Introduction and the Festival of Ideas
May 6, 2008 Posted by Jeff in : Bristol, Innovation, e-society, Festival of Ideas, Guest Bloggers, Deaf Awareness , add a commentHi everyone and welcome to the first vlog in this series - Jeff McWhinney here - I am the MD of a social enterprise, Significan’t (Sign if I can’t), which assists all those of you out there who are manually challenged, unable to use sign language 
especially those providing a front line public service enabling them to engage with a qualified sign language interpreter through a video link within minutes and communicate with their deaf customers. Occasionally you may find my written English a bit ‘odd’ or strange - my first language is British Sign Language (BSL) and it has a different grammatical structure than that for English. It has been said that it is closer to the spoken languages native to India. That is why I am using a vlog (video blog) as well as this written transcript.
In this vlog I will be covering issues that deaf people face everyday in the hope that this group of people are better understood and therefore catered for as this week is the national Deaf Awareness Week. I will also cover innovation and all the latest with regard to the positive human impact that innovation has achieved.
Today, lets go to the Festival of Ideas event organised by Innovation Exchange (www.innovation-exchange.org) for social enterpreneurs (people like me!) facilitated by Innovation Exchange. A participant has uploaded a video clip which can be seen on YouTube and reproduced below:
Look at Me, Connecting Bristol welcomes Jeff McWhinney during Deaf Awareness Week 2008
May 3, 2008 Posted by Stephen Hilton in : Bristol, e-society, Technology, Guest Bloggers, Deaf Awareness , add a comment5th - 11th May 2008 is Deaf Awareness Week so we are delighted that Jeff McWhinney, a leading figure in the deaf community and a recognised digital innovator, has agreed to be Connecting Bristol’s Guest Blogger.
Jeff is the former Chief Executive of the British Deaf Association, Guardian Public Servant of the Year runner-up and now manages a video technology company called Significan’t, which he founded.
Significan’t uses real-time video conferencing to virtually link deaf staff and customers with British Sign language interpreters.
As Jeff explained in 2006, “There are about 275 registered BSL interpreters in the UK and around 70,000 BSL users. You just have to look at the numbers to realise that if a local authority or health trust sees a deaf person who is in urgent need and needs to communicate with them, they can’t do it straight away. There is usually a six-week wait to get a BSL interpreter to help sort out an urgent issue. What usually happens is that a deaf person will take their hearing child out of school to interpret for them if they have a crisis with their GP, for example. You can have the situation where a deaf person is being told they have a terminal illness and their child is interpreting for them.”
During Deaf Awareness Week, organisations working with deaf people across the country are inviting everyone to ‘Look At Me’. The theme aims to improve understanding of the different types of deafness by highlighting the many different methods of communication used by deaf, deafened, deafblind and hard of hearing people, such as sign language and lipreading.
Jeff will be adding a BSL version of his posts to the blog. We look forward to Jeff’s thoughts on how video streaming and other digital channels can help make the world a more inclusive, efficient and fun place for everyone.
From KWMC to myKP
April 11, 2008 Posted by Stephen Hilton in : Wireless, Bristol, Community Media, collaboration, Guest Bloggers , add a commentThank you Makala for finding time to blog in what was a very busy and momentous week for the Knowle West Media Centre. Congratulations to you, Carolyn, Penny and all of the staff and local people involved in the two-day launch. I went along there this afternoon and was hugely impressed by what has been achieved… and this is only the start!
And now we welcome our new Guest Blogger, George Kaloudis.
Officially George Kaloudis’s position at myKP, Australia’s leading community Wi-Fi provider, is Director of Stuff. As his title suggests, George gets his hands dirty on pretty much every aspect of myKP’s operation.
George describes himself as, “absolutely passionate about what we do, a rebel with a cause.” George has spent close to 15 years in telecommunications in strategic positions for global carriers and service providers, building, developing relationships and implementing key infrastructure across Asia, USA… and Australia of course; anything from the deployment of billion dollar multi continent submarine cable systems to peering agreements with Google.
George declares, “I love what I do and I am keen to start a revolution” and he asks “… are you with me?” As he says, “there is nothing as powerful as an idea who’s time has come” (Victor Hugo).
