Media coaches game a digital neighbourhood

I’m at the EuroMeduc conference in Bellaria, Italy, which is proving a great opportunity to meet a range of teachers, researchers, librarians and policy people interested in media literacy … which is helping people gain access, understand and use different media.

I’m contributing by running a couple of workshops using a version of the social media game developed earlier in the year with Ed Klute, who runs a network for media coaches around Europe. The coaches work part time in schools, libraries, and public services including police and health to help their colleagues use Internet tools and other social media. They are at the sharp end of media literacy – as Ed says, it no good having lots of policy and programmes if people in the classroom can’t deliver. First-hand support may be better than courses. (read more...)

Join us for the Social by Social Game at Net Tuesday

If you are in London on June 2 evening with a couple of hours to spare, and an enthusiasm for exploring how to use social technology for social benefit, join us for a run of the Social by Social Game at Net Tuesday.

As organiser Amy Sample Ward explains here:

The Social by Social game is a fun session to help people explore how social technology can be used for social benefit: whether that’s by a nonprofit, a social innovation startup, within a neighbourhood, or across a community. We’ll invent some of those places, then challenge each other in groups to develop plans using a pack of specially-developed cards and other props. It will be a mix of collaboration and competition that should give you lots of practical ideas that you can use in your own projects.

We facilitated a version of this game recently at SHINE09 and have put our heads together to continue making the game better and better.   Here’s how a version of the game ran at SHINE09.

(read more...)

Director of Digital Engagement announced

Dave Briggs provides a roundup of reactions to the announcement that insider Andrew Scott, Government Deputy Chief Information Officer, is the new Director of Digital Engagement. Dave suggests: “My advice would be to seize the initiative, set out some small but
important things to achieve and make them happen, to get the doubters
back onside as soon as possible.” And engage digitally, of course.