Posted: August 28, 2012 | Author: Karen | Filed under: Features | Tags: deeside, hyperlocal, n0tice, noticeboard |
Hi Jonathan, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background?
I live quite literally on the on the Border between England and Wales, close to a village called Hawarden or Penarlâg in Welsh which is in Flintshire, famous for Emma, Lady Hamilton – Lord Nelson`s mistress, Prime Minister Gladstone, Michael Owen,and Hawarden Airport, which serves the huge Airbus factory,where they make the wings for the A380 super jumbo at neighboring Broughton site.
The village sits within the conurbation of Deeside, which as the name suggests, describes a group of small towns and villages sat alongside the river Dee. The demographic is quite diverse for north Wales, given the proximity to the English border. Around 14% of the of the community are Welsh speakers, and there is a really strong sense of community and belonging.
I currently work with tourism based businesses at a very “local” level, exploring ways to develop and embed social media within businesses for the greater good of the local economy; it’s really about developing a strong sense of place and provenance. I guess what sets me apart from ubiquitous “all in one digital agency or marketer” is that I specialise in the one area, tourism, in particularly independent hotels. It’s where I’ve spent 20 odd years working in various corporate managerial roles from hotel manager to regional management and national sales & marketing roles.
I had a yearning or a calling to “go it alone”. Actually, I grew terribly bored of corporate life, and wanted combine three passions of mine; hospitality, technology and media (not to be confused with social media!) and shape them into a small business. It’s hard work but hugely rewarding.
Prior to working in the hospitality industry I worked for the Daily Telegraph in Manchester, not because i had any particular skill, my father was a journalist and photographer for national newspapers, and 25 years ago newspaper succession planning usually revolved around the family “line”. For years, even when i was working in my full time roles, I was heavily involved with the family run sports and news media agency based in Stockport. You could say that media, in various formats, has been in the blood since the day I was born.
Why did you set up Deeside on n0tice, and who is involved in it?
I moved back to the area around two years ago and quickly became aware of the need for a community driven platform that dug a little deeper into the issues that are effecting all of us on a day-to-day basis. “Local” newspapers, while doing a fantastic job, are stretched to a point whereby relevant local news content seems to be shrinking, and its my view that they have become a little “hamstrung” when it comes to positivity challenging the county council`s decision makers.
The Deeside n0tice board is part of a wider hyperlocal project that I’ve started. It’s a collaboration with a small web design company and creative writer, the aim is to develop a destination site for the Deeside area that focuses on local news and sport, local Government issues, arts & culture & events, high street Regeneration, employment opportunities, digital inclusion, as well as assisting small business`s get online. The n0tice board was set up to support the wider project.
How does n0tice help support the work you are doing within your community?
Our wider project is split in to two distinct areas, one being real-time content, namely news, while pretty much everything else sits under “other”. This content, by design, is more static, so the original idea with n0tice was to test news content locally and see what the levels of engagement were around each story we posted. The ease of use and simplicity and baked in analytics has been ideal for this. We’ve had some really positive feedback about the news resource, even though we haven’t written any original stories, its been a case of curating what`s already out there from around 10-12 sources.
We are in the middle of what I would call a “natural pause” phase with n0tice at the moment, simply so we can develop our other social media assets in line with the wider project and of course develop the main hyperlocal site, going forward the aim then to do is embed the n0tice element into main blog, as well as use n0tice to crowd source our events page.
What are the three best things about Deeside?
Deeside is a bit of a misnomer in terms of a destination or location. It’s a collective of villages and small towns that all have their own unique identity of course, however there is so such opportunity to make a difference in the community on many levels. It makes this project really exciting. Also being just 45 minutes from Liverpool and around the same from Manchester while we have the wonderful city of Chester on our doorstep makes it a fantastic location to live as we get the best of both worlds.
We have easy access to bustling cities or beautiful countryside and the coast. There`s a great sense of community. Having lived in many places in the UK I was really conscious of how many times complete strangers greeted me with a friendly “good morning”, its n0ticable! If anybody from our community would like to get involved you can find me on twitter
@6csocial
If you see a n0tice board that you think should be featured, get in touch with karen@n0tice.com. Follow n0tice on twitter! @n0tice
Posted: July 31, 2012 | Author: sarah | Filed under: Features | Tags: cathywatson, community, crowborough, n0tice, noticeboard, uckfield |
Cathy Watson was one of the very first n0tice.com users to set up a noticeboard when we were still in beta – and she’s got on with it so well so now has two. We caught up with her to find out what’s happening near her…….
