Published by Katie Lips September 13th, 2007
in Social Media and Social Inclusion.
“What’s the harm in putting up a smoke alarm, like a lucky charm watching over pops and moms” raps ‘Controversy’ - aka Stephen-remell Coleman who’s a firefighter on the red watch at London’s Wimbledon Fire Station.
“Got Mine Got Yours” is a rap about how smoke alarms save lives and it’s getting quite an audience thanks to a write up on the BBC website, and perhaps more importantly as the rap video is reaching people on YouTube, the video sharing website.
According to the BBC site: “He says he wants to target low income and ethnic communities, and that hip hop allows “free expression of ideas, views and opinions”".
This is a fabulous example of using social media (youtube.com) to reach audiences that might not otherwise come into contact with a Fire Service; it’s also an incredible well produced ‘music video’. In the five days since it appeared on YouTube, over 2000 people have seen it. Of course, it’s also a great rap!
To view it on YouTube, click here.
I was lucky enough to attend a recent ‘Pass Out’ ceremony from one of the Beacon Courses at Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service. A group of young people who had successfully completed a training course about Fire Safety and Prevention ‘graduated’ one afternoon in July! The display included demonstrations of skills learnt on the course including how to put out fires. To the amateur eye they looked pretty serious - as you can see from some of the images on Flickr. For anyone attending the event was very impressive, but when you learn that was course number 68, and that at any one time several courses are in operation, well that really is impressive.
Published by Katie Lips July 6th, 2007
in Social Media and Social Inclusion.
The BBC recently published an article on Social sites (MySpace and Facebook) and class divide. The article is based on recent research by US PhD student Danah Boyd from the School of Information Sciences at UC Berkeley. The research highlights that Facebook users are more likely to come from wealthier homes then MySpace users. The research is based on interviews with American teenagers, but are things so clear cut here? As part of the OurOpenSpace project we will be ensuring our work is accessible to as many young people as possible; regardless if family income or education; but the research raises important points when deciding which social network to work with if you intend to reach a specific group of people. Social networking sites all have a clear focus, in my opinion MySpace is more music oriented so anyone more focussed on entertainment will flock there rather than the slightly more serious looking Facebook. Similarly, people go where their friends are; which might not be a natural choice if their friends weren’t already in one or the other social site. We’ll be keeping close tabs on this topic in relation to social media and social inclusion projects.
Image: BBC
Kensington Vision
Kensington Vision gives the people of Kensington, Liverpool, a unique opportunity to access the latest local information – from news, sport, & video diaries to business information, jobs, training & education. It is a project focussed on delivering local content, created by local people, and making full use of cutting edge technologies.
Whether you are 8 or 80, Kensington Vision has something for you!
Kensington Vision
Published by Katie Lips May 28th, 2007
in Social Inclusion and Links.
As we’re researching a range of services that are of relevance to the Youth Engagement community, we’ll be linking to them via this blog, in the hope that you find our research useful. We have recently been looking at national government initiatives in neighborhood policing, and community engagement.
Respect
http://www.respect.gov.uk/
The Government’s new Respect Initiative including “Youth Specific” information for communities and community workers. “Respect is about central government, local agencies, local communities and ultimately every citizen working together to build a society in which we can respect one another - where anti-social behaviour is rare and tackled effectively, and communities can live in peace together.”
Neighbourhood Policing
http://www.neighbourhoodpolicing.co.uk/
“Neighbourhood Policing is based on local priorities identified by local people as the issues that need to be dealt with in their area and Police and partners will work together to tackle them.”
Neighbourhood Renewal Unit
http://www.neighbourhood.gov.uk
“The Neighbourhood Renewal Unit (NRU) is responsible for overseeing the Government’s comprehensive neighbourhood renewal strategy. A strategy that responds to local circumstances rather than directs everything from Whitehall.”
Youth Justice Board
http://www.youth-justice-board.gov.uk/
“The Youth Justice Board for England and Wales (YJB) is an executive non-departmental public body. Our 12 board members are appointed by the Secretary of State for Justice. The YJB oversees the youth justice system in England and Wales. We work to prevent offending and reoffending by children and young people under the age of 18, and to ensure that custody for them is safe, secure, and addresses the causes of their offending behaviour.”
Safer School Partnership
http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/ete/ssp/
“Safer School Partnerships, where police are based in schools, take a joined-up approach to crime prevention, school safety, behaviour improvement and educational achievement.”
If you have more links you’d like us to include please let us know.
Commissioned by the UK Home Office, the Positive Futures Case Study Research Project focused on Positive Futures, a national sports based social inclusion programme.
“Positive Futures is a national sports based social inclusion programme aimed at marginalized 10-19 year olds in the most deprived neighbourhoods. Managed within the Home Office Drug Strategy Directorate and delivered locally by a range of agencies, including local authorities, charities, sports clubs and crime reduction agencies.”
The research is a great starting point for anyone wanting to find out more about sports and Social Inclusion.
