SLIVERS OF TIME - WHAT'S IN A NAME?
September 1, 2008 Posted by Stephen Hilton in : Bristol, Bristol City Council, South Bristol, jobs, Guest Bloggers, Business, humanising the council , 5 comments
I am Stephen Hewitt, Bristol City Council’s Slivers-of-Time Co-ordinator.
As you may know ‘Slivers-of-Time‘ is a Government backed initiative to help tackle worklessness, improve local services and develop skills. Slivers-of-Time IT already operates in a number of places - East London, Hammersmith and Fulham, Leeds and Liverpool.
It is a virtual employment agency that brings together casual workers (sellers of time) and employers (buyers of time) through a web-based system. It offers a radical new employment model to those who have limited or irregular work availability and therefore find it difficult to gain access to employment through the usual means. It allows them to balance family and caring responsibilities, study commitments and health issues with part-time work commitments. For employers, it allows them to use the Slivers-of-Time to more efficiently meet their business needs by employing temporary/casual staff just when they need them, and at short notice.
The Big Green Bookshop
March 17, 2008 Posted by Andy in : e-democracy, Bristol, e-society, Technology, Guest Bloggers, Business , 1 comment so far
I came across this blog last week and thought it was another nice demonstration of how people are using “social media” in real life.
When Waterstone’s closed their branch in Wood Green (near me in London), there was a petition online and a local campaign.
When the store closed, the former managers decided to turn the energy of that campaign into a new independent bookstore. They used a blog to chart their progress and called on their “facebook army” for help and support.
Not only has this been great publicity, but they’ve got to know their customers, they’ve captured the spirit of the campaign and made their mark in their community.
Most importantly, Wood Green has got a good independent bookshop.
By one standard, the “Don’t close Waterstones” petition failed. The shop closed. By another, perhaps more interesting standard, it was wildly successful. Now this can’t happen in every case, but it seems that there’s often an opportunity to harness this momentum and create something better than before.
Online petitioning is something that Bristol is well known for.
So my question is, how could you help to create more positive results and situations like the big green bookshop?