Firstly, what are you noticeboards called?
I have two noticeboards now. One for Uckfield at uckfield.n0tice.com where I live and one for neighbouring town Crowborough,crowborough.n0tice.com.
Tell us a little about yourself, what you do, your passions and interests?
My background is in journalism and while I now run a PR business I also have a popular news website in Uckfield at uckfieldnews.com.
Why did you set it up and who is involved?
I set up the Uckfield noticeboard because I was intrigued by the idea and wanted to see how it would work. I enjoy dipping in and out of other people’s noticeboards and seeing how they use the technology. I like the idea of other people contributing to the Uckfield board too. My updates have been sporadic because I wasn’t sure – and I’m still not sure – how best to use n0tice alongside UckfieldNews.com.
I started the Crowborough noticeboard because I often spot stories about the town, which is only ten minutes down the road from my home, and like having the opportunity of sharing them.
Tell us where it is and the three best things about that location.
Uckfield is a small town in East Sussex. It is pretty, the people are friendly and there’s a great community spirit about the place. Here’s a good example of that: http://www.uckfieldnews.com/news/latest_stories/alternative_torch_1807.html
What do you hope to achieve with the noticeboard?
I hope to continue spreading news about Uckfield, linking between n0tice and my UckfieldNews.com website as I do already with the Uckfield News Facebook and Twitter pages. I look forward using more of the n0tice features, such as the crowdsourcing. I like the n0tice community too and the way it is possible to learn from each other.
* Visit the noticeboards at uckfield.n0tice.com and crowborough.n0tice.com. If you’d like to see your noticeboard, or one you enjoy, being featured here please contact karen@n0tice.com.
Posted: July 24, 2012 | Author: Karen | Filed under: Features | Tags: birmingham, n0tice, noticeboard, politics, politics in brum |
Pauline Geoghegan runs the Politics In Brum n0tice board. Politics In Brum aims to scrutinise Birmingham City Council, its elected Councillors, and all things political in Birmingham City. Karen Strunks found out more.
Why did you set up Politics in Brum?
I set up
Politics In Brum to attempt to hold the city council, politicians and decision makers to account in Birmingham. Our local press is hard pressed to cover all municipal issues in detail. I attend full council meetings, planning and scrutiny, and I have also reported live election results from both the election count and the elected mayor referendum. I provide a social media ‘bridge’ between citizens and those who purport to represent them. I have developed good relationships will politicians of all spectrums local councillors and MPs.
What do you hope to achieve with your Politics in Brum n0tice board?
In an era where trust in political institutions has broken down, I am hoping to broker a new relationship. Having worked for an MP and been politically engaged through community politics, I know that those old ways of doing things aren’t fit for purpose in this digital age.
Politics In Brum engages people online but also uses face to face events to reach out beyond those who are already digitally included. For example, during the elected mayor campaign I ran four neutral public debates in community settings; a library, a sixth form college and an arts centre.
I was immediately convinced that
n0tice is the perfect platform for Politics In Brum since I can utilise it for writing reports, publicising events linking to twitter and through to other social media platforms. Being able to find events, photos news and reports relating to specific geographic locations ie to Birmingham, is very appealing.
Politics In Brum covers the Birmingham area – can you tell us the best things about the city?
Undoubtedly the best thing about Birmingham is its people; diverse, friendly and creative. This city is alive with energy and ideas. Right now the pressing need to create jobs for our young people. Opportunity and hope are the words on everyone’s lips.
If you see a n0tice board that you think should be featured, get in touch with
karen@n0tice.com. Follow n0tice on twitter!
@n0tice
Posted: July 23, 2012 | Author: sarah | Filed under: announcements, company | Tags: n0tice, newsletter, noticeboard, notifications |
We are changing the way our weekly newsletter is produced. We want to connect with you and offer n0tice-ers tips and news about the evolving platform as well as showcasing some of the amazing user stories that appear there – but we don’t want to annoy anyone.
Some people have been complaining that our newsletter is spam…we won’t take offence. But we did think it would be smart to make sure you want our newsletter.
You can signup for it over here http://about.n0tice.com/newsletters and we’ll remind you to do this next week, too. And then we’ll only send you announcements.
Of course, if you don’t want to hear from us at all that’s fine there are unsubscribe links in both the header and the footer of the newsletters you’ll have received and you can control exactly which notifications you receive by visiting your profile page – settings – notifications.
If you need any more help please email sarah@n0tice.com or tweet us @n0tice.
