witness account to prime time news.

Two of our bloggers wrote about how new experiences had unexpected outcomes. When Rough Cat forgot her headphones she expected to have a horrid commute but actually enjoyed an opportunity for eavesdropping and a look at life – Bus characters and conversations. As our heritage craftsman Samuel-James Wilson saves up for his move to Australia he took on some new projects, which got him thinking in Playing catch up.

We’re always spoiled with arty posts by our creative contributors. Richard Overy shared a superb postcard of two (rather cold looking) swimmers in I’m twenty one to-day. Louise Atkinson has been looking at Relational Aesthetics in her studies this week Practice as research: week 28. Janet Davis has been at the opening of a new art space in Ouseburn, opened by some recent graduates from Northumbria University. Off Quay Arthouse launch.

We always have excellent posts from health professionals and this week is no different. Andrew Moore – on the Ayrshire Health blog – looks at solutions the NHS can offer for problems affecting our health and wellbeing. Moving Forward by Learning from the Past. Patient safety is foremost in the minds of health practitioners and David Hall shares with us some background to the Scottish Patient Safety Programme in Mental Health, with its aim of significantly reducing harm in mental health settings. Patient safety in mental health – why we need to listen to our patients. In Reflections, values and the zeal for reformation, Craig White – for Ayrshire Health - asks whether we still have the same passion and values as we did when we entered our areas of work.

William Currie died during the Battles of Arras on 3 May 1917, shot by a sniper. The end of Carolyne Mitchell’s amazing family history journey has led to her visiting where he died and laying a flower at his memorial. My Great War journey.

What is it about meetings that creates such strong feelings? It’s probably because we all know what it’s like to go to endless, pointless meetings. Chris Bolton considers why we feel the way we do and what can be done about it. Meetings are the symptom of bad organisation. Yes, but no, but maybe?

Graham Budd has done two posts this week. His first is about helping colleagues to share stories about their work. Graham has been helping Ann to share her experience of training to be an Environmental Warden in Ann’s blog. A second post, reflecting on “the Paris Brown affair”, Graham shares some of his own experiences of working with young people. A fascinating insight into just one approach that works. It’s not the arrows, it’s the indians.

While the rest of the world is clamouring for limited edition Record Store Day releases, Joseph Conaghan blogs about why he’ll be anywhere but a record shop. In this great post he explains why vinyl is for life, not just for Record Store Day. Record store day, just another day for a vinyl junkie.

That’s it from me, thank you all so much for contributing, particularly our new bloggers.

As it’s my wedding anniversary at the weekend the [entirely optional] theme for Week 17 is anniversaries; of your own marriage, starting your job, moving to a new city, whatever you want.

If you’re interested in helping out with Weekly Blog Club then we’re always looking for volunteers. There’s more information on the website or just tweet us to find out more.

I’m handing back to Janet now but I will be back soon.

Louise x

Blogging, walking, leading and bins

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Kate Bentham

Hello, yes it’s me Kate Bentham back for another week as guest curator of Weekly Blog Club. We’re into week 15 of year two and had some wonderful blogs submitted this week, the quality and content of which have been amazing. The 17 blogs submitted this week have the usual eclectic mix of subject matter but what has been interesting is the medium through which some bloggers have presented. We’ve had videos, photos, audio and text, proof that a blog really can be presented in any format. If you’re used to presenting in text, why not have a go at something a bit different next week?

Anyway, let’s have a look at the blogs for this week.

We have a couple of blogs about blogging. First is Parent bloggers and The Lullaby Trust by Louise Brown who talks about online communities, and how it is possible to engage with them by tapping into something which the community may have experienced or have strong opinions about. The Lullaby Trust tapped into one online community to raise awareness of changes within the organisations, with some very positive results. Next up is Ross Wigham who has been celebrating one year since he started his blog. In Happy blog day Ross remind us of some of the excellent blogs he’s written over the last 12 months, and some surprises in the post viewed blogs – ones which were more personal than work related, which I find really interesting in the whole personal and professional discussion – should we try to separate the two, if actually readers like to see a bit of the personal there too?

There were two bloggers who took up the entirely optional theme this week, based on Janet Davis’s Urban Walk posts. Kate Bentham took us on A Rural Walk April 2013 across fields and lanes and even through a church yard, sharing photos of some of the interesting things she saw on the way. Look out for the unusual Gravestone and the old carving in the wall. Chris Bolton also took us on a walk from the changing rooms of a Rugby Club to the actual pitch, complete with make shift dug out. In Vardre RFC, Venice of the Swansea Valley? Re-visiting old rugby grounds we get to see some of the canals and bridges Chris had to cross to be able to watch his son play #properrugby.

And on the subject of Rugby The Sporting Wag AKA Hannah Chia has chosen the team is will be supporting in the Super XV based mainly on looks rather than quality of play. Hannah relieves which team gets her backing this season in And My Super XV Team is…

We have two posts this week looking specifically at leaders and leadership. Derek Barron suggests leaders need to involve a team in the Why, How and What, to ensure that teams are clear of the vision and will follow. In Leaders – where ‘why’ meets understanding Derek also looks at the importance of giving feedback to candidates after interviews and Covey’s work on the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Janet Davis touches on another leader this week in Leaving for the future suggesting that the legacy of Thatcher might only truly be understood by future historians, just as architectural heritage and excavation is often best left, with the advancements in technology, for future generations.

