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.
We are looking to explore potential partnerships within the UK and in Europe to work with Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service and Kisky Netmedia Ltd to establish funding for our emerging technology projects. We are exploring two avenues, one UK Universities and the other with The Merseyside Brussels Office.
Dr David Allen, Leeds University Business School and Dr Anoush Simon from Aberystwyth University visited MF&RS 17th May 2007 and presented their own research groups and discussed the types of projects which they had undertaken. The general conclusion was that we could work together on collaborative projects; however, it was important to note that the scale of the current activity (in terms of thought and scope) was wide and would have to be broken into a number of work packages or linked activities.
After meeting with Laura Bonacorsi European Policy Officer The Merseyside Brussels Office, Ed, Katie and I have decided to approach potential partners in Europe and we have just completed the partner search document and sent it to Laura.
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
Youth Tech is a great blog I’ve been reading. It’s “a discussion about using technology in creative ways to enrich the lives of youth.” It’s an American site but has a lot of excellent resources in this area.
I recently started working with The Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service to develop ideas for using Emerging Technologies in Youth Engagement projects. One outcome of that is this blog; a new initiative designed to build a community of practice for people working with youth engagement and new technologies. Another outcome of my work with the Fire Service is that I have been privileged to experience excellent Youth Engagement programmes in action. The Fire service has a best in class training centre based in Bootle, Liverpool, which sees many young people embark upon, and successfully complete a range of training courses. Recently I met with a group of 13-14 year olds on their one day a week course. The highlight of my day was a trip to the ‘Ratrun’ a series of cages used to train Fire Fighters in working in confined spaces. The ratrun goes down a treat with all course participants, and I must say trying on Fire Fighter uniforms went down quite well too!
Published by Katie Lips May 23rd, 2007
in Youth Engagement and Publications.
Recently I have been using the National Youth Agency’s website to research some background into Government Policy in the area of Youth Engagement. The site is a really good place to start with links to a range of useful information.
We have been working to develop ideas for using mobile communications, particularly SMS in youth engagement. One key issue faced by the Fire Service was keeping up continued communication with the young people who participate in a variety of courses, after the courses have ended and they have moved onto other things. The Fire Service is in a position to offer followup courses, or potentially work experience and offers more general support to the young people they have got to know well. Can SMS be used to maintain contact? Will it work better than writing letters or sending emails?
We have implemented and embarked upon a new project recently to answer these questions. We’re using a simple online SMS sending tool to send SMS to groups. Following an initial training period with staff, we’ll be trialling this system and sending regular SMS communications to people on the courses as they start their journey with the Fire Service. We will be publishing our findings and learnings here.
Published by Katie Lips May 13th, 2007
in Youth Engagement and Projects.
The Connect Youth website is a great place to start researching European projects; Connect Youth is the UK national agency for the Youth in Action Programme.
“Along with the European Commission, our aim is to help young people discover Europe. On our site you will find information about Youth Exchanges and Youth Initiatives; European Voluntary Service, Youth in the World and Youth Support Systems.”
As well as information on all the various Connect Youth programmes, there is a useful database you can use to search for potential project partners.
(Image: http://www.connectyouthinternational.com/)
Published by Katie Lips May 11th, 2007
in Youth Engagement and Publications.
Our Youth Engagement research has recently lead us to “Ruckus“, an initiative by the National Youth Agency. Ruckus is a free online magazine for young people, who can read the latest issue on the site, or by subscribing via an email mailing list.
Ruckus brings a range of great editorial to, and by young people; the latest edition covers “Girls in Rock Bands”, “Being a peer educator” and takes a serious look at Graffiti Art. Young people can also submit their own articles or ideas via the Youth Information Site.
The OurOpenSpace project is an initiative by Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service. The project is an exploration of Emerging Technologies and their use to support Youth Engagement projects. MF&RS is an innovator in Youth Engagement and acts as a mentor to other Fire Services in delivering best in class Youth Engagement projects.
Emerging Technologies can and are being used to support Youth Engagement work in a growing number of ways. MF&RS are working with Kisky Netmedia, a Social Media Consultancy to devise new projects in this area. This blog will discuss these pilot projects and disseminate our key findings and learnings. We aim to find and discuss related projects and to provide a growing resource of projects, ideas and conversations through this blog.
