Leeds gearing up for city’s first social media surgery

Next Tuesday will see the first Social Media Surgery held in Leeds – so what can you expect to find going on?

I spoke with Leeds organiser John Popham about the launch event as well as an old-hand at these surgeries, Nick Booth of Podnosh in Birmingham.

John: ” People were asking me questions about social media things but this has really come about because I was at the first year anniversary of the surgeries in Birmingham which happened about three weeks ago and people were asking why we weren’t doing it in this region.”

So he’s started it!

Nick explains how it’s worked in Birmingham: ” They are aimed at small charities, community groups and active citizens.  They are resolutely informal.  Volunteer surgeons pitch up and we sit them next to people who are trying to make a difference in the places where they live.  They talk to each other, share skills and go perhaps help people set up web tools.  The beneficiaries are welcome to come back time and again to get more help.”

He also offers this recipe to the event.

The Leeds event will be formulated in much the same way and John has already heard that other Yorkshire locations are interested in setting up similar events in Huddersfield, York, Sheffield and Hull so next week’s event could be the first of many.

Sharing some of the experience from Birmingham, Nick says a year of the surgeries in the city have raised awareness in the city about the potential of social media for social good.

“We have also helped to stitch together a few more squares in the patchwork quilt of very, very local blogging. That quilt will, eventually, prove a real democratic asset to the city.  We didn’t keep track of every group that has been helped – because at the beginning it was very informal.  We know of 22 sites we have helped set up – about half of those are still busy.

“We have also helped a lot of people who were already using the web.   We know that the idea has spun off to places as far a field as Sydney, Barcelona and soon South Africa plus surgeries cropping up in a growing number of town/cities in the UK.”

To be in at the start of all this, the Leeds Social Media Surgery is at Round Foundry Media Centre
Foundry Street, Leeds, LS11 5QP from 5.30pm – 7pm on Tuesday, November 10 . Map here.

See you there!

What’s the future for Manchester’s Social Media Cafe #smc_mcr

As the first anniversary of Manchester’s Social Media Café approaches, last night’s monthly get together proved a timely opportunity to take stock of where we are – and where it might lead.

Splitting the attendees into three groups, Julian Tait, Ian Forrester and I were able to drill down into some of the issues, concerns and ideas and these can inform the planning of future events.

The notes below are from the group I got involved with, and I’m posting them here partly as an open matter of record, but mainly in case anyone who couldn’t get along to the event last night wants to contribute via the comments below.

Venue
People would prefer to go to a variety of different venues instead of having one home because it could encourage different crowds to give it a go. The group didn’t want the BBC Club to become home and felt that, although the recent events held in the venue have been well-attended, the crowd attracted by a big name like the Beeb have been less participating. The group also made the point that alcohol was not a necessary part of the evening so the venue could occasionally be held in a café or similar venue.
Note from me: We are going to need help sourcing, and securing, suitable venues. Volunteers, and suggestions, welcome.

Timings
All agreed that the evening, out-of-office timings were good and allowed for people to attend in their own time. However, there was some annoyance that an event which is advertised to start at 6pm, might not get fully underway until 7pm and asked organisers to be better timekeepers.
Note from me: We are going to need co-operation from people to arrive punctually for sessions if this is going to be achievable.

Purpose
There were a couple of people who disagreed here, but the consensus was that all the skills, knowledge, talent etc. of those at #smc_mcr could be utilised for a wider purpose in helping the Manchester community. One suggestion was to invite charity groups to address the meetings and explain what problem they had and see if #smc_mcr participants could collaborate to help solve it. Although the group still wanted the opportunity for the current system of experts holding sessions to share their knowledge, they also thought there was space to shift the emphasis by having people who bring issues to the table for the group to consider.

Publicity/Promotion
Related to the point above, the group felt we needed to be more proactive in engaging with different sections of the community in order to avoid “preaching to the converted”. Most people attending either knew someone involved with the group or had found it via Twitter. It was suggested that we go out of our way to invite groups who may not be that digitally engaged at present.

Newbies

It was felt there should be some mechanism where new members were able to tell others about themselves and their projects – perhaps something like an open-mic slot. Also to make that first visit more friendly, a buddy system was proposed. Any new members signing up for the first time could be appointed a buddy for the evening who’d introduce them to people and explain how it ran.
Note from me: I think the buddy system could be a great way of helping to encourage new people, particularly women. Walking into a strange pub, on your own, can be fairly daunting at the best of times.