News, media, comms, and PR are often subjects of blog posts, and this week is no different. Andrew Eccleston on the Dumfries and Galloway Blog looks at the subject of media from a different angle. In Front Page News Andrew shares his experience of being in a job for a few weeks, when he was called upon to do an interview about staff shortages at the Paediatric department. Completely out of his comfort zone Andrew shares how he prepared for the interview which was vital considering the issue and possible angle the paper could take. For anyone wanting to find out more about the media post-Leveson and the use of social media in news reporting Ross Wigham invites you to join him at the CIPR conference in June called Power to the people, which looks like a good event with some very interesting speakers.

We had a few employment related posts this week, the first is by Chris Bolton who looks at Clump Recruitment, whereby we can engage or enlist Generation Y people by targeting where they hang out, all for the benefit of the business. In Clump Recruiting, Old Wine in New Bottles? What about the Pals Battalions and Richard Arkwright? Chris explains that this technique of clumping isn’t new, and looks a little bit like ‘Old wine in new bottles’. Another great blog from Chris.

Pride, Passion, Professionalism by Hazel Borland on the Dumfries and Galloway Blog looks back and celebrate 30 years in a nursing role, reflecting on some influential colleagues she worked with and who shaped her nursing practice. Graham Budd has also been helping colleagues understand and use social media and the web as a way of communicating and engaging with customers. In Vexing myself into redundancy Graham looks at how with the support he has given, colleagues are confidently and competently making the best use of online tools.

Participation Cymru have used video in their blog which includes an interview with a member of their Advisory Panel, to understand more about the work Participation Cymru undertakes and how the panel are key to steering that work. The interview in Wayne Jepson reflects on our work and being a member of our Advisory Panel is used as part of a wider evaluation framework.

Although Carolyne Mitchell may have been on holiday to France, she shows that as with many a Local Gov’er she is never of duty. Having recently implemented changes to the way her council communicate information on bin collections, she watched with interest how the process was managed in France, from data collection to measuring content Who’s up for a binman’s holiday? is an interesting read.

Karen Hart used video, audio and photos in her blog Five Senses at Stepney City Farm, and we’re mightily glad she did. The blog shares some of the exciting developments taking place at Stepney Farm (Café/cake) and also introduces some of the newest residents – baby animals! Videos of baby animals! Photos of baby animals! Audio of baby animals!

The Songs of Me Challenge was taken up by Graham Budd this week, who shares some top tunes which evoke memories for Graham. Why not have a listen to the songs, and watch the videos Graham has also included in his blog. If you haven’t taken up the challenge yourself yet, why not have a go this week?

Our last blog is by Darren Caveney who is a regular blogger for comms2point0, a site he cofounded to share creative comms resources. It is fair to say I was keen to get a Weekly Blog Club post from Darren as I greatly admire the work he does and the way he writes. In Work, babbies, campervans and life. Part 1 Darren looks at balancing work and family and shares his hopes and wishes for the ‘spare’ time he has. A useful reminder on what’s important in life.

So, that’s your lot, and your lot from me for a few weeks. I hand you over to the lovely Louise Brown who will be looking after Weekly Blog Club for week 16. The entirely optional theme this week is Hobbies and Interests – how do you spend your ‘spare’ time?

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.

Until next time…

Kate

Kate Bentham

Rockets, Areoplanes and Nuka

Posted on April 7, 2013 by Kate Bentham

Hello, yes it’s me Kate Bentham again, just helping out at the Weekly Blog Club controls for week 14 of year 2. Time really is zooming by but it’s great to see so many out of this world blogs being submitted and that Weekly Blog Club has taken off, the force, it would seem, is strong.

Have you guessed it yet? Yes, this is the Space Edition. To infinity and beyond. May the blogs be with you, and this week you were kind enough to share 20 blogs with us, and we all know that a Jedi uses the force for knowledge. Ok, I’ll stop now, having never seen Star Wars I don’t think I can keep this going for the whole of the summary anyway.

So, let’s get down to serious blogging business.

One blogger who is downright fed up with the space of her natural environment being treated with complete disregard is Jane McIntyre. In Dear Flytipper. An open letter–just for you. Jane shares photos of rubbish being dumped in the beautiful (and it really is beautiful, you should come for a visit) Shropshire countryside. Thankfully Jane is on hand to offer alternatives to flytipping in the hope that people take responsibility for their rubbish.

Hannah Chia aka @SportingWag had some space to herself this week, as her partner was called up for an international rugby tour. In Rugby WAG, Rugby Widow, Hannah lists exactly what a Sporting WAG got up to. Also sharing a blog on what he does in his spare time is Peter Olding. In Peter’s Blog: Spotting (Part 1) Peter explains how he started spotting as a hobby. Peter spots aircraft, trains, buses and trams.

