Black Country Social Media Café

Creative Metropoles – Tues 20th July 11am-1pm

dpstuart — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 08:18:49 +0000

Birmingham City University and Lighthouse Media have recently completed a pan-European project called Creative Metropoles which looked at 10 cities and their policies to the Creative Industries. Jez Collins and Paul Long of Birmingham City University will present the findings of the study at July’s Black Country Social Media Cafe:

Tuesday 20th July, 11am-1pm
Seminar Room, Light House Media Centre
Chubb Building, Wolverhampton
[On Google Maps]

[Please note the slightly earlier time this month]

The study included focus groups and discussions in both Birmingham and Wolverhampton (as a post-industrial town that sits near another major conurbations) and looks at their approach to Creative Industries. As the study recognises, social media has an important role in an area’s creavity:

“The lively social media scene thrives creativity bottom-up and makes Birmingham a vibrant place for social media innovations.”

Thanks to Light House who are providing the venue for the July social media cafe:

This is a free event, and no tickets are required. Whilst we expect there to be plenty of room, if you are travelling from further afield and want to be guaranteed a seat you can always email info@davidstuart.co.uk and let us know you are coming.

Black Country Social Media Cafe – In Birmingham ?!?

dpstuart — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 08:28:27 +0000

The last thing Birmingham really needs is another social media event, but after lots of begging and pleading from the Birmingham contingent of the Black Country Social Media Cafe (and because we didn’t have another venue lined-up), for one night only the Black Country Social Media Cafe will be at The Lord Clifden in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter.

Tuesday 15th June, 6.30pm -
The Lord Clifden,
34 Great Hampton Street, Birmingham

[Google Maps]

So if your interested in social media, beer, and good conversation, come along and learn what’s happening in the world of social media outside of Birmingham.

May’s Black Country Social Media Cafe – More than just Open Data

dpstuart — Fri, 14 May 2010 10:09:22 +0000

Open Data is one of the most exciting movements happening on the web today, and with the possibilities for a better world seemingly endless I’m personally looking forward to Tuesday’s BCSMC. However, I appreciate that those who have not yet been introduced to the Open Data may decide they have better things to do on a Tuesday afternoon. As such I thought I’d dedicate a blog post to the other reason you should come along.

As mentioned in the previous post Andrew Burman of www.unltd.org.uk, has asked to talk about the opportunities Unltd offer in supporting social entrepreneurs, both through funding and other support. An example of which is their Better Net Awards:

————————————————————————————–

Have you got an innovative idea to bring about positive change using the internet?

The Better Net Awards is an exciting new programme from UnLtd and Nominet Trust to provide individuals with funding and support to improve and encourage the development of a safe, educational and inclusive Internet.

Up to £5,000 is available to individuals to develop and lead Internet based solutions to the problems that affect our society.

The programme will find and support individuals who want to “make cyberspace a better place!” by addressing one or more of these specific criteria in addition to UnLtd’s normal Awards criteria:

· Increases education about the Internet & Information Technology

· Promotes and addresses online safety

· Provides an Internet based solution to social, educational, health and environmental issues

· Increases digital inclusion and the use of new media for a social purpose

Your project must not:

Be part of your paid employment
Involve political or religious campaigning
Involve activities outside the law or against public policy, or anything that encourages ethnic, religious or commercial disharmony
Involve employing people other than yourself to carry out most of the project work
Be used mainly to achieve academic qualifications
Be used to fund living expenses

For more information www.BetterNetAwards.co.uk

If you have any questions please call Shamiela Ahmed or Andrew Burman on 0121 766 4570

————————————————————————————–

So even if you don’t think you’re interested in Open Data*, but have an innovative web idea to make the world a better place, you’ll still get something from Tuesday’s Black Country Social Media Cafe.

[*you will be by the end]

Thanks to Light House who are providing the venue for the May social media cafe, and to Screen West Midlands who are paying for the coffees:

Tuesday 18th May, 2.30-4.30pm

Seminar Room, Light House Media Centre

Chubb Building, Wolverhampton

[On Google Maps]

Open Data at the Black Country Social Media Cafe:Tues May 18th, 2.30pm-4.30pm

dpstuart — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 15:31:37 +0000

May’s Black Country Social Media Cafe will be about Open Data – the opening up of large quantities of data by governments and other organisations. The most exciting movement on the web today.

As can be seen in Tim Berners-Lee video below – when the crowd is allowed to get to work on the data, exciting things can happen.

For our Open Data event we will have two speakers:

Chris Taggart – the developer behind OpenlyLocal.com, who blogs at countculture.wordpress.com
Stuart Harrison – Webmaster at Lichfield District Council, who blogs at www.pezholio.co.uk

Hopefully, between them, they will cover not only OpenlyLocal.com and openelectiondata.org, but also share some of their insights into the potential of the other data that is being opened up online.

