As Christmas draws closer the Talk About Local office is quietening down, giving us time to look back on the training we’ve delivered over the last month or so.
We’ve been as busy as ever, visiting more Community Capacity Builder UK online centres, to help their volunteers use online tools to engage with local people and talk about their work to help pass IT on.
At the beginning of November Mike and I visited Intact Preston and helped them make get started with a new community website for the area. A few days later Karen and I were at The Countryside Centre in Worcester with Evesham Libraries, showing community workers (such as Tom Bufton) how to create simple websites using WordPress.com and use other platforms such as Posterous, Facebook and Twitter to help support their work.
Last month I also joined John Popham in Huddersfield, where we worked with PCAN Kirklees (Parents of Children with Additional Needs) in a workshop facilitated by Icarus, with whom we’ve worked previously. We spent a Saturday afternoon helping members create a group website where they can post news, events and information. They’ve obviously been working hard on the website since then, posting up forthcoming events and training courses, useful links and resources and an online version of their previously published PCAN Pages guide, ‘written by parents for parents to help you know where, how, or when to get the support and information and activities you need for yourself or your children.’
A couple of days later Mike and I delivered what Michael Rogers called a ‘little social media session’ at WEA Nottingham, which is also a UK online centre, helping local Digital Champions learn ‘all about WordPress, Facebook, a bit of Twitter…’ to talk about the work they do.
Afterwards, we took the opportunity to meet with the team behind Bramcote Today. Since we worked with the group of local residents in a workshop faciliated by Broxtowe Borough Council back in January this year, the site has gone from strength to strength, regularly posting local news and events, updates from local councillors and MP’s and holding Midlands General’s supposedly ‘Bargain Buses’ to account. We had a good chat about how far the site has come and further developments they’d like to make – watch their space!
As I said, we’re currently winding down in the run-up to Christmas but the diary for January onwards is already starting to fill up with workshops from Cornwall to Doncaster. We’ll keep you posted on how we get on. In the meantime, have a great Christmas!