In Urban walk March 2013 by Janet Davis, we join Janet as she enjoys the open space. With an artist’s eye, Janet shares some of the images she saw along the way, gently encouraging us all to look at everyday objects and items differently. Why not take some photos of anything interesting you see on your next walk and create your own Walk blog? Another blogger who regularly proves that a blog can be a photo with a few sentences around it is Richard Overy. In Horndean 1935 Part II Richard updates us on a group of men who set off on a cycling adventure and who can now be seen enjoying the outside space.

We had quite a few health related blog posts this week. First up is a blog on the very serious subject of Bowel Cancer. As statistics this week revealed a 30% increase of bowel cancer amongst men in the last 35 years, we are grateful to Kenny McDonald for sharing his story of how bowel cancer has impacted upon his family and himself personally. Bowel cancer: the great escape is an important blog to read.

Derek Barron wrote about Strengthening the Commitments – LD nursing in Scotland Derek shares with us a very important conference on Modernising Learning Disabilities Nursing which was held recently. The conference challenged the word ‘co-production’ and encouraged ‘ownership’. Linked to Ownership we also heard from Eddie Docherty via the Ayrshire Health blog about Nuka – the Alaskan Healthcare System. This system is based on 4 principles which puts the customer, not patient, at the heart of everything. An insightful read into the results this way of working has had. Eddie share Lesson from Nuka – the Alaskan healthcare system A very interesting blog from Joseph Conaghan looking at the implications of patient care following the Francis report into care failings at Mid Staffordshire Trust. Joseph asks Can You Teach Care? or is it a quality a person is born with. He also considers how to measure patient care post Francis.

We’re delighted that the Scot Health Monthly is taking off and they are Settling in, month three. They curate the best of the Scottish healthcare related posts into a useful summary each month. How helpful of them.

This week saw the start of World Autism Awareness Month, and to celebrate Shropshire Family Information Service shared a wonderful poem written by a mum on what it is like to be a parent to an Autistic child and just how very special Autistic children are. Our Little Rocket is a fabulous read, which left me in tears when I first read it, so tissues at the ready.

Stuart Macintosh also blogs about being a parent and how it is difficult to outwit a 6 year old. In “Was it not just an aeroplane?” Stuart reminds us that children will ask the questions you’ve been avoiding answering so best be prepared, and that children will basically tell it as it is, whether you want them too or not. Bless ‘em. A very funny blog.

Who wants to go to a party? In Where is your Social Media party? Andy Johnson compares various social media platforms to the goings on in the various spaces of a good house party. Which space do you occupy, and what might you get from that space? Based on Andy’s theory, we think Phil Jewitt might be in the living room with his post Why blog? Phil looks back over the last year since he started blogging, sharing why he started blogging and what he has achieved in that time.

Two top posts this week by the mighty Dan Slee. The first SHARE: User generated content? Ask nicely… encourages journalists, and others, to be respectful of hyperlocal bloggers and the importance of building good relationships and remembering manners when sharing content. Dan’s second post looks at how communities in Telford are using digital technology to stay connected and to communicate. Some great examples in LIFE: How a town is using digital to connect Another post which also shares examples of others work is E-participation and storytelling by Participation Cymru. They look at Digital Storytelling and share a video blog explaining more about this subject.

A wonderful story this week in Ted Robbins, Textiles and 78rpms. My week of social media. by Chris Bolton. Chris explains how a chance find and the use of social media resulted in him being on a local radio programme talking about Lancashire’s cultural heritage. This might not have happened had Chris not used to space of social media.

Making use of theatre space was PALACE a performance which Clare White went to watch recently. Clare shares her review of the performances and visual effects, which seems to have captured the energy and dignity of the city, representing it’s people well. The trailer of the performance is also well worth a watch in Review: PALACE at Bethesda Theatre.

Our last post this week is Gin and cigarettes by Karen Hart. Karen uses her blog space to remember a very important lady who passed away recently. I am sorry to hear of your loss Karen, Eileen sounds a wonderful lady to have known.

So, that’s your lot. And what a wonderful lot it is too. 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, it really is simple – and very enjoyable.

This week’s entirely optional theme is based on Janet’s Urban Walk post. I encourage you to get outside, go for a walk, and take some photos of the interesting things you might see on your way, looking at objects differently, and share your photos in a blog post.

It’s me again next week, yeah, sorry about that. Until then, remember, I am not your Father, or something similar.

Kate Bentham

Summary of Week 14 posts

Doodling and learning, briefs and bags

Posted on April 1, 2013 by weeklyblogclub

Chicks on Easter Sunday 2013 by Janet E Davis

Week 13 summary happened to fall within the Easter weekend, so Happy Easter to all of you! Or Happy Spring Day or whatever for those who would rather not be wished a Happy Easter. One of the chicks in the snapshot above had not yet dried out, it was so recently hatched. A cockerel that might be the father of one or more of these chicks happened to be the subject of my own post this week, about the latest linocut that I am working on in a series of prints of animals at our local urban (or community) farm: Cockerel I. I have wondered about developing my Ouseburn animals series into a hand-printed artist book. Artist and PhD student Louise Atkinson wrote about doing the online promotion of the 16th International Contemporary Artist Book Fair, and a project about putting such art into places where people would not normally expect to encounter art: Practice as research [Week 25].

