Category Archives: Uncategorized

I’m reading about the Rochdale grooming trial as I’m editing a short film on the subject to be shown in Sheffield. Sheffield, thankfully, is tackling the issue but it amazes me that trafficking teenagers as young as 13 for sex really goes on, and that legal recognition of such crimes in this country seems late in developing. 

We have been talking with boys and service providers to gauge the experience of these crimes and the risks to our young people.  The feeling I get is that it’s not uncommon, but due to extreme violence and intimidation very few young people come forward.  The grooming process in some cases is organised within a hierarchy where young people who have been abused are criminalised and used as a shield to protect the gang bosses.   One person described an area of the city as something out of Oliver Twist with young people doing the bidding or older men.  Young people are moved from city to city in order to isolate and control them.

I’m not sure of the statistics, but Yorkshire is thought to be a common destination and starting point for this kind of trafficking.  One teenage victim said passionately that the prevalence of Facebook and mobile phones is probably a factor in the increase of these crimes.  I’ve been working in primary schools lately helping very young children with creative projects and giving them some direction in online safety. It’s very apparent that many primary school children do have Facebook accounts. This must ring alarm bells. 

Children particularly around the age of thirteen and fourteen have a strong desire to feel more grown up and to belong to a group and have little discernment when it comes to true friendship and they trust easily.   The most heartbreaking thing about this is the abuse of trust and the calculated process that leads these horrible crimes.  

I do feel motivated to do what I can to help.  I’m sure you do.

I’ve been having a quick look at ITV News live news stream.  This is the “radical” new presentation of her news for the web age; ITV breaking free of traditional TV, print and multipage websites. You can read the story of the revamp here on the Made for Many blog.

The way it’s described sounds revolutionary but it appears to be a set of blogs organised according to location or topic.  It’s bloggyness is confirmed by the use of vimeo embedded video stories.  They say that  multiple sources, not necessarily from ITV,  will be curated by editors (or perhaps edited by curators),  “Raw news delivered in copy, tweets, weblinks and pictures” .   This does sound very blog like – but without a great deal of interaction. 

The concept of a live news stream is something that is very evident in the way Facebook is now being presented,  their rather attractive timeline feature gives a strong sense of the stream, the nowness of what’s being posted. 

I wonder if the ITV streams present a kind of editorial bottleneck?  There must be quite a lot of competition for the stream at any one time – how do they decide? Do some stories get bumped down the line until they are really quite old or missed out altogether?  What happens if there is no news?  What does “live” mean?   A sequencial selection of stories chosen for us?

It can’t be vey representative and in fact is harking back to the linear news channel idea. Of course a single “pipe’ of news can never have the capacity to contain all that’s important in the world.  I can see that a continuous live stream will appeal to those journalists who want to be the first to break the news.  I think this is a fatal weakness in thinking.  

What I really value is a news brand that I can fully trust.  This is why organisations, channels, programmes and reporters are so important. These are the identities with which the audience can build a relationship of trust.   News is  a selection of stories chosen by us and for us and presented in a way that reflects the editorial judgement of the author and the taste of the consumer  – which can vary.  The stories are crafted to be as entertaining as possible while retaining some respect for the subject and occasionally the facts. They are products aimed at a target audience.  Packages rather than streams.

The live news stream will have an important role to play when there is a breaking story of speed and magnitude.  The Olympics will be enhanced, no doubt.    ButI see is it as an “appointment to view” facility to be used only occasionally.  

Camera: Canon EOS 350D Digital, Exposure: 0.005 sec (1/200), Aperture: f/5.6, Focal Length: 10 mm, ISO Speed: 200

I’m at the Woodhouse Community Centre this morning where two church groups are meeting. Both of the groups are taking a step of faith in that they are very new and very small in number – but with a hope that they can grow and serve the local community.  

One of the groups is the new The House of Prayer which books the main hall from 10am each Sunday, but it’s just the two of them and their son.  The House of Prayer Community Church is the vision of Gary and Dorothy Thomas. 

They say their faith and vision is about serving the local people and supporting those in need. When I asked them how they were going to meet the practical needs of the community they said that it was something felt called by God to do and that by being faithful great things will happen.

Ironically while they are worshipping and with no idea of how things will work out, I am in the back room taking the opportunity to do a bit of planning for Oblong - and being concerned about how will will meet our targets and objectives.  There is a message in here about where we put our focus.  It is on how we bring everything under control or is it fixed on the vision?

I admire the committment and hope Gary and Dorothy are displaying. They don’t know where the people are going to come from!  We can’t always know how things are going to turn out.  In most situations we make plans based on our ability to control the outcome, but for them there is no business plan or numbers, but certainly there is passion for loving their community.

If you would like to join The House of Prayer for Sunday worship you are welcome.

Woodhouse Community Centre, 197 Woodhouse Street, Leeds LS6 2NY Sunday between 10.00am and 12.00 noon.  Or call 07570 609297 

Just had word from Richard Crook about Pocket Praise for iPhone.  Pocket Praise is part of the Praise Pod family, a brilliant idea to reward children for good behaviour  This is a brilliant use of technology to encourage children and make them feel valued and capable.  Go to the Apps Store

Description

Pocket praise takes sticker charts to another level.

With this app you can create a multimedia reward chart, capture good behaviours as a photo or movie then watch again and share successes with family and friends.

A sticker has always put smiles on faces and helped promote good behaviours. So just imagine what a talking sticker can do. . . We’ve tested it and it’s pretty amazing how things change when people use pocket praise. 

Pocket praise works for everyone; so don’t just let the kids have all the fun. Why not use pocket praise as your own personal reward chart to help you reach your targets?