Comments for Podnosh

Comment on Community Lovers Tour of Birmingham: Nick Booth – Social Media Surgeries by Lorna Prescott

Lorna Prescott — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:38:24 +0000

Lovely photos Steph. That Francis Clarke looks far to relaxed on the sofa though!

Comment on Community Lovers Tour of Birmingham: Tom Baker – Loaf by Lorna Prescott

Lorna Prescott — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:33:20 +0000

The more I hear about Loaf, the more inspired I am. Thanks for sharing

Comment on Cyber-bullying, Internet Safety and Social Media Surgeries by Lorna Prescott

Lorna Prescott — Tue, 21 May 2013 10:11:50 +0000

This is fantastic. Let’s hope that more work like this gets done. It’s great that the social media surgery model has lent itself to creating a different sort of conversation and dynamic between parents, teachers and pupils.

Comment on Age isn’t a barrier! Birmingham East and Sheldon Community Website by Lorna Prescott

Lorna Prescott — Tue, 21 May 2013 09:55:13 +0000

Great video Steph. And Lol’s blog is lovely. His views on Facebook made me smile. I felt that way about twitter AND Facebook before becoming a convert to twitter. I’m still struggling with Facebook (choosing not to use it), though it was interesting reflecting on Lol’s opinion and challenging myself a bit. I think WordPress etc. might be more comfortable spaces for people have, and want to hold on to power. We can control what we put on there, and if we choose to we can control what comments end up on ‘our’ site. This goes beyond a traditional communications officer control of the message desire. I think it’s about different sorts of power and control. And perhaps a lack of desire in opening ourselves up to what other people are talking about and interested in. Some of us who run blogs want people to visit on our terms, around subject matter we have chosen and found interesting (I know that I do this). Facebook feels like a different sort of space entirely. Is twitter a bridge between? Hmmm… this has really got me thinking, thanks.

Comment on Which flip camera should I buy? – the update for 2012 by John Heaven

John Heaven — Wed, 01 May 2013 16:56:03 +0000

Edutige do great microphones that are not hugely expensive (I paid €30). They are very small and you can get ones that attach directly to your iphone. I did a sound test here – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haXa8O7HCIA&feature=youtu.be

No batteries required or anything, it’s great! (No, I don’t work for them or have anything to do with them other than owning one of their mics.)

Comment on Community Lover’s Guide to Birmingham – The Launch by Community Lovers Tour of Birmingham « Podnosh

Community Lovers Tour of Birmingham « Podnosh — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:49:10 +0000

[...] January we launched the Birmingham edition of The Community Lovers Guide, 12 stories of of the ways volunteers, community and social enterprise are changing relationships [...]

Comment on Using Social Media Surgeries to Improve Perceptions of Safety in Birmingham by Age isn’t a barrier! Birmingham East and Sheldon Community Website « Podnosh

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 14:34:56 +0000

[...] the same time as running the project we’ve been working on in South Birmingham with the Community safety team we’ve been engaging with communities in east Birmingham in the [...]

Comment on How easy is it to publish to a blog? by Steph

Steph — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 10:52:13 +0000

And easy it!

Comment on Recipe – how to make a social media surgery by Yortime Partnership Commission With Dhyaan Designs For City-Wide York Web Technologies Advice Sessions

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 15:41:14 +0000

[...] new project in York – fresh from a Social Media pioneers, Podnosh in Brum, called the “Social Media Surgeries“, I thought there was a lot of potential to collaborate and make some connections to drive [...]

Comment on Community Lover’s Guide to Birmingham – The Launch by 4am Project chapter in Community Lover’s Guide To Birmingham |

4am Project chapter in Community Lover’s Guide To Birmingham | — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 12:26:01 +0000

[...] night was the launch of the book, and Podnosh has blogged about it here. The Birmingham Mail were very quick to pick up on the news and wrote about it on their site. [...]

Comment on The New Optimists – "the most exhilarating of books" by Feeding the City, Feeding the Mind: Kate Cooper at TEDxWarwick 2013 « Podnosh

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 12:37:50 +0000

[...] We’ve been working with Kate Cooper on the New Optimists and her New Optimists Forum for a few years now. Here Kate gives a very fine speech to TEDx in Warwick on what urban food if for and how we can feed ourselves in the future. She speaks a lot of sense and I learnt a long time ago to not doubt Kate. [...]

Comment on Lorna Wills – How attending Social Media Surgeries helped me find my place in my community by Mac Jarvis

Mac Jarvis — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 11:52:19 +0000

Lovely to see how the networks within Wolverhampton, social media and Crimestoppers have worked together to allow Lorna to become involved with new friends. Oh and by the way volunteering with Crimestoppers is a great way to become involved. lol

Comment on Lorna Wills – How attending Social Media Surgeries helped me find my place in my community by Steph Jennings

Steph Jennings — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 12:47:33 +0000

It’s lovely isn’t it – I really loved talking to Lorna as it really came across what a difference being connected had made for her. Feeling part of something online can really help improve your “real world” and I can’t think of a better way of demonstrating it.

Comment on Lorna Wills – How attending Social Media Surgeries helped me find my place in my community by Lorna Prescott

Lorna Prescott — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 12:42:53 +0000

I love this post, thanks Steph. And it really goes to show that being connected online helps to develop offline connections related to place, as well as interest. This has warmed my heart

Comment on Why don’t we trust networks to do things at scale? #ukgovcamp13 #lsis13 by Scribe

Scribe — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 21:08:09 +0000

Why do we not trust markets to be equal?

