Ashley Carter

Our class had the privilege of being introduced to a Left Lion article writer Ashley Carter who has contributed to the magazine within every public interest that it covers. However the main interest that he writes about is film and television.

He was a very honest man when it came to presenting what it is he does, how to write better and what to do to motivate yourself. He mentioned that the fact that everyone at the Left Lion (except the chief editor) works for free is a good thing, because this means everyone working there has proven that they do indeed have a passion for writing.

He mentioned that the worst thing you will ever see as a write, your worst nightmare, is a blank word document. I completely understood and agreed with this. Furthermore he elaborated by mentioning that you should write even if what you’re writing is bad, it can be improved upon later, ‘no need to worry’.

There wasn’t anything in particular that helped me improve upon my presentation, however I did learn quite a bit about confidence from him. Confidence as in, you shouldn’t worry about the criticism you receive about your writing. You should use this criticism, whether it be negative or positive; in a constructive manner.

Overall he seemed like a very interesting person and writer. I learnt more about the world of a writer, what it is like to get something published and write about the things. I believed that these were the most important things from his talk.

Evaluation of Presentation

I made my presentation on Prezi which is a professional’s website for creating presentations. I prepared for my presentation by first writing my blogs onto my blogger. From these blogs I gathered all of the relevant information required for an informative presentation on social action and community media. After writing my relevant points on my presentation to pre-ordered and titled slides, I then rehearsed my finished presentation whilst also correcting any typos.

In hindsight I would have improved my presentation by showing it to someone in order to improve the quality instead of quantity. I believe that the biggest improvement in which I could have done for my presentation would have been making it shorter. I had a lot of information to cover in a short amount of time, I think the time-limit provided me with the pressure to speak too quickly during my presentation.

I engaged my audience by addressing particular points toward the audience and elaborating on the matter. For example for one of my slides I explained the three different typed of social action, traditional, affectional and value-rational. This engaged the audience by introducing them to something new, they learned something from my presentation because it was a unique thing I did that stood out from the other presentations. This lured my audience into my presentation further, making them interested in what I had to say.

I was happy with all of the points which I covered, come to think of it I might had covered a little bit too much because I had to present it at an increased speed compared to most people. Saoirse Rose a member of my course had this to say, “He had clear knowledge of the topics featured in the presentation, the three types of social action really stood out in his presentation. I think that George’s Prezi presentation was excellently portrayed –I learnt things which I didn’t know before.”

More feedback was obtained from another one of my peers called Megan Naylor, “Not only did George give extensive, knowledge-able information to the class, but also his presentation was very well executed, he was well spoken and knew what he was talking about, and his presentation was well perceived.”

One last feedback that I will mention was from Jamie Atkinson, “He showed a vast understanding of all aspects of community media and social action. The use of Prezi engaged the audience well in a way nobody else did. Gave illustrious examples throughout the presentation.”

Reflecting on this feedback provides me with extremely positive confidence and pleased with the final result of my presentation. Although my presentation required me to speak slightly faster than usual, I believe I managed to get my point across and cover all necessary information as well as provide people with newer information on the topic, Therefore I believe that i have obtained a distinction grade. 

Presentation

Here is a screenshot of the presentation I did on social actions and community media.

Here is a link to the full presentation: http://prezi.com/mpk3sy7mhrdc/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

Community Media: Left Lion & Nottingham Post

Community media is any form of media that is produced and ran by a community. It is separated from commercial media, state run media and public broadcasting. 

Left Lion is a good example of this as it is controlled and only published within the community of Nottingham. It has a strong focus on the local arts and music scene. It is more of a magazine than a newspaper since it talks mostly about projects going on in Nottingham and the local creative interests. For example they conduct interviews with new and upcoming local bands like ‘Unknown Era’, this is a good way to promote the local music scene and get Nottingham’s name out there. The kind of things that Left Lion post on Facebook are related to social action within Nottingham. On the 5th November they posted a status about the Hockley Arts Club, showing that they're taking applications from people related to anything creative, this is social action as creativity is a free aspiration for everyone and visiting the Art Club is free as well as being a gathering for the communities love for art.


