Author: Nick Booth

Different ways to encourage people to blog and use social media – or why Jane Slowey does her homework.

We have been working with the Foyer Federation, helping them make better use of social media to tell their story and also capture the effect their work has on the ground.  They’re concentrating on building a network to develop and support the approaches they call Open Talent – and Advantaged Thinking  (emphasising the assets and qualities in people and communities).

The works means staff sharing more of what they are learning, experienceing, finding and thinking – but online in public.

Jane Slowey of the foyer federation
Jane Slowey

One of the problems we often have to try and solve is how to give people incentives to do something that can seem un-natural even risky.  Normally we’ll aim to provide reassurance within the management structure and make it fun to do – turn what could be a chore into something that’s an enjoyable port of the work.

Oddly though Jane Slowey – chief exec at the Foyer Federation – is motivated by something else altogether – something deep in her personality … listen to this audioboo to understand more

listen to ‘Jane Slowey on social media and homework ’ on Audioboo

Jane’s own audioboo’s can be found here: http://audioboo.fm/JaneSlowey

Video: what does it mean to be a Brummie?

Birmingham Leadership Foundation hosted a debate asking “what does it mean to be a Brummie?” at their third Monday Masterclass at the end of August in Handsworth. I shared my notes from the debate last month. This video by Punk Zebra gives you a great flavour of the debate and the passion that young people have for the city.

The masterclasses are a mix of inspiring talks from young leaders and entrepreneurs, together with a social media surgery run by Podnosh.

The debate was part of the MyBrum consultation, led by Councillor Waseem Zaffar  for Birmingham City Council’s new social cohesion and community safety scrutiny committee.

John Popham on Our Digital Planet – a brilliant morning in Bristol

More from John Popham (first blogged here) on his work in Bristol on digital literacy through us and the wonderful Nominet Trust’s Our Digital planet tour…

Ron

This morning has made the whole Our Digital Planet experience worthwhile for me. The first customer into the unit was Ron, who happily told us he was 84 and had on interest in the internet at all. But he was interested in photography, and had been looking at some of the photos in the exhibition. So, Rachael from Nominet Trust took him on a tour of the images. Ron came back into the Internet Station enthusing about the big image of old Bristol on the side of the unit, and reminiscing about the trams in Croydon where he used to live. So, Rachael showed him some online images of Croydon trams. Ron was pretty amazed about how easy it was to find such things, and, within minutes he was asking us to look for some pictures of himself dancing in a nightclub, which he had been told were on Facebook. We didn’t manage to find them. but we did find images of some of the places where he was due to go on holiday and trip advisor ratings for them, which he found fascinating. Ron’s a photographer and a painter, and, when he realised that he could upload photos and images of his paintings, he left bubbling with enthusiasm and promising to come back.

This experience fills me with the kind of “Social Glow” that we experience from Social Media Surgeries.