> life in lozells

The social media surgery at the Methodist Church was a great success, with a good balance between the volunteers who turned up to pass on their knowledge about Wordpress, Twitter, etc., and local people who wanted to learn about them.

There was also a good range of abilities, from people who didn’t even have an email address to people who just needed a point in the right direction and were able to set up blogs there and then.

Mark Bent, who runs the newly-opened Boathouse Café in Handsworth Park, set up a blog: boathousecafe.wordpress.com. Saeed, an educationalist and community activist in Lozells, was the first to bag lozells.wordpress.com. I was pleased to see Sharon Morgan, from Come:unity Arts, who is already a seasoned Twitterer! (Don’t forget about the Handsworth ArtWalk that they are organising.)

I had a great time chatting to a group of local people and even managed to show them a little bit of Wordpress! I set up blackpatchallotments.wordpress.com to show Eunice and others how to write a blog. I think Eunice was more interested in the recipe for her newly-harvested courgettes that we found online. We made a deal that she would get the recipe by clicking on the word ‘courgettes’ over at blackpatchallotments.wordpress.com and she will claim the blog when she has signed up for an email address!

It was a good job some children were there, because they were able to pay attention so that they can remind their parents of how to use some of the things we showed them!

Thanks to Raj Rattu for organising the venue, and to Nick Booth from Podnosh for bringing BeVocal to Lozells. Also thanks to Dave Harte, Paul Henderson and Simon Whitehouse for coming along to act as ’surgeons’ and pass on their knowledge.

Keep an eye on BeVocal.org.uk for information about further social media surgeries. Of course you’ll hear about local ones on Life in Lozells too. If you need any help, get in touch with me on john.heaven@birmingham.gov.uk or see About Us for the Neighbourhood Management’s details.

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