Karen Hart wrote about a piece of public art in a Swedish town this week in A life not lived, and revealed a very fascinating and extraordinary personal history connected with the sculpture. If I had to choose just three posts to read this week, this would be one of them. Another of my three must-read posts this week would be Peter Olding’s Dorset Enterprises, a post about a creative company, set up in 1914 to employ disabled former soldiers, which had produced high quality wooden objects, such as toys, luggage stands and deckchairs.

Samuel-James Wilson has been unable to exercise his creative craftsmanship for a couple of weeks due to overdoing things during his first week back after his year of studying and being on placements. He wrote about what he has been doing in the meantime in Fireplace and Interviews.

The creative theme was continued by Lorna Prescott as considered Subtle differences: how to identify creative collaborative activity in her post, giving as examples two pot luck dinners with differing approaches. Carolyne Mitchell’s recipe for creamy chicken and mushroom lasagne at the end of her post, Learn, learn and learn again, would be a great dish for a pot luck dinner. This was just the yummy extra on the end of a post that focused on learning as she starts a new, third, MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) and discovered that people at work can learn some new things from her.

Another regular Weekly Blog Club contributor, Louise Brown, is also doing a course at present, and this week she reached the point at which she had to start writing for it. Like most of us, she slipped into displacement activity but managed to blog The dreaded first assignment, which was almost what she should have been doing (my displacement activity tends to be washing up or tidying).

Louise’s other post for Week 13 – Doodle for charities - was a useful one from which other people could learn about how to use a really useful web app to help them arrange meetings.

Ross Wigham was thinking about The changing way we get online (and what it means for public services) this week because the growth in use of mobiles and tables is faster than many would have thought just a few years ago. Kate Bentham considered use of mobiles in a very different way in No money? No food? No Problem, Go online as a young man was helped through being able to contact those in the council who could help him via text messages, rather than having to ring them or email them. This is a really important point as many assume that everyone can contact them easily via mobile phones or computer.

Kate’s very people-focused approach was echoed in a very different context by Chris Bolton in ‘People buy from People’. A lesson for knowledge workers from Deenna Boutique and Neath Music. I loved Neath Music’s ‘Local Stars playing reasonably priced guitars’ video to the extent that I felt an urge suddenly to buy an electric guitar.

People-centred approaches could have been a theme this week. Laura Graham, a first-time contributor to Weekly Blog Club on the new Dumfries and Galloway Health blog, focused on communication – briefing and debriefing and knowing colleagues in order to improve things for patients in Never Underestimate the Importance of Briefs for Patient Safety. Gina Alexander returned to Ayrshire Health’s blog to write about compassionate care of patients, and quotes her mother in The Golden Rule.

Treating people with respect is at the heart of a good society. Dyfrig Williams wrote about the need in Wales for organisations and government to respect people’s preference to speak in their native language in Using Welsh language social media to engage in the public sector and the importance of writing in everyday Welsh when communicating through social media.

Phil Jewitt thought about the delicate line between a critical friend and a negative critic as he thought about people communicating and agreeing an ambition in his post Ambition for better. What are your least favourite buzzwords? Another first-time contributor, Joseph Conaghan, wrote about language that creates a barrier rather than enhancing communication is his post: Low Hanging Fruit A Guide To Buzzword Bingo.

Mark Braggins revealed what communication devices and other essential equipment he keeps in his bag in Working away from home – what’s in your bag? Part 7, a guest blog on judyheminsley‘s website.

Our sporting correspondent, Hannah Chia, was supporting away from home in her post – ARFU West Asia Final: A Fan’s Perspective - this week as she and the other Dragons’ supporters accompanied them on the bus to the match.

The final post of the 20 contributions we had this week, and the third that I would recommend as a must-read, is Mark Braggins’s second post of the week Why on earth sponsor an Unconference? It is an interesting post on what sponsors could get out of supporting an unconference. The effect is not always immediately obvious at or after an unconference. Mark is currently turning his mind to sponsorship of the BlueLightCamp. You do not need a fortune to be a sponsor. If I had a small business and it were relevant, I would certainly consider sponsoring tea and cake in the afternoon at BlueLightCamp. Do read Mark’s post. BlueLightCamp sounded good last time, and this time it will be even better, not least because people will get together to make helpful prototype digital things as well.

If you think you’d like to volunteer as a guest curator, all you need to know is here. Thank you very much to all those who have read, Liked, commented on, followed this blog (we reached 200 followers this week), tweeted and retweeted our posts – as well as to those who have contributed posts. If you want to join in and contribute posts yourself, more about how to can be found on our About page.

As I wrote last week, the Week 14 [entirely optional] theme could be a public statue or sculpture in your locality; or Easter; or the Songs of Me challenge (the Songs of Me Part 1 explains the initial challenge if you did not do it last year, and The Songs of Me Part 2 has the 2nd part of the challenge).

The lovely Kate Bentham will be looking after Weekly Blog Club this week. I know she will do a great job of looking after you.

Over to Kate…

Janet

Janet E Davis

Summary of Week 13 posts

Fireplace and Interviews by Samuel-James Wilson.

The changing way we get online (and what it means for public services) by Ross Wigham.

ARFU West Asia Final: A Fan’s Perspective by Hannah Chia aka @SportingWag.

No money? No food? No Problem, Go online by Kate Bentham.

