Gary Coptitch, Chief Exec of ‘Peoples Voice Media: Connecting Communities’ gave a presentation at the Westminster Briefing.
Who are they…..?
- PVM are a ‘not for profit’ community development organisation that uses social media to support digital inclusion and online social networking.
What do they do….?
- They support individuals and communities to have a voice, and to create relationships and dialogue, forge new relationships and develop their own solutions
- Aim for individuals to become the ‘Reuters of the Community’ enabling communities to create content for themselves and for a wider audience
Objectives….?
- to provide opportunities for people to develop ICT skills, access information, contribute to their communities and participate in society
- to highlight community activity, bring people together and support community regeneration through the use of Social Media
- to build the capacity of the community and voluntary sector, providing information and promoting services utilizing current and emerging technologies
Gary stated that technology does not just mean computers, he talked about ‘technology on the pocket’; mobile phones, cameras, audio and video recorders. He stressed that anyone can create content whether it be a video clip with no audio, just an audio clip, just text and picture or all these things together. Each person is different and so is the content they create.
He works with individuals and other organisations to create audio application forms and video CV’s and working together to make them widely accepted. There are many jobs where the candidate does not need to be able to read or write, see or hear, and therefore there should be an application process which matches this.
PVM also have Social Media Centres that run Drop-in sessions, accredited and informal learning and training, ability to access and create a social space and have peer support. They have community reporters who create the content, dialogue and discussion for community websites, community newspapers, e-newsletters, Internet TV and Internet Radio Stations.
In particular I found Gary’s summary very useful and believe it is in such a format that I can apply to the work that I am doing:
Involve:
As many people as possible
Create:
Content that is relevant, user generated and multiplatform
Discuss:
Create dialogue and discussion online and offline
Promote:
Distribution channels up, down and sideways
Measure:
Through qualitative and quantitative evaluation
To find out more go to the website http://peoplesvoicemedia.co.uk/ or the Twitter http://twitter.com/peoplesvoice