Knowle West Media Centre
April 7, 2008 Posted by Makala Cheung in : Digital Challenge, e-democracy, Bristol, Community Media, Regeneration, South Bristol, Events, Mentoring, News, Learning, Skills, Environment, Connecting Bristol, Guest Bloggers , add a commentI’m Press and Communications worker for the Knowle West Media Centre. We offer cutting edge media services and facilities from our new environmental building, and exciting hands on learning alongside professional practitioners. We are strongly embedded in the local community and run various groups for residents, especially young people.
My role involves doing press and marketing for KWMC, editor for the community newsletter, running parts of the community website http://www.knowlewest.co.uk (including the events pages), community communication both face-to-face with residents, clubs and organisations, facilitating Mouth of the South (more below) and taking part in community events, networks, and city-wide work for example I took part in Connecting Bristol’s bid to the Digital Challenge.
The new Knowle West Media Centre at Leinster Avenue will be holding its official 2 day opening event this week. Young people who work with Knowle West Media Centre will launch the two day programme of celebration on Thursday 10th April when they officially open the £2.6m green new HQ that they helped to plan, design and build. The opening ceremony will mark the successful end of a 5 year project to provide Knowle West with a beacon of creative and climate-friendly media enterprise, where young people can develop the technological skills demanded by the digital age.
Thursday 10th April 12pm-5pm
Official opening of KWMC by the Archimedia Core Group and KWMCC Director Carolyn Hassan from 12pm, this will be followed by building tours and displays of each departments work, as well as film screenings and projects and performances by young people and community groups.Then at 3.30pm Matthew Taylor, Chief Exec of the Royal Society of Arts, will speak about Young People, Media and Community.
Friday 11th April 2pm-5pm
Friday will see an opening of KWMC by local residents and Key Funders of the building, including Bristol City Council, South West Regional Development Agency and Arts Council SW. Again there will be film screenings, exhibitions, story telling sessions and tree planting.
To join us on this landmark occasion please RSVP to Katie Taylor at Katie@kwmc.org.uk by 7th April.
Please note children under 10 must be accompanied by an adult.
You will be able to find out more about us and meet some of the young people we work with. Examples of our groups include:
AMAZING ARCHIVE GROUP - A Young Roots Heritage Lottery Funded project for 12 – 25 year olds researching their heritage in and around Knowle West.
In June 2008 an exhibition will present the work of the group and invite the community to become involved in creating a ‘living’ archive for Knowle West.
KNOWLE WEST CARBON MAKEOVER- Knowle West Media Centre is working with 100 homes to be part of this exciting year-long environmental project. The project team will support the families in making changes to their homes and lifestyles looking at the different themes of climate change, for example, shopping locally.
DIGITAL FISH FILM CLUB - A young person-led club for 13-19 year olds, open to young people from Knowle West and South Bristol. They make short films and animations; as well as holding holiday film clubs, and workshops on acting, music recording, scriptwriting etc. The group’s work has won national awards and often run trips to screenings of our work all over the country.
SILVERSCREEN FILM CLUB - Over 50’s Film Club with regular screenings, host guest speakers, an extensive DVD library and cinema visits both in Bristol and further a field. Transport to events if required, and a selection of refreshments. It is open to all over 50’s from Knowle West and South Bristol.
MOUTH OF THE SOUTH - Our young journalists group is for 11-16 year olds and sessions include;
Newsletter - design, writing, interviewing and photography
Website: www.kwmc.org.uk/mos which includes radio and film projects
NLARGE PHOTOGRAPHY - Our photography group for 13-19 year olds is open to young people from Knowle West and South Bristol. The group follow an in depth and exciting programme learning all aspects of photography from a wide range of professional photographers. The Nlarge team take professional commissions and work towards becoming a sustainable enterprise led by young people.
To find out more about us go to http://www.kwmc.org.uk
Meanwhile, I have a workshop to prepare for - The newsletter drop-in club. The newsletter is nearing deadline, and residents will be meeting tonight, and I will be helping them in editing and designing all the new stories I received from residents and local workers over the last week.
So until tomorrow, everyone have a nice evening (whether the sun is shining or it’s snowing - who knows after yesterday’s weather), and if you happen to be reading this weeks Venue, there’s a double spread about us on page 24.
Makala x