‘People buy from People’. A lesson for knowledge workers from Deenna Boutique and Neath Music by Chris Bolton.

The Golden Rule by Gina A Alexander on Ayrshire Health blog.

Subtle differences: how to identify creative collaborative activity by Lorna Prescott.

Ambition for better by Phil Jewitt.

Using Welsh language social media to engage in the public sector by Dyfrig Williams of Participation Cymru.

Practice as research [Week 25] by Louise Atkinson.

Doodle for charities by Louise Brown.

The dreaded first assignment by Louise Brown.

Learn, learn and learn again by Carolyne Mitchell.

Working away from home – what’s in your bag? Part 7 by Mark Braggins as guest writer on @judyheminsley‘s website How to work from home.

Dorset Enterprises by Peter Olding.

Low Hanging Fruit A Guide To Buzzword Bingo by Joseph Conaghan.

Cockerel I by Janet E Davis.

Never Underestimate the Importance of Briefs for Patient Safety by Laura Graham on the @dghealth (Dumfries and Galloway Health) blog.

A life not lived by Karen JK Hart.

Why on earth sponsor an Unconference? by Mark Braggins.

Smoke, journalism, knickers and a mermaid

Posted on March 27, 2013 by weeklyblogclub

This was a week in which many saw unusually deep snow for the UK in March, with some being snowed-in and left without power. Despite suggesting that people could use their time spent tucked up indoors in the warmth to blog, we had a slightly smaller number of posts this week. This was probably due to people still catching up after a busy period for conferences and unconferences.

I was delighted to see that we had a few unconference posts this week. Simon Hope did indeed provide what his title promised in Food for Thought – CommsCamp13. UK GovCamp 2013 was covered by Louise Kidney in UK Gov camp 2013 (I definitely would have gone to her session had I been there); and by Mark Braggins in HOW TO GET AHEAD IN GOVCAMPING. Mark included a video in which you can see him, Louise, and various other people whose Twitter names could be familiar to you, including Catherine Howe (@curiousc) who has contributed a post to Weekly Blog Club this year.

We also had a couple of conference posts. Lorna Prescott contributed Feeling safe to learn and share, in which she considered the issue of people in the public sector being able to feel that it is safe to share their work experience, including under the Chatham House Rule, and whether the Rule needs updating in the digital age. Eddie Coates-Madden wrote about what he said at Journalism Day, a conference full of journalists. It was provocative, it considered the digital world, and quoted both Ghandi and Dan Slee. Eddie got his photograph taken with fellow speaker, former war reporter and former MP, Martin Bell. I would like to see that image of two men with differing but equally distinctive styles.

Chris Bolton wrote about a man who did things in a distinctive style in ‘Lancashire Speaks’ (issued by Cyril Lord). Textile Workers Voices 1950’s style, a 78rpm vinyl record that he found but could not play (there is a happy ending to this record’s story).

Hannah Chia wrote about some changes to her personal style as she makes savings (in advance of her wedding this summer) in Introducing Austerity WAG & Her Wonderful Fiance. Rachel introduced me to a piece of clothing I had never imagined to be fashionable in “The Power of Orange Knickers” - which was actually about family, love, and mixtapes. Not all of you were here when we had our ‘Songs of Me’ posts last year but you might like to find them in Week 32 to Week 37 in our list of 2012 posts (they have ‘Song’ in the title). If you want to take up the ‘Songs of Me’ challenge and blog your selection, we would love to read your post/s.

There was more about love in Rachel’s other post this week - Meet me on the corner of Twitter - in which she considers romance in a digital age (and, remember, if you meet someone online, do be very careful about what information you give them and about meeting them offline).

Lindsay Narey wrote about a love of one’s home town or city this week in Home advantage (in the wonderfully-named The High Tea Cast Blogzine), and came up with some really great suggestions of being a tourist in your home environment. Carol Woolley has done some lovely posts about her area in the past, spreading the word about places you might not think of visiting.

Good communication was at the heart of several posts this week. Tanwen Berrington, guest-blogging on the Participation Cymru site wrote about the challenge for people in public sector services of Channel Shift: Making the best use of your citizen communication channels. Graham Budd (lovely to see Graham contributing again) and Kenny McDonald wrote a two-part post - A Training Environment for Twitter (Part 1) (Graham) and A training environment for Twitter (part 2) (Kenny). It was interesting to see such a cautious approach to using Twitter in the public service. Phil Jewitt is involved in a local authority pilot project about using social media more to communicate, and he considered events and situation where the outcome is uncertain in White smoke.

A first-time contributor to the Ayrshire Health blog (and to Weekly Blog Club), Simon Bradstreet, thought about A person centred NHS and why successful change takes time and quotes John Kotter’s ‘Eight Steps to Successful Change’ which has “communicate the vision” in the middle of it.

Communicating about fine art was at the heart of Louise Atkinson’s post this week as she contributed a piece about some of her work in an exhibition Albert and the Dots: Reading Rooms. I was having some arty thoughts this week in I had an idea about images for a band but lacked a few things to make those thoughts more concrete. Karen Hart wrote about a very tangible piece of art - The Folkestone Mermaid - which has provoked discussion and more art (a series of interventions that reminded me of how even The Angel of the North has had such an intervention, and makes me wonder if I should write a post about interventions and statues and try to reach some pretentiously profound conclusion about communicating with citizens).

