Podnosh

Tom Watson , William Perrin and the Power of Information taskforce shows off some mock ups for crime mapping by neighbourhood and the whole social media story makes it onto the Telegraph’s front page with a couple of subsidiary articles – including one mentioning West Midlands Police mapping site.  Practical and political! Crime mapping has been useful tool in the US for a few years now, some of it inspired by tracking gun crime and is seeing growing use in the UK.

First apologies to Steve Bridger for my inability to avoid the obvious pun on his latest and very fine post.
Last month when we met at an NVCO ICT Foresight group meeting Steve mentioned the idea of a “Buzz Director” for non profits.

It’s a particular crusade of mine to encourage not-for-profits to identify an internal champion (or recruit a virtual volunteer) to take on this role. Call it what you will. I like Beth Kanter’s “Social Media Coach”. But how about “Cause Evangelist”? Anyway, you get the idea.

Steve is essentialy looking for someone who understands how the internet can be used to broaden relationships and widen support. It is a job for someone with a clear appreciation of the point of your organisation combined with a talent for looking (and indeed living) over the horizon – perhaps you could say beyond infinity?

One of the qualities he identifies is the ability to… Read the rest of this entry »

Mike Overton has fought for years to prevent developers building homes on an old waste tip and clap pit in Erdington in Birmingham, UK. He talks to Emma Lewis of b:cen about the site and why protecting it matters so much to him. Also in the programme a thanks to listeners in Belgrade and Birmingham who mentioned our programmes on their blogs and more information of the Podminions, a podcast channel run by pupils at Kings Norton Boys School. To comment please leave you thoughts here.

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A few months ago podnosh and b:cen were able to offer some support to the pupils at Kings Norton Boys School in Birmingham. We helped them set up their own podcast channel which they christened Podminions and hosted here on the Podnosh site.

Having opened the door the first group of podminions are now rushing through it. They are finding their voice in the programmes, passing knowledge and skills onto other boys in the school and have also established a website specifically for this project at www.podminions.co.uk.

It looks great, works well and has the capacity to expand into a perfect place for a school to converse with itself and the ‘outside’ world.

If you visit and have a rootle around please fire off an e-mail to let them know what you think. A little encouragement etc….

Max who works on the Podminions podcast has just alerted me to a problem with  the ever-so-polite leader of the opposition, David Cameron MP. It relates to the visuals on the newly launched webcameron.org.uk.

The site uses some very funky little icons, popped in their no doubt by the designers commissioned to make it so.  The trouble is those icons were made by a talented web designer based here in Brum and they’re being used in breach of his copyright.

Mark James makes them freely available on his site www.famfamfam.com under what is known as a Creative Commons license.  It is a widely used and respected way to protect what is written on the web and requires generosity and integrity from all those involved.

So the deal is simple:   you can use the natty icons free as long as you credit the source, and in web parlance this means linking to Mark’s website.

Anything else is simply rude.

Mark would like to see the credit – and told us “I expect people to occasionally overlook the issues of the Creative Commons, although I have to say I’m a little shocked that this escaped a political party”.

From my point of view I want to see local creativity given its due.  So Mr Cameron please remember your manners, sort out the site and then pop Mark a quick apology.

You can make it a video apology if you like.

I’ve so far worked in a couple of schools to introduce podcasting. The teachers see the value, even if we are still learning the best ways to integrate with the wider work in the school. Some are hugely enthusiastic. The pupils mostly find it fun, some find it compelling.

But we always have to deal with the battle between control and freedom of expression which characterises school life. Which is why I was pleased to read Howard Rheingold on the DIY Media Blog. In his post he states the benefits very simply:

By showing students how to use Web-based tools and channels to inform publics, advocate positions, contest claims, and organize action around issues that they truly care about, participatory media education can draw them into positive early experiences with citizenship that could influence their civic behavior throughout their lives.

That is exactly what the students at Kings Norton Boys School in Birmingham are starting to do with their podcast the Podminions. The channel not only provides them with a patform to find a voice (or a collection of voices), the microphone is giving them a power boost – encouraging them to get out there and ask questions – query the world and then interpret it for an audience.

At Reaside School in Frankley the pupils combine podcasting with drama – developing self confidence and narrative skills. At the same time they shared their own view of the world – whether it was fear expressed in The Beast or affection in Wendy Scattergood.

So why tell you all of this? Read the rest of this entry »

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Click here to download the podcast

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In this episode Ruairi goes out with his microphone and interviews a few of the performers from the concert.
Firstly, James Hereper the clown, followed by Humza Chaudhry who was in the barbershop quartet and finally Mo who was taking part in the freestyle basketball demonstration.

As always, the podcast was recorded and produced by the boys at KNBS and supported by Podnosh & b:cen
Click on the play button below to listen to the podcast.

In the first podcast from the boys at Kings Norton Boys’ School. In this episode 4 boys attend a conference at the NEC aimed at promoting active citizens around the UK.  Includes interviews with Hazel Blears MP & Beth Ford from the Chicago Police Department. Interviews were conducted by Chris Brown, Max Woolf, Ruairi Hay and Tom Caesar.

Programme 15 turns out to be a curious mixture of Blair, Blears and Bollards. This time we handed over the microphone to a school and a youth group. Find out what they make of a government.
Read the rest of this entry »

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