Chief Exec's Blog

 The 2011 Epic Awards were presented at a prestigious reception at the Royal Over-Seas League in London on Monday 30th January. The Epic Awards are designed to highlight excellence and innovation in amateur arts groups across the UK and Republic of Ireland and are an initiative of Voluntary Arts. The awards were presented by Lord Luce, president of Voluntary Arts, who praised the winning groups for their inspirational projects and the benefit they bring to social wellbeing. People’s Voice Media sees voluntray arts as a great way for people to have a voice and express themselves as well as supporting local communites to  highlight great communty activity which is why we sponser this event.

Government Ministers representing each of the countries sent special messages of congratulations to the winning groups.  Collecting the award on behalf of the Peterborough Male Voice Choir, Musical Director Will Prideaux, shared the stories of two men who have benefitted from belonging to the group. He said:

“Voluntary arts organisations transform lives and build stronger communities. I love the stories of friendships created and enthusiasm rediscovered or of depression beaten, horizons broadened or prejudices cast aside; of hope, of trust, of a sense of belonging or simply giving people something to look forward to – the list is endless and endlessly amazing.”

As well as their awards, winners also received a stash of prizes including cash, vouchers for arts and craft supplies  membership of Arts Development UK and vouchers to attend training courses.

Case studies featuring the winners, runners up and other entrants can be found here: www.epicawards.co.uk

Winners
Peterborough Male Voice Choir – www.peterboroughmvchoir.org.uk

Phizzfest – www.phizzfest.ie/phizzpress

Buddy Beat – www.buddybeat.co.uk

Third Floor Gallery – www.thirdfloorgallery.com

I attended the launch of 3VTV on the 31st January in Blaenau Gwent. The project is a local TV channel, broadcast over the Internet and on-demand, meaning there’s no schedule, but people  watch what they want, when  they want.

Gemma Collins talks more about the channel and the launch

They aim of the channel is to show films which the people of Blaenau Gwent will want to watch about their local community. The name 3VTV stands for Three Valleys, because the channel is for everyone in the three valleys which make up Blaenau Gwent.

3VTV is is part of the  Micro-Broadcasting Centre, wich is part of the University of Wales, Newport, and is part-funded by the Welsh Government. People’s Voice Media will be working in partnership with the project to develop community Reporters. Gemma talks about how she see  People’s Voice Media and 3VTV working together.

Like many of the best ‘decisions’ that we make at PVM, when we decided to offer our Community Reporter programme under social licence we started in one place and then got to enjoy the wonderful creative process that happens as the idea evolves and grows. This is one of the best parts of the job and one of the best things about working for an autonomous social enterprise: there’s always space to let the ideas think themselves, to throw up links and connections that alter the path slightly. And then, ultimately, you reach that point where the original idea is still there…but better, more robust, more interesting.

And so it was with the social licence. We knew that we had a programme that worked. We knew we wanted other people to deliver the programme, to increase the reach of the Community Reporter network and offer a more fruitful experience to all of our reporters. We knew that we could support other organisations to find income generating opportunities on the back of the programme. But one of the ideas that ‘thought itself’ was the evolution of a ‘wikinomics’ model of trade and exchange between partners.

We have the pleasure of working with some wonderful partners, really passionate and creative and committed individuals and organisations who are doing great work on the ground. So, using the social licensee network as a way of bridging and linking partners together is really exciting for us. Most of us are under resourced and over stretched so being able to access tools that mean you don’t have to constantly reinvent the wheel each time is a real asset for anyone. So we are thrilled that MRS in York have begun the knowledge exchange by sharing some simple page design tools that were developed for a European Leonardo programme. The PageDesigner programme is free, available in a range of different languages and aimed to be simple enough for the absolute beginner – a perfect complement to the resources currently available within the Community Reporter programme.

As the network of licensee holders grows we look forward to being able to help organisations share and trade across the partnership – an idea that we hope to explore further in our first trans-national Editorial Board meeting which will take place in April …but more about that another time!

We are extremely pleased to confirm that Leeds MIND are the next organisation to take a Social Licence to deliver the Community Reporter programme. The licence will contribute to the development of the Leeds Well-being Web, a network of stories from mental health service users designed to challenge stigma and promote positive stories.

We ran the three day Train the Trainer course in the run up to Christmas and had attendance from a diverse and interesting group of people representing a range of mental health organisations across Leeds. Feedback was extremely positive and the general feeling from participants was that they couldn’t wait to get started in the New Year. John Baron, who will be co-ordinating the Well-being Web, said, “We had a terrific three days Community Reporter training with People’s Voice. Looking forward to getting hold of the course early in the New Year and starting the training!”

