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Blogging success stories: how the bloggers we trained used the site

Posted by Simon Harper on 26th January 2011

We trained a number of people from the public sector to use this blog as a way of talking about their work so that they could see the advantages of using social media to engage and communicate with citizens, and also the benefits of introducing greater transparency to their work.

The people we trained have used the blog in different ways and to talk about very different things. Some of them have blogged about events they’ve been to, for example this post from Karen Cheney:

I went to the Birmingham Young Resident University Presentation Evening at Lakeside Centre, Aston University last Friday evening 26/11/10. A fantastic event – the presentations from young people were of the highest quality and all thought provoking.

Congratulations to all involved – Syconium, Lift Community Trust, First Class Youth Network, Erdington Constituency Children’s Forum and Learning Curve plus Chamberlain Forum who have co-ordinated the project.

Similarly, Jan Wright posted about an event she attended which looked at collaborative working and investment into the third sector:

The Staffordshire & Stoke on Trent Third Sector Commissioning Partnership (TSCP) is looking at the investment made into the sector and where organisations/ brands are receiving multiple funding streams from different agencies investigating how this investment can be rationalised into single cross agency contracts, thus creating significant potential savings for both the public sector and third sector provider.

The aim of the conference was to investigate the appetite for collaborative working across the county, discuss issues of concern and identify organisations for which SCIO can provide support to move forward with this agenda.

You can read the report and findings from the conference here. Jan has also posted about events covering personalisation and what it means for smaller providers of services, and personalisation broker support:

Peer support was discussed; attendees raised issues around legal issues, particularly around the quality of advice given; others expressed interest in setting up peer support groups but didn’t know where to go for support or funding. A group set up in Tamworth, Mercian Ability Partnership, uses peer support and self advocacy to enable and support disabled people to enable other disabled people. Again there was a lack of knowledge as to how to find out what was already out there.

The role of brokers in the personalisation agenda led to concerns that there were not the services currently available for the brokers to be advising on. Giving good advice to a person with fluctuating health needs was also seen as a challenge. Again the promotion and accessibility of the broker role was seen as crucial.

The blog has also proved useful as a place for people to write about reports which others might find interesting, and posting files so that users can read more about the issue. Wanda Leslie’s post links to the Sandwell community cohesion strategy which she explains here:

Community cohesion in Sandwell is about people and the relations between people of different backgrounds.  Although racial harmony is at the core of cohesion, it is not the only issue needing to be addressed.  Economic exclusion and inter-generational issues are all related concerns.

Similarly, Karen Cheney posts a link here to a report about co-production in Birmingham because she felt it would be of interest to a much wider audience:

The report, written by Paul Slatter is entitled Looking Sideways – A Community Asset Approach to Coproduction of Neighbourhoods and Neighbourhood Services in Birmingham.

Although written with a Birmingham context many of the insights and recommendations are relevant for all public agencies across the region.

Others such as Nick Darwen have used the blog to connect people with conversations happening elsewhere, linking to the Community Anchors discussion forum which brings togther people who are working as part of the Community Anchors programme in Warwickshire. This is useful because people can discuss and share ideas with each other and talk about what they’re working on, which also means greater transparency and building up of relationships.

A post by Karen Cheney which highlighted some of the brilliant work that was done as part of Birmingham Local Democracy Week thanks to the efforts of active citizens. She links back to the Local Democracy Week website which helps to move people towards fascinating stories and conversations which will be of interest to them.

We’ve been involved with people who are blogging about these issues elsewhere too. At the Chamberlain Forum blog there’s a post which explains the Structured Dialogue method and how it’s been used to try to tackle anti-social behaviour in Sandwell.

Chamberlain Forum, funded throught the regional empowerment programme Every Voice Counts, is using the Structured Dialogue Method (SDM) to work with the Safer Sandwell Partnership to explore how effective this work has been in making a difference. In particular, how effective at dealing with the concerns of residents about young people congregating in the street.

Structured Dialogue is based upon the story/dialogue method created by Ron Labonte and colleagues in Canada, and has been piloted and developed in Birmingham by Chamberlain Forum. Examples of use range from learning from Asset Transfer, to looking at experiences of influence in Balsall Heath (where MORI neighbourhood surveys found the percentage of people who felt about to influence decision making to be significantly higher than the city average).

By using the blog to talk about the work they’ve been doing, they’re allowing more people to find out about their work, giving them the power to tell their own story how they want to and reach out to people who interested in helping or volunteering. This particular post was made ahead of an event which looked at sharing useful practices and learning from each other about what tools really work.

There are other blog posts at the Chamberlain Forum blog which form part of the discussion around the Every Voice Counts partnership, such as this post which analyses some of the key features which might make up the Big Society, and this post from Paul Slatter on co-production in Handsworth which looks at peace patrols run by an organisation in conjunction with local police. You can read more from Paul Slatter here and you can find more from Chamberlain Forum about co-production here.

There have also been discussions taking place over at the Community Asset Transfer blog, where Carrie Weekes from the Development Trusts Association gives advice about asset transfer and what people should bear in mind. For example:

The building is a means to an end. Asset transfer can start you off on the wrong foot. Instead you need to be thinking about change in communities and how you harness innovation and drive. Assets are only one way you can do that.

Don’t put your head in the sand about the reality of running a building, who will tidy up and lock up. It’s a business.

Viability not liability – ask yourself is it an asset at all?! Get someone to work out how much that building will cost to run before you do anything else.

This is something which Karen Cheney also talks about at the CAT blog – kick-starting conversations in communities, and between communities and local government, is what these blogs should be all about.

Posted on 26th January 2011 by
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Posted in Active Citizenship, Asset Transfer, Co-Production, Engaged citizens, Sharing Effective Practice | No Comments »

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