I had the idea for this after my kids were fortunate enough to have a brand new school built for them last year. They were pretty excited about this, but apart from one site visit and the obligatory Ivor Goodsite poster homework assignment, they ended up not really feeling involved in the project at all. This didn’t stop them bombarding me with questions every time we walked past - questions about what was happening with that machine, and why, and how would they get the roof on, and how many bricks did I think would be needed all together, and did the person driving the digger need a special licence, and on, and on, and on….Some of these questions I could (sort of) answer, but for most of them I did what any self respecting parent does these days and relied on Google, and the site project’s occasional twitter feed.
This got me thinking that while there are obvious limitations to opening up actual building sites – health and safety, time, logistics, to name just a few – the internet and social media offers a big opportunity to do the next best thing by acting as a window onto the development. What I didn’t realise then was that I’d have the chance to put my money where my mouth is a year or so later…so, based on my modus operandi of assuming that anything is allowed unless someone specifically tells me it’s not, I’ve been busy getting Beechley Drive a social media identity!
This is what I’ve done so far…
Beechley Drive Blog - the development brief from Cardiff Council included a requirement to set up a website to keep the local community informed of site developments. I really wanted this to be more than a static website with a one way flow of information that nobody would ever return to a second time, so I’ve worked with Cadwyn’s Web Officer to set up a simple WordPress site, which has the required corporate boxes ticked (logos of funding partners, project timeline) but which also offers a more friendly voice to the development, with blog posts written in a (hopefully) chatty and informative tone. I’ve left comments enabled throughout the site in the hope that folk will interact with the site and suggest/contribute further content, and I’m also talking to the local schools about the children taking over parts of the blog, perhaps posting interviews with longtime residents, or other class projects related to the site.
Beechley Drive Facebook Page - the Pentrebane community already makes good use of Facebook with various groups set up for local residents, school parents, Communities First projects and so forth, so I am hoping that a FB page will offer a quick and easy window onto the development, but also of course be a forum for local residents to ask questions, raise concerns, and make suggestions. It’s also an easy way of sharing blog posts and project photos, and driving engagement to the website itself.
Beechley Drive Twitter Feed - I’m envisaging that most of the interaction with local residents will be via Facebook, because of the strong groups that already exist there. However, using Twitter gives us an opportunity to talk with people who don’t use Facebook – and also I think a more effective way of sharing what we’re doing with stakeholders and organisations who are not necessarily local.
Beechley Drive Instagram Feed - the Instagram feed itself does not have much traction; however, I’m using it primarily in conjunction with Facebook and Twitter to share photos and comments as the site progresses. The Instagram feed is also linked to the website, which means that even if there is a quiet week as far as the blog goes, there’ll be new content on the site to draw people back.
It’s early days for all of the above, and now the big challenge becomes keeping the website and social media channels feeling fresh and worth following; and of course to promote and encourage interaction so that this does not just become a one way stream of information blasted meaninglessly into the ether. This will be very much a learning process, and I’m sure there’ll be stuff that goes wrong. I would welcome advice and pointers from anyone who’s done anything similar!
I’ll be blogging progress and lessons learnt (and more than likely the occasional mistake) along the way, so please feel free to join me on the journey!
Michelle Davis
Targeted Recruitment and Training, Cadwyn HA
What's up, just wanted to mention, I liked this post.
ReplyDeleteIt was inspiring. Keep on posting!
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