In a world of increasing uncertainty and complexity, foresight and future thinking techniques can act as a key tool in the innovation of policy development, bringing citizens and decision-makers together to define solutions about our shared futures (Fox, 2020). As part of EUARENAS we’ve been working with social media signals to explore the future of democracy across Europe.

Social media provides a window into current debates, social issues and topics pertinent to communities. Whilst the presentation of such content is not necessarily a reflection of society, and like traditional media representations is more of a refracted view on current trends rather than a mirror image, it is still a valuable source material for understanding society. Social media accounts, particularly those associated with civil society and social movements can provide us with signs of what issues and debates are pertinent to people (as opposed to institutions) and simultaneously offer a glimpse of emerging trends in the social sphere. Such content can be useful for hypothesising over the future of our world.   

The results of this work are still being analysed and will feed into an insight briefing that we will launch later in the year about the future of democracy across Europe… however, we’ve turned the methodology we used for this work into a handy toolkit to help researchers, practitioners and policymakers work with social media content to explore the future of topics pertinent to their worlds.

This toolkit uses social media posts combined with elements of the Delphi method and policy stress testing approaches to explore future trends in society and the policy environments needed for potential future scenarios. The toolkit is underpinned by theoretical and conceptual framings of foresight practices. However, they are presented in a manner than enables them to be practically applied and implemented as a means of engaging experts from across policy, practice and research in conversations about the future.  Included within the toolkit are step-by-step instructions that outline how the research tasks can be implemented, alongside templates and tips. 

EUARENAS has been investigating how cities and urban spaces can support democracy. Specifically, the work has revolved around exploring how participation and deliberation in democracy and decision-making can be increased, and how voices and communities who are excluded from such arenas can be more actively included.

Over the next few months we will be working across Europe to create ‘visions’ for how cities and urban spaces can better include residents in decision-making and local democracy. We are looking for an Illustrator/Designer to work with us in May/June 2023 to bring these visions to life in a poster format.

Full details can be found by downloading the brief below. A fee of £1500.00 is available for this work.

To apply, email Hayley (hayley@peoplesvoicemedia.co.uk) with the following by 5pm on 28th February:

• 250 – 500 words OR up to 3 minutes audio or video file, about yourself and relevant skills/experience
• 2 – 5 examples of your work

We will let everyone know the outcome of their application by 17th March 2023.

Over the past couple of years we’ve been working with Gordon Moody to gather people’s experiences of overcoming gambling addictions. The team at Gordon Moody are dedicated to providing support and treatment for gambling addiction, and want to support people reclaim and rebuild their lives through recovery in a safe, supported environment.

The stories we’ve gathered explore the impact that gambling has on people’s lives, what supports people through the addiction and what people have learned along the way. Our team and Gordon Moody hope that these honest, open and very real experiences of gambling addiction help to reduce the stigma surrounding this specific form of addiction and ultimately enable more people to reach out for support when they need it.

We really appreciate people’s time and bravery in coming forward and sharing their experiences with us. Take a look at this playlist of extracts from people’s stories to find out more…

CAPE is the Consortium Against Pain Inequalities, and they are working with People’s Voice Media on an important new project. 

The CAPE team is investigating whether exposure to adverse childhood experiences contributes to higher levels of chronic pain in the most deprived communities and the consequences of this. The interaction between the CAPE project, People’s Voice Media and the Community Reporter network will explore how lived experience stories can be used with the research.

As someone living with chronic long term pain (CLTP), I’ve found it hard to get the right holistic support and understanding for many years, so it’s wonderful to be part of this initiative. Through people’s stories about living with CLTP, we hope to help the wider health, social care, housing and Department of Work and Pensions systems that come into contact with people like me. It’s vital that these agencies understand what it’s like to live with CLTP, and what impact this has on our lives. Additionally, the dialogues and recommendations will cover what needs to change and what such changes will do for people like us.

Combining the CAPE project and our work here at People’s Voice Media is central to what I believe in. By retaining and highlighting the personal aspects of real people’s experiences, we can start to change society so that it is truly inclusive and inequalities are eradicated.