Many, many apologies for the tardiness of this summary post. My only excuse is being deep in doing community things, including thinking about an online communications strategy for an offline local community, reading up on and writing about Neighbourhood Forums and Planning, attending community meetings and an event. Before I get a fresh mug of tea and go on to finish writing up the notes from the last community meeting I attended, I had better think about an [entirely optional] theme for Week 14 (since Week 13 is almost over already)…

Week 14 [entirely optional] theme could be a public statue or sculpture in your locality; or Easter; or the Songs of Me challenge (the Songs of Me Part 1 explains the initial challenge if you did not do it last year, and The Songs of Me Part 2 has the 2nd part of the challenge).

Most of you could probably do a better job than I did of being Weekly Blog Club this week – and if you think you’d like to volunteer as a guest curator, all you need to know is here. Thank you very much to all those who have read, Liked, commented on, followed this blog (and our members’ blogs), tweeted and retweeted our posts – as well as to those who have contributed posts. If you want to join in and contribute posts yourself, more about how to can be found on our About page. Do join in at any point during the year. If you’re nervous, tell us and we will encourage you.

Nearly time for the Week 13 summary now…

Janet

Janet E Davis

Summary of Week 12 posts

Food for Thought – CommsCamp13 by Simon Hope.

Home advantage by Lindsay Narey on The High Tea Cast Blogzine.

UK Gov camp 2013 by Louise Kidney.

Journalism Day by Eddie Coates-Madden.

Introducing Austerity WAG & Her Wonderful Fiance by Hannah Chia.

“The Power of Orange Knickers” by Rachel.

Channel Shift: Making the best use of your citizen communication channels by Tanwen Berrington on the @PartCymru blog.

A person centred NHS and why successful change takes time by Simon Bradstreet on the Ayrshire Health blog.

White smoke by Phil Jewitt.

‘Lancashire Speaks’ (issued by Cyril Lord). Textile Workers Voices 1950’s style by Chris Bolton.

HOW TO GET AHEAD IN GOVCAMPING by Mark Braggins.

Meet me on the corner of Twitter by Rachel.

Feeling safe to learn and share by Lorna Prescott.

Albert and the Dots: Reading Rooms by Louise Atkinson.

I had an idea about images for a band by Janet E Davis.

A Training Environment for Twitter (Part 1) by Graham Budd.

A training environment for Twitter (part 2) by Kenny McDonald.

The Folkestone Mermaid by Karen JK Hart.

Inspiring youngsters + research, resilience, randomness

Posted on March 17, 2013 by weeklyblogclub

It became clear when going through the Week 11 contributions that inspiring youngsters was a theme that had emerged over the previous few days. Sometimes themes emerge organically, with one post sparking off an idea for another one. This one seems to have been mostly or entirely coincidental as several people wrote about babies and young people. Some brought a smile to the face, and some a tear to the eye.

Louise Brown’s friends lost a beautiful baby a few weeks ago and she wrote a moving post this week about Matilda Mae, and how social media friends took part in Celebrating the legacy of Matilda Mae. If you would like to do something practical to help, do read Louise’s post which has links to the charities to which people are contributing.

Angela Rowe’s first post for the Ayrshire Health blog this week was also her first time on Weekly Blog Club. Her very thought-provoking post tackled a tough topic. In The relevance of resilience in healthcare, she considered how some remarkable children and young people manage to get through very difficult, often abusive, home environments and still manage to succeed, and how healthcare services can support them.

Dyfrig Williams also focused on some wonderful youngsters in his post How children and young people are feeding in to the Citizen’s Panel for Social Services in Wales. I think many readers, like me, might find a tear welling up in their eye as they read about one particular young carer and what she manages to do above and beyond being the carer for her mother and younger siblings.

Rachel wrote about the commercialisation of Mother’s Day and shared her alternative approach in Happy Mother’s Day – From the Food Baby. It was the fathers, however, who hit the big ‘Aaaaaaah’ button in their posts this week. Ross Wigham (who has written wonderfully about fatherhood before) shared a momentous moment with his younger daughter in One small step for…..; and John Patterson was also a strong contender for the cuteness crown* when he shared a sweet song he learned from his 3-year-old daughter: The small things.

There was quite a lot of learning going on this week. Chris Bolton thinks that people jump at using the word ‘innovation’ far too quickly and need to learn some alternative words: Expatiation, Innovation, Adaptation, Continuous Improvement and Hyperbole. It’s dictionary time.

Many of you will have enjoyed Samuel-James Wilson’s tales of what he has been learning on his placements in places such as the famous York Minster, and will be very surprised by The Announcement. He will have some very different things to learn. I was thinking about a sense of local place as I anticipated Learning more about Neighbourhood Planning at a seminar provided by Newcastle City Council and led by Planning Aid.

In Learning by numbers, Andrew Jacobs thought back to painting in his childhood, what had been the outcomes when he painted freehand and when he did painting-by-numbers. Does setting up a tight framework for learning with measurable outcomes work, or do people learn better when they have more freedom? Carolyne Mitchell was thinking about design as My perfect cousin taught her and her colleagues something about design and what wider possibilities there could be for public services mobile resources for the public.

