Published on
10 August 2010 in
Youth Engagement.
Tags: EARLY, emerging technology, Facebook, flip, flip camera, flip ultra, Mersey Fire, merseyside, Merseyside Fire, MFRS, OurOpenSpace, Prince's Trust, rescue, service, Youth Engagement.
Last night the Old Swan Team 13 from the E.A.R.L.Y. Programme had their presentation, marking the end of their twelve week programme. The past week I have been putting together a short film using the footage they have collected over the 12 weeks using the Flip Ultra HD Cameras.
The quality of the footage taken using the Flip Cameras was excellent – crisp display and audible sound quality. The size and easy-to-use nature of the cameras meant that footage was taken in places that a larger camera wouldn’t not have been able to. For example with the use of the waterproof casing we were able to capture the team coasteering in Anglesey waters and experiencing the role of a fire-fighter.
When it came to compiling the footage I had purchased Cyberlink Power Director after reading that it was easy to use but had good editing features. I thought that this would be perfect as it may allow the team themselves to join in the editing process having had no previous experience. However when it came to using the software I was hit with compatibility issues, crashing and lack of control, especially over the audio levels. After days of not getting anywhere I went back to what I know and downloaded a trial version of Adobe Premiere Pro CS5. Having used Premiere extensively before I had no problems cracking on with the footage.
Finally the film was finished and it was received extremely well at last night’s presentation. Family and friends of the young people were able to see exactly what the EARLY Programme consisted of, they saw the young people refurbishing an Elderly Peoples Home garden, they saw them abseiling down a 150 foot cliff, they saw them working together as a team and taking on responsibilities that before they would never had done. I also watched the team themselves as they saw the film and noticed their reactions when they realised what they had achieved over the past 12 weeks.
The film can now be used to show future teams what the programme entails and used to show others the success that Merseyside Fire and Rescue help young people achieve.
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Published on
20 July 2010 in
Youth Engagement.
Tags: ceop, E-Safety, EARLY, emerging technology, Facebook, gamble, jim gamble, Mersey Fire, merseyside, Merseyside Fire, MFRS, OurOpenSpace, Prince's Trust, rescue, service, thinkuknow, Youth Engagement.
Having finally but successfully tapped into Facebook, CEOP are now fully utilising their presences on the popular social networking site.
For the first time, CEOP will be running an online surgery in Facebook for parents who may have concerns about their children being online over the summer holidays. The ClickCEOP advisor will be online between 7-8pm on Wednesday 21 July on www.facebook.com/ceop to answer queries and questions from parents.
This link can also be accessed from the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service Prince’s Trust and EARLY facebook page.
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Published on
20 July 2010 in
Emerging Technology, Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service, Projects, Social Media and Youth Engagement.
Tags: emerging technology, Mersey Fire, merseyside, Merseyside Fire, MFRS, OurOpenSpace, rescue, service, Youth Engagement.
Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service run several projects that engage and educate young people and provide an early intervention into anti-social behaviour. For example ‘LiveSafe’ is a programme aimed at educating primary school children in fire safety awareness and water safety. Not only do the LiveSafe team go into Primary schools during term time but they also run ‘treat days’ in non-term time as a reward for young people.
During event such as these our staff take photographs to remember the day and to promote their hard work. Very often the school, parents / carers and children also want these photographs to remember the day and to show others. In the past, staff have had to make a CD with all the photographs to send out to each school, proving costly and very time consuming, especially when some events involve a large number of schools. In order to overcome this, teams have started to use the photo sharing website; Flickr. Flickr allows our staff to create a group for the event and upload all the photos from the day, this folder can then be password protected. The schools, parents and young people can then log on to Flickr and enter the password given by our staff to download any of the photographs that they want – cost free! As long as every young person’s parent / carer has signed the consent form stating that images taken could be used on the internet.
This solution to a costly problem provides schools, parents, carers and young people a chance to obtain photographs of the day and share them with whoever they want.
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Published on
14 July 2010 in
Emerging Technology, Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service, Projects, Social Media and Youth Engagement.
Tags: EARLY, emerging technology, flip, flip camera, flip ultra, Mersey Fire, merseyside, Merseyside Fire, MFRS, OurOpenSpace, Prince's Trust, rescue, service, Youth Engagement.
The Old Swan EARLY Team have now reached Week 10 of the 12 week Programme. The development each individual has made is astounding, and it is is excellent to see how they have each matured from the first day of the course.
This week the team are on individual work placements. Having spent the last ten weeks getting to know each other and forming a strong team, they are now out alone in a workplace.
The idea of doing this at the start of the course would have been inconceivable for many of the young people, however they have now all started their work experience and had excellent feedback so far.
The footage that I have collected is now mounting up ready to be cut and edited into a film to show at the presentation night in week twelve. I am being helped by a team member to sort through the footage we have, putting it into chronological order and deleting any unusable clips. The next step is to start editing and get ready for the big night!
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Published on
26 May 2010 in
Youth Engagement.
Tags: EARLY, emerging technology, flip, flip camera, flip ultra, Mersey Fire, merseyside, Merseyside Fire, MFRS, OurOpenSpace, Prince's Trust, rescue, service, Youth Engagement.
This week Old Swan E.A.R.L.Y. Team are on their 5 day residential with Boulder Adventures in North Wales. Yesterday I joined them to help out with some extra filming and ensure the camera were functioning and had enough space. The change in the team member was apparent straight away, they had gone from being strangers to a close-knitted group who look out for each other and work together. It felt like I was with a group of people who had known each other for years, despite the fact they had met for the first time just over a week ago.