I was interviewed before Christmas by Antonia Kanczula, a student on City University London’s MA Interactive Journalism course. Have a look at the blog post and podcast here. She’s picked out some of the key points about Community Reporting – why we do it, what drives us, how it differs from Citizen Journalism and our hopes for the future.

The site is really interesting with lots of comment and analysis on all things social media so it’s worth having a look at their work.

I’d like to thank Antonia for her interest and wish her luck with her future studies.

I was asked by Johan Flyckt from Sollentuna Radioin Stockholm to talk about Community Reporting and the way it could work in Sweden. This builds on the work we have already done in Stockholm and hope to continue.  The written report is in Swedish but you can listen to the broadcast at the end.  There is a real appetite for this in Sweden and as it developes the reporters will join our growing network of European reporter’s.

I am often asked about our Community Reporters – who they are, where they come from, a typical motivation for wanting to create and share content. So when I saw the following posts from one Community Reporter I thought it would be an interesting way to explore what, if anything, is ‘typical’ about our reporters.

Phil is a Salford resident who is heavily involved in his local community and does a lot for the good of the groups he’s involved with. He recently started to post content to the Community Reporter site and already we can see a real diversity of interests and motivations.

Take his piece on the Manchester club, Band on the Wall that was hosting an over 50′s disco. This piece is really personal, anecdotal and shows someone interested in having a good time.

Then there’s a piece on the group Start in Salford – a mental health charity that does excellent work supporting people to well-being through arts and crafts. Phil visited the stall they had at the Christmas markets selling high quality pieces that group members have made over the year. This piece demonstrates someone with a passion and committment to the important work done by charities in communities.

And finally, another post by Phil, this time exploring the campaign started by a NHS consultant Dr Kalash Chad who is worried about the cuts to the NHS. Here is a considered, balanced and heartfelt piece about the campaign and their call to action for people to get involved.

These three posts clearly demonstrate to me what we tell new Community Reporters all the time – the tools are the least interesting part of what it means to be a reporter. Learning to blog or edit or create podcasts is just a means to an end. The exciting part is the stories that people have to tell – about their lives and the lives of their communities. Phil’s posts show me someone who is really alive and engaged and thoughtful – and inspired by social, civic and political stimulus. And maybe this, if anything, is what we might call the most ‘typical’ of Community Reporters.

Visit the Community Reporter site and subscribe to Phil’s channel (salfordhart) to receive more posts as they’re uploaded.

Julie Spellman a Community Reporter has had exciting news.  Author Shelley Harris has written a book called Jubilee and contacted her  to request the use of the photograph as background on her website which launches in December. Its a photograph of the 1977 Jubilee street party on Old Road in Blackeley in Manchester  taken by her Grandad.  Julie said  “Little would he have known when he took the photo how many people in the future may get to view it.” 

Julie thanked the communityreporter.co.uk  web  site for bringing this to Shelley Harris’ attention. Have a look at the photograph and see other’s that Julie has posted.

Julie Spellman a Community Reporter has had exciting news.  Author Shelley Harris has written a book called Jubilee and contacted her  to request the use of a photograph she posted on the  community reporter webs site as background on her website which launches in December. Its a photograph of the 1977 Jubilee street party on Old Road in Blackeley in Manchester  taken by her Grandad.  Julie said  “Little would he have known when he took the photo how many people in the future may get to view it.” 

Julie thanked the communityreporter.co.uk  web  site for bringing this to Shelley Harris’ attention. Have a look at the photograph and see other’s that Julie has posted.

After weeks of work we’re really pleased to be finally launching our new website at www.peoplesvoicemedia.co.uk.

It’s much more focussed on finding solutions for your problems and we hope you like it.

How did we do it?

As with many organisations, our work has been extremely varied over the years and grown organically so the web content had become a bit disorganised.

We went about restructuring the website by asking ourselves the question, “If I worked in a housing association (or school, or charity or health authority) and had an idea about engaging more creatively with people, would I find this website and would I find an answer?”

Part of that process was examining our website analytics.

By looking at how people arrived at the website we could tell that if they already knew us as an organisation, or by person or by product then they were finding the site quite easily. What they weren’t doing was finding us if they had an idea about community engagement, participation, consultation or voice that they wanted to explore. That was a real issue for us if we were going to find new organisations to work with.

We’ve now structured what’s on the site to be much more outcomes focussed with clear links to our products.

What’s new?

The three main sections of the site help you to develop your ideas about community voice and engagement.

Finding your voice gives an overview of what can be achieved when communities have the confidence and skills to make their voice heard and organisations have the mechanisms in place to listen.

