Tag: Birmingham

Soweto Kinch on life in Birmingham 19 – Grassroots Channel Podcast 24

Soweto Kinch is a jazz and hip hop musician living in a tower block overlooking the Hockley Flyover in Birmingham.

He’s just finished working with the newsreader Moira Stuart to release the first of two albums which tell the story of living in his neighbourhood – the Newtown, Aston, Lozells area of the city. In programme 24 of the Grassroots Channel he explains how the music in A Life in the Day of B19 is motivated by a passion for using culture to lift a neighbourhood. Any comments please leave them here.

Links:
Soweto still performs and works at The Drum
Dune Jazz publishes and sells his work. Thanks for the help Janine! (dead link)
Soweto on Myspace
Soweto’s Album on Amazon A life in the day of B19
More about Soweto Kinch and his many awards.

Click below to listen to the podcast

(this was updated in Feb 2018 just to add some links to twitter etc – otherwise the content is the same)

 

Deep tagging – or making media a searchable medium

I’ve just read this interesting item on Techcrunch about the growing number of tools which help with what is being called deep tagging. It is a way of making it easier to search for exactly the right piece of audio or video.

The author (in this case us) would run the audio through some deep tagging software and mark relevant bits with keywords. An online search will identify those bits and allow listeners to jump directly to the part which concerns them most. Read more

David Cameron and Netiquette – mind your iManners please.

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.

Control in the classroom or "Zip it" at Speakers Corner

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.

Edit: and if you just want to listen to their in song it’s here:

So why tell you all of this? Read more