So where do we go from here? Please contribute your views and ideas either in the comments below or on the wiki.

I’m looking forward to celebrating our 1st anniversary at the Band on the Wall in November so see you there..

links for 2009-07-28

• Social Journalism: Curate the Real-Time Web » Publish2 Blog
  What’s Social Journalism? It’s what you do when you gather information in social media channels and then report it to your readers. Watching a Twitter #hashtag for posts related to a critical local issue or big event, then publishing them in a roundup or sidebar on your news site? That’s Social Journalism. Scanning YouTube for the latest video from a protest, county fair, or city council meeting? That’s Social Journalism.
  (tags: journalism tools socialmedia iran publish2 aggregation)
• How 31 Year Olds Consume Media : Dan Wilson’s Blog
  We remember when having a telephone meant that mum used her special phone voice and said our own telephone number when she picked up the receiver. Calling after 6pm was cheaper and calling abroad was prohibitively expensive. We used to phone up other people’s houses and just hope they were in. Yes, really.
  (tags: twitter internet media online socialmedia funny)
• BBC strikes web video-sharing deal | Media | guardian.co.uk
  The BBC is providing a limited range of video news content to Mail Online, guardian.co.uk, Telegraph.co.uk and Independent.co.uk, which will supplement the newspaper websites’ own material, in four areas – UK politics, business, health and science and technology.
  (tags: guardian media bbc video)
• Template Twitter strategy for Government Departments
  You might think a 20-page strategy a bit over the top for a tool like Twitter.

  After all, microblogging is a low-barrier to entry, low-risk and low-resource channel relative to other corporate communications overheads like a blog or printed newsletter. And the pioneers in corporate use of Twitter by central government (see No 10, CLG and FCO) all started as low-profile experiments and grew organically into what they are today.

  (tags: twitter tools government)

links for 2009-06-30

• Unit Structures – Recruiting Participants for a Research Study
  UNC-Chapel Hill researchers are conducting a study of privacy behaviors in social networking sites (Facebook, Myspace). We seek individuals who maintain multiple profiles, and purposefully keep their profiles separate on social networking sites. For example, people who maintain a “work profile” and a “personal profile” on a social networking site.
  (tags: privacy socialnetworking identity)
• JournoTwit: A Twitter client for journalists | Twitter Journalism
  JournoTwit makes Twitter “more digestable,” he says. It is entirely Web-based so there are no downloads required. Your settings are stored, so you can move from computer to computer without losing the setup. And it supports use of multiple accounts, as many journalists operate both personal and professional accounts.
  (tags: twitter tools journalism journalists)
• How to Set Up Your Community Manager to Fail | Kommein
  Leaving a community manager in the dark, is leaving a community in the dark.
  (tags: community)
• 100 Best Blogs for Journalism Students – Learn-gasm
  Good list of links for students or any journalists looking to expand their knowledge. Good to see some personal favourites in there, Mr Dickinson, Mr Jarvis et al but also some notable ommissions imho – what about Mark Media, Alison Gow, Joanna Geary and Glyn Mottershead to name just a few obvious ones. Hoping that one day, maybe someday, my blog will also make it in here!
  (tags: blog blogs education journalism news howto links newspaper)
• allmediascotland : Twit and Wisdom
  Leaving aside the rather dismissive tone (‘down with the kids’???) this post does contain some useful Twitter names for Scottish media.
  (tags: scotland edinburgh media twitter tweets)

links for 2009-06-16

• Plaaning applications via Twitter
  Click through to http://www.twitterplan.co.uk … enter my Twitter name and postcode… decide that the planning news that matters most to me is anything within an 800-metre radius… tick the ‘follow’ button for PlanBot and there we go….

  Job done. And three cheers to all concerned

  (tags: twitter hyperlocal planning)
• Size Matters: Twitterer’s Lengthening Tweets – ReadWriteStart
  (tags: twitter socialmedia)

Could an online community help stem Manchester’s brain drain?

Jotta demonstration

Keeping Manchester’s creative talent in the area and building a thriving digital economy for the future – two of the issues exercising the minds of the movers and shakers across the city at the moment.

As the most recent research from the Manchester Independent Economic Review revealed (full findings slideshow here), the city has particular difficulty keeping hold of the graduates of its universities.