Or to be more positive about it, how can we ensure that the benefits gained from networked models propagate to those elsewhere?

Is economic inequality fundamentally the same problem as network inequality, but with different media?

Are we talking about outputs, products and outcomes being disseminated, or about collective, vicarious learning? Why would I care about what others have failed at?

Why would we value our own journey of learning and development over product purchases?

Does the network always start with the self?

Comment on Lorna Wills – How attending Social Media Surgeries helped me find my place in my community by Francis Clarke

Francis Clarke — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 15:53:25 +0000

I really enjoyed this post and definitely could relate to Lorna’s experience. Since moving from London to Birmingham last summer I have found Twitter has helped me to connect with issues I care about and get to know new people. Social media has helped me meet people in real life and feel more settled in my adopted city.

Comment on Why don’t we trust networks to do things at scale? #ukgovcamp13 #lsis13 by Nick Booth

Nick Booth — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 20:02:55 +0000

Thanks for the comments both – Matt, I not sure I’m thinking about networks development per se – yes individual networks can be brittle. I’m thinking that a lot of activity across a lot of different networks can deliver change – but public services tend not to think like that.

Comment on Why don’t we trust networks to do things at scale? #ukgovcamp13 #lsis13 by Kate Cooper

Kate Cooper — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 19:58:59 +0000

A clear strategy? Goals? For a network . . . Seems an unlikely possibility.

Besides which, a great value of a network is its unpredictability.

Comment on Why don’t we trust networks to do things at scale? #ukgovcamp13 #lsis13 by Matt Daniels

Matt Daniels — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 10:08:44 +0000

It’s an interesting discussion. My personal view is that most people consider a network as ineffective in most ways other than as a mechanism to share and communicate between network members – an inward environment, rather than as a collective force that can achieve outward goals as well as internal.

This doesn’t hamper the success of a network if it truly wants to be successful, but i think another key issue of a network is that it’s inherently democratic, and trying to strike the right balance between leading and allowing all to have a voice it difficult and can, at times, lead to inertia.

The killer issue though is that networks (relatively organic ones anyway), are traditionally built without strong capacity and resourcing which has the obvious flaw that from day one the network competes with the many and varied (and often prioritised) urgent issues and tasks of the network members primary roles/organisations. In times of high stress, high workload or difficulty it will always then be the network that suffers.

My own view to developing an effective, efficient and successful network is to have a clear strategy that encompasses the collective aims and needs of network members (both for themselves and for the network), with established capacity and resources and ideally an effective network facilitator to keep everyone focussed on the goals of the network, and working towards achieving them.

Without a level of driving, and of resource and capacity to continue the momentum, networks do, inevitably, sink, as would any organisation or initiative without leadership and strong strategic focus.

Comment on Why don’t we trust networks to do things at scale? #ukgovcamp13 #lsis13 by Kate Cooper

Kate Cooper — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 18:44:56 +0000

I suspect the lack of trust is because no-one is in control of a network. All a “leader” can do is tweak things a tad, which can seem about as productive as throwing a stick into an ant hill.

Kevin Kelly wrote “New rules for the new economy” in 1998, way back ago. It’s hard for traditional leaders to trust these rules. Let me reiterate ‘em here:
1 Embrace the swarm
2 Increasing returns
3 Plentitude, not scarcity
4 Follow the free
5 Feed the Web first
6 Let go at the top
7 From places to spaces
8 No harmony, all flux
9 Relationship tech
10 Opportunities before efficiencies

then he concluded with
A thousand points of wealth

I’d add in failure, fast failure . . .

Now all that sounds like gook or worse, subversion + gook to most leaders.

What we need do is propagate stories of success.

Comment on Social media surgeries, simplicity and being there by Why don’t we trust networks to do things at scale? #ukgovcamp13 #lsis13 « Podnosh

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 17:53:55 +0000

[...] I think way forward collectivity this will improve on social problems more steadily and in a way that people can more easily get involved with than a large scale service offer tends to do. It’s also relates to why I’ve had problems with unrealistic expectations – that setting expectation too high leads to harming social movement – zero expectations encourage success – high expectations make even achievements look like failu…. [...]

Comment on Toby Blume at LocalGovCamp – visualising policy and engaging citizens by Data, visualisation and the talking cure for local government | Local Democracy

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 10:46:47 +0000

[...] has posted his observations from the session here. In addition, Nick Booth has been busy with two posts on the [...]

Comment on Community Lover’s Guide To The Universe and Birmingham by creative collaboration in Birmingham | creative collaboration

creative collaboration in Birmingham | creative collaboration — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 15:22:40 +0000

[...] site: Just over a year ago we announced we were approaching people and groups to contribute to The Community Lovers Guide to Birmingham - a simple book of stories of the ways volunteers, community and social enterprise are changing [...]

Comment on The non launch of the Community Lovers Guide to Birmingham (get it today) by creative collaboration in Birmingham | creative collaboration

creative collaboration in Birmingham | creative collaboration — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 15:19:14 +0000

[...] is an extract from editor Nick Booth’s post on the Podnosh site: Just over a year ago we announced we were approaching people and groups to [...]

Comment on Staking a claim – new allotments and new community by Sara jane Trebar

Sara jane Trebar — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 11:38:10 +0000

Hi Nick, I read with great interest your blog. We are another allotment facing developers. Legally they have to rehouse us but the site is over 2 miles away. Too far for many of us. We have put a submission in to become a community asset. Our sight is over 100 years old and an integral part of our history. The loss of our site in our hugely urbanized area would be devastating.