Birth Of A Social Networking Loner

3 02 2012

Reblogged from The Write Transition:

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It was not long ago I protested the use of social networking sites, nose a little skyward, with quips like: “You’ll never catch me on Twitter.” “I dare you to Google me. You won’t find anything but job-related links.” “I only wish my life was so dull that I could spend hours of it twiddling online.” Well, I may not be twiddling, but I’m certainly twittering. And Goodreading. And WordPressing. And commenting and liking and Linking on In. Writers know marketing is part of the publishing …





Happy New Year! Chocolate for Comments!

13 01 2012

Happy New Year from everyone at DAIN!

We’d like to hear from you any ideas you have for issues or subjects to be discussed on this blog and we are willing to pay in chocolate (yes we have learnt from the best :) !

This is the space for friends of DAIN , whether staff, volunteer, partners or beyond, to share ideas and comments on anything they feel maybe of interest to others.   And you will get a big bar of chocolate if you do!

If you can’t think of an idea – then please tell us what has stopped you from making a post or comment in the past.  Is it time, is it nerves, is it all just nonsense you feel?

Let us know – we are a research project and we’re here to learn!

Who’s for chocolate (or for the strange people who don’t like chocolate out there we’ll find you something else equally exciting)?





‘Diary of a Digital Activist’ Premier

20 12 2011

Will, Bill, Matthew and Linda, (L to R), Digital Activists answering questions about their study trip films.

 

 The premier of ‘Diary of a Digital Activist’ was screened yesterday at the Broadway Cinema in Nottingham.   The film was directed and produced by Owen Davies, Head of Film Production at the Broadway and documents the experiences and reflections of a team of Digital Activist researchers who took part in the Eurolink 2011 study trip in late October.   Please click here to view.   It is an excellent film and gives a real sense of the hard work of the team and the great projects visited in Belgium.

This was followed by the screening of several DA films, which took a closer look at the projects visited.  They are all outstanding  examples of what can be produced using movie maker and flip cameras when combined with the hard work of committed volunteer researchers.  Please take a look on our Eurolink2011 blog to view the films on the home page and let us know what you think.

Following the screenings, Owen Davies led a workshop on top tips for film making which was truly inspiring.  There were lots of tips on how to capture the best footage possible using everyday equipment and some helpful tricks of the trade as used by professionals – including ‘the nodding shot’, ‘don’t cross the line’ and how best to use cut aways .  With lots of positive feedback received already, we hope to follow this up with more workshops with Owen in the New Year.





The East Midlands Volunteering Conference

26 11 2011

DAIN recently attended the East Midlands Volunteering Conference, including the European Year of the Volunteer, which took place on 16 November at the EMDA Building in Nottingham.

The event, attended by 60 delegates, was aimed at volunteer involving organisations; health and social care organisations; statutory and private sector organisations working with volunteers or promoting volunteering, volunteer centres; and CVS organisations.   It was an excellent example of the East Midlands VCS coming together to share information and examples of good practice, and was a very useful regional networking opportunity.

Keynote speakers on the day were Nick Ockenden, Director of the Institute for Volunteer Research (IVR) and Naomi Diamond, Locality lead for Community Organisers.   The organisers also kindly provided a platform for an introduction to DAIN and a screening of the DAIN EYV2011 film.

The event  included workshops on the European Year of Volunteer themes of effective volunteer management; employer supported volunteering; volunteering in health and social care; and sport management, alongside an additional workshop on social media and volunteering.

Presentations and resources from the speakers and presentations can be downloaded here  .  I look forward to attending the next EM EVDC  meeting as a result of involvement in this conference.





Eurolink 2011 study trip films

11 11 2011

 

Study trip films produced by Digital Activists (DAIN volunteers) from groups A and B, produced during and after the recent DAIN study trip to Belgium, are now available online to view online.   Team C’s to follow shortly.   They have done an excellent job and we are looking forward to the next stages of dissemination and application.

Please follow links to Eurolink 2011 blog to view: 

http://eurolink2011.wordpress.com/2011/11/11/the-a-team-study-trip-film-reports/

http://eurolink2011.wordpress.com/2011/11/11/team-b-study-trip-film-reports/





Change someone’s MIND…

7 11 2011

independent registered charity - Kettering MIND

Time to Change is England’s biggest ever attempt to end the stigma and discrimination that faces people with mental health problems.

It is a campaign to change attitudes, and behaviour too. One in four of us will experience a mental health problem in our lifetime – and if we do, we are highly likely to face stigma and discrimination from others. One of the partners behind http://www.time-to-change.org.uk/, is Mind a leading mental health charity in England and Wales. Its vision is of a society that promotes and protects good mental health for all, and that treats people with experience of mental illness fairly, positively and with respect.

It provides information and support, campaigns to improve policy and attitudes and develops local services through a network of nearly 200 local Mind associations. Kettering Mind is one of them and they are fighting to break the many barriers of social stigma.

And this just in…

“Kettering DA’s succeed in finding a venue for drop ins in Kettering! The DAIN project has joined forces with Kettering Mind and we will break the barriers and overcome the boundaries together!