With this issue to the fore, a gathering of representatives from universities, the city council, the digital development agency and arts organisations got together yesterday to look at the possibilities offered by the online community Jotta.

And, in a welcome first, they also invited me along to participate and then blog about it with the aim that a wider debate might be sparked across the digital community.

Jotta has been operating in London for the past five months. Its creators describe it as “an online and offline community for artists and designers and communicators across all disciples.”

In brief it answers two needs;

1. A place to showcase work – members can upload a portfolio which can additionally be shared through social networking sites.
2. Provides online tools to network and collaborate. Groups, discussions forums where members of the community can comment on each others’ work.

It seemed to me that one of its strengths is in being so tightly focussed into niche disciplines, the website provides potential employers and businesses looking for talent with a very targeted pool – after all, if a digital games animator is what you need, looking through portfolios of fashion designers will lead to a frustrating experience.

It’s attracted 4,500 registered users and had 17,000 pieces of work uploaded – some of which has already been provided by northern practitioners have already found their way to this platform including artist Kev Dawson from Manchester and printmaker David Hand from St Helen’s.

The creators say that providing practical assistance to members of the community is high on the agenda – whether this is to assist in getting commercial opportunity or simply to provide tools for showcasing – and the organisers have already held offline events such as the curation of a space at St Martin’s College.

So, would it work in Manchester? Your thoughts, as ever, most welcome.

A pre-requisite would seem to be a buy-in from the commercial sector as well as the educational institutions not just to to help create the community but also to actively promote their students’ talents into the hard-nosed business world.

Is the city better served by joining an existing community or by developing a stand-alone offering? Can any online community truly reflect our diversity of talent? Is there an advantage in size or in exclusivity?  These are just some of the questions it prompted for me and I’m looking forward to the debate continuing in the future.

links for 2009-06-03

• The Manchizzle: Manchester arts venues dig social media
  Sure, social media is another channel on which to promote your stuff, but savvy arts orgs understand that it’s a tool that works both ways.
  (tags: manchester socialmedia)

links for 2009-05-26

• Join us in a UK hyperlocal alliance… « Talk About Local (alpha)
  Well we want to know if hyperlocal people in the UK are up for some sort of ‘UK Hyperlocal Alliance’ (working title) dedicated to a positive future for hyperlocal content in the UK. This isn’t an attempt to form a trade body or a union or a lobby group, just a simple web resource where we can sign up to a simple statement of intent, get in touch with each other and tell our stories.
  (tags: hyperlocal independent)
• FT.com / Comment / Editorial – Newspapers’ future
  Perhaps some of the reporting done up to now by for-profit papers will in future be funded by foundations or trusts. But the industry should not lose faith in the free market. When people really want or need something, they will pay for it, one way or another. If today’s publishers cannot convince their readers to do so, they will be overtaken by others that can.
  (tags: newspapers, bloggers, FT)

links for 2009-05-18

• Hyperlocal Sites Make Gains, But Struggle With Dropoff In Online Ad Spending | paidContent.org
  The hyperlocal upstarts who would replace their hometown newspapers do well to remember the lessons associated with WaPo’s failure: namely, using outside reporters who were unable to integrate themselves into the neighborhood; lack of major promotion; inability to tie coverage to the print daily.
  (tags: media newspapers local news online hyperlocal)
• From ‘why?’ to ‘why not?’, the internet revolution | Media | The Guardian
  Media companies have previously been anointers of the talented, by virtue of the production bottleneck. In a world of abundant producers, talent will continue to be scarce, but the talented will not lack for ways to display their work. This makes the market for talent a more ad hoc affair, less about artificial scarcity and more about mutual opportunity.
  (tags: clayshirky internet 1984)
• The news industry’s uncertain future | The rebirth of news | The Economist
  New sources of news are proliferating online. Many, it is true, are unreliable. Most are badly funded. Some are the rantings of deranged extremists. But some—like Muckety, an American site which enriches news stories with interactive maps of the protagonists’ networks of influence, and NightJack, the revealing and depressing blog of an anonymous British policeman, which won the Orwell prize last month—enhance society’s understanding of itself, and could not have existed in the old world.
  (tags: newspapers paidcontent business)

Who are you really engaging?

Helen Milner Digital Inclusion The Evidence April 2009 National Digital Inclusion Conference London

View more presentations from Helen Milner.