[cma-l] Community Radio Toolkit Needs You!

Thu Sep 18 10:14:55 BST 2014

Once you guys decide to start writing in ordinary lucid everyday English without the buzzwords and abbreviations it will be so much better for us lot out here who are just users and hopefully beneficiaries of the available information!

From: bill.best at commedia.org.uk
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 09:57:21 +0100
To: cma-l at commedia.org.uk
Subject: Re: [cma-l] the Community Radio Toolkit Needs You!

Well, it's Darwinian evolution red in tooth and claw - the fittest (i.e. the best adapted to the environment) will survive.
This is a curated mailing list - not a free speech list - and the administrators let most posts through but occasionally a little pruning is required. It is a thankless task as few are aware and able to appreciate the work that goes on behind the scenes. And that is a strength of this list - that we do not let it get bogged down in petty squabbles, points-scoring, and irrelevant posts. The consistent quality of posts to this list astounds me on some days - so a big thank you to all of our contributors.
This mailing list has endured and grown to over 700 subscribers over the years - whilst other fora have come and gone. But this is not a call for complacency and accepting the status quo.
Email might not be for everybody - but it is an excellent medium for asynchronous conversations. We did have a working RSS feed that updated with each post. Once you have RSS you can almost do anything - send updates to your browser, smartphone, or even an Internet-connected robot programmed to perform an action when a new post is made. Using something like IFTTT you can send an RSS feed almost anywhere.
The RSS feed is currently broken due to a server move but I'm working on creating a new one and we'll start with piping list updates to Twitter - and we'll even consider hooking the mailing list in to power up the CMA kettle when a new message is posted.
Best regards
Bill-- Operations Manager
Community Media Association
http://www.commedia.org.uk/
https://twitter.com/community_media
http://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation

Canstream Internet Radio & Video
http://www.canstream.co.uk/
https://twitter.com/canstream

On 17 September 2014 21:47, tlr at gairloch.co.uk <tlr at gairloch.co.uk> wrote:

   I wouldn't advocate the use of  the mailing list - bulletin boards work far better for mutual help/advice etc, and are much easier to find relevant past discussions and review them - email is just not suited. Nor in my opinion is Facebook - it has no decent user control of archiving, public searching etc, recategorizing of posts etc.

   I have come across numerous BBs that have proved of enduring value when searching for answers to a specific problem in various fields. Facebook posts would not appear in such searches, and the 'conversation' can be very fragmented, with parts of it only available to its participants or followers of wherever it was posted. It needs quite an advanced mental model of Facebook to be able to track third party postings and threads.

   And of course, Facebook does not automatically alert followers/friends/members to all posts on a particular page or topic or from a particular person, even a 'friend' -  a lot of people think that it does, but it is selective through highly opaque algorithms that change form time to time. Fine for a social network, but not for a professional or long-term support forum.

   But no reason not to use FB as one of several ways to bring it to people's attention.

Alex

   On 17 September 2014 at 00:33 Alan Coote <alan.coote at 5digital.co.uk> wrote:

    I absolutely agree an email list such as this works and it saves logging into yet another forum, many of which have suffered over the years from lack of use; Media UK for example used to be the place to go for us radio nuts!  

    However, I wonder how many new subscribers there are to an email list like this as it’s difficult to find?  Would it be useful for the strategic use of landing pages and Facebook etc to be used for attracting new subscribers. 

    Kind Regards 
    Alan 

    Hear Alan Every Week on Let’s Talk Business The UK’s Premier Radio Programme For Current and Future Entrepreneurs - Now Broadcast To 4.3 Million People   

    Email - alan.coote at 5digital.co.uk 
    Phone - 0800 949 6655 
    Mobile - 07801 518858 
    Twitter - @TheAlanCoote 
    Web - http://www.5digital.co.uk 

    The Media Production, Broadcasting and Training Company 

    From: cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk [mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk] On Behalf Of Bill Best
Sent: 16 September 2014 16:05
To: cma-l at commedia.org.uk
Subject: Re: [cma-l] the Community Radio Toolkit Needs You! 

