Over the two days of this practical and collaborative event we will work together on 4 specific problems/opportunities from the students’ unions attending, which illustrate techniques and opportunities for the use of social media in real life students’ union contexts.
Participants will be invited to pitch their own Hot Topics and we will agree the ones which have the most resonance and widest application, and use them.
During the practical sessions we will be able to show the different groups those methods and techniques that are relevant to the problems/opportunities.
We will intersperse the project/practical work with four theoretical sessions, almost a pens-down whilst we tell you about some of the theory behind what you're doing.
This is an outline of the approach and schedule for the workshop, and first a biography of our two surgeon / tutors:
The two surgeons in Birmingham will be:
Nick Booth - of Podnosh is a former BBC journalist who now works with the public sector, third sector and in neighbourhoods helping them use social media to strengthen democracy. Nick started the world’s first social media surgeries for voluntary groups in Birmingham. He is also one of the co-founders of Help me Investigate – an experimental site to allow people to collaborate on civic investigation.
To see some of Nick’s work try:
The format will be:-
Your Homework (in advance!):
What problems/opportunities can we tackle with social media?
Tells us two things:
- the biggest single issue your students’ union is facing and also
- one thing you think social media will be most useful for.
Write a blog post about it on a blog we will set up in advance. Come prepared to pitch both ideas in no more than 1 minute.
Nick and Jon will choose two of them. You lot as a group will choose 2 more on the day
If you wondering about what sort of things we might mean – here are some examples from a wide spectrum but students’ union will open up a wider range of possibilities - much is possible:
Day 1
- Introductions and pitches:
- Choose the 4 Hot Topic projects, create work groups.
- Practical: Social Media game to get started on the problems
- Theory: Social Media as a democratic driver.
- Practical: more work on the Hot Topics.
- Theory: Social reporting and personal publishing
- Evening homework – do some social reporting using various tools and your platform of choice, a blog or facebook or wherever.
Day 2
- Catch up with where are we at with the projects. Some reflections on them – perhaps re-jig the groups to spread skills and knowledge where needed?
- Theory: Listening to the web
- Practical: see your project through to some sort of conclusion
- Theory: Interestingness and the web
- Practical: Present what you've come up with.
- End – what will you do differently?
About thirty participants will get home work in advance, a two day workshop and overnight accommodation etc., in addition to ongoing digital relationships all for £195