Amplified Leicester welcomed social reporter David Wilcox and his colleague Drew Mackie who used the session to think about amplification and where next for people and places. David focused on the definition of amplification and how we explain Amplified Leicester to visitors who could then apply the process to their own towns and cities. He started by sharing his thoughts on different types of collaboration and activities taking place offline at events such as self-organising, social media surgeries and people exploring co-production. These activities use social media tools to create clouds of conversation between various groups and communities. Over the last few years there has been an increase in new roles, which aid and manage these activities. David explained his role as a social reporter, which is to make sense, help out, scrutinise, and join up people and places using social media.
The group was then set an exercise to highlight the relevant tools, kit, skills and attitude needed to be an amplified individual. The teams overlapped on many areas, and established that networks, both virtual and physical, are a key factor in being amplified. Another strong theme was attitude, which all members agreed to be highly important to being an amplified individual and which can also be a huge hindrance in conquering social media.
For the afternoon session Malcolm Noble and Clare Reilly from Royal Society of Arts (RSA) joined the group to discuss challenges facing the town of Chelmsford - a community very different from Leicester in many ways including demographics, history, and attitude to online culture.
Malcolm gave a short presentation on the issues facing Chelmsford as it seeks to modernise, then sought ideas on how to update the town’s profile and attract university graduates. The group was asked to verbally and visually map out ideas which may be used to address the problem using social media methods. The participants generated many ideas and drafted some sound solutions for the RSA members such as working with the town’s Civic Society to build an online community, greening the town centre to form a place to relax and socialise, and forming long-term links with the local universities. The workshop was a chance for the participants to use their amplified knowledge to address a real-world problem and proved to be an enjoyable and thought-provoking exercise.
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