Strengthening communities looks in more detail at possible methods for dialogue, consultation and co-production.

Working with you goes into the nitty gritty of how we work with organisations, including details about the Community Reporter Programme, running consultations and social reporting at conferences.

As you’d expect there are also case studies, with lots more examples of content over at www.communityreporter.co.uk.

We’d love to know what you think about the new site, please leave us a comment below.

Another day, another fascinating report about neighbourhoods and technology. This time it’s the “Councils and Online Neighbourhood Networks: Report of the second Networked Neighbourhoods survey of council officers and elected members” from The Networked Neighbourhoods Group.

http://networkedneighbourhoods.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/2011-Online-Nhood-Networks-final.pdf

One of the key findings from the report is that awareness of local sites has increased over the last year (from 63% to 84% amongst members and 55% to 92% amongst officers) and the proportion of members that perceived local sites as negative dropped from 17% to 12%.

There’s clearly some way to go as fewer members felt the relationship with local sites was “co-operative” but they can obviously see the benefits, such as ‘quickly identifying issues of concern for residents’, acting ‘as a link to council online services’ and ‘sharing council news and information on council services and events’.

The most interesting further development for me was that 63% of officers claim that their authority already has, or will be developing, a policy for engagement with neighbourhood websites. A great development for community reporters.

HACT (Housing Associations’ Charitable Trust) launched their “Together for Communities” report last week, a summary of learning from 12 projects that have been exploring how housing providers could provide practical assistance and development support to independent community-owned and led organisations, described as “community anchors”, working in more deprived neighbourhoods.

“Efforts to transform our neighbourhoods must be rooted in the experiences of the people who live there”

“The provision of housing must be about more than just bricks and mortar – social housing providers are at their most successful when they value and engage with their communities and actively seek to identify and meet the needs of those at the margins.”

Learning from the project almost exactly mirrors our experience at People’s Voice Media in delivering Community Reporter Programmes and running consultations and engagement exercises within housing associations.

It was interesting to read that the research found partnerships created between housing providers and community based groups were:

• Sustainable – Even in the current economic difficulties, housing associations, with both assets and a secure revenue stream are amongst the most robust and sustainable organisations in the social enterprise, voluntary and community sectors.
• Replicable – Housing associations and community anchors exist in pretty well every corner of the UK.
• Accountable – Housing associations have systems in place to ensure transparency – adequate consultation, tenant empowerment and effective governance which can benefit wider partnerships; community groups often have close and direct links to the communities they serve.
• Complementary – Most housing associations are not primarily involved in community development. Community anchors are not primarily housing organisations. But together each can benefit financially and organisationally.
• Innovative – Inter trading between partners can be important – the energy and imagination shown by the community anchors and the social entrepreneurs at their heart is impressive; many housing associations are also led by individuals whose entrepreneurial skills offer significant opportunities for joint working.

It’s always good to read findings like these in black and white as it’s something we’ve also found from working in partnership with housing associations and community organisations, jointly developing solutions that best fit their needs.

The full report can be found at http://hact.org.uk/hact-launches-the-final-report-from-the-together-for-communities-project.

There’s an example of some of our work with housing associations in this video:

I’ve just come across this video from the So! VolTech 2011 event last weekend of Gary talking about what we do here at People’s Voice Media. I thought it perfectly captured what we’re trying to achieve so wanted to share it with you all.

Enjoy!

Urban Forum - a national charity that supports communities to have a greater say over decisions that affect them – is looking for audio, video and photo content that tells stories about life in the voluntary and community sector. The perfect challenge for all community reporters out there!

They’ve got some key questions for people taking part…

• How are you responding to the changes that are going on all around us?
• What differences are policy and funding changes having on your work?
• How are you responding to the challenges and are you finding that there are opportunities too?

So get your thinking caps on, your cameras out and get reporting! Make sure you add the tag #VCStales to anything you put online.

Find out more at http://www.urbanforum.org.uk/vcs-tales/community-sector-tales.

Urban Forum - a national charity that supports communities to have a greater say over decisions that affect them – is looking for audio, video and photo content that tells stories about life in the voluntary and community sector. The perfect challenge for all community reporters out there!

They’ve got some key questions for people taking part…

• How are you responding to the changes that are going on all around us?
• What differences are policy and funding changes having on your work?
• How are you responding to the challenges and are you finding that there are opportunities too?

So get your thinking caps on, your cameras out and get reporting! Make sure you add the tag #VCStales to anything you put online.

Find out more at http://www.urbanforum.org.uk/vcs-tales/community-sector-tales.