Posted: July 10, 2012 | Author: Karen | Filed under: Features | Tags: bridport, flooding, floods, hyperlocal, n0tice, noticeboard, rain, weather |
Stephen Banks photo by Henley Bailey
Bridport in Dorset is one of those places in the UK badly hit by torrential rain, Stephen Banks AKA the DorsetScouser used his noticeboard to let people know what was happening and ended up becoming the focus for the town’s flood coverage. His images have been promoted by ITV, the site has had tens of thousands of views and received picture contributions from across the town. Karen Strunks found out more
The noticeboard has been set up for eight months now, so it was already relatively established and I was confident that
n0tice.com would be the best way to share all sorts of media, in the event of a big news story. Experiments with embedding images, video and tweets all worked really well to create a media-rich news report which could link together different reports from different sources. One day, I accidentally pasted the link to a tweet and, to my surprise and delight, n0tice automatically generated a nicely designed tweet box.
I was actually out of Bridport when the first few news reports started coming in – my colleage at Watershed PR, Sara, said that I should get out of bed and start reporting on Bridport n0tice. I was awake, just away from my computer! Jonathan got the ball rolling with some excellent tweets,
which can be seen at the bottom of this report. He had reported on floods in Bridport when he was working for the BBC, but he tells me that he’d never seen anything like this before – the situation was getting worse by the minute with rising water and spreading areas of flooding.
Bridport Floods by Charlie Ward
The Bridport n0tice board attracted other contributors. How do you think this happened and how did it enhance the reportage of the flood?
Like myself, there seem to be quite a few local people who are interested in reporting news as it happens. I think it is in everyone’s interest to try and help people out in times of need, so people exposed to Bridport n0tice wanted to help out. I’ve already sat down with a few people and chatted with them on how n0tice works and the basic mechanic of putting something on there.
Alongside the massive traffic to the page was a huge influx of new locals visiting the
Bridport n0tice Facebook page. Updates on here directed people to the relevant reports on n0tice (the flooding as it happened, the day after cleanup report and Beaminster Tunnel closing). Most people interacting with the Facebook page were posting their own content, which I then curated and re-posted onto n0tice, but a few, such as Tim Harrap and Josh Kelly, contributed their own updates. It was handy for them to do that, but a little training may be required, as Josh was initially posting new reports for every image, rather than updating the main report. But overall, the reporting was enhanced by others contributing.
How did ITV get involved?
Bridport n0tice contributor
Charlie Ward had his photos published on
ITV Meridian’s website; I’m not sure if these were pushed by the n0tice report, but the first image was certainly the one that I remember most, as it was quite early in the day and shows the picture in Burton Bradstock pretty well.
Your n0ticeboard had over 20,000 page views in 24 hours. What do you think this tells us about the importance of responsive hyperlocal news?
The sheer volume of visits did take me by surprise, but we at
Watershed PR know that there is an enormous hunger for local news information when a big event happens. Whilst the big international news entities such as ITV and BBC were focusing on Devon (which had flooding, but not as bad or as widespread as Dorset) and obviously had a large number of people looking at their stories, Bridport’s hyperlocal n0tice page had a different sort of success, with a very large number of local people looking at tailored local news. The great thing about using n0tice and the connected Facebook page is that I could be agile, finding the very latest photos and videos in seconds, rather than being a large media group which I’ve found can sometimes be quite slow moving. Although it was time consuming, I had complete control over what was put on the n0tice page, and a few simple search terms on Twitter and keeping an eye out on local friends’ Facebook pages was all I needed to get the ball rolling with accurate, quick and impacting reporting.
Watershed isn’t in the business of trying to compete with local media – they’re essential for many of our clients to get news stories out there. But local news reporting is something we’re passionate about. n0tice seems to be a great platform and we really hope that more people nationally (and internationally) pick it up and run with it.
You can see Bridport’s n0ticeboard here and read more about the background to it here. If you see a n0tice board that you think should be featured, get in touch with karen@n0tice.com
Posted: July 3, 2012 | Author: Karen | Filed under: Features | Tags: birmingham, culture, guyevans, n0tice, noticeboard |
Today’s featured noticeboard comes from the heart of the UK, Birmingham. Brum Culture is run by Guy Evans who is the Social Media Officer for Birmingham City Council.
I asked Guy to tell us a little bit more about Brum Culture…
Brum Culture was set-up to form part of the city’s bid to win the national title ‘City of Culture 2013’. We didn’t win (that went to Derry/Londonderry) – but we found using channels like facebook, twitter and flickr opened up a whole new way of reaching people. So we continued using these channels to promote culture in the city.