Several people considered different aspects of using social media and knowledge of how to use it this week. Kenny McDonald thought about the basics of what is required to share information about your life as it happens in his post about the infrastructure: What the W*Fi?!

Louise Brown provided some guidance on using Social bookmarking for charities. First-time contributor, Liam Barrington-Bush, wrote on the comms2point0 blog about how he was using social media to build up support and funds so he can self-publish his book: how an author is using small conversations and viral campaigning. Louise Psyllides, also contributing to Weekly Blog Club for the first time via the comms2point0 blog, wrote about the pr challenges that face housing in a world where #bedroomtax trends on Twitter.

Dan Slee wrote about FUTURE TACKS: Why every organisation needs a digital comms specialist, including how they need to help colleagues to use social media. I do sometimes wonder if some in universities need access to more social media practical expertise. Louise Atkinson is blogging about her research for her fine art PhD and her contribution this week was exploring the new world of sharing academic material online in the more informal blog form rather than waiting for it to be published in a peer-reviewed traditional journal: Practice as research [Week 23].

Rough Cat shared her experience of learning to hashtag very recently in Every Day’s A #School Day. Ah, where would we be without # to enable us to find tweets from and about a specific event such as a conference, or to indicate a dry or downright sardonic sense of humour. There was more humour from Karen Hart who took up Kate Bentham‘s suggestion for the Week 11 [completely optional] theme – randomness – in ‘Bugrit! Millennium hand and shrimp’ (Batman and vegetables are included).

Thank you very much to Kate Bentham for doing such a great job (as always) in looking after Weekly Blog Club for Week 10. If you think you’d like to volunteer as a guest curator, all you need to know is here. Thank you very much to all those who have read, Liked, commented on, followed this blog (and our members’ blogs), tweeted and retweeted our posts as well as to those who have contributed posts. If you want to join in, more about how to can be found on our About page. Do join in at any point during the year. If you’re nervous, tell us and we will encourage you.

We are still in March, and the general [entirely optional] theme for March is women because this is the month during which women’s history and issues are the focus internationally. If you want an alternative [still entirely optional] theme for Week 12, how about (thinking back to Andrew Jacobs’ post this week) something memorable that you made when you were a child (let us set ‘child’ as below 16 years old in this instance). We will also welcome with open arms any more #commscamp13 or #ukgov13 posts (we do have one or two contributions already).**

Blog away, my lovelies, blog away….

Janet

Janet E Davis

*Sorry, the alliteration just begged to be let out.

** I apologise for being a bit ruthless and asking one or two people bluntly if they would like to contribute a specific post to Weekly Blog Club.

Summary of Week 11 posts

how an author is using small conversations and viral campaigning by Liam Barrington-Bush on the comms2point0 blog.

FUTURE TACKS: Why every organisation needs a digital comms specialist by Dan Slee.

Expatiation, Innovation, Adaptation, Continuous Improvement and Hyperbole. It’s dictionary time by Chris Bolton.

The Announcement by Samuel-James Wilson.

One small step for….. by Ross Wigham.

Every Day’s A #School Day by Rough Cat.

How children and young people are feeding in to the Citizen’s Panel for Social Services in Wales by Dyfrig Williams.

the pr challenges that face housing by Louise Psyllides on the comms2point0 blog.

The small things by John Patterson.

Happy Mother’s Day – From the Food Baby by Rachel.

The relevance of resilience in healthcare by Angela Rowe on the Ayrshire Health blog.

‘Bugrit! Millennium hand and shrimp’ by Karen JK Hart.

Celebrating the legacy of Matilda Mae by Louise Brown.

Social bookmarking for charities by Louise Brown.

Learning by numbers by Andrew Jacobs.

My perfect cousin by Carolyne Mitchell.

What the W*Fi?! by Kenny McDonald.

Practice as research [Week 23] by Louise Atkinson.

Learning more about Neighbourhood Planning by Janet E Davis.

The Untitled One

Posted on March 10, 2013 by Kate Bentham

Hello lovely people, it is me, Kate Bentham standing in this week as guest curator. I have to say I’ve had a fabulous week reading all your blogs, there were 23 in total, so great to see the numbers still so high into week 10 of the second year. If you too want to have a good a week as I’ve had, why not think about volunteering to be a guest curator? All you need to know is here.

Anyway, now I’ve done my sales pitch, back to those blogs. It is currently Saturday night, and I am staring at the list of 23 blog titles listed below trying to find a theme, a thread, a commonality among the blogs, but I can’t. So, I’ve decided to hold a competition. I’m leaving this blog as The Untitled One, until you have read the blogs below, applied some of the imagination I am clearly lacking, and you suggest a more suitable title. There is of course a top* prize for the winning suggestion, but as we know it’s not the winning**, it’s the taking part, so do take part.

