Our Redcar focus group took place on the 10^th January 2011 at Coatham Memorial Hall. It was led by Nick Murray and Pauline Wright. We were delighted that ten people came to join us to discuss the issues. Focus group participants are members of the ROC organisation in Redcar. You can find out more about their organisation at http://www.redcarroc.org.uk/.  

The group discussed a range of topics including: first time use of computers and specific ICT activities they currently carry out as individuals. The latter ranged from e-mailing and Facebook to general research. One member of the group used Skype.

We discovered some interesting themes. For example, most of the group perceived computer access as a positive means of enhancing their lives. They said:

             “It opens the world to you”

             “Contact with people”

There were some more critical comments about internet use. The main issues that were raised included: safety, especially for vulnerable people and security, particularly in terms of on-line banking and disclosure of personal details.

Group participants also make use of local government and community websites, especially for gaining specific information about, for example, rubbish collection days. Some group members used other community sites, including, ROC, Focus and Carers Together.

We asked the group what they thought about creating a website specifically for the people of Redcar. There was general consensus that this would be a good idea, though participants felt it would also benefit from focusing on events and issues that were Borough-wide.

A range of ideas for potential content was discussed including information about available support for disability/illness and as a means of “making their voices heard” through access to local Councillors and MP’s.

A key issue for group members was:

How would the site be moderated and maintained?

One of the most interesting themes for our research centres on the importance of ICTs for this group. Access to internet technologies plays a major role in enhancing and enriching individual lives. Use of a computer is instrumental in facilitating independent living, contact with family and friends and generating a sense of empowerment.

We are very grateful to this group for taking part.

Is there anything you would like to add to these ideas? Please tell us your thoughts below by submitting a comment.

Skinningrove Focus Group

TheVillage Hall was the venue for the Skinningrove focus group.

With two members of the group pulling out because of illness (and there was a lot of it about) we had six participants in total.

Skinningrove Village Hall

The group was very passionate about their community and provided some very interesting discussion on the topics of ICT use on a personal and community level.

Once the heating in the hall kicked in and the coffee and tea had warmed through, the discussion flowed and provided the project with some great data.

All in all a very interesting and enjoyable evening with what could be some good results and progress in the future of community involvement in ICT.

We are looking forward to a follow up meeting in the near future.

Nick and I conducted the focus group with ten people who use the services of RoC. All members of the group used a computer to a greater or lesser degree – some for e-mails others for Facebook, researching and the Internet. The interview went very well with some extremely interesting comments made by the participants

And to think we got it bad!

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20110123/ttc-slowest-broadband-area-revealed-e1d36ba.html

A really cold evening in Skinningrove Village Hall provided us with some really useful data on the true meaning of the word ‘community’
Originally eight people were invited to come along but due to illness we were reduced to six. This was not a problem as these six people certainly had enough to say and all great stuff. As the night went on it became more and more obvious that Carrie’s suggestion on the main theme jumped out at us. The group discussed in great detail how they felt the internet could help their village. The meeting concluded with the participants leaving with a real positive and determined attitude. This all resulted in some very amazing results but you will have to wait to hear about these later. We are planning a follow up meeting with this group for an update in the next 4 weeks. Real enjoyable night. Thank you Skinningrove. Look forward to our return.

Production has begun again after the Christmas break on “Tommy and Barry Go Back”. We lost a lot of production days before Christmas to weather condition and ill health so we have postponed the world premiere to March 3rd. It’s the same venue, Saltburn Community Theatre at 7.30pm. We moved our production location to Destinations in Saltburn as a more convenient location. Yesterday we got some very tricky shots in the can including Zeppelin flying and Chilean rescue pod maneuvering!

Next production day is Friday 21st (Destinations Again) when we hope to finish the 1945 Jetty scene. Below are some stills from scene 6.

Livivng and working from our home and totally being dependant on the internet to run our business we were wildy excited when we heard that BT is looking for rural areas in the country in which to install fibre optic braodband. Everyone of us are invited to click on to a link and then vote for your area. The most votes for each area wins. Simple eh? What they don’t tell you is that you have to have more than 1000 residencies from your exchange to qualify for this scheme. So, you may be able to appreciate our disgust and disappointment to learn that our exchange has less than 600 exchange connections. so, we don’t qualify. How can BT say they are wanting to take fibre optic into the rural areas when they exclude maybe half of them due to their so called “rules” May I remind BT what the Wiki definition of rural is ..”Rural areas are large and isolated areas of an open country with low population density.” Surely low population also means “not many houses?”

Another really great workshop delivered by Carrie. Interesting and as ever produced lots of discussion and ideas.
Afterwards it was Christmas with DVN and a great Destinations “spread” for lunch. Many thanks to Paul, Sue and all at Destinations who made this possible. It was also really good to see some people who are not usually at our Saltburn Meetings/Workshops. Good to see Eileen too. Looking forward to the Pilot Focus Group next Friday but if you are not going, have a great Christmas and I hope next year finds you all healthy and happy. Look forward to meeting up again in 2011.

Some potentially good news?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/dec/06/extra-50m-superfast-broadband-uk-2015