Also at the May event we will be having a talk from Andrew Burman of www.unltd.org.uk, a charity which supports social entrepreneurs, offering both funding and support.

Thanks to Light House who are providing the venue for the May social media cafe, and to Screen West Midlands who are paying for the coffees:

Tuesday 18th May, 2.30-4.30pm

Seminar Room, Light House Media Centre

Chubb Building, Wolverhampton

[On Google Maps]

Tuesday 20th April: Social Media Cafe in The Great Western, Wolverhampton.

dpstuart — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 11:54:23 +0000

Following the very successful March Social Media Cafe at Light House Wolverhampton, we will be back in Wolverhampton in April for one of our more relaxed evening social media cafes:

Tuesday 20th April, 6.30 pm, The Great Western, Sun Street, Wolverhampton.

[Google Maps]

[Photo courtesy of Matthew Black]

The Great Western is a great pub next to Wolverhampton train station with great beer and open fires; although as Spring is well and truly upon us there is unlikely to be the opportunity for crumpet toasting this month.

However, if you are interested in the possibilities of social media, and want to meet like-minded people in convivial surroundings, then come along and join us for a pint or two.

Nb. The Black Country Social Media Cafe is so well known that this month people will be traveling from as far away as Finland to join us.

Reflections and Links on ‘Local Government’ Social Media Cafe

dpstuart — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 09:44:34 +0000

Wednesday saw the return of the Black Country Social Media Cafe panel-discussion, and it was an outstanding success thanks to a great venue (http://www.light-house.co.uk/), a great panel, a great sponsor who agreed to join the panel at the last minute (http://www.councilmonitor.com/), and a great turnout.

For those who want to follow-up on some of the issues that were raised, Dan Slee has put together a few links (and talks about himself in the third person):

SARAH LAY – ELECTIONS

Sarah Lay, an epic visionary working for Derbyshire County Council, couldn’t be at the March BCSMC where she was due to talk about elections and how social media may be used. Thankfully, she has two well written blogs on the subject that people can call upon. So good was Derbyshire’s coverage that it won an award. Take a look at Sarah’s advice here.

http://www.sarahlay.com/2009/06/elections-2009-a-post-in-two-parts/

http://www.sarahlay.com/2009/06/election-2009-part-the-second/

DAN SLEE – FLICKR AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Dan Slee talked about Flickr and how this photo sharing website can really connect with local government. The Walsall Flickr group has 90 members and is a thriving community with more than 5,000 images. They can range from shots of the town’s Arboretum in summer to landmarks and shots of buses from the 1970s. However, the Flickr meet at Walsall Council House was one example where the authority could connect with people. As Dan said “Walsall people taking pictures of a Walsall building for the Walsall community. That has to be a good thing.”

Here is a link to the shots that emerged

http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=all&q=walcontour&m=text

Here are two blogs about the event, one by Dan

http://danslee.wordpress.com/2009/12/01/social-pictures-case-study-a-flickr-meet-at-walsall-council-house/

Here is one by Lee Jordon who helped arrange the event

http://www.leejordan.org.uk/walsall-council-collaboration

STUART HARRISON – TWEETMYSTREET

Stuart Harrison – @pezholio on Twitter – is doing some brilliant work in local government. He helped create the brilliant fixmytweet platform to allow people to use Twitter to report problems to their council to MySociety’s fixmystreet.com.

Here is his blog on the subject

http://www.pezholio.co.uk/2009/12/fixmytweet/

Here is the site itself in all it’s glory

http://fixmytweet.com/

COUNCIL MONITOR

Nic Streatfeild from Council Monitor gave an excellent introduction into the growing problem of analytics. In other words how the heck do you measure activity online? His service aims to be the cuttings service of web 2.0 by measuring online activity from Twtter, blogs to online news. He’s a very nice man. And he helped sponsor the coffees. Take a look at Council Monitor here:

http://www.councilmonitor.com/

OTHER LINKS

Several other websites were mentioned in the discussion that followed. Young people tend to be overlooked by local government when it comes to social media use, a point well made by Claire Bustin. However, the Clued Up In Hull site was one example of good practice http://www.hullcc.gov.uk/portal/page?_pageid=221,580620&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

Several councils complained of trouble in getting started in the first place. There was an excellent discussion at ukgc10. One post that came out of it was this eight step guide to getting started.

http://danslee.wordpress.com/2010/01/26/your-seven-step-guide-to-getting-started/

How do you find out if you councillor is using social media? There are two good sites recommended by Nick from Public Sector Forums.

http://tweetyhall.co.uk/ as well as http://tweetminster.co.uk/

Reminder – Tuesday 16th March: How Local Government is Using Social Media

dpstuart — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:47:35 +0000

I’m happy to report that there has been a lot of interest in next Tuesday’s Black Country Social Media Cafe, with a number of new people and organisations emailing to express their interest. The big draw of this month’s event is a panel discussion on local government use of social media.