Who set up Brum Culture and why?
Brum Culture is based in Birmingham. Can you tell us the three best things about the city?
The three best things about Brum (and this would be a personal view) Diversity. Culture. Heritage
What do you hope to achieve with your noticeboard?
As a social media officer I’m interested in how we use new channels to reach different audiences, for example I recently set-up a Pinterest account for Birmingham Culture. I like the idea of having lots of channels and interacting with different people using different mediums. I suppose long term I would like to see a Birmingham ‘community’ on noticeboard.
Thank you Guy!
You can see Brum Culture’s Noticeboard here. If you spot a Noticeboard that you think should be featured, get in touch with sarah@n0tice.org
Posted: June 26, 2012 | Author: sarah | Filed under: Features | Tags: forevermanchester, greatlever, n0tice, noticeboard |
It’s a noticeboard which emerged from a community’s desire to have a newsletter, we caught up with the creator of the Great Lever noticeboard to find out more.
First I asked Gary to tell us a little about himself and his interests
I am an asset-based community builder with Forever Manchester, working in Great Lever. My role is to connect people together to share the skills, knowledge and ideas in the community, to build trust and happiness. Positive thinking! I’m interested in how social media can positively bring people together and I am interested in anything told by a person with passion….just have to discover it first.
Why did you set it up and who is involved?
I work to connect residents, groups, organisations and services together. This means I find out what is happening, and many people had said how they wish there was a newsletter so that they could also know what was going on. I set up the n0ticeboard to share what I discovered in my conversations, to give people a space to take up the offers I hear about about and to join in the events people plan.
Where is Great Lever and what are the three best things about it?
Great Lever is the southern part of Bolton Town Centre and it is a fantastically diverse area, it is also very creative and in a sense it is a place where people can make things happen.
What do you hope to achieve with the noticeboard?
I really hope this becomes a landing point for members of the community to come together and for residents to be able to take the lead with what’s happening in Great Lever.
Visit the noticeboard at www.greatlever.n0tice.com and if you’d like to see your noticeboard, or someone else’s featured here on the blog, drop me a line at sarah@n0tice.com.
Posted: June 19, 2012 | Author: sarah | Filed under: Features | Tags: n0tice, noticeboard, picks, posts, team, top |
With such a lot of content being n0ticed these days, it’s sometimes hard to catch up with it all. Here the n0tice team has highlighted their personal top picks. If you’ve one you think belongs here, please do flag it up via the comments below.
Matt McAlister kicks off (and can’t seem to make his mind up on just one pick!)
- This Point of Ayr photo submitted by JJShephard of Flintshire by local photographer James Farley is fantastic: http://deeside.n0tice.com/report/4882/point-of-ayr-lighthouse-talcre-beach
- Stephen’s Dorset by Night image and call for more participants to capture similar imagery across the UK is brilliant: http://bridport.n0tice.com/report/4742/something-special-introducing-dorset-by-night
- I’m a sucker for yarn-bombing which EllieNor seems to know now: http://craft.n0tice.com/report/4884/chesterton-road-in-cambridge-gets-a-taste-of-guerilla-knitting-or-a-yarn-bomb-to-you-and-ihttpwwwcambridge-newscoukimagelibraryclient20imagesclient000040027800000278603jpg
- girlondon’s reporting from afar continues to impress, particularly for spotting the Queen’s pantone colorwheel: http://girlondon.n0tice.com/report/4763/not-all-jubileed-out-a-palette-fir-for-a-queen-pantone-art-jubilee-leoburnett
- And the CrazyNews winner has to be the man running the Blaydon race with a fridge on his back: http://n0tice.com/report/4769/150th-anniversary-of-the-blaydon-race-unidentified-man-runs-5-9-mile-course-with-a-fridge-strapped-to-his-back-finishes-in-under-an-hour
Sarah Hartley selected something close to her heart: “My eye was caught by this post from the prolific Bridport Scouser http://bridport.n0tice.com/report/4951/crowds-flock-to-bridport-food-festival
Being a food blogger myself I’m always interested in foodie events going on outside my area and I like the way Sir Scouser used people’s tweets alongside his own photography to tell the story of the day.”
Daniel Levitt also picked out a post by the Bridport Scouser who must have the knack for appealing stoies. he said: “My favourite is http://bridport.n0tice.com/report/4981/bridport-brewery-biker-raises-nearly-7-000-for-charity. Because I’m currently just starting to ride and it gives me hope that one day I can raise money like this.”
