Social media provides a window into current debates, social issues and topics that are relevant to communities. Whilst social media is not necessarily a reflection of society and, like traditional media, they are a distorted representation of current trends rather than a mirror image, they can still help us to understand what is happening in society. Social media accounts connected to social movements can provide us with signs of what issues and debates are pertinent to people (as opposed to institutions). They offer us a glimpse of emerging forms of citizen participation and action. 

Such content can be useful for thinking about the future. As part of EUARENAS, we used social media posts and aspects of the Delphi method to explore the future of democracy in Europe. Three national studies were undertaken in the UK, Finland and Poland, with a fourth study taking place with experts from across Italy, Hungary and Portugal. The results of this work, are summarised in this blog post. 

Signals for the future: UK

This study suggests that co-production – not faux-production – could be a vital tool for enabling participation in democracy, particularly for people who are currently excluded. To enable inclusion in democratic action, inclusive language is needed (e.g., language that is simplified, jargon-free and not academic). More so, there should be an emphasis on independent voices sharing stories and lived experience as part of these processes so that different perspectives and types of knowledge are included and valued. The work also highlighted a need to ‘join-up’ grassroots movements with more mainstream democratic organisations in order to progress agendas – at present people seem to be in their silos and progress is not as quick as many would like. Thus, an emphasis on calls to action is needed – not just awareness-raising.  

Signals for the future: Finland

The social media content demonstrated that there are rising demands for equality, inclusiveness, sustainability, and all-round approaches in democracy. However, there is a polarisation of political views on social media sites that work against this. They are being used as opinion-sharing platforms, rather than spaces for people to exchange ideas. The experts felt it is possible to reimagine how technology like social media can create spaces that promote dialogue between different perspectives. This connects to a ‘call for action’ within the social media posts themselves – a need for education on critical thinking was identified. This could support people to better understand and assess information and media content, as well as engage in public discussions and not become entrenched in their position/perspective. 

Signals for the future: Poland

The study suggests that the financial crisis and the war in Ukraine make it seem less possible for citizens to engage in democracy. More so, the posts also displayed a sentiment of a lack of trust in any type of media and in governance structures – this was also expressed by the experts themselves. In a similar way to the findings from the UK, the posts and expert discussion around them identified that there is a lack of inclusive language on social media when talking about democracy. To engage with the general public it was felt that posts should be simple, not academic and gender-equal. Furthermore, like in the UK work, the posts highlighted a sense that talking was not enough, action needed to be taken – there was an urgency around this, perhaps ignited by the invasion of Ukraine. Finally, like in Finland, the social media content identified a strongly polarised “discussion” concerning democracy. This polarisation is something that local democracies need to address to build stronger communities and cohesion in the future. 

Signals for the future: Multi-location (Italy, Hungary and Portugal)

This study highlighted how local administrations need to mirror the bottom-up process of citizen engagement displayed by associations, neighbourhood committees and active civic initiatives. However, there is space to innovate in this arena. Participatory projects are focused largely on urban parks or the management of the green areas – these need to spread to all aspects of the community. It was felt that people who give time to such initiatives need to be recognised with rewards or pay back schemes. Finally, in terms of education, this work identified that support is needed to help people and organisations to utilise social media as an effective means of building campaigns. 

So, what are the key takeaways for building a better future for democracy?

1. Inclusive language – Remove the initial barrier to entering into this conversation by making language (text and visuals) more accessible and inclusive when discussing democracy and/or promoting initiatives. 
2. Collaboration as the norm – Breaking down the silos between different groups, organisations and institutions and embedding ‘alternative practice’ within existing systems to catalyse change.
3. Creating critical, curious minds – Using education and learning as a tool to equip people with the skills to assess content and information in the digital world, and develop the capacity to stay curious, seek to understand different perspectives and be open to changing their mind.

During Refugee Week in June (19 – 23) there will be significant events across the North of England where the personal stories of migrants and refugees living in the UK will be heard.

The stories have been collected as part of a Heritage Lottery project running in the North of England. The project is managed by Peoples Voice Media and aims to preserve and archive current stories of migration to the UK over the past 10 years.  From these stories there will be the creation of; an educational toolkit, a database of local new articles and an animation, to share with communities so people can gain a better understanding of the current position of migrants and refugees. These resources will give communities the tools to help to build communities of sanctuary.

Peoples Voice Media have been working with Refugee Women Connect in Liverpool, LASSN in Leeds, Global Link in Lancaster, Dragons Voice in Manchester, MAP in Middlesbrough and using peer-to-peer Community Reporting have gathered lived experience stories as well as undertaking archive research and collected local newspaper stories from the past 10 years. 

There will be 5 in-person events in each area Lancaster, Middlesbrough, Leeds, Liverpool, and Manchester to look at the stories gathered during Community Reporting workshops, as well as reviewing key themes from the archive research activities.

The aim of these events is to bring people together from each area; members of the wider local community, cultural and heritage organisations, to explore the findings of the workshops and research. The events seek to open-up a dialogue between different local people about the heritage of migration in their area, how that relates to their current thinking and perceptions and what can be done to better understand, learn from and preserve this type of heritage in the future.

The theme of refugee Week this year is compassion, and this certainly resonates with some of the stories we have heard from participants on the project who have found the British people very welcoming.

