Tuesday, 28 October 2008

Hot soup

I ran about fifteen miles on the trails today, sunny but cold. A marvellous light varies the trees. When I got back I put on a few layers and a hat til my temperature settles, then here's the NDN at the door - 'How was your run?' - with a jug of piping hot soup - 'Every vegetable you can think of. Have some now while it's hot'. Thanks m'dear, you all ok? How's S. Not so bad. Mind the step. Stay warm now.

The NDNs are in their seventies. I sit thinking autumnal thoughts about ephemeral connections and uncomplicated acts of kindness.

28 Oct 2008 18:02:35 | Vignettes

2 Comments

Hi Kevin,

15 miles, really ? So it is something like 25 km ! Half a marathon ! Good !

But what is the meaning of NDN ?

And by the way... the URL of the following post is quite long... this could cause problems to some. Long URL but very good content.

Posted by: Gilles | Wednesday, 29 October 2008 at 18:47

hi Gilles - sorry about the long url, it's a peculiarity of Typepad but I have just copied and pasted the whole thing into a new post, so it has a shorter url, not exactly concise. I hope it doesn't that doesn't cause linking confusion.

NDN is next door neighbour: the lady next door to me is the doyenne of neighbouring, I am very lucky to have her there, and I fear sometimes that my posts might result in someone trying to kidnap her. This fear of course promotes 'good' neighbouring on my part as I keep an eye out for her, out of selfishness :-)

And as for 25km on the trails on a fine day - it's hard for me to think of a better way to spend the time. (But you have to be in reasonable shape to enjoy it).

Posted by: Kevin Harris | Wednesday, 29 October 2008 at 19:56

The comments to this entry are closed.

NEXT POST
With CD on the streets of London "They paused for a moment on the steps of the portico, looking at the fresh perspective of the street in the autumn morning sun’s bright rays, and then went down… They went quietly down into the roaring streets, inseparable and blessed; and as they passed along in sunshine and shade, the noisy and the eager, and the arrogant and the froward and the vain, fretted and chafed, and made their usual uproar." The famous final words of Dickens's Little Dorrit. Not to be missed on BBC tv tonight.
PREVIOUS POST
Social inclusion and digital inclusion through community centres I came up with this model of social inclusion through community centres while I was doing some work on social impact for UK Online last year. It's based on the experience of workers using ICT and other resources to support residents in Shipley, West Yorkshire, and on interviews with residents themselves. The main point that it leads on to is that the ICT can fit more or less anywhere in the process, as a very significant accelerator; but it is not the fundamental requirement nor the main focus unless the individual makes it so. I'm reminded of this by a recent flurry of interest in how to shape provision of ICT in low-income areas. I first went to Shipley in about 1999, to find out about their pioneering online project which took ISDN connections from Shipley College into community centres to support basic skills courses. It was, and still is, high quality community-based learning, with sensitive support provided by committed and highly experienced community workers. Around that time I was on one of the government's 'Policy Action Teams' ('PAT15' on 'access to IT') and the Shipley project was among a chosen few round the country which helped us understand the role of the technologies in the quality of life of people who experience exclusion. What they offered gave texture because we engaged local people to talk to us about it at their pace and in their terms. Now the government has released several reports about 'digital inclusion' and the social impact of their strategic promotion of the technologies, and it makes a curious impression. The two I've looked at have clearly been expensive exercises, and together they provide an important new impetus to the agenda, acknowledging that the relation between social exclusion and digital exclusion is subtle and complex. But neither report seems to add much to what was known six or seven years ago. For example, Ipsos MORI were commissioned for a research study on digital inclusion and social impact, and their report notes among the conclusions: Partnerships with local community groups and organisations were key in reaching the target audiences and delivering holistic provision addressing multiple issues Working with hard to reach audiences involves long-term relationships with partners and individuals Taking technology out to local, familiar and safe environments was essential to reach new audiences The flexibility to adapt the curriculum to participants' needs and interests was vital in engaging and holding their interest Informal peer to peer learning and formal volunteering were key to the sustainability of the projects, and to the progression and self-esteem of participants. All very valuable points. All put across clearly in the early work carried out under the aegis of PAT 15, before 2002. In those days we didn't have the budget for large-scale systematic studies (I think the first report was done for £2,500) but we compensated by sounding-out our findings across the community sector. And while the MORI report includes much-needed quantitative material, some of it is crying out for...

Kevin Harris

Search

My Other Accounts

Recent Comments