Digital Inclusion Wales
March 14, 2008 Posted by julzswitch in : e-society, Events, Technology, Guest Bloggers , 2 commentsJust back from a trip across the big bridge to the Digital Inclusion Wales Conference held at the All Nations Centre in Cardiff. I was asked to go along and present on the subject of ICT-based social enterprises, and found out that of the 180 registered delegates, 80 had opted for this workshop! Fortunately Simon Berry from RuralnetUk was also hosting a workshop on the subject so I didn’t have all 80 at once. Hopefully that’s an indication of the growth of interest in social enterprise as good business model for ICT services in future.
One of the benefits of sitting in on the conference was the opportunity to hear some truly inspirational stories from projects being supported in Wales by the www.communitiesatone.org programme. One in particular I found both moving and entertaining, and that was Sharron Morris from Rhys Radio - a woman with a mission and someone who recognised every inch of the way how much she has learned and how she has supported others! Also Stephen Harmes from River Dee Community Church ICT Project - describing how engaging local people in a variety of ICT projects was helping to develop new activities and enterprise. I am keen to share both projects with other people in my work in South West - excellent case studies to inspire other people.
And so my week as guest blogger draws to a close. Thank you Connecting Bristol for the opportunity. Hopefully some readers have found it useful, informative and encouraging. Good luck to Andy Martin with next week’s blog - I will look forward to reading about his work with Cancer Research UK. You can keep on an eye on my work as Regional ICT Champion over on www.swict.wordpress.com and of course the day job which pays my wages over on www.cosmic.org.uk
Julie Harris, COSMIC
Knowle West Media Centre meets Lesley Belgium
November 24, 2006 Posted by Roz in : Digital Challenge, Community Media, e-society, Learning, Environment , add a commentLesley Belgium
30 October 2006
I met with Lesley Belgium. Lesley told me that her children help her if something goes wrong with the computer, or if she has any issues with using it, such as accessing different things on line. She said that she really relies on her children, especially her daughter, to access the internet and do the things she wants to do with it.
One of the main ways Lesley uses the internet is to have contact with her family in Australia. She said that she found such exchange really beneficial, because of the speed with which she can communicate with her family compared to how long it used to take for a letter to reach them. However, she told me that one issues for her is that she doesn’t always check her email regularly, and so sometimes when people expect an immediate response to email, they don’t get it from her. We talked about how people have different uses of things like email and consequently have different expectations of each other’s uses.
Lesley said that she also finds shopping on line very useful, especially when trying to buy specialist items, such as craft shop things and materials for making jewellery. She told me that it’s brilliant to be able to go on line and just order such things without having to make a special journey or traipse around town all day.
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Knowle West Media Centre meets Chris Pickering
November 21, 2006 Posted by Roz in : Education, Digital Challenge, Wireless, Community Media, Media, e-society, Learning, Skills, jobs, Technology , 2 comments26 October 2006
I travelled to KWMC where I met with Chris Pickering, Director of Future Learning, a social enterprise providing training opportunities in Knowle West. Chris told me about his involvement with Knowle West Web and how he has worked closely with Kevin and Diane Jeffries to support them in putting local people on line.
Chris talked about Knowle West and said that the day has gone when you could get local people to go into spaces for training. He told me that he thinks that local people want less consultation and more action. He said that, instead of trying to get people to attend training sessions, the emphasis needs to be on going into people’s homes to work with them.
Chris told me that he has recently obtained funding from UKonline for someone to go around door-to-door to do training in internet and email and also to help people work out how they can use digital technology to ends that are useful to them. He said that Steve Woods of Bristol Wireless has been doing this to a certain extent already.
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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…)
