The BBC have visualised the popularity of the internet - see which sites have been visited most http://bit.ly/94ziCF9 hours ago
Plain English please! The local government association have published a list of "crimes against the english language." http://bit.ly/9ubmVP13 hours ago
My friend’s Dad once said about me that I like to call a spade a bloody huge shovel. Being a good northern girl (the daughter of a Barnsley-an and a Liverpudlian and hailing from the Midlands myself) I am rather proud of that description! I love it when people tell it how it is and I really think we should all do it more. There’s also nothing I hate more than unnecessarily complicated language and jargon. Yes, I am a huge fan of the Plain English Campaign
Someone walked into our office the other day and asked if he was going to get some “face time” with our Director – I mean face time? really? where did that phrase even come from?
So, you could imagine my delight this morning, then, when I stumbled across this article. The Local Government Association have published a list of banned words for government departments and local authorities. On it are words like wellderly, webinar, tonality, trialogue, clienting and “goldfish bowl facilitated conversation”. They described the list as “crimes against the English language”.
I couldn’t agree more. Wellderly? Would anyone describe themselves as wellderly?
After several minutes of feeling smug and slightly irritated that words like this even exist, I remembered how I had found the page in the first place. I had been doing a google search for the word webinar! We at Media Trust are thinking of piloting some “webinars” in the summer so I was doing a bit of research.
Feeling rather red faced I realised that some of this jargon had entered into my everyday language – argh! But honestly, I don’t really know what you call a webinar if it isn’t a webinar – any ideas??
It has just made me realise how easy it could be to alienate others with words that we think are common usage. As the Outreach Manager for Community Voices I want to ensure that our communications are always in plain English and never alienate. But is that always possible?
I would love it if you would keep us on track with this. Any feedback about our communications is most welcome – please do feel free to call a spade a bloody huge shovel!
Following on from my last blog post about how digital media will affect this year’s election we’ve just heard about a web-based initiative arranged by the voluntary group, Democracy Club, to get local people to track their MP’s promises.
They’re arranging meetings up and down the country TONIGHT at which local people will draw up issues that are of importance to them locally. These will then be put to election candidates in the form of questions and the answers will be written up on the website.
After the election the MPs voting will be tracked and measured against their original promises to see if they are practising what they preach.
The Democracy Club will also be comparing what candidates are saying on leaflets and campaigning material with what they’re saying elsewhere.
This sounds like a great digital media initiative that helps local communities to keep their MPs accountable.
If you go to one of the meetings tonight let us know how it went by commenting on this post.
I don’t know about you, but there are times during general elections, (and indeed most of the rest of the time quite frankly), when I wonder if politicians really understand what its like to be a normal British citizen. Do they really know what our needs are? And what we want and don’t want from our government? Do politicians even really know how to talk to us? Maybe its just me being stupid but a lot of the time I don’t understand all those long words and complicated political theories that they talk about – and I think (I hope for my sake!) that others feel the same. Turnout would certainly suggest so.
I have loved watching the reality TV show Tower Block of Commons on Channel 4 recently in which several MPs have been asked to live with families on British estates for 8 days and nights. It has further highlighted in some instances how out of touch MPs can be with the way of life that many people in this country live. But, not wanting to be too harsh, great that they took part and learnt from that experience.
Anyway, this election has the potential to be very different. The last general election was fought in 2005 when new media (YouTube, Twitter, blogging, Facebook) was very much in its infancy. Now, these are tools that many of us use on a regular basis – so it will be interesting to see what impact these have on the coverage of the election.
From a Community Voices point of view we hope very much that communities who don’t usually have a voice during election coverage will use these tools to express their views and hopefully get them heard. What do you most want from the next government? What issues that affect your everyday life would you most like politicians to address? All these things and more you can record and broadcast to the whole world (well almost).
Facebook has been responsible for a number of high profile campaigns recently, including getting Rage Against the Machine to Christmas Number 1 in the charts. This is a great example of the power new media can have to mobilise people to bring about change. Will we see something like this during this year’s election – I hope so!
If you are interested in continuing this debate Media Trust is sponsoring a Media Society event on 2nd March entitled “2010: the first new media election?”. Its being held at City University in London and it would be great to see you there.
If you’re looking for inspiration on what sort of digital media project you could do in your community, look no further than our Inspiring Voices award winners.
