_Stockton+Digital+Village

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 I'm developing a project in Stockton on Tees that has some synergy with Eden Media. I will document the developments here as they may inform approaches in Cumbria. I’ve observed over the years that people become involved in ICT and Digital Media in many ways. Once they find something they are comfortable with they’ll be unlikely to change unless their chosen software disappears or is “improved” beyond recognition. [ NB intentional irony ! ] Maybe it's best to operate on the basis of “Vive La Difference” and allow people to use what they are most comfortable with or what their friends advocate or to choose from a range of tools selecting the most appropriate or the easiest to that individual.
 * Stockton Digital Village ** (A Community Media Network)

How could such a disparate range of sources become a community media network? Well, using RSS and tagging and a range of tools we can aggregate content from a variety of sources including text, images, podcasts and vodcasts.

Some content is generated on the community web space using a variety of “installed” applications. Other content is created on the web using a range of “hosted” applications. Content from trusted sources can be driven directly into the community website via RSS. Other content is directed into Google Reader or similar and after perusal by an editor in chief or committee or editorial board is made public and then fed via RSS to the main site.

The Community Media activities suggested will be driven by (free) open source software and/or web 2.00 applications with free or inexpensive web hosting solutions. All this makes the activities extremely replicable and sustainable. A diverse range of communities and individuals could be encouraged and assisted to produce their own content and Digital Media in a variety of formats. [|www.gdy.org.uk]

Tools to use (or used)

I'm thinking of starting the participants off with their own hosted Wordpress Blog. They can make it any colour they want and add any content they wish. We'll use these blogs to train them up in the processes. Then we'll move on to the main site which is an installed Wordpress. They will not have the same freedoms as their personal blog but will be moderated by an editor in chief. Later we can drive the content from their personal blog to the main site in a variety of ways - mostly via **RSS**.
 * Wordpress** - very powerful and easy to use. Large community of users and supported by many third party plugins.


 * Ning** - very easy to use. Issues are arising about how ning deals ethically with it's members (or not)


 * Kick Apps** - looks very powerful if a little complex, I'm not very familiar with it yet.

=01/04/09 First session = = = with staff and volunteers of Tees Music Alliance (Stockton Digital Village). We chatted for a while and I explained the Digital Village concept. Then we went round and asked what everyone digital skills levels were and what they could and could not do and what they would like to be able to do. There was a broad range of skills covering audio, photography, film making, social networking and some HTML. Interestingly no-one had blogged. Some expressed a desire to do some things that they felt were a little beyond them. Over the next 90 minutes they found just how within their grasp community media can be.

Each participant set up their own hosted wordpress and blogged something. They then looked through the themes and changed the look of their blogs. Finally they all linked to each others blogs. I'll later show Maria and Luke how edit the main installed project Wordpress and how to manage RSS feeds from the individual blogs creating a network of Digital Journalists. This would be a good approach for Eden Media.

Here are todays Blogs

http://lightstonemeadow.wordpress.com/ http://kreatekaos.wordpress.com/ http://graeme20046.wordpress.com/ http://ianpaine.wordpress.com/ http://disenchanted74.wordpress.com/about/ http://boyle11.wordpress.com/ http://stephenbansey.wordpress.com/ http://captaincobain.wordpress.com/ http://terribleterrorist.wordpress.com/

=17/04/09 Second session =


with staff and volunteers of Tees Music Alliance (Stockton Digital Village). We had an excellent session and this week we moved to the actual site [|www.gdy.org.uk] rather than just their individual blogs. I recalled in the first session many of them expresses familiarity with Facebook and MySpace so I also introduced the to the Stockton DV Ning. Although I had mentioned it the participants could hardly know that everything we discussed in my own mind I was talking about both Stockton and Eden. They were really excited about the notion that we could publish an email address that people could send moderated videos and pictures during the Riverside Festival and in this context I was not only thinking about the Eden project but Middlesbrough Mela too. I have begun the process of doing this and I'll add this to the Tech Devs. The Stockton DV participants grasped the concept of being "Citizen Journalists for the Digital Age" and some nice content was added with anothe story in draft form as they're collaboratively researching it. Some staff were given administrative privelages with the volunteers requiring mederation for their work. Later after the real session was over, a digital camera was just lying about and a piece of media was created that is pertinent to both projects in terms of the content **and** the process - i.e. the idea that a digital stills camera is the simplest method of capturing and using digital video - see below.

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