Brian McDougall from Udny ran a training workshop on the subject of "Governance" at the CES Training Day. Brian is a subject matter expert with both commercial and practical project experience. Over coffee, Brian laid out some excellent guidelines and clever strategies for dealing with money related issues. He also had some sound advice about community engagement.; backed by real world examples. If you didn't make his session, then this short interview gives you the highlights.
Eva Schonveld from PEDAL was a panel member at the CES Conference 2011 in a wide ranging Q&A session. Afterwards, I spoke to her about the PEDAL project and it's not about two wheeled transport. Whereas it seems a lot of the CES Conference attendees were energy focused, Eva had a slightly different route into community energy. She sees links between the transition model, food, energy and even capacity building. She was able to explain these links and share her experience.
One of the breakout sessions at the CES Conference 2011 was " Energy Demand Reduction". I was fortunate enough to catch up with David Newman from Sustainable Uist. David is an architect and had some insights into the real challenges rural communities face. His expertise in understanding the constraints of construction and the composition of housing stock made for a fascinating wide ranging conversation. He was also able to explain in detail why some houses are hard to insulate and heat.
The meeting in the Scottish Parliament was a great success and Mary Hilson spoke to a packed Committee Room 1. A huge range of issues were raised in a lively discussion where the concept of a 'Nordic Model' or 'Nordic Models' was given a good airing.
Lesley Riddoch spoke to Mary after the event and recorded Mary's impressions of the debate.
It's the simple questions that are the toughest. I was asked this gem by a lady who just wanted to know. She understood the basic technical concepts but wanted the facts. So, my answer went along these lines. We like to tell each other stories. We like eye witnesses, engaging speakers and interesting subjects. We all like to listen to each other; especially if the subject is relevant and means something to us. We like reassurance and yet we enjoy surprises.
I think the human voice can deliver all this. It's true, sometimes we want to see. A lot of the time, the voice is enough. I remember a memorable opening to a Blairgowrie High School podcast; "....our thanks to the Queen, Arnold Schwartznegger and Tim Henman. More from them next week...this week we start..." Imagination, at its best, and best in audio - not video.
A weekend spent with the Edindocs Film Festival and I can honestly say, it's been a pleasure to see so many documentaries in such a short time. Over at www.vectisexile.blogspot.com , I have reviewed the films day by day. Enjoy and I would recommend "You've been trumped" ...as well as...well, read the reviews for yourself.
There is a moment in the award winning documentary 'Restrepo' where a young soldier is ducking for cover as an Afghan sniper takes lazy solitary shots at him. The soldier smiles at the camera and says something like " we think he's got one eye; he's not very good". It is a light hearted gallows humour in an exceptional film made by the late Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger. It illustrates a real point which I have been bumping into lately. The role of the lone sniper.
Our own community trust has run into exactly that problem. As the project tries to establish the first East Coast community initiated wind farm, the solitary sniper has appeared. He's not very accurate. It's as if everyone was in the marketplace talking away; "do you think we'll be able to buy a sports centre?", "will there be jobs for the wains?', "could the old folk get free electricity?'; then suddenly 'ding' as a shot ricochets off a lamp post. Everyone scatters and no one feels confident in the open anymore.
It is against that background, I am heading off to the Development Trust Association of Scotland's annual conference. These are the people who represent communities up and down Scotland who are trying to make a difference locally by owning, running, operating community assets. I expect to be amongst enthusiasts. I expect to be amazed by their ingenuity and perseverance. I expect to be taught a lot about a lot. Including snipers.
For my part, I am going to be packing the recording equipment and will be putting together a wee podcast or two. I was also going to tweet and blog. I'll let you know how things go.
I have been spending a bit of time working away with local communities. I am just about to film the story of apple pressing with Polly, a local mine of information about pressing fruit, juicing and making cider. However, I have been really fortunate to meet a lot of enthusiastic people doing fantastic things in their communities. The picture here is from the Innertube Map project. It is about cycling, cycle paths and a lot more. I got introduced to the project by Mrs Smith a while back. But at a recent Edinbuzz meetup, I met Tom Allan who was keen to lighten my darkness. I meet a number of other people who sparked off an idea. So, here's the deal; I am going to try and interview some of the more interesting characters I meet in the course of work, leisure and just being generally about. I will then post them as podcasts here on this site. I have a few in mind...so watch this space.
In all the conversations about social media, it has been clear a lot of the new developments seem to veer towards social engagement as entertainment or a passive participation. Part of the attraction of Google + is the ability to divide your online 'friends' into 'circles'; so you can separate work from leisure; close friends from acquaintances. Equally, my twitter is starting to clutter with requests to retweet. It's a sort of trend towards social media as a kind of leisure activity. So, it was great to come across some of the emerging trends which show communities of interest forming around serious personal topics; notably cancer.
There have been a number of groups focused on supporting cancer patients, survivors and families. What makes the difference is the reassurance of diversity. One of the common topics, I have found talking to people affected by cancer is their surprise to find fellow travellers who aren't exact replicas; the older woman looking at a young woman with breast cancer; the old guys surprised by the young men who share bowel cancer. The disease is the common theme but some of the reassurance comes from knowing you are not alone; your thoughts are not the first on the planet and support comes in many forms. It may be the process of dispelling the fear of the unknown.
So, I guess my point is this. In a world where social media can be used and organised for the trivia of our whirlwind lives; it is comforting to know someone is harnessing this for good and serious intent.
We shot a video for the local community trust where we live in Fife. They have ambitious plans to build their own wind farm. You can view the result here. All fine, so far. Then the comments started to flood in on YouTube. Two or three at a time from an increasing number of people. The usual stuff of "mass corruption on the community council/planning department/local council", "everyone involved is lying and a bad person" and worse. Between the relentless earnestness, ALL CAPS and typos; they were a tough read.
What a difference to the other forms of social interaction online! Facebook seems almost like a Morningside tea house in comparison. Twitter feels like a wee sweary sweaty bar as opposed to the gloomy, doomy comments posted online at YouTube. Then, I chanced on my observation.
Anonymous is now last decade. On Facebook or Twtter, we are wanting to make connections with real people in some form of interactive conversation. It might be a conversation where we put something in or take something out. We can start, join in or just listen. Generally speaking, we are comfortable to play our role according to the situation. So, I will post a random thought on Facebook and my erudite pal Pat will engage in some banter. I will comment on Hazel's photos and if there is an exchange of comments then great. If not, then we are still friends and the photos are still remarkable. On Twitter, Alex Thompson churns out interesting tweets; he's a pal but I have no inclination to jump in; other than to re-tweet the good stuff. But it's identifiably me and them.
So, when the 'nemesis3609' or @thorwindfarmslayer comes at me; my reaction is 'Judy Garland'. Is this a Wizard of Oz situation, Dorothy? Do the comments all come from a single individual from behind the curtain of anonymity, zinging out multiple ninja stars from the comfort of the deepest internet?
Now, I can perfectly imagine some of you will be pushing back your chair at this point, sucking on your pipe and reaching for the Davidoff Blue Mixture ready rubbed.
"Smithy" you'll say, "Democracy is a strange beast. There is no intellgence nor intregity test for the individual right to exercise their opinion. Likewise, the egilitarian nature of the internet, fashioned by its designers, conforms to this weltanschauung. But happily, I have some good advice to impart."