There are six fantastic winners on the website so far who represent a variety of community groups and who have used a range of digital media. Here are a selection:
Vintage Radio is a community radio station in Birkenhead for older people by older people. They started broadcasting in February 2009 and have given 60 volunteers aged over 50, many of whom have no previous radio experience, the chance to develop the station and present a range of programmes aimed at listeners aged over 50 in the local area. This is not the first award they’ve won. In London in September 2009, at the Counsel + Care Older People in the Media Awards, Vintage Radio was presented with the runner-up award by Lord Heseltine in the category for ‘Radio Station Showing Older People in the Best Light’.
A Homeless commmunity in Birmingham worked with the charity SIFA Fireside on an art project. It enabled the participants to explore their own unique and often unheard interpretation of Birmingham through different artistic methods such as film and photography. The project was hugely successful and led to three public exhibitions of the work.
Bishop Monkton is a small village in Yorkshire. The residents decided that they needed a website to enhance communications between residents about issues of local concern. It has been created and is written entirely by volunteers from the village and last year they passed 70,000 visitors to the site since it was first developed.
A group of young people in Doncaster wanted to tell the powers that be what they think about their area. They worked with a local organisation called Real to Reel to make this film, which has been sent to their local authority.
These are all fantastic examples of how digital media can benefit a community, give a voice, teach people new skills, and make a meaningful difference to people’s lives.
Don’t forget that Inspiring Voices is a weekly award and we still want to receive your entries telling us how you’ve been using digital media in your community. Email us at communityvoices@mediatrust.org
I think this is a great use of digital media. Evelyn Davies, a retired priest, has set up a website that allows people who suffer from serious illness to be able to click on a link and receive prayer at any time of the day or night. What a fabulous idea!
I wonder what God thinks about digital prayers? I’d like to think he is fully digitally engaged!
This just reminds me of the scene in the film Bruce Almightywhen Bruce gets his chance to be God. He doesn’t know how to deal with all the prayers coming in all the time so he instructs the prayers to come as emails. However, there are so many emails coming through that he can’t read them fast enough so he just sets his auto-reply to the answer “yes”. Sadly that all goes badly wrong – if you haven’t seen the film you must!
I’m sure God deals with his digital prayers in a much better way than Bruce did in the film!
Its all systems go in the Community Voices offices at the moment! Our funding applications opened last week and since then we’ve been inundated with your calls and emails. Keep them coming – we’re here to answer any of your queries and to help as many communities as possible apply to develop their own media projects.
The outreach work has of course been continuing and I’ve been out and about running workshops in communities across the country informing people about what digital media is and how it can be a really powerful tool to give you a voice and make a meaningful difference to your community. Most recently I’ve run a workshop for refugee communities in London, one at a community centre in Birmingham and one at BBC Merseyside.
If your community wants to learn more about digital media and how you can use it, why not invite me to come and talk to you?
And keep your applications coming in. We want to see as many communities as possible being empowered to use digital media!
The moment we’ve all been waiting for is finally here! Applications for Community Voices grants are now open. YAY!
We want to support communities to make a meaningful difference to their lives with the help of digital media. So we will be selecting 26 community projects to receive funding of either £1,500, £7,000 or £14,000, as well as support from digital mentors to help you make a difference in your community. Apply by 28 February 2010 to be considered for a grant.
You can apply online, in writing by downloading our Application Form, and for those who aren’t online we will also be distributing printed application forms through various partners such as UK Online Centres and libraries.
Contact us if you would like one mailed to you personally or to find out where you can pick one up in your area. We hope you find the application and accompanying help notes straightforward, and if you have specific difficulties with written applications, we can also assist you with other options.
It’s been great to speak to many of you about your existing and proposed projects over the last few months, so you may be ready to apply immediately, but if you would like to develop your ideas further you can read about other inspiring work in communities, on our new Community Voices website.
As always, we are here to help you with your queries, and to continue sharing support, ideas and stories of fantastic digital media projects, so email or call us on 0207 217 3751.
I’ve just been reading through twitter and found two great opportunities for young people.
If you’re aged under 25 and live in a rural community BBC 3 would like to hear from you. They’re making a programme about how the recession has hit young people in rural areas. Apparently there is a steeper rise in young people claiming job seekers allowance in such places.
Also BBC Blast are offering 20 eight-week Creative Traineeships for people aged 18 – 24 across BBC departments. The closing date for applications is 22nd Feb.