     Well... We currently have an active forum supporting people who do community radio - and you're using it!

At the Community Media Association we've thought long and hard over the years about setting up an alternative forum - but then we would be moving the conversations away from this list to another location and splitting the conversation.  I think we've all seen plenty of user forums that have died a death through lack of activity.

We still use Mailman for this list because basically email works.  We could have a secret members-only forum run from the website using the latest technology - but we prefer to run open mailing lists as it fits with our ethos to facilitate the free exchange of knowledge and information. Email is quick, simple, cheap and everybody knows how to use it.

This list receives no funding and is run on a 'best endeavours' basis by the CMA - the cost of which is borne by the organisation.

These days there are so many competing forums and channels, especially when social media is also considered, that we think it is a good idea to stick with a tried and tested reliable technology such as email. And we will occasionally use Twitter to draw attention to something on this mailing list - if you're not already one of the 7500+ followers that we currently have on Twitter then do follow us.

I think we have an excellent resource with the CMA-L mailing list - let's continue to use it well!

And stay tuned for some upcoming news exclusive to this mailing list of an opportunity to tender for producing some radio advertisements for a careers event to be broadcast commercially. You won't get to hear of this anywhere else!

Best regards for now

Bill
-- 
Operations Manager
Community Media Association
http://www.commedia.org.uk/
https://twitter.com/community_media
http://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation

Canstream Internet Radio & Video
http://www.canstream.co.uk/
https://twitter.com/canstream