So far, we’ve had two Community Reporting workshops and we’ve collected 4  stories from Advisory Members connected with the CAPE project, plus one other person living with CTLP. We have a sense-making workshop scheduled for 6th December, when we’ll have a deeper look at what people have said, and what we can do to recommend changes that will enable people to live good lives. Here is a small selection of what people have been sharing so far:

“People need to be more tolerant. They also need to realise we are not the minority. There’s tons of us, people just don’t talk about it. ….. We judge people and how able they are through their health. And it’s apparently a badge of honour. If you’re healthy….. We need to educate on invisible conditions, but also on all the conditions that people face. And people need to be educated rather than say this is going to be something that’s going to cost me in the workplace to deal with. We need to realise how much we should value and incorporate people in the workplace that have challenges.”

“There’s a lot of fear for not being believed.”

“It’s not necessarily that the pain is for the same diagnosis, but there’s a lot of similarities and a lot of frustrations people are living with.”

“I wish that health professionals and allied health professionals would actually just listen and think. Does this person need some other kind of support as well? And treat you as a whole person.” 

People’s Voice Media will be working closely with the CAPE team to explore what the next steps need to be, and an update on the project will be shared with you all in the new year. 

Isaac Samuels, Community Reporting Lead

You can find out more about the CAPE project and other similar research projects here: https://www.ukri.org/news/new-data-hub-and-research-into-chronic-pain/ 

Disability Rights UK (DRUK) & People’s Voice Media are working in partnership to record people’s lived experience narratives and insights about the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns.

As a Disabled person, and someone who lived through COVID-19 and who is living with long COVID, this partnership is so important. It is not only about ensuring the lived experiences of people like me are at the heart of the inquiry, but it’s about the inquiry hearing the truth from so many like me. Our remit was to capture the lived experiences of 12 Deaf and Disabled people, but we’ve already gone beyond that. We also have more people to share their stories and are looking for others, to ensure that we represent the variety of disability experiences across the UK.

Much like the lockdowns, hearing Disabled people’s lived experiences has been a mixture of emotions. Sometimes heartbreaking, often leading to gritted teeth and clenched fists with thoughts like

“How could this have happened? Why was common sense not used?”

Occasionally we’ve heard snippets of hope about kindness, communities and creativity. Sadly, many interviewees have not been surprised by what they and their loved ones experienced. Experiences such as the deaths of Disabled people in and outside of care homes, lack of access to food shopping and personal protective equipment (PPE) for Disabled people who were isolating and/or requiring personal care did not happen by accident. They were the result of policies and choices that have a discriminatory view of Disabled people. Examples of such policies and choices include Coronavirus (COVID-19): Guidance for the Care Act easements, issued to local authorities early in the pandemic. Additionally, there was government guidance for people receiving direct payments. 

This project will ensure the Covid Inquiry hears the experiences of Deaf and Disabled people who lived through the pandemic. It’s vital these voices are central to the Inquiry’s exploration of the inequalities and injustices people have faced. To prevent any future situation leading to injustices against Deaf and Disabled people, the COVID Inquiry, and those called before it, will have to face some profoundly uncomfortable facts. For example, how did we reach a situation requiring Disabled people to sign DNRs (Do Not Resuscitate orders) and for this to be considered acceptable? What beliefs and assumptions about the worth of Disabled people guided this way of thinking?

At the heart of the work is co-production. Once all the interviews have been done, the interviewees will be invited to a sense-making workshop in the New Year, to agree the main points and recommendations together for the COVID Inquiry. This will include positive and negative aspects of people’s experiences.  We have collated a wide range of stories to date and we’re working with DRUK to ensure we can add more stories. Additionally, we are working with DRUK to explore how we share these stories beyond the COVID Inquiry, because it’s vital that people know and remember that at the height of the pandemic and lockdowns, we were not all in it together. There were many inequalities faced by Disabled people.

We would very much like to hear from Blind people and Deaf people about their experiences during the pandemic.  Additionally, having narratives from people in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales will enable us to give the COVID Inquiry a UK-wide view. Currently our story sharers include 3 parents who have spoken on behalf of their children who have learning disabilities and who do not communicate verbally. We would also like to include the experiences of people with learning disabilities in their own words. 

The project team has been humbled by what people have shared. These stories are full of trauma, and as a project team we have had to be mindful and work in ways that mean we can support people to share their stories in a trauma-informed way. Undertaking this work, within the team itself, has helped the practice of Community Reporting and made us really think about the care and due regard we need to have in place when capturing stories. We’d like to thank everyone who has contributed so generously to this work and we will share the results with you later in the project.

Isaac Samuels, Community Reporting Lead, People’s Voice Media