They were all enjoying using the cameras and found them extremely easy to use. Having used the underwater Flip Camera the day before they were really impressed by it and were looking forward to seeing the footage.
After a much needed cup of tea we set off to Anglesey with the Boulder staff to go rock climbing and abseiling. This was the perfect opportunity to try out the head camera. Nearly all the team were really nervous about the rock climb and especially the 120 foot abseil and were swearing blind they were not going to do it. We recorded them telling us this, however we also recorded them conquering their fears and having a go! It was excellent to be able to capture these moments and play them back to the team afterwards to show them how much they achieved in that one session.
I am confident that they will carry on recording not only throughout the week but right through their course. The difference that the Flip Cameras have made is incredible – the ease of use and quality being the key factors.
Thanks to all the Team and the excellent staff at Boulder Adventures for a great day!
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Published on
5 May 2010 in
Youth Engagement.
Tags: EARLY, emerging technology, flip, flip camera, flip ultra, Mersey Fire, merseyside, Merseyside Fire, MFRS, OurOpenSpace, Prince's Trust, rescue, service, Youth Engagement.
After working with Huyton Prince’s Trust Team 19, a number of lessons were learnt and experience gained. As we trialled and tested the Samsung Q1 Ultra devices it became evident that they were not up to the job. We wanted devices that were ready to use at the touch of a button, uncomplicated, portable and would work in rugged conditions… too much to ask? Not when it came to the Flip Video Ultra HD.
After a lot of research and testing we decided to purchase the Flip camera, having already gained an excellent reputation for recording video at ease, the Flip cameras came highly recommended. We opted for the Ultra HD model which would not only provide us with 2 hours high quality video and audio footage but would also be tough enough to be out and about without being too small to lose or damage! We also purchased an underwater case (up to 9 meters) and a mini tri-pod for the camera. This would allow the next team we work with to capture all their experiences whether it be in air, water or land! We are hoping that we will be able to capture the development of each young person along with their thoughts and feelings throughout the course including rafting, work experience, fire fighting and community projects.
We will now introduce the Flip Video to the young people and integrate them into the programme they are completing. Although I expect some resistance to speak into the camera at first it will soon become an enjoyable task and the young people will enjoy filming each other and themselves throughout the 12 weeks.
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Published on
13 April 2010 in
E-Safety, Facebook, In the News, Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service and Social Media.
Tags: ceop, E-Safety, Facebook, gamble, jim gamble, Mersey Fire, merseyside, Merseyside Fire, MFRS, OurOpenSpace, Prince's Trust, rescue, service, thinkuknow.
The ongoing campaign for Facebook to adopt the CEOP Safety Button has been pursued further by Jim Gamble, CEOP director. This has come following the tragic death of 17 year old Ashleigh Hall who was murdered by a man she met on the social networking site. Jim Gamble met with Facebook creators in Washington to push the use of the Panic Button on every possible page.
As stated by the BBC: ‘Speaking after the four-hour meeting, Mr Gamble said Facebook was “one small step from doing the right thing” but had not agreed to his demands outright.’
It has however been recognised that they are looking to improve their position in child safety online. This will hopefully result in CEOP, Facebook and other social networking sites working together to tackle e-safety issues that give the internet a bad name.
In MFRS we have ensured that the correct e-safety provisions are in place by creating an E-Safety and an Acceptable Use Policy, as well as a Social Media Policy. There are five staff who have been trained to cascade ThinkUKnow training to all staff, particularly those who come into contact with children and young people who will then in turn be able to help, educate and advise Children and Young People about E-safety.
MFRS strongly believe that every effort must be made to safeguard children and young people when using new and emerging technologies, including social networking. Whilst we wish to make use of the potential engagement social networking enables with the public, we believe it is equally important to educate and inform on how to use the internet safely. By training the Youth Engagement staff to deliver the ThinkUKnow training, they will be able to use the presentation as part of the programmes that MFRS run such as Beacon, Prince’s Trust and EARLY. Furthermore they will be able to provide support for parents and carers and other staff.
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Huyton Prince’s Trust Team 19 came to the end of their course last night when they had their final presentation. Having collated footage that had been taken over the course of their journey, I created a short video montage to try and capture the feelings and emotions of the young people whilst completing the programme.
The footage was heavily focused on showing the physical activities the team took part in, such as rafting and climbing, this enabled the audience to see exactly what the young people did and how challenging it was. However for the next team I would like to focus more on the personal journey of each team member, showing the transformation from day one to the end of the course. I would like to show the various parts of the programme including fire safety, community projects, work experience and how the young people feel at the end of each section. This will show exactly how the programme helps young people develop personally and professionally and how influential it is in shaping their future lives.
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After completing the Readers Organisation ‘Read to Lead Training’, myself and two colleagues are going to be delivering two sessions in the Easter Break. We are delivering the sessions to a group of young people from Greenbank Sports Academy.
The Greenbank Sports Academy is operated by Greenbank and is the North West’s leading sports and leisure facility for disabled people located in the Sefton Park area of Liverpool. They provide school holiday activities for disabled children aged 8 and above, their friends and siblings. Over Easter we have two, one hour sessions where we will use ‘The Savage’ as our reading material.
The difference between the Read to Lead sessions and normal reading groups is that the reading is shared. We, as the facilitators, will read the book aloud (members can choose to join in, but there’s no pressure to). This provides immediate engagement with the text, which is enriched by the spontaneous sharing of life stories and experiences as confidence builds.
Follow links for more information. Details of how our sessions go will be posted here soon.
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