Social media services, such as Twitter and Facebook, provide new opportunities for local government to communicate and collaborate with the local community. Not only enabling councils to broadcast information, but providing spaces for councils to engage in conversations with their stakeholders.

For the March event we have put together a panel of three local government officers, each of whom is responsible for the social media offerings at their respective councils. They will discuss both some of the innovative ways local government is using social media, as well as its potential for the future.

Sarah Lay is the eContent Officer for Derbyshire County Council and regular blogs about local government at www. sarahlay.co.uk.
Stuart Harrison is the Webmaster at Lichfield District Council and blogs at www.pezholio.co.uk.
Dan Slee is the Senior Press and Publicity Officer for Walsall Council and blogs at danslee.wordpress.com.

As with all our panel discussions, there will be plenty of opportunity for the audience to ask questions and share their opinions on the use of social media in local government.

This month’s event drinks will be sponsored by Council Monitor, who monitor and compare the reputation of all UK councils online. Nic Streatfield from Council Monitor will also be attending the event, and I’m sure will be happy to answer any questions about the services they offer.

Thanks also to Light House who are providing the venue for the March social media cafe:

Tuesday 16th March, 2.30-4.30pm

Seminar Room, Light House Media Centre

Chubb Building, Wolverhampton

[On Google Maps]

BCSMC Back in Stourbridge: Tuesday 16th February, 6.30pm

dpstuart — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:29:12 +0000

At the January Black Country Social Media Cafe it was agreed that the even months would be more informal evening events, and the odd months daytime panel discussions. As such we are returning to a Stourbridge pub for the February Black Country Social Media Cafe:

Old Crispin Inn, Church St, Stourbridge. Tuesday, 16th February 6.30 pm.
[Google Maps]

The general consensus last year was that social media and beer are extremely well-suited, and the previous event in Stourbridge brought out some locals who wouldn’t have made it otherwise. So if you’re interested in social media, like beer, or just want to know what it’s all about, come along and join us.

If nothing else Stourbridge Town branch line has the best train in the world, so you may as well leave the car at home and have a pint or two.

Don’t forget the date and topic of the March Social Media Cafe are already set: A panel discussion on How Local Government is Using Social Media.

Tuesday March 16th: How Local Government is Using Social Media

dpstuart — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:05:36 +0000

The Black Country Social Media Cafe is a place for those interested in social media to get together and share ideas. You don’t have to be a blogger, a podcaster, or a Twitter member to come along, just be interested in how these technologies can work for you. The March event, hosted at Light House, will also include a panel discussion on local government use of social media.

Sarah Lay is the eContent Officer for Derbyshire County Council and regular blogs about local government at www. sarahlay.co.uk.
Stuart Harrison is the Webmaster at Lichfield District Council and blogs at www.pezholio.co.uk.
Dan Slee is the Senior Press and Publicity Officer for Walsall Council and blogs at danslee.wordpress.com.

As with all our panel discussions, there will be plenty of opportunity for the audience to ask questions and share their opinions on the use of social media in local government. Whilst the main discussion is expected to last for about an hour, there will be the usual informal networking afterwards.

Thanks to Light House who are providing the venue for the March social media cafe:

Tuesday 16th March, 2.30-4.30pm

Seminar Room, Light House Media Centre

Chubb Building, Wolverhampton

[On Google Maps]

First BCSMC of 2010: 19th January

dpstuart — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 10:29:20 +0000

It’s been a long time coming, but the first Black Country Media Cafe of 2010 is tomorrow:

2:30pm -4:30pm Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Lock Works Bar, Light House Media Centre

Chubb Building, Wolverhampton

[On Google Maps]

As well as the usual talking and mingling, this month’s cafe will also focus on the future plans for the cafe.

From previous excursions of BCSMC around the region, and responses to The Future of the Black Country Social Media Cafe post, we have found that everyone wants something different from the cafe. Some want a return to afternoon panels, some want evening socials; some want us to move around the region, some want us to stay in the same place.

At tomorrow’s meeting we will try to come up with a solution that will please as many people as possible. I will be proposing:

1) Odd months – Panel discussions in the same venue each month (possibly Lock Works). The panel discussions have provided the opportunity for the cafes to be more than just a networking event, with everybody learning something.

2) Even months -An evening social event moving around the region. Moving around the region has given us the opportunity to meet a host of people who wouldn’t have made it otherwise.

3) The BCSMC moves from the second week of the month, to the third (as it has this month). We have just been clashing with other events (especially Brum Bloggers) once too often.

If you want an input into the future of the Black Country Social Media Cafe, or have some ideas for future panel discussions, please come along to the Lock Works tomorrow afternoon. If you can’t make it – don’t worry- you can keep up with all the proposals and give some feedback by following the #bcsmc hashtag on Twitter.