Makala Cheung.
Press and Communications Officer, Knowle West Media Centre.
6 November 2006
I travelled to KWMC where I met with Makala. Makala began by explaining to me the ways in which she currently uses digital media. She said that she uses the laptop to scan in and collate any positive publicity about Knowle West. She emails this information to Martin at KWMC, for him to upload the information to the Knowle West Website. She said that any press releases or publicity which she produces on the laptop, also goes on the website, whilst she laminates poster versions and takes them to be displayed on community notice boards at Knowle Safe and at The Park. She told me that whilst she rarely takes photos herself, many people send digital photos to her for inclusion on the website. Makala then talked about the issues forum and how she lets people know about it and signs people up to it at events. She explained that she will now be doing some training so that she can make website pages from gathered content as well as working to get people used to using the websites.
Makala talked about the newsletter and the current need for a more diverse editorial group. She said that one way in which she is extending on the group is by emailing people about the newsletter to get them involved. Makala is also looking at setting up a evening club or class for a newsletter editorial group that can learn skills and take part fully in the writing and design process through computers. This will help to ensure that the group is more inclusive, and Makala will support their learning needs.
Makala told me about ‘Mouth of the South’ and how the group use digital photography and QuarkXpress to produce the magazine, which then gets sent to schools and youth clubs locally. She told me that the group want to expand on the magazine and that they are keen to produce a website that would be dedicated to young people and would have a pdf versions of back issues of ‘Mouth of the South’. She explained that by having extracts from Mouth of the South on the website the group would also be able to make links to other relevant websites. Makala talked about the potential to encourage people to use the cameras on their mobile phones to produce additional content for the website. She also talked about the potential to have radio show documentaries on the website as podcasts. She is also keen that there is a showcasing platform on the website where young people could upload the music they make. She talked about the need many people have for soundtracks to work they make digitally, and how the showcase could be a resource for people who need soundtracks, which would lead to young people’s music being heard in different contexts. Makala also told me that the Mouth of the South group are interested in videoing the interviews they have so that these can be viewed on the website. In this way the website would be an extension of the magazine as it would utilise the possibilities there are when using a website instead of a printed platform.
Makala then told me about the Knowle west newsletter and how there is always too much content to be included. She said that she is thinking about a website to compliment the newsletter, so that there might be edited versions of articles in the newsletter, with full versions available on the website. She said that this might be one way of stimulating more links between the Knowle West newsletter and the Knowle West website. Makala then clarified for me the relation between different Knowle West websites. She said that the issues forum is part of the Knowle West website and that both of these are separate to, but linked to, the KWMC website.
Makala talked about publicity and how emails have made the job of publicising events a lot easier and a lot more immediate, especially when there are updates or last minute changes. She talked about how there had once been the need to follow up emails with paper copies, and how it was easier now that this was no longer necessary as most people now use email as their primary means of communication. Makala also underlined how much easier email makes the job of giving additional information, such as maps, as you can simply send someone a link.
Makala then told me about the job of signposting people to the issues forum and the Knowle West website and how the inclusion of an events page would lead to more people visiting the sites. Makala anticipates the websites expanding more and more, for example, with the inclusion of information about local businesses and organisations. She said that she thought this was important as information from local organisations would be useful to the local community. Makala talked about needing to list the topics that different organisations relate to, so that visitors to the site can click on the topic that interests them and thereby locate the relevant organisation. In this way people won’t need to have prior knowledge of the different organisations or what they do. (Since our meeting Makala has set up the ‘local organisations in topics’ idea on the Knowle West website.)
Makala said that she thought it was important to have all this information, that is relevant to the local community, stored on or linked to one central website resource. She said that this was important because people are so busy that it is hard for them to go out and find out about all the different things that are going on and all the different things that various organisations are doing. She highlighted how, therefore, the expansion of the Knowle West website will be significant in networking opportunities and in joining people up and making connections. However, Makala underlined that if this is the way in which people can find out about what is going on then it is crucial that everyone has internet access, otherwise people will be left out. She said that as public access, such as at the library, is so overused, the point about access really is crucial and needs to be addressed. She said that we either need to make sure that everyone is online at home, or ensure that there are more, bigger facilities for people to use the internet in public spaces, so that everyone who wants to get on line can do so. She said that otherwise, the resources we are developing on line won’t be any where near as effective as they could be.
Makala said that access was also important because it is important for working people to be able to do things like pay bills on line, because when you work full time you don’t get the chance to do things like that otherwise. She said that even if you do work full time, and work late, you can still go home and do things like get your car tax at 10pm at night, if you are on line.
Makala added that if people haven’t got internet access they can’t take advantage of the better deals that are available on the internet. For example, she talked about people who are in debt and how there is an issue about equal opportunities in terms of access to cheaper ways of getting out of debt. She said that there is an equal opportunities issue in that it is important to ensure that people have access to the internet to ensure an equality of opportunities to research and access a whole range of potentially cheaper / more relevant services, especially with regard to financial stuff or citizen’s advice type information as well as being able to get cheaper things like car insurance on line.
We talked about the way in which the Knowle West website could be useful in making links between individuals with similar aims or ideas; for example one potential link highlighted through this meeting is between the Mouth of the South website idea about a showcase for young people’s music, and the suggestion that Lester Freckleton made about a local YouTube.