One of the key features of the blogs this week focused on women, with a couple of posts shared to celebrate International Women’s Day which was Friday 8^th March 2013. Karen Hart’s blog Simply the Best for International Women’s Day introduced us to some of the amazing women volunteers who support the work of Stepney City Farm and who join Karen on the Communications Committee. In No Excuse for Domestic Abuse, Kate Bentham used International Women’s Day to announce a new role she has as a trustee for a charity which supports women and children affected by domestic abuse. Kate also shares some startling statistics. Also looking a gender this week is regular member Phil Jewitt. Phil attended CommsCamp13 recently and is Questioning Y not many women pitched a session. This has been in interesting debate to watch since CommsCamp13. Phil also uses his blog to look at good ideas, and questions, if it is such a good idea, why hasn’t it been taken forward already?

One of the Weekly Blog Club mantras is ‘a blog can be an image with a few sentences about it’ and this week we’ve had a couple of bloggers proving the point perfectly. First up is Janet Davis who takes us on an Urban walk February 2013. I’m a big fan of the walks which Janet shares with us; she sees some amazing images along the way, which others may miss. Another blog I am also fond of is the Lost and Found blog where Richard Overy shares historical photos. This week Richard shares a group of chaps with their bikes in Horndean 1935 – Cycled Aldershot to Weymouth.

We had a couple of How To blogs this week. The first was from Louise Brown with Google Alerts for charities. In this blog Louise shares information on how to use Google Alerts to listen to what the web is saying and to give information to support an organisation. Jo Smith from Vindicat PR also offers some top tips on how to get the job you want without fluffing the interview, You’re hired – if you can nail the interview is a useful read for anyone currently looking for their next employment opportunity. Kenny McDonald also shares his pain of remembering numerous passwords but offers some useful tips on how to keep passwords safe from the hackers in Name’s not down, you’re not getting in. In Engaged employees are happy employees by Carolyne Mitchell there are some useful tips and tool for internal collaboration and communication.

Ross Wigham blogs about how PR/Communications has changed over recent years, often sparked by budget cuts, but also technology developments. Ross shares the positive results this change has had for his organisation, whilst also looking at how further change is inevitable. Change. Adapt. Evolve. is a must read for anyone involved in comms or PR.

A warm welcome to Russell Todd who has contributed his first blog to weekly blog club in When Community Development becomes a pejorative term. Russell writes about two neighbourhoods and how one had significantly greater cohesion, solidarity and a sense of community – and yet this was a community considered in need of development. Russell looks at the important factor of social connectedness.

This week Lorna Prescott shares with us a review of a few chapters of a book she is supporting in getting published. The book is called Anarchists in the Boardroom by Liam Barrington-Bush. The book looks at how organisations can be ‘more like people’ and what they can learn from social media and technologies.

I felt very privileged to be able to take a look behind the scenes at the restoration work going on at York Minster in Samuel-James Wilson’s blog. Samuel-James shares some really interesting photographs and also his knowledge of the work which is going on, work which he has previously been involved in.

There were some great blogs from healthcare professionals this week. One which was of particular interest to me was The challenges ahead for Improving Outcome for Children and Young People in this first blog written by Kath Evans. The blog looks at how professionals, parents, schools and the wider public all have a role to play in improving health for children. In

Whisper it: UK Cancer Care is Better Than We Think by Martin Brunet the issue of an over reliance on out of date statistics is considered. Finally in Creativity and its place in recovery by Derek Barron, Derek looks at how art and creativity can offer some therapy for those who suffer from mental illness.

I took lots of ideas from Information sharing and feedback – our February / March Participation Networks by Participation Cymru on activities for network meetings and group activities. This latest Participation Cymru network meeting looked at Information Sharing and also feedback.

A heart-warming story in Place and time by Phil Jewitt who was in the right place at the right time to help an elderly and distressed lady to be reunited with her worried family, and thereby proving that Phil is the good egg we knew him to be.

Another good story this week is from Rough Cat in Happily Mourning the Death of a Car where we hear the story of a Ford Focus who has gone for recycling after developing one costly repair after another.

A great blog from Chris Bolton this week not only about polishing shoes but on memories a routine can evoke, how rituals makes us think about our possessions and how the smallest of tasks can show how much we care for our loved ones. Rituals, routines and how to polish shoes is a great read.

A couple of our regular contributors shared blogs on hobbies and interests this week, in Vegetable growing is go by Louise Brown Louise has read the books, ordered the seeds and is now ready to get planting. Peter Olding shares Looking for aircraft in France, Ireland and Portsmouth Harbour about his hobby of aircraft spotting and considered how technology might help.

And finally I loved seeing the Scottish Health Monthly blog, Settling in – Scottish healthcare blogs in February. This blog curates the best healthcare blogs of the month and posts them in a handy summary blog – I wonder if this idea will ever catch on…

So, have you thought of a suitable title for this summary, if you don’t hurry up I’ll end up*** eating the curly wurly myself.

Anyway that’s it from me, go do great things this week, and then write a blog about it. I’m doing something totally random on Monday, which I’ll blog about, so maybe that can be the completely optional theme for this week – randomness. If you’re a first timer to Weekly Blog Club you can find out how to join in here, or tweet one of us and we’ll be happy to support you. I’m handing back to the amazing and inspiring Janet Davis now, but will see you again in a few weeks.

Kate Bentham

*a curly wurly

** it is the winning, there’s a curly wurly at stake for goodness sake!

*** I’ve eaten it already.

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