On 16 September 2014 15:20, Associated Broadcast Consultants <info at a-bc.co.uk> wrote:
> I agree to a certain extent - the problem occurred with the move to the
> "new" format website.  From what I recall you had to re-register on the
> site, and it seemed many active contributors were lost at that point.
>
> Another problem is the landing page on the new site after login.  Even
> though you may have clicked on the Forum tab at the top, after login you are
> redirected to another page called "Activity" which actually seems an
> oxymoron because it does not seem very active!  At this stage I reckon new
> sign-ups might give up - assuming the forum is not active.
>
> I agree there should be an active forum supporting people who do community
> radio.  I have at times thought about setting one up myself, but really I
> think it's best if such a forum is hosted on an independent website like
> this one or CMA.
>
> Having said that, even the Media UK forum seems less active than it used to
> be - maybe Forums are not "where it's at" nowadays?
>
> Glyn
>
> -- 
> Glyn Roylance - Principal Consultant
> Associated Broadcast Consultants
>  
>
>
>
> On 15 September 2014 19:34, Bruce Rodger <bruce at celticmusicradio.net> wrote:
>>
>> Hi Phil,
>>
>> I hope my comments will be taken as constructive criticism - as you will
>> remember I was a regular participant in the original toolkit forum, but
>> since the re-vamp my contributions - and pretty much everyone else’s - have
>> mostly dried up. We need to fix that, and I’m not convinced funding will
>> resolve that.
>>
>> I do support what we’re trying to do with the toolkit - it’s a very
>> worthwhile project (note the “we” there….)
>>
>> The one thing that surprises me about the community radio scene in the UK
>> is that there is no active web forum. Think about just about any
>> hobby/sport/pastime/activity, search around a bit, and you’ll find a wealth
>> of volunteer-run web forums. Whether it’s Land Rover maintenance, or theatre
>> technology, or skateboarding, or hillwalking, or photography, or people who
>> live in a certain town, or one-legged blind naturists….. you get the idea.
>>
>> I’m involved with several, and they’ve grow from being initially a place
>> where like minded people could chat, through being a repository of useful
>> information and knowledge, to being the de-facto reference site for any
>> technical or non-tech queries on that subject. In one that I am involved
>> with, we have an active membership ranging from school kid know-it-all
>> wannabe’s through to industry professionals at the apex of their profession.
>>
>> It’s not funding that makes these work - the web hosting is often paid by
>> google adverts, or out of the pockets of the admin team. There are no paid
>> admins, authors or moderators - it’s done by the community, simply because
>> it’s THEIR community.
>>
>>
>> The toolkit is never going to happen without formal funding - but what our
>> community lacks is a community forum. Which is a bit sad, bearing in mind
>> that community is what we’re all about! It doesn’t take money, it just takes
>> a bit of time and some community buy-in.
>>
>> Bruce.
>>
>> (ps - I made up the bit about one-legged blind naturists. I don’t think it
>> exists - unless one of you know different?)
>>
>>
>> Bruce Rodger
>> Celtic Music Radio 95fm
>> bruce at celticmusicradio.net
>>
>>
>>
>> On 15 Sep 2014, at 16:11, Phil Korbel <phil at radioregen.org> wrote:
>>
>> Hi Bruce
>>
>> The site is un-funded and we've not had the resources to support new
>> content or the forum.
>>
>> Watch this space for the re-launch...
>>
>> Would hate to see you when you're being critical ;)
>>
>> best wishes
>>
>> Phil
>>
>> Phil Korbel FRSA - Director, Radio Regen, charity no. 1077763
>>
>> www.radioregen.org 
>> www.communityradiotoolkit.net
>> www.connecttransmit.org.uk
>>
>> Please note that I work at Radio Regen under 2 days a week so responses
>> might not be as quick as we'd like.  Many thanks.
>>
>>
>> On 15 September 2014 14:51, Bruce Rodger <bruce at celticmusicradio.net>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Phil writes: "...The much loved Community Radio Toolkit is re-launching
>>> soon "...
>>>
>>> I really don't want to be a wet blanket here - but I've got to ask. Is it
>>> really "much loved"? The document itself is fine, but the website aint.
>>>
>>> The "Forum" section - which is potentially one of the most valuable and
>>> useful areas - has had 3 posts this year, the last one 3 months ago. The
>>> "News" section has had 3 posts this year, and the "Feature" section - which
>>> claims "Every now and then we put the spotlight on a different community
>>> radio subject. These features allow us to look at particular topics in more
>>> depth, with articles, website links and interactive contributions from
>>> members" - has not been updated in four and a half years.
>>>
>>> I don't find it a particularly user-friendly experience.
>>>
>>> Before the last "rebranding", it was quite a useful resource, with an
>>> active forum. But I'm now just a very occasional visitor, and any time I do
>>> visit, I get the feeling that the only footprints in the sand are the ones I
>>> made last time I visited.
>>>
>>> It's a concept with great potential, but needs more buy-in and
>>> participation from the community to make it work.
>>>
>>> Bruce.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 15 September 2014 11:04, Phil Korbel <phil at radioregen.org> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Hi colleagues
>>>>
>>>> The much loved Community Radio Toolkit is re-launching soon - allowing
>>>> far easier access to our huge free library of 'how to' resources for the
>>>> sector.
>>>>
>>>> As you'll know if you've delved there - it has a lot of writing in it -
>>>> which looked great on the printed page and pdf's but frankly runs the risk
>>>> of looking a tad dull on a web page so - we need more pictures!  If you'd
>>>> like a name-check on the new site and have a photo or cartoon that really
>>>> says something about community radio would like to share it with us - and
>>>> the sector?
>>>>
>>>> No prizes - this is just about sharing.  Please send images by email to
>>>> this address in the next couple of weeks along with a short caption and
>>>> photographer credit if required.
>>>>
>>>> More news about the re-launch soon
>>>>
>>>> best wishes
>>>>
>>>> Phil
>>>>
>>>> Phil Korbel FRSA - Director, Radio Regen, charity no. 1077763
>>>>
>>>> www.radioregen.org 
>>>> www.communityradiotoolkit.net
>>>> www.connecttransmit.org.uk
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>
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>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>>
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>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
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>
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