Every thursday 2-4pm at Kettering Mind in the Cafe, open to the public… We will be able to share our knowledge and engage the digitaly excluded with a team of many skills and expertise. So far our Raunds library drop in has proved to be a hit and we aim to do the same collaborating with Kettering Mind. We wil be providing a friendly approach with your agenda in mind, in one of the best cafes in Kettering.”

Stephen Fry talks about how the Government’s funding will help Time to Change to address “the single most important feature of mental health in this country…and that is the mental health, not of those who suffer from some disorder or other, but the mental health of the nation…

By Leigh Mills

Adapted from http://www.time-to-change.org.uk/





Learning in a Digital World

4 11 2011

Technology’s potential to transform the delivery of learning and to widen participation in learning will be explored at a NIACE conference, taking place in London today, coinciding with Get Online Week .  The conference aims to provide:

  • Updates on current policies and practice in relation to digital inclusion, open educational resources, innovation in learning delivery and the development of digital skills
  • Models and examples of practice in learning to use technology and using technology to learn
  • Support for informal and formal learning practitioners in developing their own professional practice
  • Knowledge of how adults as learners can benefit most from the application of technology
  • Support for participants in the delivery of their adult learning programmes and the identification of strategic priorities.

Follow NIACE on Twitter and use #ldworld to keep up to date with this conference





European Year of Volunteering

3 11 2011

European Year of Volunteering – The UK leg of the EYV11 tour event has continued with a range of organisations staffing stands in the market place and the delivery of a diverse selection of talks and conferences on the topic of volunteering.

The Big Society Network took the lead on monday. Some volunteers from Nexsters,which is a programme for building social entreneurship, were there offering their case studies. Spring, which has two objectives, one being a research project that looks at network technologies and the other, a program for employers, which measures the social impact in businesses is another part of the Big Society Network. This program also employs consumers to look at the businesses,too.

After the general discussion of digital inclusion and volunteering with my counterpart we headed in and were immediately presented with a colourful display of inspiration. Short intro and it was over to us to discuss our common areas of concern.  Intergenerational and publicising issues were amongst other concerns.

Accessing the digital world is a major transition and an expensive one too. It Can Help and Ability Net Tools,purely run by volunteers, have now joined forces and were holding our first workshop.  It was clear that input was needed for publicising to your local communities for recruiting volunteers and receiving clients. John from Microsoft, new to the idea of digital inclusion/exclusion and volunteering, was keen to inspire everybody with how effective networking can be. Start Here is a company he mentioned and is a good source of information for networking and references to other partners and projects.

Have you heard of talking tags for the blind? Or open source google maps, which can be used to denote where your events are currently being held.    I remember using face book for doing a similar thing, it proved to be ineffective. Try googling “gpii” the Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure. This will give insight into the new concept of setting up a profile/database over the internet, which is stored and then can be used with public means of technology, interesting…

Our second workshop included discussion about the changing demographics and how buddying can be used for future learning.The idea of Benefits messaging is something that was highlighted and is something I believe that we all should be introducing to our projects. The DAIN project has held genealogy  events across the east midlands and it is something that provides for social interaction and aids computer skills.

Guess what, Learn Direct are empowering DA’s too. Soon there will be a course, which recognises the skills digital activists are using. How much will that cost and what opportunities will arise from this…ermm..please comment





Eurolink Day 2011

2 11 2011

Eurolink Day 2011 took place in Nottingham, England and Namur, Belgium on 28th October.  The day was full of stimulating debate and discussion on both sides of the Channel and in cyberspace.  We hope to capture some of this here over the next few days and weeks, including the thoughts and reports of those who took part and how we plan to move forward.   Please continue to contribute to this discussion, your comments to date have been invaluable.

Many thanks to all the participants who have observed or commented to date, and especially the Digital Activists and our new partners in Belgium, UCP.  We are looking forward to developing this work further over the coming months and to trying out some of what we have observed and heard about online within a UK context.

Photos of the Namur event kindly supplied by Franck Moinil (UCP): https://picasaweb.google.com/ucpfed/EurolinkConferenceBelgium28102011?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCJmO0Z37g8ut_gE&feat=directlink

Photos of the Nottingham Event, kindly supplied by Alastair Clark (NIACE): 

Nottingham namur View more presentations from alastair Clark





DAIN Eurolink 2011 – online discussion; The role of volunteers in achieving digital inclusion.

15 10 2011

 

As part of the DAIN (Digital Activist Inclusion Network)  partnership we are inviting colleagues from across Europe and beyond, to contribute to an online discussion on this topic. The discussion will take place in the English language but you do not have to be perfect in this language to participate.  We expect that many participants will be using their dictionaries or  Google Translate to understand and contribute to the discussion.

Some initial questions have been posted on http://eurolink2011.wordpress.com/  to start the discussion. 

More information is available in English, Deutsch, Francais ελληνικά

http://eurolink2011.wordpress.com/eurolink-2011-questions/

 We hope that you or your colleagues will consider taking part. You can simply spend 5 minutes making one comment on the above site or you can choose to follow the debate every day between 17 and 28 October.   Your ideas will contribute to two parallel seminars which will take place in Belgium and UK on 28 October.   

We hope to hear from you soon and welcome you to Eurolink 2011!








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