On the other hand, the Nottingham Post reports on more factual news rather than recreational activities. It’s a tabloid newspaper therefore the word count is usually at a minimum, whereas the Left Lion contains feature articles with background imagery, containing up to one or two pages of words. The Nottingham Post structures their articles into separate sentences as paragraphs, whilst including large imagery and brief information.  The Nottingham Post keeps its news solely within the Nottingham area just like the Left Lion, but delivers its news in a straight forward manner, rather than descriptive interviews used in Left Lion.

Left Lion’s audience is mostly tailored towards the younger members of Nottingham and those that are interested in the local creative scene. This can be shown by Jack Garofalo in his live review of DJ Yoda. “This left virtually the whole room as a dancefloor, slowly filling up as more punters made their way through the door”. You can tell by the language used in this sentence that it caters further toward the youth side of Nottingham due to the use of slang, and also alcoholic terms throughout the review.

The Nottingham Post’s audience is in theory for everyone within the region of Nottinghamshire. However I decided to study the content it provides which caters more toward the older citizens of Nottingham. For example these could be crime reports, like the fire at Rushcliffe Arena, or property, to jobs within the area. “A planning Application has been submitted to Rushcliffe Borough Council by Nottingham firm CBP Architects on behalf of Mark Fielding, of Winlatter Drive, West Bridgford.” This quote is taken from the article ‘Neighbours object to new apartment block in West Bridgford’ written by the Nottingham Post. This shows the simplistic language used to appeal to a wider audience, as well as the structure, because this is what each paragraph would look like; a single sentence.

Left Lion also contribute within social media. They have a Twitter and Facebook, bringing their readers together, to communicate with one another, and share opinions. You will notice that the only people that follow the Left Lion on these social media sites are residents of Nottingham, or used to live in Nottingham. Being a magazine on a social media website is beneficial as it keeps your readers up to date as well as increasing the amount of publicity within your local area. If somebody follows Left Lion on Twitter, that person most likely has friends that are also form Nottingham, this forms a continuous chain of local peoples following their esteemed local magazine.

Left Lion and the Nottingham Post have their similarities, such as the focus on the local area. However they are written in completely different formats, which aim towards different means. Community media also intertwines more onto the side of the Left Lion as it is a lot more community driven instead of being more commercially driven like the Nottingham Post.

Social Action in Nottingham

I’ve been taking a look around Nottingham recently, to gather information within my local area for any communities that are taking action into improving our society. A few things caught my attention however one thing in particular grasped it. I stumbled upon the University of Nottingham’s student union, where they support the Student Volunteering Centre, which works with over 60 different charitable organisations. These organisations vary from providing better housing, helping the homeless and increasing deaf awareness.

One of these charitable organisations is called ‘Tasty Tuesdays’. Tasty Tuesdays Is where a group of volunteers give a late Tuesday afternoon or evening, weekly, once a fortnight or monthly. So they’re very lenient in their volunteers’ availability. The volunteers will help prepare ingredients, cooking, welcoming attendees and taking donations, serving meals, or washing up and cleaning away for a free community meal in Lenton. The team responsible for the volunteers provides training, fun things to do on a Tuesday evening and full support. They are very reasonable with however long you’re able to volunteer for, whether it be a long amount of time or a short amount of time. The meals are cooked and served at the Crocus Café in Lenton, a volunteer-led, vegetarian, community café.

Screenshot from Uni of Nottingham SU website

Another one of these charitable organisations is the Winter Shelter, organised by the Emmanuel House. They say that it is one of the core services which they provide for people who are homeless. They open their doors to fulfil the needs of the homeless and vulnerable people, during the coldest months of the year. They are doing their best to provide shelter, acceptance, physical and emotional support, and encouragement in order to help rebuild as many lives out of homelessness as possible. “Last winter more than 107 people helped and supported 148 homeless people by volunteering in the shelter.” The volunteers’ roles are serve up food, listen to service users, setting up and putting away the equipment and communicating with their colleagues.