“I’m very happy because we met here very nice people, very kind people.’ Karina, Lancaster.

If you’d like to find out more, please reserve your free space by completing the Eventbrite booking forms below:

Monday 19th June: 12:00pm to 3:00pm – Lancaster

Tuesday 20th June: 12:00pm to 3:00pm – Middlesbrough

Wednesdav 21st June: 12:00pm to 3:00pm – Leeds

Thursday 22nd June: 12:00pm to 3:00pm – Liverpool

Friday 23rd June: 12:00pm to 3:00pm – Manchester

Or get in touch with Kath Peters at People Voice Media at kath@peoplesvoicemedia.co.uk

The next stage of HOME? is here. It’s time to come together and learn about the findings of the project so far – and you can get involved!

Next month we’ll be hosting 5 in-person Knowledge Exchange events in Lancaster, Middlesbrough, Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester as part of the HOME? Project. We’ll be looking back at lived experience stories gathered during Community Reporting workshops that explore people’s experiences with migration. We’ll also we reviewing key themes that have emerged from the archive research activities (a collection of local newspaper articles from each of the 5 cities mentioned above themed on people’s experiences moving and living in the UK).

The aim of these events is to bring people together to explore the findings of the HOME? Project so far and start to envisage what impact these findings might have. We’ll open up a conversation between local communities about the heritage of migration in their area, how that relates to their current thinking and perceptions and what can be done to better understand, learn from and preserve this type of heritage in the future.

Sounds up your street? Reserve your free space by completing the Eventbrite booking forms below:

Lancaster Knowledge Exchange Event: Monday 19th June 12:00 – 15:00 (BST)

Middlesbrough Knowledge Exchange Event: Tuesday 20th June 12:00 – 15:00 (BST)

Leeds Knowledge Exchange Event: Wednesday 21st June 12:00 – 15:00 (BST)

Liverpool Knowledge Exchange Event: Thursday 22nd June 12:00 – 15:00 (BST)

Manchester Knowledge Exchange Event: Friday 23rd June 12:00 – 15:00 (BST)

We are currently finalising the plans for each of the Knowledge Exchange events and can’t wait to welcome you to the spaces. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch – enquiries@peoplesvoicemedia.co.uk – we’d be more than happy to help.

We have been working away at an exciting EU project called Narratives of Impact since September 2020 and last month we had our penultimate meeting in the fabulous city of Milan. The partners from Italy, Germany, Poland, Spain and myself (UK) got together to finalise the video guides that we have made to go along with a toolkit created for NGO’s, charities, and voluntary organisations to use storytelling to measure impact.

The toolkit is designed to help organisations, teams and individuals to use storytelling to to see what is working and what needs to be improved. Applying storytelling methods can really help to improve data collection and more importantly help improve services and delivery. Using different storytelling methods can help people to engage with data collection and learning processes in a creative way, enhancing inclusion and access, as well as interest and commitment. 

Each partner has worked hard over the past few months to create their own video guide and it was great to watch the final videos together whilst eating delicious Milanese pizzas. Marco from @COSV hosted us in the COSV offices in Milan and gave us a warm welcome. It was good to meet the staff and see where they do their important work.

The next step in the project is translating the toolkit into Italian, German, Spanish and Polish ready to be published in June.

Kath Peters, project manager, PVM.

After the events of May 2020 which saw George Floyd murdered by a police officer in Minnesota, the People’s Voice Media team were prompted to examine our own complicity in systemic racism. At the time we were a predominantly ‘white’ organisation, across all of our layers and we could not pretend that we did not have a road to travel.

However, we did not want to make empty gestures that would be quickly forgotten with no lasting impact. Instead, we wanted to have a long-term anti-racism strategy that would enable ourselves and others to hold us accountable. We wanted this to not only align with, but also inform, our overall strategy and vision for the organisation.

This has been a long process over almost three years, beginning with the setting up of a subgroup of our Board to work on the topic, and evolving through education, conversations, and active listening into what will be our Anti-Racism Vision.

Our Vision – which will be published on our website in the very near future – will not be an end point, rather a beginning. It lays out the next two years as a series of milestones for our team and Board members, our organisation, and the sectors in which we work. It recognises that becoming actively anti-racist is an on-going commitment with no final end point. As such, the Vision will be a living document. At the end of two years we expect to have more to add, more to do, keeping anti-racism at the centre of what we do, and at the heart of our goal to create a socially just work.

There is work to do and it is work we are already in the process of undertaking. During the past few years, our team and Board members have:

• Undertaken individual learning on racism as a systemic issue
• Developed a shared understanding that racism is a systemic issue and an issue we need to address on individual and organisational levels

As an organisation we have:

• Established initial relationships with partners who are led by people from communities with lived experience of racism
• Diversified the people who are part of People’s Voice Media in terms of race through changes to our recruitment practices

Within our sectors we have:

• Initiated conversations about systemic racism within those sectors
• Enhanced the racial diversity at events and workshops we host or are a part of

Our Anti Racism Vision will, as mentioned, be published in the near future. For now, if you have any comments, questions or feedback regarding our anti racism work, please do contact us at enquiries@peoplesvoicemedia.co.uk.