A visit to Princess Royal Gardens
December 5, 2006 Posted by Woodsy in : Digital Challenge, Wireless, Bristol, Bristol City Council, Regeneration, Mentoring , add a commentIt’s the last Tuesday in November and it’s before 10.00 am - not a sensible time for a nightbird like your scribe. I’m ringing the bell to gain access to Princess Royal Gardens in Redfield. I’m here to meet Heather Barham of Bristol City Council and Ronnie Corbett, scheme manager for PRG. Heather’s come to learn about Bristol Wireless‘ work with sheltered housing schemes and I asked Ronnie to help hold my hand.
Once settled in Ronnie’s office with a brew, we’re down to business. (more…)
Knowle West Media Centre meets Knowle West Action Group
November 17, 2006 Posted by Roz in : Digital Challenge, e-democracy, Bristol City Council, Regeneration, Media, e-society, Environment , add a comment17 October 2006
Knowle West Action Group
I attended the Knowle West Action group meeting at Eagle House. The action group is a multi agency group that meets in order that local community representatives can highlight the current issues there on in Knowle West. Amongst those who attend are the street reps, the local police, the neighbourhood renewal / management team, local housing officers and other local agencies.
I arrived early and was joined outside the building by Inspector Jeff Foreman of Broadbury Sector Police Station. I explained to Jeff why I was attending the meeting and we talked about the digital challenge bid. Jeff told me that he uses digital media to communicate with the local community and that there are ways in which he would like to expand upon this use. He told me that he has a monthly exchange using webchat. The chat room exchange is for the whole area that his post relates to, including Windmill Hill and Southville. He told me that this is quite successful and that there are usually about 30 – 40 people who engage in conversation with him. He told me that this is a useful space for dialogue. He said that one way in which he would like to extend upon this would be through an e-briefing, whereby he could let people know what he is doing to address issues that have been highlighted by the local community. (more…)
Knowle West Media Centre meets Anita Pearce
November 9, 2006 Posted by Roz in : Digital Challenge, e-democracy, Community Media, Bristol City Council, Regeneration, South Bristol, e-society, Environment , add a commentDialogue 6: Roz Hall of Knowle West Media Centre (KWMC) meets Anita Pearce from Knowle West Neighbourhood Management. 10 October 2006
I travelled to the neighbourhood management office where I met with Anita Pearce. Anita told me that she uses digital photography most of the time to take photos of all sorts of things. One example is that she regularly takes before and after photographs of spaces that have been cleaned up, another is that she photographs community events. She explained that such images are important for evidencing and communicating the work of the team to the wider community. She said that she photographs anything that might be of interest to the local community so that the images can be used in the newsletter.
Anita then told me about the street reps and their involvement in the clean up day. The digital photos taken of the day were important content for the news-sheet that was produced about the day.
Anita said that she also takes photos of things as a tool for making comparisons. For example she is currently collecting photos of parks, and is asking others to take photos of parks using digital cameras, to compare the parks in Knowle West with those of other areas.
Anita also told me about a fact finding visit to Bournemouth and how photos from that day had been important in collating and disseminating what happened through including images in the report about the day.
She talked about the ease with which digital photography can become part of such processes given the simplicity of downloading and using digital photos in other documents.
Anita also told me how residents, especially young people, are encouraged to take photos for publication in the newsletter. She underlined how important it is to then credit the people who have taken the photographs in the newsletter. She said that this stimulates an interest in the newsletter amongst residents as people like to look through it to see if there is anyone they know in it; either someone in a photo or someone who has taken a photo. She said that people recognise the newsletter and that’s how they understand neighbourhood renewal.
(more…)
Local Democracy Week
October 27, 2006 Posted by carolhayward in : Education, Digital Challenge, e-democracy, Bristol City Council , add a commentLast week was the national initiative, Local Democracy Week, which aims to improve understanding of local democracy, particularly with young people.
In Bristol, we’ve taken part in the 2-week online activity, I’m a councillor, get me out of here for the last two years and this year was a bumper year with 6 local councillors and about 15 Bristol schools taking part through their citizenship classes - 3 times more than the last couple of years.
Councillors posted manifestos then were quizzed by students who vote for the councillor they like the most. The first week focused on the questions, then voting took place every day last week to evict a councillor until the winner was announced on Friday afternoon. All four political parties were represented with the final winner being Cllr Jon Rogers.
A podcast of the launch event that took place at the City Learning Centres in Brislington and Whitefield/Fishponds will hopefully be available soon. Congratulations to Jon and thanks to all those who helped make this such a successful event.