Posted: May 10, 2012 | Author: sarah | Filed under: announcements | Tags: bbc, blogs, blossing, linking, links, local, n0tice, noticeboard |
The BBC’s local news sites are looking at new ways to link to useful and interesting websites, blogs – and noticeboards.
N0tice users are being invited to share their noticeboard URLs if they would like to be considered for inclusion.
Having links from external sites like this not only improves search engine results but could also mean more people in your local area finding your content
Robin Morley, BBC social media lead for the English Regions, said they have always welcomed suggestions for good external links but they hadn’t been proactive enough in asking for them before:
“We’re always looking for the best local online resources to link to from our network of sites across England – so if you’ve a noticeboard which you think would fit the bill, please send the link to england@bbc.co.uk. Look forward to hearing from you.”
The BBC add external links because research and usage figures has shown that users value them for being carefully selected for their editorial value, without commercial influence. The corporation also has a remit to drive traffic to external websites, as explained here.
This initiative with the local sites is run through a different process to the one which automates links across the news sites. That process, handled by a system called Moreover, is detailed here.
The local linking activity came about following discussions with blogger Andy Mabbett and you can read more about the thinking behind it here.
Posted: May 1, 2012 | Author: sarah | Filed under: Features | Tags: bike, cycling, london, n0tice, noticeboard |
The capital is synonymous with bikes so a dedicated noticeboard seems a fitting development. We talk to Harry Harris, the creator of Cycling London to find out more.
First I asked Harry to tell us a little about himself…..
I’m a TV Researcher, currently working on an extreme sports show broadcast on Sky Sports and Channel 4.
I come from quite an active family, and enjoy running, snowboarding, swimming AND cycling. But I’m also the only one in my immediate family who’s not done a triathlon so the pressure’s building there!
I’ve had a passion for news and current affairs from early age and I’ve been lucky enough to have worked on local BBC radio and at CNN in London. Alongside this I’ve developed a keen interest in social media; how it connects people with new information. I got into twitter a few years ago because I liked hearing what was going on around me and in different place across the world – from people in those specific places.
I find n0tice really interesting because it expands on the ‘what’s going on near you?’ base and lets you add and update your own experiences, your own news, with a report where you can add photos and more in-depth descriptions
Why did you set it up and who is involved?
I set up the CyclingLondon n0ticeboard first and foremost because I love cycling, and I love cycling in London – at the moment it’s just me running the n0ticeboard but I hope more people will start posting soon.
I moved to London at the end of last year and I’ve cycled to work nearly everyday since – no rush hour tubes or buses caught in traffic, and you get to see so much of the city, even if you do get caught in a minor monsoon every now and again.
I thought the noticeboard could be a great place to get updates from all over London from people who enjoy cycling around the city, whether it’s from people commuting to work on their bike, to get fit, or just to go sightseeing; from Brick Lane to Battersea, from Dalston to Dulwich, it would be great to hear about what’s happening on the road all in one place – from the people actually out on their bikes regularly.
Also, cycling in the city’s a big topic at the moment and it should be; more and more people are picking up bikes and cycling London’s road, but in my view many roads and junctions are still not laid out well for cyclists, and, as the London Mayoral elections approach I think it’s an important topic to keep raising.
If the noticeboard covers certain geography, tell us where it is and the three best things about it that location.
My noticeboard is focused on London :
It’s steeped in awesome history; dramatic buildings from the past,
It’s ever-changing; there’s modern additions all over the place (like the Shard).
It’s busy and vibrant; there’s always something going on somewhere.
- AND you can see it all from your bike everyday.
What do hope to achieve with the noticeboard?
I want people to share interesting bike stories, articles, events, and offers they’ve heard of or witnessed so we can all be a little better informed:
“that junction is a bit dodgy on a bike”, “this route was great because you see so much and it’s well laid out for bikes”, “I saw a cyclist knocked off their bike at… be careful on that road”, “This bike event is happening on Saturday” – so a collaboration of updates so people can have a running feed of information on the topic and share their own experiences.
* Visit the CyclingLondon noticeboard here. If you’d like to tell people about your noticeboard on this blog, please drop an eamil to sarah@n0tice.com.
It’s a noticeboard which emerged from a community’s desire to have a newsletter, we caught up with the creator of the Great Lever noticeboard to find out more.
With such a lot of content being n0ticed these days, it’s sometimes hard to catch up with it all. Here the n0tice team has highlighted their personal top picks. If you’ve one you think belongs here, please do flag it up via the comments below.
