Tag: training

PLACES: Social Media and Science Communications – What science communicators think of social media

Social reporter training from Podnosh - the social media game

Over the last 2 days the Podnosh team hosted 24 science communicators from across Europe. They were in Birmingham as part of the Open Places project which is looking at bringing together 69 science communication institutions and other stakeholders in European cities to partner with local policy makers to tackle socio-economic issues such as employment; education; climate change and poverty from a scientific perspective.We met with them to discuss social media and the ways in which it can be useful to them in their workplaces or on this and other specific projects.

We looked at different platforms such as blogs, Youtube, Twitter and Facebook. Gave presentations on networking, sharing and listening and had brilliant guest speakers Shane McCraken of Read more

Science engagement and communication with social media

How do scientists let us know what they’re up to?  More importantly, perhaps how do they help us understand what they’re doing?  The communication of science is crucial… and next week Podnosh will be working with science communicators from all over Europe to explore how social media can play a role in their work.

It’s not the first time we’ve done this. We thoroughly enjoyed social reporting for a Europe wide project on communicating science early in 2011.  We were supporting Kate Cooper at The New Optimists and our work helped flush out enough detail in one conference to create a final conference report (essentially) on the day (radically speeding up how these things often happen)

It’s all part of a European project, ‘PLACES’ and as well as finding out about projects from other parts of Europe we’ll be looking at two very successful projects that we know about – Shane McCracken from Gallomanor will be giving the background to ‘I’m a Scientist Get Me Out of Here…’  and the (again) Kate Cooper’s New Optimists  is a great example of how social media can help to grow a project.

Any science projects online that we should be looking at?  Tell us about the ones that have caught your eye.

 

This is why we do it – or how social media makes people want to go to work on Mondays

This morning we started our work with Birmingham Settlement – one of the city’s oldest charites with a track record that spans two century.  They do tricky and incredibly supportive work working with the most disadvantaged people in their neighbourhood, the wider city and increasingly the wider world! As one of them put it – they make life better for Brummies.

We worked them through our social media awareness session – the one designed to help people get their heads in the right place, to understand the link between what they do and what we know.

Margaret Farrell is in charge of the business of outreach for Birmingham Settlement’s money advice services. She confessed that all this digital stuff is outside her experience – then at the end of a mornings worked told me this

Makes me smile!

 

 

Free social reporter training for Birmingham based Neighbourhood Forums and Active Citizens

Later this month we are running another social reporter training programme, building on the work we have done for Birmingham Local Democracy Week and the Black Country Take Part Pathfinder.

This time our work is funded through the support Birmingham City Council gives to Neighbourhood Forums in the city . The details are below and you can download them here.  If you want to come contact: Read more