Screenshot from Uni of Nottingham SU website 

A few months ago there was also a refugee vigil on the old Market Square, which over 400 people attended to show their support for a campaign urging Nottinghamshire’s councils to take in at least 50 refugees. Adel Golan who fled is homeland 18 months ago composed a speech on the steps of the Nottingham Council House. The message that everyone was holding up said “Refugees are welcome.” Everyone was there to show their support for the refugees and pay respect to the victims of the refugee crisis. Candles were lit, speeches were given and prayers were made.

Photo from Nottingham Post Article

On August 28^th 2014 an article was posted in the Nottingham Post about a Victorian-themed garden party. The event was hosted by the Colville house, ‘a supported accommodation service operated by the homelessness charity framework. It was mainly hosted for homeless women in Nottingham however all guests were welcome including, councillors and stakeholders. Food, drink and entertainment that were part of the Victorian era were provided; costumes were donated by the Lace Market Theatre. 

All of these offerings were to celebrate and inform visitors about the vital role of the Colville Road facility in the local community. The reasoning behind the Victorian-theme is due to the history in the area, and also as a way to explain exactly what they do there, why they do it and who they help. This event helped increase awareness of Nottingham’s homeless. 

Photo from Nottingham Post article

There are multiple social actions I could participate in within my local area in order to help my local communities. The volunteer work on the University of Nottingham’s student union has application processes on each of the charities they’re connected with. This would include Tasty Tuesdays and the Emanuel house. I could volunteer at the Emanuel House and help provide meals for the homeless people of Nottingham, I would not be getting paid but that is not the point of voluntary work, or helping others in general and would defeat the purpose of social action. Other actions I can take would be to simply donate my old clothes for children’s homes or people struggling to find homes, or to simply help the city recycle a lot more by raising awareness of litter. 

I could organise social action group events which I would advertise with flyers or posters. These organised events could involve picking up the cities litter, helping homeless people, interacting with others that have disabilities or problems in life to gain a further understanding and help them move further in their lives. Raising awareness is the key to social action, and that would be my main priority.

#iwill

#iwill

Hashtags have become extraordinarily popular within the past 5 years. They’re used to publicise particular things or ‘spread the word’ on certain messages or encourage movements. One that caught my eye was #iwill.

#iwill is a national campaign which aims to make social action to be a part of many young people’s lives. Social action means taking steps in order to progress or change things that are wrong within our societies, it helps introduce new, innovative ideas and proceedings towards everyday life.

The core premise of this hashtag is to get young people involved within their communities, taking up actions like volunteer work for homeless shelter, litter picking, charity work and other practical matters in order to provide the UK a much more pleasant place to live and keep all the communities running in a much more efficient manner as well as develop the young into experienced adults.

Action approaches are a necessity in order for a clearer understanding of human behaviour; in order for these ideas and proceedings to happen. There are different types of social action which can be used, like: Traditional action, affectual action and value-rational action. Traditional action is action that is a habit, seasonal things like buying people gifts for Christmas and birthdays are related to this. Affectual action is when somebody expresses their actions emotionally, whether it be crying at a funeral or for a loved one on a hospital bed. Value-rational action is when one is taking action towards a goal, which could be committing at the gym to become a boxer or praying to get into heaven.

Tamela Friesen wrote a blog about how we can improve the quantity and quality of home care. She posted it on September 28th on her twitter +TamelaFriesenGPC. She wrote a list in her post about what she will do and what others can do to help along with her. The actions that she is taking are based in Canada, this shows how much the #iwill campaign has spread.

#iwill is being coordinated by the charity Step Up To Serve, governed by an independent board and has cross-party support. Their work has been referenced by the conservative party, Labour party and the Liberal Democrats. All of the parties said similar things like “We recognise that getting young people to take part in social action helps build important skills for adulthood and make the most of their energy and talents while also benefitting the wider community.” From Nick Clegg.

I believe that this is a brilliant way to get young people out into the real world, it can help them gain contacts, work experience, social interaction skills and encourage further generations to continue doing so. There is too much individualism in the UK currently. The entire community aspect is lacking and requires a jolted boost. Therefore a hashtag trend on social media relating to all of these problems is an efficient way to revitalise, and strive for greater, bigger communities as well as smaller ones. This can help effectively develop a further understanding into traditional and affectual human behaviour.