As Gary Copitch, People’s Voice Media Chief Executive, handed Clair Heaviside, Creative Director at Toxteth.TV, the Social Licence certificate, the partnership between People’s Voice Media and Toxteth.TV finally became official. This collaboration, which had already been announced on September 26, was celebrated yesterday, November 16, in the TV studio of Toxteth.TV, in Liverpool.

Gary presented the Community Reporter Programme and Claire talked about how Toxteth.Tv would use the programme. There was  a lot of positive feedback from those who were present and the audience included representatives from Liverpool City Council, housing developers, police  and local residents among others. See video below for people’s reactions.

Martha Lane Fox, the National Champion for Digital Inclusion, was also invited to speak; she welcomed the partnership between People’s Voice Media and Toxteth.TV as it was perfectly in tune with UK 2012 Race Online. She said, “Community Reporting has already helped our campaign…which is fantastic!”

Gary added, “This is a really exciting opportunity for both organisations to support the development of community voice in Toxteth and the surrounding areas, as well as adding to our growing Community Reporter social license network.”

Clair summed up the day by saying, “Today’s been absolutely fantastic!”

For more information about the Social License and the Community Reporter Programme, please visit the website, or contact us at enquiries@peoplesvoicemedia.co.uk.

Had a great day yesterday training people from various organisations and groups who all wanted to learn more about how social media could help their organisations. We looked at the difference between traditional communication methods and social media tools, which require a complete re-think in how to handle communication messages. Each participant spent time working on their own ‘Social Media Strategy’ – the tools are extremely enticing and there can be a temptation to rush straight in but they’re only effective once you’re clear about who you’re targeting and what you’re trying to achieve.

Having established that ‘content is king’ we then had a play with a One Hour Video Making challenge, the results of which you’ll see below. This exercise set out to prove that video is not as complicated as you might think, and it can be such a powerful tool that it’s well worth considering how you could include video content in your communication mix.

Finally, we looked at tips and tricks for how to work with blogs, Facebook and Twitter for a really effective media presence.

Many thanks to Greater Manchester BME Network for organising such a great day. It was great to work with the guys and I hope that some of the tips can be taken forward by those attending.

http://www.mccr.org.uk/public/index.htm

Good communication isn’t just about sending out newsletters or being on the other end of the phone but is about ongoing, meaningful dialogue between communities and local government.

NCVO (National Council for Voluntary Organisations) have written a “Best Practice Guide: For Local Authorities and the Voluntary and Community Sector” (.pdf)

The guide sets out how local councils can support voluntary and community organisations in light of the cuts to their budgets. Supporting the sector isn’t just about giving them money for existing projects or contracting them to deliver public services. It can also (as suggested in the report) take the form of in-kind support, skilling up the sector, encouraging partnerships or collaborative budgeting.

The last of the suggestions, and the one that caught my eye, was around enabling communication.

Effective communication is vital at a time when organisations need to know what is happening with public budgets and the delivery of services but you can also extend this into how councils and organisations/ communities work together on an ongoing basis.

The great thing about using technology to communicate is that in financial terms it’s free. The equipment is very low cost – if people don’t have it on their phones already – and the process of listening and responding to these stories is also free. What it does take is a change in attitude and behaviour to make the best use of. That is something that PVM is doing all of the time with its work with public bodies, housing associations and other types of organisations working with communities.

In 2009 we worked with residents in Broughton (a part of Salford) to use community reporting as a way of finding out what residents felt about living in the area. If you watch this video you’ll see that it’s giving a voice to the people that aren’t traditionally heard in consultations, meaning the people commissioning services can deliver something that will really make a difference.

We often hear about people who have had a stroke but often don’t know the impact on people’s lives.  Frank one of our Community Reporters who had a stroke wanted to hear  about “stroke victories”. He went along to the  Salford Stroke Association service user event at the Banqueting Suite in Buille Hill Park on Thursday 6th October.  Frank produced this short video on people’s achievements with regard to their rehabilitation and when things started to get back to some sort of normality no matter how big ar small!!. It not only shows the wide age range of stroke survivors but the perseverance of people to achieve their goals.

Doom. Gloom. Misery. And a little panic around the edges. There’s not much to smile about at the moment it would seem………

But fear not! At People’s Voice Media, our Gonzo has been busy producing some great help guides and they’re guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

The communityreporter.co.uk website now has a Resource section for Community Reporters that has a range of information: videos explaining interview techniques, good story-telling tips or how to vox pop safely and successfully. There’s also a range of worksheets detailing how to edit video and audio files, how to create image slideshows or how to edit using GIMP.

All resources are available for Community Reporters to use and share.

If you’d like to know more about signing up to the Community Reporter site, contact michelle@peoplesvoicemedia.co.uk or see the About page for more details.